At the mouth of the Kalamazoo River, the twin cities of Saugatuck and Douglas once had a third sibling, the port of Singapore. Singapore was expected by its 1830s boosters to rival Chicago, but instead it was buried by 1890 in a shifting dune that loggers had stripped of its anchoring trees. Ecological mismanagement (and the Yellowstone-like fires of 1871) eventually left the area unable to sustain its basic industries–lumber, tanning, and shipbuilding–but industrial decline perversely permitted it to become a haven for artists and for summer people from as far away as Saint Louis. Today the principal industry there is tourism, and many of the homes built by prosperous Victorians now take in transient boarders as bed-and-breakfast establishments. The only functioning shipyard turns out enormous yachts, and in season the once-gritty waterfront is a parking lot for hundreds of pleasure craft of such grand luxe that Saugatuck can at least be said to have eclipsed Monroe Street Harbor.
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In the 1960s, Jack and Lucille Hedglin’s Shady Shore Motel in Saugatuck (787 Lake St., 616-857-4387) began to be known in certain circles as Lucille’s Lodge for Lonesome Ladies, she being the only local innkeeper who welcomed gay as well as straight guests. Now in her 40th year in the hostelry business, Hedglin says that when she started, in 1951, “I’d never even heard of a gay, didn’t know what it was . . . but I guess somebody figured, ‘She’s a friendly lady,’ and told their friends, and it just grew and developed.” That was then and this is now, and the gay presence in the area is well established. Saugatuck/Douglas has become to the midwest what Provincetown and Key West are to the east coast and the Russian River is to the west. Some lodging places, bars, and restaurants attract predominantly gay clienteles (the Douglas Dunes Resort does so most prominently in all three categories), but most of them advertise in general media and are nondiscriminatory; the worst that happens is that occasional uptight straights are upset to find themselves a minority among homosexuals and complain to the chamber of commerce, which tells them to relax.
Restaurants and clubs: Popular Billie’s Boathouse (449 Water St., 616-857-1188) is disappointing as a restaurant–the effort to manage three cuisines simultaneously (steaks and chops, seafood, and Mexican) would be daunting anywhere–but it usually has a good jazz band in the bar and there’s a small dance floor. Marro’s (147 Water St., 616-857-4248) is a good, nicely appointed Italian restaurant and pizzeria where the late-night scene, which often spills out of the tiny bar, is postcollegiate, very loud, and seriously heterosexual. Much larger and much less hetero are the cabaret, dance floor, and indoor/outdoor bars of the Douglas Dunes Resort (333 Blue Star Highway, Douglas, 616-857-1401), whose restaurant, Cafe Sir Douglas, has a beautiful room and patio, attentive staff, a good wine list, an ambitious menu, and trouble with complex dishes. The Loaf and Mug (236 Culver St., 616-857-2974) makes inventive soups and sandwiches on excellent breads and features private- label local wines in a pleasant garden, with music on Sunday. Ilforno is the pretty good cloth-napkin restaurant in the Coral Gables Complex on the waterfront (220 Water St., 616-857- 2162), which also includes the Rathskeller bar and the Old Crow Bar, where a large crowd is usually gathered for dancing and live entertainment. Chequers (220 Culver St., 616-857-1868) is especially nice in the winter with its warm wood paneling, fireplace, pix of the royals adorning the walls, Watney’s and other imports behind the bar, and hearty British fare including a glutton’s mixed grill and a righteous trifle.
