Floral-themed cafe honors historic building’s past

From their spot right between downtown Lansing and the Genesee neighborhood, the Bailey Buildings on West Ionia Street have played host to barbers, booksellers and brewers, and that’s just a few of the “Bs” since they were built in 1922.

To Syreeta Brown, co-owner of the Bailey Buildings’ newest chapter, PetalPop Cafe, the most significant business to occupy the buildings was Belen’s Flowers.

The floral shop was founded by local politician Elizabeth Lehman Belen in 1936 and later run by her daughter, Lucile, who also served on Lansing City Council for 40 years and is remembered as a pioneer for women in local politics. The shop operated in the Bailey Buildings from 1969 until Lucile’s death in 2010.

It’s the Belens, and particularly Lucile, that Brown is paying homage to with PetalPop’s floral theme.

“She was quite a frontrunner, and since then, a lot of the limelight has gone off women’s rights,” Brown said. “And I’m a Native American, Black woman, I’ve got four daughters and six granddaughters, so it’s kind of important to me. I want to build something that shows them they can do stuff, too.”

PetalPop opened March 26, serving American breakfast and lunch dishes  and floral-inspired craft soda drinks. Brown, who has worked in restaurant management in and around Lansing for nearly 30 years, designed the menu with comfort food in mind, including items that her parents made growing up. Biscuits and gravy, chicken and waffles, cheeseburgers and breakfast skillets are complemented by coffee from 517 Coffee Co. and craft soda from Northwoods Soda near Traverse City.

A floral mural, floral lights and petals atop the store’s mocktails root PetalPop in the building’s history. Brown is determined to make it feel like home for customers.

“I even got a Pac-Man game,” she said, pointing at an arcade table. “It’s supposed to bring you back to your childhood. It’s supposed to make you feel like you’re welcome. There are a lot of people who don’t have anyone, and this way people are able to connect with people, talk to each other. There are no TVs, so you’re stuck talking to your friends.”

The cafe is open from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily. When summer hits, Brown will set up eight tables outdoors. She also eventually wants to open for dinner, where she says she really shines, but the bar still won’t serve alcohol.

“We’re not going to have any alcohol because we’re trying to be a community restaurant, and alcohol isn’t a big push for communities,” Brown said, adding the soda bar will offer sober patrons the opportunity to sit at a bar and order drinks.

Over the course of a 20-minute interview at the bar, three customers came up to start or continue conversations with Brown, she effortlessly guided them into larger group conversations. Some customers chimed in to answer City Pulse’s questions and voice their support for the cafe. When Brown was asked what the cafe brought to the area, radio DJ and local mainstay Metro Melik chimed in first: “A bathroom,” he said.

Brown’s answer is made-to-order food. The cooks patty their own burgers from ground meat, even. It means the food takes a little longer, but Brown thinks it’s worth it.

Just two weeks into operating, Brown said community turnout has been great, bringing people from both downtown and the Genesee neighborhood together. Just like Lucile’s shop did, Brown hopes.

“We’ve had a really good turnout from the churches, we’ve had a really good turnout from the people in the neighborhood itself, which, we really want the neighborhood to be here,” she said.
“And we got quite a nice lunch push from the state buildings, which is wonderful, because it’s like they’re giving back to the community themselves.”