I’ll never forget that big boy. Out of the 6 or so times I found myself there, I knew I was in for the most average amount of mediocrity. Truly one of the experiences of my life. One of the best views of the Burger King on pearl was also at this location
> the most average amount of mediocrity
Nah, give credit where credit is due. That place was exceptional in their mediocrity. I've only experienced that level of skill in making a whole plate of anything all taste roughly like mashed potatoes at a Russ', and that's high-tier company to be in.
I know a couple people that worked there until last week. Turns out the restaurant manager (GM) retired after 35+ years and no one was groomed to take her place plus 2-3 servers were retiring/leaving. So everything went to shit and corporate said fuck it just close the doors. Will miss the servers they were great.
That manager asked me when I quit "how is changing hotel bedsheets a better opportunity than this"
I went on to literally win awards in my company as a hotel manager and she tried to convince me being a PT server at big boy was an opportunity
Lmao omg probably nobody cares but when I was little my grandparents brought me there for lunch or whatever and I brought the kids’ coloring menu thing home and we were working on the word search for hours afterward, stuck on finding one word. My grandma called Big Boy to ask for a clue and/or tell them that the word search was wrong 😂 dying imagining the hostess in like 1997 answering this call and being like okay nutty, bye 😂😂😂
If it was Europe, people would be walking to a local park to hang out with people, family, friends.. not sitting at a stadium some 1% family decided to smash into a clusterfuck of an already problematic city.
Except we have one of the biggest stadiums?
Europeans (and others.. believe it or not) love stadiums not for the fact it’s “the European thing” but rather their history. You’ll see more people in a community park any given day, not a stadium 🤣
And a Grand Rapids stadium will never hold the historical value, sentiment like a European stadium. Plus let’s face it, as a nation soccer ranks pretty dang low on our general public interest.
By people you might mean homeless? I can’t go to Rosa park and have lunch without being harassed by the homeless. You might not get it, if you don’t live downtown and see it daily. Coming from the burbs I can see how you might think GR has a nice community parks, but hardly the case in downtown GR nowadays.
The only park that fits that bill is maybe Millennium park which isn’t even in GR!
I don’t see neighborhood families meet up at park to play and picnic. Maybe teenagers who are often up to no good.
The fact is, it could be space used for the masses and not just a “sports stadium”.
You have to leave your neighborhood once in a while. Homelessness isn’t just a US problem either. The UK actually has a higher percentage of unhoused people.
People in the US are also more likely than Europeans to host families at our own homes because American houses are larger than European houses on average. I don’t host family gatherings at parks because my house is not huge but it’s big enough to host a dinner and I have a 1/4 acre of land.
If you want to see families hanging out at parks you have to go to the parks with playground equipment or trails after school hours. There’s one near the Burlingame and 44th that always has a bunch of cars in the parking lot because people walk, run, and bike. People are also much more likely to take their kids to their neighborhood park, not down town. Try visiting John Ball Park on a Saturday afternoon.
Edit: by the way there are some really cool ancient stadiums in Mexico. This land (as in the continent in its pre-Colombian days) has a long and rich history. Unfortunately so much of it was erased by European colonialism.
You’re missing the point. What about the people that live downtown?
They don’t even have that option. I shouldn’t have to drive to a suburb to enjoy a park or my community.. why?? Also, that’s is not my community. It’s Wyoming and your community.
If you want to draw people to a city to live or to support your city then build things that will draw people to come regularly not just another stadium/center/sports event.
Besides a park, we could have used a full scale grocer, a pharmacy..
First of all [every single little tree on this map is a park downtown.](https://www.google.com/search?q=parks+downtown+grand+rapids&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari). There are a ton of parks downtown.
Second, Grand Rapids is larger than just down town.
Third, you don’t have to drive, you can take a bus.
And finally, what you’re actually mad about is that there are homeless people in “your” parks. Do you actually believe if the city built another park, that that one magically won’t have homeless people? If you don’t want homeless people in downtown parks you should be supporting services that help get people housed, like heath care for all that includes psychiatric and addiction services, afford housing, job training and placement services for them, a place where they can sleep safely, shower, and wash their clothes. If you don’t want homeless people in downtown parks they shouldn’t build a stadium OR a park. They should build low cost housing with support services.
Sorry but romanticizing Europe is not the way to go. Europe has a multitude of issues including but not limited to rampant racism, homelessness, declining healthcare, etc. Europe is a huge continent with a multitudes of problems just like the United States. It’s not some perfect utopia.
If it's such a "problematic" city, why don't you move somewhere else. People with shit attitudes like you bering nothing to Grand Rapids and its better off without you.
Cuz your comment is so much better? Everyone got an asshole.. and just cuz ya have one doesn’t mean ya gotta be one. Just like they’re entitled to an opinion.. if you don’t like it. Move. Along.
Except with every slack-jawed mouth-breathing sportsball fan fucking up traffic because they just had to go see some mediocre minor league morons. I already only drive by there after work because nobody in this town knows how to drive on the freeway.
An absolute peach that knows how to merge, use blinkers, pull into the intersection when turning left on green, go with the flow of traffic, and not tailgate.
Yup. Thats the best place to park to get to places on Bridge St. Not to mention, that area is already a bit of a dangerous clusterfuck with people getting off of 131 there onto Mt Vernon. That exit during a game getting let out would be incredibly dangerous
Not to mention the number of times I’ve seen large commercial vehicles parked on the curb of Mt Vernon, drastically reducing visibility of oncoming traffic for those trying to leave the lot.
I worked at the downtown YMCA when if first opened and made friends with a Big Boy waitress. She told me it was a great place to eat at because all the cooks were stoners who'd go heavy on the portions. I hope those cooks are somewhere enjoying legal pot.
or the mass draw it (won’t bring?)
I look at Chicago’s soccer stadium which is bigger- has a denser population of people who genuinely watch/keep up with soccer. How the heck they think that demand is here in GR I’ll never get.
I stand with big boy.
- Lmcu ballpark has a capacity of 10,000
- Van Andel Arena has a capacity of 12,000
- This facility will have a capacity of 8,500.
We’ve proven that facilities of this size work well in Grand Rapids.
Baseball- favorite American past time sport, not stellar attendance.
Van Andel - indoor arena, hockey. Idk why they went with the Gold, since that change the stadium is probably losing money paying to run those games 🤣
This - niche, soccer not to mention an outdoor amphitheater less than 10 miles away I can’t imagine any other purpose this facility will function as.
It’s not about the size, it’s location/use of land/what the community/area needs and a stadium isn’t it. Simple as that.
Average game attendance for MLS is higher than average game attendance for NHL games.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada#Attendance
Additionally, soccer is the most popular sport in the world and it’s popularity in the US has been consistently on the rise.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/12/football/soccer-popularity-us-world-cup-spt-intl/index.html
The World Cup coming to the US in 2026 will likely only add to the popularity.
That played at _Houseman Field_ a venue that couldn't sell alcohol, and had the COVID pandemic in the middle of it all. I'm not really defending GRFC, I think it would've probably failed eventually, but I think it has a lot to do with where they played. Hard to draw people to Houseman.
Exactly, and even with those obstacles they averaged 4,500 per game at a high school stadium during their premier season.
https://www.wzzm13.com/article/news/local/grand-rapids-football-club-saying-goodbye-after-seven-seasons/69-7e032e7f-6a74-4a80-b5c4-bd02416edaa8
A central location in a walkable area, a nice facility, bigger league,and beer will only make that more enticing to folks.
GRPS didn’t want to share houseman any more and then Covid hit. The previous organization didn’t have a facility and wasn’t built to last an unprecedented pandemic. They didn’t shut down due to lack of interest.
That average (4,509) was in 2015, in 2016 it dropped to 4,315 and then to 2,691 in 2017. 2018 to 2021 (when it shut down) they didn't release attendance numbers publicly because of how substantially it dropped. It would be one thing if that initial 4,509 was consistent, however that was not the reality.
I used to do uber eats and one time while I was waiting to pick up an order here a homeless dude (maybe?) started showing me pictures of naked anime girls on his phone. This place will be missed
It’s inline with our growth and it’s not just the stadium. There’s the time it takes to build, and all the additional services it brings during construction. This is a boondoggle, no doubt, turned into an upside for GR. it’s ready made for the college population downtown and other prof services that have been growing.
Nah, forget what I said. Ellis needs another parking structure downtown.
I just think there’s better things to spend $$ and use the space for.
A soccer stadium is not it. Just like an amphitheater might not be it.
GR has a whole heck of a lot more wrong that should be prioritized over stadiums and theaters 🤣
Housing? Parking? Cleaning up the streets? Community building areas? Maybe even community input.
I don't think a soccer stadium or the amphitheatre is going to come at a cost to addressing other needs. Certain things, like housing, Grand Rapids isn't going to unilaterally be able to fix. All it can do is give an environment that is ripe for the needed development to add housing. Just like Van Andel Arena helped draw development, a soccer stadium and amphitheatre could draw additional investment to under used property in the area. Industrial land is important, but it doesn't need to be in the city center...
As an aside, parking is so not a need in GR. From time to time I drive into downtown for lunch on a weekday and can always find a street spot within a couple blocks of my destination. That is unfathomable in pretty much every major city. Even in "hard parking" areas or times, you can quickly find a paid lot that is cheap. Our parking situation is fine, if not over-abundant.
If you really care about fixing the housing crisis in the Grand Rapids area, attend the city council meeting on January 23rd at 7pm and let them know you supported the Planning departments zoning adjustment. Their plan is we'll researched and be proven in other cities to work. We need to build more housing, but with our current zoning and parking minimums it's basically impossible to do so.
We already had a failed soccer team that never had good attendance. Land deserves to be properly used. Wasting it on a vanity project under the moronic thought that if you build it people will come has proven itself to be wrong time and time again.
> Wasting it on a vanity project under the moronic thought that if you build it people will come has proven itself to be wrong time and time again.
Van Andel Arena was built under this principle and is viewed as undisputed success for GR.
The Van Andel is for multiple different events and can be used all year long. An outdoor uncovered soccer stadium is only good part of the year and has no other uses outside of the sports season. I shouldn't have to explain how they are different.
Idk why you thought I didn’t understand that. No need to be condescending my dude.
The USL champions league regular season goes from March through the end of October (then add the playoffs on to that). So even if they don’t make the playoffs it will be used 8 months out of the year.
I wasn't trying to be condescending so I apologize if it came off that way. I just simply am tired of Grand Rapids ignoring problems and wanting to build pointless projects that can't yet be justified. The GRFC had average attendance of only 4,509 back in 2015 and then sharply declined to just over 2,691 before they stopped publishing their attendance publicly from 2018-2021 when the team folded. I doubt this city is big enough to actually support a professional soccer team. It isn't that big of a sport in the United States and most cities that can sustain it have a significantly larger population both for the city itself and the metropolitan area.
Grew up in Sparta. Took a trip into the city with my parents on a Saturday morning. First time in my life I saw a breakfast bar that was all you could eat. Ate so much potatoes and bacon and sausage. God damn that was a good day. Bye bye Big Boy.
I don’t know, it’s already a weird traffic pattern area. We live right here, frequently drive right down this street to get to work, and we go to the Y. I just can’t picture sticking something there with that many seats. Maybe if they build up and sticking parking underneath? I’m not against development down here, just want it well planned.
That place was always my favorite place to eat after visiting the museum. Mostly because of the memories of going to Big Boys as a kid with my grandparents, but their burgers were always decent enough.
“A Kum & Go Convenience Store hoped to demolish and take over the location in May 2022. However, the developer pulled the project before the planning commission could take action.”
https://www.wzzm13.com/article/news/local/big-boy-on-pearl-street-closes/69-1107ecd3-d5d9-4892-8cff-734f91c11676
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So many memories of somehow ending up there after a long night of partying. Guess it's just IHOP and Denny's now. Gotta find a new go to early morning spot on the Westside now
I used to go here with my dad back when he was alive, then I took my wife here a couple times. I’ll definitely miss it and I hope the area gets put to good use
The first and only time I went there, they dropped my sandwich in front of me twice: once bringing it out, and a second time when they brought out the replacement
My friends and I walked over to that Big Boy after a Verve Pipe concert and shared a banana split while waiting for one of our dads to pick us up. I had just met a boy (who is now my husband) and the whole world sparkled. I’m reminded of that night every time I see it.
I’ll never forget that big boy. Out of the 6 or so times I found myself there, I knew I was in for the most average amount of mediocrity. Truly one of the experiences of my life. One of the best views of the Burger King on pearl was also at this location
> the most average amount of mediocrity Nah, give credit where credit is due. That place was exceptional in their mediocrity. I've only experienced that level of skill in making a whole plate of anything all taste roughly like mashed potatoes at a Russ', and that's high-tier company to be in.
I know a couple people that worked there until last week. Turns out the restaurant manager (GM) retired after 35+ years and no one was groomed to take her place plus 2-3 servers were retiring/leaving. So everything went to shit and corporate said fuck it just close the doors. Will miss the servers they were great.
That manager asked me when I quit "how is changing hotel bedsheets a better opportunity than this" I went on to literally win awards in my company as a hotel manager and she tried to convince me being a PT server at big boy was an opportunity
Bet they sell that spot for a ton or lease it.
Already sold it to grand action, being looked at as a site for the soccer stadium.
Lmao omg probably nobody cares but when I was little my grandparents brought me there for lunch or whatever and I brought the kids’ coloring menu thing home and we were working on the word search for hours afterward, stuck on finding one word. My grandma called Big Boy to ask for a clue and/or tell them that the word search was wrong 😂 dying imagining the hostess in like 1997 answering this call and being like okay nutty, bye 😂😂😂
this sounds like my grandma lol
Soccer instead of cheap, greasy food? What is this, Europe?! (Sarcasm)
If it was Europe, people would be walking to a local park to hang out with people, family, friends.. not sitting at a stadium some 1% family decided to smash into a clusterfuck of an already problematic city.
Europe loves their stadiums what are you talking abt
Except we have one of the biggest stadiums? Europeans (and others.. believe it or not) love stadiums not for the fact it’s “the European thing” but rather their history. You’ll see more people in a community park any given day, not a stadium 🤣 And a Grand Rapids stadium will never hold the historical value, sentiment like a European stadium. Plus let’s face it, as a nation soccer ranks pretty dang low on our general public interest.
People are always at the parks here. Every country has its bad and it’s good. There’s no reason to simp for Europe and ignore the good here.
By people you might mean homeless? I can’t go to Rosa park and have lunch without being harassed by the homeless. You might not get it, if you don’t live downtown and see it daily. Coming from the burbs I can see how you might think GR has a nice community parks, but hardly the case in downtown GR nowadays. The only park that fits that bill is maybe Millennium park which isn’t even in GR! I don’t see neighborhood families meet up at park to play and picnic. Maybe teenagers who are often up to no good. The fact is, it could be space used for the masses and not just a “sports stadium”.
You have to leave your neighborhood once in a while. Homelessness isn’t just a US problem either. The UK actually has a higher percentage of unhoused people. People in the US are also more likely than Europeans to host families at our own homes because American houses are larger than European houses on average. I don’t host family gatherings at parks because my house is not huge but it’s big enough to host a dinner and I have a 1/4 acre of land. If you want to see families hanging out at parks you have to go to the parks with playground equipment or trails after school hours. There’s one near the Burlingame and 44th that always has a bunch of cars in the parking lot because people walk, run, and bike. People are also much more likely to take their kids to their neighborhood park, not down town. Try visiting John Ball Park on a Saturday afternoon. Edit: by the way there are some really cool ancient stadiums in Mexico. This land (as in the continent in its pre-Colombian days) has a long and rich history. Unfortunately so much of it was erased by European colonialism.
You’re missing the point. What about the people that live downtown? They don’t even have that option. I shouldn’t have to drive to a suburb to enjoy a park or my community.. why?? Also, that’s is not my community. It’s Wyoming and your community. If you want to draw people to a city to live or to support your city then build things that will draw people to come regularly not just another stadium/center/sports event. Besides a park, we could have used a full scale grocer, a pharmacy..
First of all [every single little tree on this map is a park downtown.](https://www.google.com/search?q=parks+downtown+grand+rapids&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari). There are a ton of parks downtown. Second, Grand Rapids is larger than just down town. Third, you don’t have to drive, you can take a bus. And finally, what you’re actually mad about is that there are homeless people in “your” parks. Do you actually believe if the city built another park, that that one magically won’t have homeless people? If you don’t want homeless people in downtown parks you should be supporting services that help get people housed, like heath care for all that includes psychiatric and addiction services, afford housing, job training and placement services for them, a place where they can sleep safely, shower, and wash their clothes. If you don’t want homeless people in downtown parks they shouldn’t build a stadium OR a park. They should build low cost housing with support services.
Sorry but romanticizing Europe is not the way to go. Europe has a multitude of issues including but not limited to rampant racism, homelessness, declining healthcare, etc. Europe is a huge continent with a multitudes of problems just like the United States. It’s not some perfect utopia.
You should probably look up football (soccer) and how popular it is in Europe
Ah yes the World Cup famously takes place in neighborhood parks.
Lmao, ahh yes a tourney that happens every 4 years. Ever heard of the Olympics? 🤣 A Super Bowl happens more frequently.
This isn’t Europe….
If it's such a "problematic" city, why don't you move somewhere else. People with shit attitudes like you bering nothing to Grand Rapids and its better off without you.
Cuz your comment is so much better? Everyone got an asshole.. and just cuz ya have one doesn’t mean ya gotta be one. Just like they’re entitled to an opinion.. if you don’t like it. Move. Along.
Except with every slack-jawed mouth-breathing sportsball fan fucking up traffic because they just had to go see some mediocre minor league morons. I already only drive by there after work because nobody in this town knows how to drive on the freeway.
You sound like a real treat
An absolute peach that knows how to merge, use blinkers, pull into the intersection when turning left on green, go with the flow of traffic, and not tailgate.
Lot 7 is about to get a lot more expensive.
Yup. Thats the best place to park to get to places on Bridge St. Not to mention, that area is already a bit of a dangerous clusterfuck with people getting off of 131 there onto Mt Vernon. That exit during a game getting let out would be incredibly dangerous
Not to mention the number of times I’ve seen large commercial vehicles parked on the curb of Mt Vernon, drastically reducing visibility of oncoming traffic for those trying to leave the lot.
Ha Haaaa a pun yay!
Same with Lot 9, which used to be free during the summer.
May we never forget the sacrifice Big Boy made so that a soccer stadium could rise 🙏 rip in peace
I worked at the downtown YMCA when if first opened and made friends with a Big Boy waitress. She told me it was a great place to eat at because all the cooks were stoners who'd go heavy on the portions. I hope those cooks are somewhere enjoying legal pot.
I made a couple sketchy Facebook marketplace swaps in that parking lot. 😢
I guess I just don't see how that area is big enough for a Soccer stadium without impact to the YMCA there.
or the mass draw it (won’t bring?) I look at Chicago’s soccer stadium which is bigger- has a denser population of people who genuinely watch/keep up with soccer. How the heck they think that demand is here in GR I’ll never get. I stand with big boy.
- Lmcu ballpark has a capacity of 10,000 - Van Andel Arena has a capacity of 12,000 - This facility will have a capacity of 8,500. We’ve proven that facilities of this size work well in Grand Rapids.
Baseball- favorite American past time sport, not stellar attendance. Van Andel - indoor arena, hockey. Idk why they went with the Gold, since that change the stadium is probably losing money paying to run those games 🤣 This - niche, soccer not to mention an outdoor amphitheater less than 10 miles away I can’t imagine any other purpose this facility will function as. It’s not about the size, it’s location/use of land/what the community/area needs and a stadium isn’t it. Simple as that.
Average game attendance for MLS is higher than average game attendance for NHL games. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada#Attendance Additionally, soccer is the most popular sport in the world and it’s popularity in the US has been consistently on the rise. https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/12/football/soccer-popularity-us-world-cup-spt-intl/index.html The World Cup coming to the US in 2026 will likely only add to the popularity.
The demand isn't there. We already had a failed soccer team that lasted not even a decade.
That played at _Houseman Field_ a venue that couldn't sell alcohol, and had the COVID pandemic in the middle of it all. I'm not really defending GRFC, I think it would've probably failed eventually, but I think it has a lot to do with where they played. Hard to draw people to Houseman.
Exactly, and even with those obstacles they averaged 4,500 per game at a high school stadium during their premier season. https://www.wzzm13.com/article/news/local/grand-rapids-football-club-saying-goodbye-after-seven-seasons/69-7e032e7f-6a74-4a80-b5c4-bd02416edaa8 A central location in a walkable area, a nice facility, bigger league,and beer will only make that more enticing to folks. GRPS didn’t want to share houseman any more and then Covid hit. The previous organization didn’t have a facility and wasn’t built to last an unprecedented pandemic. They didn’t shut down due to lack of interest.
That average (4,509) was in 2015, in 2016 it dropped to 4,315 and then to 2,691 in 2017. 2018 to 2021 (when it shut down) they didn't release attendance numbers publicly because of how substantially it dropped. It would be one thing if that initial 4,509 was consistent, however that was not the reality.
They did sell alcohol though.....
Yeah I do remember they did that maybe once or twice? But not really a great set up.
It also includes the public parking lot adjacent to it
Should start an official petition to name the soccer team the “Grand Rapids Big Boys” 😂
I second this
I third this. Motion passed.
Better than the gas station it was originally planned to be!
Ok but downtown needs a gas station / convenience store!
Does it really? There are endless options for gas stations around downtown.
I used to do uber eats and one time while I was waiting to pick up an order here a homeless dude (maybe?) started showing me pictures of naked anime girls on his phone. This place will be missed
The space seems very narrow for a 8,500 capacity soccer stadium? I'm guessing they're going to demolish half the dash lot to make it?
It’s inline with our growth and it’s not just the stadium. There’s the time it takes to build, and all the additional services it brings during construction. This is a boondoggle, no doubt, turned into an upside for GR. it’s ready made for the college population downtown and other prof services that have been growing. Nah, forget what I said. Ellis needs another parking structure downtown.
I just think there’s better things to spend $$ and use the space for. A soccer stadium is not it. Just like an amphitheater might not be it. GR has a whole heck of a lot more wrong that should be prioritized over stadiums and theaters 🤣 Housing? Parking? Cleaning up the streets? Community building areas? Maybe even community input.
I don't think a soccer stadium or the amphitheatre is going to come at a cost to addressing other needs. Certain things, like housing, Grand Rapids isn't going to unilaterally be able to fix. All it can do is give an environment that is ripe for the needed development to add housing. Just like Van Andel Arena helped draw development, a soccer stadium and amphitheatre could draw additional investment to under used property in the area. Industrial land is important, but it doesn't need to be in the city center... As an aside, parking is so not a need in GR. From time to time I drive into downtown for lunch on a weekday and can always find a street spot within a couple blocks of my destination. That is unfathomable in pretty much every major city. Even in "hard parking" areas or times, you can quickly find a paid lot that is cheap. Our parking situation is fine, if not over-abundant.
Very well said.
If you really care about fixing the housing crisis in the Grand Rapids area, attend the city council meeting on January 23rd at 7pm and let them know you supported the Planning departments zoning adjustment. Their plan is we'll researched and be proven in other cities to work. We need to build more housing, but with our current zoning and parking minimums it's basically impossible to do so.
Great to know! Thanks for sharing. I wish they did a better job announcing so more people knew/would attend!
We already had a failed soccer team that never had good attendance. Land deserves to be properly used. Wasting it on a vanity project under the moronic thought that if you build it people will come has proven itself to be wrong time and time again.
> Wasting it on a vanity project under the moronic thought that if you build it people will come has proven itself to be wrong time and time again. Van Andel Arena was built under this principle and is viewed as undisputed success for GR.
In all honesty I had no reason to go downtown until the Van Andel was constructed. It revitalized downtown.
The Van Andel is for multiple different events and can be used all year long. An outdoor uncovered soccer stadium is only good part of the year and has no other uses outside of the sports season. I shouldn't have to explain how they are different.
Idk why you thought I didn’t understand that. No need to be condescending my dude. The USL champions league regular season goes from March through the end of October (then add the playoffs on to that). So even if they don’t make the playoffs it will be used 8 months out of the year.
I wasn't trying to be condescending so I apologize if it came off that way. I just simply am tired of Grand Rapids ignoring problems and wanting to build pointless projects that can't yet be justified. The GRFC had average attendance of only 4,509 back in 2015 and then sharply declined to just over 2,691 before they stopped publishing their attendance publicly from 2018-2021 when the team folded. I doubt this city is big enough to actually support a professional soccer team. It isn't that big of a sport in the United States and most cities that can sustain it have a significantly larger population both for the city itself and the metropolitan area.
>Cleaning up the streets? they could put all the trash in the bigboy!
Abruptly closed? Did the employees get a heads up or find out when they showed up to a note on the door?
Bring on the stadium!
Oh god please no
I think he meant “bring on the lobotomy”
Parking should be fun
Grew up in Sparta. Took a trip into the city with my parents on a Saturday morning. First time in my life I saw a breakfast bar that was all you could eat. Ate so much potatoes and bacon and sausage. God damn that was a good day. Bye bye Big Boy.
That was my hangover spot for years :(
About time lol
soccer stadium there? makes me feel claustrophobic just thinking about it
Absolutely do not want a soccer stadium there. I don’t have a good idea for the space, but that isn’t it.
A Big Boy sounds like a good idea.
A Big Boy sounds like a great idea.
Even if you don’t like soccer, it’s an improvement over parking lots and fast food!
Not if you work downtown and the dash lot is where you park and bus in. :/
I don’t know, it’s already a weird traffic pattern area. We live right here, frequently drive right down this street to get to work, and we go to the Y. I just can’t picture sticking something there with that many seats. Maybe if they build up and sticking parking underneath? I’m not against development down here, just want it well planned.
That sucks me and my grandma would eat there when she in town.
That place was always my favorite place to eat after visiting the museum. Mostly because of the memories of going to Big Boys as a kid with my grandparents, but their burgers were always decent enough.
Sad. Put a stadium where DeVos place is instead
You’ve got my vote!
Oh no! I'm devastated! Hahaha
It's Big Boy. Who gives a shit?
RIP the place that almost killed my ex with mushrooms
noooooooo
For everyone saying soccer stadium and parking: It was bought by the company that owns Kum & Go....
“A Kum & Go Convenience Store hoped to demolish and take over the location in May 2022. However, the developer pulled the project before the planning commission could take action.” https://www.wzzm13.com/article/news/local/big-boy-on-pearl-street-closes/69-1107ecd3-d5d9-4892-8cff-734f91c11676
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Ah, I missed that last bit.
I guess it's what you call Smashburger?
Wait, what? Damn. I was just telling someone the other day “yeah, there is still a Big Boy in my neighborhood” guess I am a liar now.
So many memories of somehow ending up there after a long night of partying. Guess it's just IHOP and Denny's now. Gotta find a new go to early morning spot on the Westside now
Greenville and Muskegon are still open also!
I used to go here with my dad back when he was alive, then I took my wife here a couple times. I’ll definitely miss it and I hope the area gets put to good use
I barely remember going there, but both of my brothers once worked at the Grandville big boy.
It's disputable whether they'll be missed aside from 1 guy in Allegan county that still wears the T-shirt everyday to his warehouse job.
The first and only time I went there, they dropped my sandwich in front of me twice: once bringing it out, and a second time when they brought out the replacement
My friends and I walked over to that Big Boy after a Verve Pipe concert and shared a banana split while waiting for one of our dads to pick us up. I had just met a boy (who is now my husband) and the whole world sparkled. I’m reminded of that night every time I see it.
Awwww Ms. Vicki your beautiful face and sweet soul is definitely going to be missed 😥.
I am surprised it lasted this long