Party Store 15 courtesy of Thomas Rapai.Although we may associate party stores with 40s and cigarettes, they do serve a more profound purpose. Michigan artist Thomas Rapai turned to party stores for a series of paintings that where shown at Chicago's 40000 Gallery in 2007:
“Nowhere Else To Go” presents a new body of drawings and paintings by Thomas Rapai. The artist continues his exploration into contemporary urbanity and kitsch; his brushy, colorful “Party Store” paintings mine modern art’s historical reference points.
Alluding to the documentary style of Ed Ruscha's “Gas Station” photography, as well as the architectural brushstrokes of Richard Diebenkorn, Rapai’s paintings embody something wholly Midwestern. The contextualizing of “Party Stores” (party store is Michigan slang for the corner convenience store) creates a romantic intention that immortalizes the ubiquitous corner store, where beer, chips, cigarettes and a quart of milk are always available.
And the Word Detective comments that the term is part of unique regional dialect:
Regional dialectical variations such as “party store” for what the rest of us call a “carry-out” or “convenience store” are common in the US. There’s even an organization dedicated to studying the phenomenon (the American Dialect Society) and an ongoing scholarly project, the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE) cataloging local lingo in minute detail. Michigan shares many of the variations of what linguists call the Inland North along with Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin. Things get a bit weirder as you travel north in Michigan, where the residents of the Upper Peninsula (known as “Yoopers” from the initials UP) exhibit a vocabulary, phonological intonations and habits (especially ending sentences with “eh?”) more often associated with Canada.
Back at “party store,” I’d imagine the name arose because such places are where you buy the ingredients of an informal party, as opposed to the supermarket where one does “serious” food shopping (i.e., beyond beef jerky and cheese popcorn). In my ancestral home of New York City, such a little shop is known as a “bodega” (boh-DAY-guh), from the Spanish meaning “wine shop,” derived in turn from the Greek “apotheke,” store or depot, which also gave us “apothecary,” an old-fashioned name for a drugstore.
Anonymous said...Does anyone recall the party store about one block N/E of Dayton and Brownell? It was a real whole in the wall. They had multiple dobermans in the back to keep the riff-raff out. I can't believe I had the guts to go in there as a little girl. I don't think I would have the courage to go now.
Kathy Wallace
2310 Bassett
geewhy said...I vaguely remember this place. Was it sort of nestled in with all the houses? For some reason I never ventured in that direction, although we used to ride our bikes to the Fair store and that mall on Clio Road for a real adventure.
Smurfs Inc. said...The party store on Dartmouth and Kellar? It was still open 10 years ago and if I recall correctly had the best/worst mural of Malcolm X, MLK, and Mike Tyson on the Seneca side!?! Classic party store art only topped by the black Bart Simpson proclaiming "We Accept Food Stamps Dude" above the door of the old Lapeer Rd. Market. I've always been a fan of side street party stores. Cain's Party Store on Ohio, Avenue A Market, Brown Street Market, the aforementioned Dartmouth Market, the crazy old lawn care/beer store on Cornelia, and a particularly seedy one on York and North were personal favorites. At one time during the mid 90s the intersection of Chevrolet and Welch featured 3 party stores. Mounir's Drive-Thru and TWO in the Baskin-Robbins plaza across the street... man I loved those store fronts.
oakparkmark said...Kathy -- tell your hubby that Oak Park has joined the ranks of civilized towns like Flint where you can get a gallon milk and beer at the same place. I moved to Oak Park from Flint 20 years ago, and was appalled at the lack of alcohol availability. Now, beer and wine are available in grocery stores. But the concept of a party store isn't likely to catch on. People here don't "party." They work and then anesthetize themselves.
redgirl said...There has also been a party store on the NE corner of Fleming & Pasadena for years, across from what was a check-cashing & copy "center" on the NW corner there, next to which there was a Zenith shop on Pasadena. Even in the 70's the party shops there seemed fairly off limits to us. We went to Dave's Market and Kilbourn's Drugstore on the corner of Fleming and Caniff instead. Incidentally, there was a white house on the corner across from Dave's market that was reportedly a speakeasy during Prohibition. I was also completely unaware that the concept of "party store" was so unusual until I drove my Barcelona-born fiance to one. He thought it would be a place for wrapping paper and bows and that it would be filled with balloons and confetti. This particular one was in the Lapeer area and sold fishing tackle, as well, which led to further confusion. Pau's rather thick accent seemed to throw the friendly clerk, who then proceeded to up the vocal volume and talk more slowly while exaggerating the pointing just a bit, all in order to ensure we understood his directions :)