Motor City Cribs

Married couple — and members of the rock band Avatars — Chris “Box” Taylor and Theresa Kiefer had been longtime downtown Ypsilanti residents. For years, the couple enjoyed all that Ypsi had to offer — the Elbow Room and Depot Town nearby and the colorful town folk, including that toxin-fueled girl caught doing the robot without her pants outside their door one morning at 4 a.m.

This summer, when Theresa (who’s a real estate agent by day) found a deal on a ranch house on the western edge of Ann Arbor, they jumped on it. Their Ypsi apartment was getting mighty cramped with Chris’ Star Wars memorabilia and guitars, three cats and Theresa’s imposing stuffed unicorn and Egyptology collections. See, they’re admitted nerds. Chris is a bit obsessed with Hans Solo and the Millennium Falcon while Theresa won a light saber for taking first place in a Princess Leia look-alike contest at a Star Wars convention. This new house gave them room to spread out and enjoy their obsessions. Most of Chris’ Star Wars stuff is down in his basement “man cave” while Theresa has her own Unicorn Princess Room retreat for record listening.

The neighborhood is pretty cool too; an elementary school and a park sit nearby. Also, some band called the Stooges took root in the same neighborhood. “Both of our wildest dreams have been met by the house,” Theresa says. ‘It takes care of my baby fever and Chris was like, ‘Wow, Ron Ashton practically lives around the corner!’”