MISSIA'S
Missia's bar served the workers and down & out of Kalamazoo.  Some readers have remembered two earlier locations on North Burdick including "Missia's Little Red Barn." A 1960's Kalamazoo telephone book lists "Missia's Bar & Grill" at 313 N. Burdick, pictured below as it looks today.  Racially integrated, the downtown Missia's of the 80s and 90s boasted a jukebox evenly dividing R&B and Country music.   Paradoxically, a sign was put up in front proclaiming Missia's a "workingman's bar" at a time when students and slackers started hanging out there.   During its last days in the early 90s, Missia's hosted local bands and a heap of atmosphere.  A film showing antics inside the bar in the early 90s can be seen here  HERE.  Missia's had to relocate due to Downtown redevelopment, and the business, of course never the same, survived only briefly on Portage street. 

Missia's of the 1960s as seen today.
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