Kalamazoo Audioguides

The name alone has lodged itself in American mythology -- 'I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo' became a Glenn Miller hit in 1942, and ever since the city has carried an extra syllable of charm that few Midwestern cities can claim. Kalamazoo, Michigan, delivers on the promise. Bell's Brewery, founded here in 1985, grew from a homebrew supply shop into one of the most beloved craft breweries in the United States, and its Oberon wheat ale remains a rite of passage for Michigan summers. Gibson Guitars manufactured legendary instruments at the Parsons Street facility for decades before moving production, leaving behind a heritage that the Kalamazoo Guitar Makers Collective keeps alive with handmade instruments.

Western Michigan University brings 24,000 students into a city of just over 70,000, shaping a cultural life larger than the population suggests.

The Kalamazoo Institute of Arts on South Park Street holds a serious collection for a regional museum, and the Vine neighborhood with its Victorian houses, independent coffee shops, and the Eccentric Café -- Bell's taproom -- gives the city a particular kind of unhurried Midwestern warmth that is easy to underestimate.