The Tenderloin and The Town: Michigan City, IN

Jun 20, 20215 min read

Updated: Jun 20, 2021

The Tenderloin:

The next stop brings us to the shores of Lake Michigan in Michigan City… Indiana. Stay tuned to “The Town” portion to find out why a city in Indiana is named after its neighbor state, it may not actually be what most people think they know. In the meantime we will take a look at the tenderloin at a different shoreline than the beach; the Shoreline Brewery which lies near the tracks in the old industrial area. Founded in 2005 it is one of the first breweries to emerge before the boom of every downtown having one that occurred in the late 00’s. We came to find it in an old warehouse that had recently expanded as I don’t remember it being this big last time I was here. It contains a large outside area filled with customers and listening to a band play on this Sunday afternoon. With a very short wait to get in I was able to fill my growler and order up one of the best tenderloins in the state. The commonly named “Hoosier Pork Tenderloin” was made with a buttermilk and cracker crust. It made the breading more crispy and darker than other loins I’ve chomped on. It was a good crisp, almost taking over the whole sandwich, but without any tasteless sogginess you may get with a thicker breading, it made the pork so much better to eat. It is a pretty good size too, more than enough to eat in one sitting. With a nice cup of hot buffalo sauce and the atmosphere of a live band on a spacious industrial setting, it may have very well been the most enjoyable time I have had eating a tenderloin. With a plethora of other delicious high quality bar food to enjoy here with your microbrew, the “Hoosier Pork Tenderloin” may get lost in the menu, but definitely worth a trip out to try one while visiting the beach, zoo, lighthouse, casino, mall, or anything else MC has to offer.

The Town:

So why is Michigan City in Indiana? Most people may tell you that it is from when they moved the border of Indiana further north into Michigan in order to give the newly formed state more access to the lake. Michigan City then moved from Michigan to Indiana. The problem with that explanation is that the border was moved in 1816, over 15 years before Michigan City was founded. The actual reason is that the town was platted at the terminus of Michigan Road; a highway built in the 1830 – 1840’s to connect The Ohio River to Lake Michigan thru Indiana. The real question should be: why it is called "Michigan" Road although it lies fully in the state of Indiana and never entered Michigan?

Michigan City houses two lighthouses. One that works at the end of the harbor and another, older, one that now houses a museum. Back before the harbor was built and the shoreline expanded, this old lighthouse sat on the shore of Lake Michigan. You can now tour the old lighthouse to see the how the lightkeeper lived and see other historical photos and artifacts of Michigan City. Open now is the tower area where you can climb a spiral staircase and get a panoramic view of the Washington Park area and the lake. We really enjoyed walking around the old structure and talking with the curators in the museum. It’s a good place to get a bit of history of the area.

There is a zoo here too. It is only the 29th biggest city in the state, but it has enough tourist traffic that it can host a medium sized zoo for people to enjoy. I’ll admit that a zoo is not my thing, but being built 90 years ago on a side of a hill (dune), it makes it an interesting stroll to see the animals. It’s not like it is so small they only have squirrels and dogs or something, you can see lions, tigers, zebras, bears, and American Eagles. There is an observation tower in the park too. Unfortunately it is still closed for the pandemic, but in the past I have climbed it to get spectacular views of the city and lake.

The city also has a Schoop’s. Granted, this diner is a local chain and can be found throughout the Northwest Indiana and South Chicago area, but they have one of the best burgers you can get and is always worth a quick lunch stop. Two things make this 50’s style restaurant special. First off the burger: it comes out with this crust on the outside of the meat that tastes salty and is super crisp, while the inside remains thick and juicy. I always get “The Mickey” which has two slices of melty cheese on a single patty. Secondly, they got Green River pop here. This is the holy grail of soda. The sweet lime flavor always tastes better coming out of a fountain rather than a bottle. This is the first place I’ve ever had Green River, and have never veered from the beverage choice since eating at a Schoop’s back in Highland when I was a kid. We stopped here, sat at the counter, and loaded up on burgers and a couple glasses of green river before setting out on our grand Michigan City adventure.

Mount Baldy is a large dune just west of the power plant on the shoreline of Michigan City. When settlers removed the vegetation it became this soft open hill of sand. For years it served as a playground for people to climb to the top and enjoy the views of the area before sliding down to the beach. As the years went on the naked dune started migrating south and enveloped some of the forests below it. Some of these trees died and disintegrated forming tall slender air pockets. Back in 2013 a kid fell into one of these voids. A few hours later he was rescued and eventually made a complete recovery. The migrating dune had become a minefield and was closed off to visitors. Well, not all visitors… The national park has made available ranger guided tours to safely climb the dune about once a week during the warmer months. We had the privilege of going on one of these tours. But before the hike, we spent some time on the beach. Anyone can take a short hike around the dune through the forest and down a deep slope of sand to spend some time by the lake. With the view of the power plant on one side and a silhouette of the Chicago skyline to the west, you can enjoy the waves and sun to relax before you summit the hill. The ranger guided tour gives you access to lightly traveled trails and the top of the west side of the dune. They go over a lot of the history and geology of the area while catching the awesome views of the surrounding area. We found out that it is very important for people to stay off the closed portions and not go on unauthorized hikes as it is very dangerous and can further destroy the ecosystem of the area. It was so peaceful up there as we witnessed the beautiful sun set slowly into the purple lake. I call it west coast scenery right here in Indiana.

For being only the 29th largest city in Indiana, Michigan City sure has a lot of activities, sights, and things to do. There is a lot of tourism from the city across the lake that makes the city bigger than the census designates. I had some friends that lived there back in my college days, so I had spent a lot of time there around 25 years ago. The downtown area (which I did not capture in this article) that was dormant in the mid to late 90’s is now flourishing with art centers, boutique shops, and small restaurants. It’s now inviting and impressive; worthy of another future blog of adventures, and of course, another tenderloin.