Free Spirit 50th anniversary walking tour

Sixty years ago, downtown Lansing was a vibrant shopping area lined with women’s clothing stores, shoe stores, major department stores and an array of specialty stores. You could also bowl, grab a caramel-corn treat and catch a movie at one of three theaters.

The Historical Society of Greater Lansing will host a walking tour at 6:30 p.m. Thursday (July 18) to return to those days. The tour will kick off in the alley behind the New Daily Bagel for the dedication of a mural recognizing Free Spirit, a hippie emporium that opened in 1969 and closed in the mid-‘70s. Local artist Brian Whitfield has installed the mural at the former site of the Sleep Shop, which was one of the numerous stores that made up Free Spirit. (It also included a jewelry shop, a record shop, a shoe store, a Black hair products store and a head shop.) Free Spirit was so different that it was even written up in The Wall Street Journal.

Attendees will also learn what happened to a fabulous street clock that was located on Washington Square, as well as a sign advertising violin repair. They’ll also hear from people who worked and shopped at Free Spirit, where you could buy everything from Crosby, Stills and Nash’s newest record to Zig-Zag rolling papers while tripping on art by Dennis Preston and dreaming of a hot fudge sundae from Knapp’s.

The tour is free and open to the public. For more information, visit lansinghistory.org/events/free-spirit-50th-anniversary-walking-tour