Datestamp of our adventure, which started aboard the 446 AATA bus on Route 4. No smoking, no hot dogs, or other buses (?) allowed on board.

As we reported last week, SOS Community Services was to embark on a fundraising effort on Nov. 21-22: Dine Out to Help the Homeless. Seven different area bars and restaurants participated. On Saturday, we visited them all.

Transportation to Ypsilanti and back was provided by the AATA bus system. We observed a lot along the way to make some donations for the cause, including a guy we pegged as a graduate student in some liberal arts field who was having trouble finding change for the bus, because his coin purse was still filled with a mix of Turkish lira from a trip to Turkey … this past summer. We donated a dollar to his cause as well. The last thing the AATA needs is a bunch of lira in their farebox.

Here’s some photographs we took along the journey. They’re organized thematically, not chronologically.

The way to Ypsilanti

Bus 446 departed Blake Transit Center right on time. After looping through the UM hospitals, we had around 16 people on board when we hit the intersection of Washtenaw and Stadium, headed east towards Ypsi.

Ypsi-Arbor Bowl is a landmark that lets you know you're nearing Ypsilanti.

Staff we met

Geoff E. at the Corner Brewery in Ypsilanti.

The guy tending bar at The Arena in Ann Arbor asked Jessica T. to substitute, saying that she was more photogenic.

Blue Tractor hostess Adrianna D. was smiles all around for the SOS fundraiser.

Arbor Brewing's SOS Dine Out for the Homeless sign was taped smack in the middle of the front door.

Beer identification test

Beer 1: Name the establishment and the beer for bragging rights.

Beer 2: Name the establishment and the beer for bragging rights.

Beer 3: Name the establishment and the beer for bragging rights. Here's a hint if you don't recognize the logo on the coaster: it's Tammy P. in the background.

Beer 4: Name the establishment and the beer for bragging rights.

Owners we met

Co-owner of the Corner Brewery, Matt Greff, stopped by for a chat.

Owner of the Side Track, Linda French.

Co-owner of The Old Town Tavern, Chris Pawlicki, wearing his SOS Dine Out for the Homeless button, takes us back 10 years to Ms. Morissette: "I got one hand in my pocket, ..."

Pretty Scenery

Washington Street at Fifth Avenue looking west. Blue Tractor and The Arena were two stops along the way, as well as Arbor Brewing, across from the lighted tower of the parking structure.

Tending bar at the Corner Brewery is all about the extension and the follow-through.

It's actually where we started, not where we finshed, but the folks from BikeYpsi.org concluded one of their fall events here at the Corner Brewery.

The Blue Tractor's new sign hanging at 205-207 E. Washington St. Operating Partner Dan Glazer told The Chronicle that additional design work will be done on the sign to give it a more weathered look.

Stopped. Watched. correspondent Bill Merrill filed a report on Wednesday alerting readers that the Blue Tractor Brewery sign was about to be lifted into place by the Huron Sign Company. By the time The Chronicle arrived on the scene on Washington Street just east of Fourth Avenue, the sign had been affixed firmly to the front of the former home of Jewel Heart, just down from Cafe Habana. Blue Tractor partners Jon Carlson and Greg Lobdell also partnered on Cafe Habana, which will be physically connected to the Blue Tractor’s dance area on the lower level.

The hanging of the sign, along with forging ahead with the process of hiring of 60 staff people, is partly a reflection of Carlson and Lobdell’s success at last Monday night’s council meeting in obtaining their liquor license. That application had originally been postponed from council’s Oct. 6 meeting to sometime in December in order for the liquor committee to exercise due diligence on the application. At last Monday’s meeting, councilmember Leigh Greden explained that in general, liquor license applications would simply take longer now than they used to.

The reason? The city had reconstituted its liquor committee and would be exercising greater scrutiny of every application. Councilmember Stephen Rapundalo added that one impetus behind the greater scrutiny was to afford greater uniformity in evaluation, especially in light of the new special redevelopment licenses that had been created by the state.

Mid-dismantling of the platform-based HVAC unit in the rear of what will be the Blue Tractor.

In addition to greater scrutiny, the Blue Tractor faced some opposition from neighbors across their rear alley. As The Chronicle previously reported in its summary of the pre-council caucus of Oct. 5, nearby residents had complained about the construction of a large platform for the Blue Tractor’s HVAC units, which put them in view of second story windows. The units posed both a visual and noise nuisance, said the neighbors.

But on Monday of this week, Rapundalo brought back for reconsideration the motion for postponement of the vote on the Blue Tractor’s license. Rapundalo’s council colleagues agreed to do so, to accommodate the Blue Tractor partners’ goal of opening for business in mid-November.

It will not have hurt their cause that they were able to report from the podium at council on Monday that the offending HVAC unit had been dismantled and would be installed on the roof instead, which they said represented a cost of $40-50,000 plus the sacrificed square footage inside for the ductwork.

They said they intended a full renovation of the building, and that it would be listed in the national register of historic places. Still, they recognized that some of the neighbors don’t like the change of use from Jewel Heart, a cultural organization rooted in Tibetan Buddhism. Among the concerns cited at caucus two weeks ago was the intended use of the lower level as a dance venue, which neighbors felt would exacerbate existing problems with intoxicated patrons leaving The Arena.

Carlson and Lobdell said that they had initiated conversations with The Arena, a bar next door on the end of the block, to make use of the easement that existed on The Arena’s alley so that two entry-exit points would be available for deliveries. They said they hoped that those conversations would be supported by residential neighbors, even though they themselves didn’t have a claim on the easement. So far, they said, no word from The Arena.

The Blue Tractor is slated to open Monday, Nov. 10.

HVAC unit on platform as originally constructed behind The Blue Tractor.