Putnam: Mayor of Old Town's presence still felt in Lansing's arts district

LANSING – It’s been a decade since the death of Robert Busby, an artist and gallery owner known as the “Mayor of Old Town.”

In the 10 years since his brutal murder rocked the Capital City, those who were close to him say his vision of a thriving arts neighborhood in Lansing’s Old Town has been realized.

Busby’s presence is still evident in the neighborhood surrounding the corner of Grand River Avenue and Turner Street. A bronze plaque bearing his image and praising his work in building the community is displayed on the south side of the East Grand River Avenue bridge. The city named the bridge the Robert P. Busby Memorial Bridge in 2008. It boasts wide sidewalks and benches, allowing pedestrians to sit and view the river.

His image, a self-portrait, also hangs near the door of The Creole, a restaurant that’s in the former gallery where Busby staged jazz concerts from 1999 to 2007, including such well-known names as Wynton Marsalis, Bela Fleck and Mose Allison.

A park, maintained by his friends, is often called the Robert Busby memorial but it doesn’t bear his name. It’s really a riverside tribute to him and the other urban pioneers who, starting in the 1970s, slowly revitalized Old Town, once a boarded up area known as North Lansing.

But mostly his presence is felt in the success of Old Town.

When he died at age 60 some worried that the revitalization of Old Town would end, said Meegan Holland, who called him her business and life partner for 10 years before his death.

Busby was beaten to death by a troubled handyman he had befriended and allowed to sleep in a basement of a building he owned. The suspect in his murder, Elio Ramon Garcia, killed himself while being chased by police the day after Busby’s body was discovered Feb. 27, 2007.

Seven hundred people attended Busby's funeral, held at Lansing Community College’s Dart Auditorium with a tribute from Mayor Virg Bernero. The Lansing State Journal named his death one of the biggest stories of 2007.

“Old Town was still coming back. When he was murdered, people would say ‘Oh no I hope this doesn’t affect its revival,’” she recalled. “There was a real fear that that would happen.”

Holland was concert producer for the Creole. By day, she headed the Lansing bureau for Booth Newspapers, now called Mlive, where I worked for her as a state capitol reporter.

The concerts at the Creole, so named because it once housed the Creole Cigar store, were a major turning point for Old Town, Holland said.

“Frankly, it got people down there after dinner for concerts,” she said.

She recalled that in the mid-'90s many shied away from the neighborhood after dark. “A lot of people were scared to go down there,” she said.

I was acquainted with Busby as my boss’ boyfriend. I remember him as a quiet guy with a nice smile and a gentle sense of humor, a health-conscious GM retiree with a passion for art.

I’ve watched the progress of Old Town since the 1990s as a Busby acquaintance and later in 2011, working in an office there for four years.

I thought of him in May when I ventured out to the first Arts Night Out, sponsored by the Arts Council of Greater Lansing. It’s a rotating event but Old Town was chosen for the launch.

I was delighted, and guessed that he would be delighted too. Throngs enjoyed the shops and art displays. The place was packed. It was clear that Old Town, whose progress often felt like two steps forward one step back, had arrived. It's a festive place. Attractive. Quirky. A place you bring out-of-towners to shop in its art galleries and boutiques.

“I think he’d be amazed but not surprised. But it was exactly how he pictured it,” said John Patenge, a longtime friend who lives in the nearby Turner Dodge neighborhood.

Patenge volunteered at all of the Creole concerts.

He recalls the days when there were few places to take the musicians for dinner, sometimes getting baked frozen pizza from bars.

Now the area is a food destination, with Zoobie’s Old Town Tavern, The Cosmos Old Town, The Creole and Meat opening in recent years.

Jamie Schriner-Hooper now owns the building housing the The Creole restaurant, purchasing it in 2014 from Busby’s daughter, Ena, who wanted it to go to someone who shared her father’s love of Old Town.

“Old Town is what it is today because of him,” she said.

Schriner-Hooper was director of the Old Town Commercial Association from 2005 to 2009 and a close friend of Busby’s. Her sister, Summer Schriner, owns Grace Boutique of Old Town, a women's clothing store that opened 10 years ago.

“He meant so much to all of us,” Schriner-Hooper said. “I think he’d be really proud of us. All these things we worked on for so long that seemed just out of reach, we’ve been able to do it.”

Holland agreed that the momentum going in Old Town didn't stop with Busby's death.

“I think at that point, Robert had started such a cool thing that it lived on beyond his lifetime.”

Judy Putnam is a columnist with the Lansing State Journal. Contact her at (517) 267-1304 or at jputnam@lsj.com. Write to her at 300 S. Washington Square Suite #300 Lansing, MI, 48933. Follow her on Twitter @JudyPutnam.