In 1963, Rudy Stober opened up his new bar in downtown Lansing. His patrons were mostly blue collar workers from the numerous factories that were located in Lansing during the post-war manufacturing boom. Butler noted that like most major cities in the United States, Lansing was one of many that capitalized on the manufacturing craze sweeping the country.

“Every car company was contributing to the war effort, [Ransom E.] Olds was no different. John Deere also had a factory here and they too would make assembled goods for the U.S. military,” she said.

Linda Stober recalls The Rustic Village, whose named was changed to Stober’s Lounge in 1973, opening every morning at 7AM to accommodate the flood of workers coming in for their factory jobs. Oldsmobile, John Deere, Adam’s Potato Chip Company, and so on all had manufacturing plants in Lansing. Milkmen and bakers made their way into Stober’s Bar at one point or another before being replaced by supermarkets.

“I think that’s what I really loved about it, you wouldn’t believe the number of incredible, fantastic people that I knew, it is one of the best things in my life,” Linda said.

Yet not everyone was sharing in the post-war good fortune. African-Americans were still heavily discriminated against in this time.

In a 1958 copy of the Lansing city code of ordinances, there is but one brief paragraph about non-discrimination which only refers to employment in city government. There is no written ordinance against discrimination in the private sector, both for hiring and service. As such, quite a few bars in the Lansing area could and did deny service to Lansing’s growing black population, which according to An Illustrated History had grown to about 8.5 percent of the city’s population by 1969.

Stober’s Lounge was the one exception.

Being an immigrant himself with his own past of suffering discrimination, Rudy Stober did not participate in the complicit racism of the time. As Linda recalls, “He was probably the most openly tolerant person I knew. He’d always say, ‘If a man acts like a gentleman in this bar, he will be served.”

It’s because of this generous spirit that Stober’s Bar was able to stay competitive and survive the economic downturn of the 1970s.

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