Family Focus

Rickshaw Rider

The Mendelson family enjoys the quiet pace of human-powered transportation.

Gabriella Burman
Special to the Jewish News

D

wring the Olympics in Beijing
last month, many tourists tooled
around the city's narrow alleyways
on rickshaws, in which a runner draws
a two-wheeled cart seating one or two
people or rides a bicycle to which the cart is
attached.
Closer to home, Dr. Stephen D. Mendelson,
an orthopedic surgeon who lives in
Huntington Woods with his wife, Alice, and
three children, can be seen riding around the
leafy neighborhood on one of three antique
rickshaws he owns.
"They're beautiful and wildly romantic:'
says Mendelson, 38, who became enamored
of rickshaws after watching the movie The
Year of Living Dangerously, which depicts
travel in Indonesia via rickshaw."I notice
much more when I ride them — the quiet,
the wind, the humidity in the air.
And it's pleasant exercise," he adds.
"You've got to be pedaling fairly well to get
two adults around!" His yellow rickshaw from
Indonesia, in which the passenger sits in the
front beneath an awning, is made of heavily
welded steel and weighs 300 pounds.
As he began collecting rickshaws,
Mendelson became increasingly interested
in them as political symbols of eras gone by.
In China, for example, after the Communist
Party came to power in 1949, rickshaws
came to be viewed as a symbol of slavery.
They were destroyed in large numbers
although some remain mainly as tourist
attractions.

Ben can peek out the back as his father
pedals around Huntington Woods.

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September 18 • 2008

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According to media reports, Olympic
organizers expressly told designers "no rick-
shaws" because they do not reflect the China
of the future, one that is becoming increas-
ingly dependent on cars for transportation.
In Bangladesh, Mendelson says, rickshaws
symbolize corruption because a gang all but
controls the country's rickshaw drivers, who
must "pay the right person to get their route."
For the most part, however, Mendelson
views his rickshaws as a hobby to share with
his children and extended family and neigh-
bors, many of whom pile on for rides while
the weather is nice.
"He definitely gets credit for taking care
of the kids when he takes them out,"Alice
Mendelson says.
The rickshaws attract much notice. The
rickshaw from India has been restored to
its 1940s glory, complete with pictures of
famous Indian actresses, a small statue of
Buddha, cancelled stamps from India, and is
adorned with flowers. Passengers sit behind
Mendelson as he rides along and plays
Indian music from his iPod.
"It's like cruising in Miami Beach:' he
says, "except I'm taking my kids to the play-
ground."
"It brings a smile to our faces when we
see them," says neighbor Susan Sabbath,
who joked recently with Mendelson that
he should appear in the Woodward Dream
Cruise. "He prides himself on showing his
kids the neighborhood from a unique van-
tage point. It's done in a real spirit of family!'

Green Alternative
Mendelson purchased all of his rickshaws on
the Internet. When they were delivered, they
were rusted and had to be taken apart, sand-
blasted and repainted. Mendelson enlisted
the help of Steve Awada, owner of Michigan
Bicycle in Oak Park.
Awada, who has been in business 30 years,
has seen dozens of rickshaws purchased by
people who intend to use them for fitness
and recreation. While bicycle rickshaws,
known as pedicabs, are becoming popular
in London and New York City and in smaller
towns across the U.S. as a "green" alterna-
tive to taxis, they have not yet caught on in
Detroit. In April, a Royal Oak teenager who
had approached that city's government about
a pedicab service was turned down because
man-powered taxi vehicles are prohibited
there.
Awada suspects that if much of the coun-

Dr. Stephen Mendelson takes his son, Ben, 7, on a rickshaw ride.

try had a summer climate year-round, "the
U.S. would sell a lot more of them," especially
ones with an electric motor.
Awada outfitted Mendelson's newest rick-
shaw with such an assist. Like the first two,
this one, a trishaw from Singapore, in which
the passenger sits in a sidecar, has a story
behind it.
"It belonged to someone working in the
[U.S.] Foreign Service and then was passed
through several hands, including an owner
in South Carolina who used it to transfer his
infirm aunt," Mendelson says. "When she
passed away, he put it up for sale on eBayf'

"I was lucky to find it," he continues. "It's
becoming almost impossible to find antique
rickshaws in the U.S." Mendelson paid under
$1,000 for each one.
Mendelson, whose rickshaws have over-
taken his garage, aspires to own a fleet
of rickshaws representing each of the 15
existing styles worldwide and to ultimately
donate the collection to a motor museum.
But for now, Mendelson is keeping it all
in the family. "My brother has a Ferrari:' he
explains. "When I park my rickshaw next to
it, his car gets a lot of attention — but my
rickshaw generates more smiles." II