Hidden Kalamazoo allows you to get into places that are off-limits to the general public and walk into the past.

Are you a curious person? Have you ever had dinner at Food Dance, Coney Island or one of the other downtown Kalamazoo restaurants and wondered what it used to be like upstairs- what it's like now? Have you sat in the audience but always wanted to get behind the curtain at Kalamazoo State Theatre? Hidden Kalamazoo was designed for you.

Since 2013, the Kalamazoo Historic Preservation Commission has been prying into the past and opening up spaces that have mostly been forgotten. With most relegated to storage, relics from the past remain that will give amateur Kalamazoo historians a thrill.

2018 Hidden Kalamazoo Tour June 16 & 17 10a-4p

  • Coney Island- 266 E. Michigan
  • First National Bank- 108 E. Michigan
  • Food Dance- 401 E. Michigan
  • Gilmore Building (Opera House)- 162 E. Michigan
  • State Theatre- 402 S. Burdick
  • Upjohn World Headquarters- 301 John St.

All tour stops have guides that give presentations on the site, point out interesting finds and answer questions. You can plan your own tour and make the stops in any order, and at your convenience; tickets cost $15 each and are good all weekend.

We had the chance to talk with Kalamazoo Preservation Coordinator Sharon Ferraro about this year's tour, get a preview below.

Bonus Video: A Look Inside the Lost Vault in the Basement of the Peregrine/First National Bank And Trust Building In Downtown Kalamazoo

 

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