Discuss Detroit » Hall of Fame Threads » Good Old Mackenzie High School » Archive through October 04, 2007 « Previous Next »
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Terryh
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Username: Terryh

Post Number: 532
Registered: 11-2006
Posted on Friday, September 14, 2007 - 10:23 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Were there any fights?
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Livernoisyard
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Username: Livernoisyard

Post Number: 3953
Registered: 10-2004
Posted on Friday, September 14, 2007 - 10:48 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Those lights were on 24 hours/day for a few years because I usually only went by there during the day. The area had a rep for being rough after dark, but I only rarely went there then.
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Ray1936
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Username: Ray1936

Post Number: 1922
Registered: 01-2005
Posted on Friday, September 14, 2007 - 10:53 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Went to my 50th year reunion back in 2004. Was held at Vladimer's in Troy, and it was just a super get together held over two nights. The committee did a super job. I forget the figures, but it was saddening to note that several hundred fellow graduates were no longer with us. I'd guess the proportion to be around 30%.

The class snob was bragging about how he hasn't missed a U of M football game in 50 years. I took great pleasure, then, in the results of the last two weeks at the big house.
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Chuckjav
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Username: Chuckjav

Post Number: 28
Registered: 09-2007
Posted on Friday, September 14, 2007 - 11:06 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I know what you mean.

It is going to be very weird when Michigan plays Notre Dame tomorrow; one team is going to walk away with an 0-3 record.

Yeooowwwww!
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Mother_earth
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Username: Mother_earth

Post Number: 1
Registered: 09-2007
Posted on Sunday, September 16, 2007 - 12:09 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hi, my name is Carol and this is my first post. I graduated from Mackenzie High in 1959, I also have a Stag. My counselor was John Laub. I hung out across the street at The Box, and the pizzeria next door which was owned by Flo and Frankie, who were married. I lived on Prairie between Grand River and West Chicago. I also hung out at a sweetshop on Grand River called Jerry's right down the street from Temple Baptist Church. Oh what fun days. I miss Detroit! I left in 1970, not my choice and I have lived in Arizona ever since. I have read this Forum for a long time and enjoyed all your posts. I also read the Freep and the Detroit News online. I love the state of Michigan. I want to thank all of you for many things that you have mentioned that jogged my memory. I was raised on Linwood and Vicksburg, I went to Thirkell elementary then McMichael Jr. High then moved to Prairie. Graduated from Tappan Junior High.
I have one question, in one of the postings someone mentioned Puri-Test drive in at Wyoming and West Chicago, I have been racking my brain for years trying to think of the name of the drive -in. Thank you! However, I do think it also had another name? Any ideas. Someone also mentioned Marcus drive on Livernois in a past post, that also was another of my hangouts...I loved those burgers in a hot dog bun. I worked at Woolworths at Grand River and Oakman, and at Boston Shoes, when I graduated I went to work at Sears, SRC, the revolving charge office down the street from the store. We used to hang out at the White Tower, and then when I got older would stop in at The Cravat, the bar next to the White Tower. We used to go to Grand Time Bar and Restaurant down the street from Sears also, for lunch and in the evening for a drink. I used to love the Moscow Mules. I also lived on Greenfield down from Plymouth, next to Dixfield Market and across from the Circus Lounge, and I lived at Schoolcraft and Meyers in the apartment bldg next to the drugstore. I then moved out to New Hudson, than to Arizona.
Sorry my post is so long, but I wanted to tell you about myself when I lived in Detroit.
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Broken_main
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Username: Broken_main

Post Number: 1308
Registered: 06-2005
Posted on Sunday, September 16, 2007 - 2:11 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I am a little younger than the rest of you. Even though I didn't go to Mackenzie, I lived in the neighborhood(on Manor btw Ellis and Westfield) for close to 40 years. we moved into the neighborhood in 1968(I was 3) It was just my mom and I(father was killed in Vietnam 66). We were the 3rd black family on our block.

The elm trees were the most beautiful thing to see. in 1977, we had a snow storm and the branches leaned all the way to the street.

I went to Macfarlane Elementary, which at that time went all the way up to the 9th grade. Drew Jr. HS was completed and grades 7-9 went over there. I went to Drew after 5th grade. It was in 1976 that Drew became a Middle school and Mackenzie receive 9th graders(I think)

The dairy queen was run by Harvey(can't remember his last name) and still is. I think he is going to close shop because most of his business came from the High School and now that the school is closed, his business might not survive.
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Gazhekwe
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Username: Gazhekwe

Post Number: 516
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Sunday, September 16, 2007 - 2:33 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Oh, that reminds me, the Slowiks ran the Taystee Freez at the corner of Hartwell and W. Chicago. The two boys were at Mackenzie when I was, and the older one was in my class. He was at Pine Knob (I think) skiing one day that winter and saved a little kid's life, as she fell and her scarf was tangled in the tow line, and she was getting dragged and strangled. He managed to chase her down and free her. Yay, JIM!

There was a story in the musical issue of the Dial that parodied the Leader of the Laundromat that came out that year by the Detergents. The Dial story was call The Hero of the Taystee Freez.
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Ray1936
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Username: Ray1936

Post Number: 1930
Registered: 01-2005
Posted on Sunday, September 16, 2007 - 3:30 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

" and I lived at Schoolcraft and Meyers in the apartment bldg next to the drugstore."

Big yellow brick building, Carol. I remember it well. The drug store was named "Pisa Drugs" after the owner, Al Pisa, but I don't know when he sold it off. In that apartment building there also used to be a beauty shop on the lower floor, you took stairs from the outside to go down into it. My grandmother used to go there.

And you jogged my memory. "The Box" used to be named the "Flying Saucer Grill" in the early fifties, but around 1955 or so it got new owners and a new name.

Broken Main, that Dairy Queen has been there at least since 1950.

By the way, when Mackenzie first opened, it didn't have an auditorium. Graduation ceremonies were held at....ugh....Cooley.
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Mother_earth
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Username: Mother_earth

Post Number: 3
Registered: 09-2007
Posted on Sunday, September 16, 2007 - 7:22 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hi Ray,
I lived there on the 3rd floor, corner unit, had a nice view. I remember one winter my blue corvair was parked on the side street, only place you could park, dont remember the name of the street, and it snowed so much my little car was completely covered, needless to say I didnt get to work that day. I think my rent was $ 70.00 a month. I moved from there in 1968 to New Hudson. I remember during the riots looking out the kitchen window which faced Schoolcraft and the tanks were rolling by with their guns in their arms. I enjoyed that little apartment. I always felt safe.
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Broken_main
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Username: Broken_main

Post Number: 1312
Registered: 06-2005
Posted on Sunday, September 16, 2007 - 7:33 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Oh but of course Ray, I wasn't even a twinkle in my mother's eye yet. She was probably playing with her Barbie dolls(that's if they were invented yet...LOL

Ray, did you know a gal named Barbara Buda. She was my neighbors daughter. She may have been at Mackenzie when you were there.
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Ray1936
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Username: Ray1936

Post Number: 1934
Registered: 01-2005
Posted on Sunday, September 16, 2007 - 10:19 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Just checked my June, '54, Stag, and she's not there; don't recall that name either, Main.

Carol, some change from Meyers and Schoolcraft to New Hudson. In ''68 it was still mostly farmland out there. We have a friend who we stay with on our Detroit visits who now lives in New Hudson, and I had one enjoyable evening out there last summer wandering through the little New Hudson Cemetery just off Milford Road. Very historic.

I'd bet that the snowstorm that buried your car was the one of March 30, 1965. It was a doozy.
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Aiw
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Username: Aiw

Post Number: 6364
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Sunday, September 16, 2007 - 10:46 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Here's a shot of Mackenzie high from the 1950 or 51 yearbook.


00


My wife's grandmother graduated from Mackenzie.
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Chuckjav
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Username: Chuckjav

Post Number: 33
Registered: 09-2007
Posted on Monday, September 17, 2007 - 8:48 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Some really nice posts....and a great picture too.

Does anyone remember the really nice grocery market, at the corner of Plymouth and Meyers?

What about the automotive supply store (at the same) intersection....had lots of Wolf's Head motor oil signage?
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Reddog289
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Username: Reddog289

Post Number: 6
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 3:36 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

my mom grew up around there,on ilene 2 houses south of grand river. i,d hear about mhs except my mom went to the lutheran high school.i think her and at least one of my uncles wanted to go to mack. my mom talks about marcus burgers and my uncles talk about jerrys & hammerberg field, i guess learning to drive at mack was fun.
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Ray1936
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Username: Ray1936

Post Number: 1943
Registered: 01-2005
Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 1:09 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"Does anyone remember the really nice grocery market, at the corner of Plymouth and Meyers?"

Wasn't that a Smith's store from the C. F. Smith corporation? They used to be all over town in the thirties and forties.
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Chuckjav
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Username: Chuckjav

Post Number: 47
Registered: 09-2007
Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 1:33 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Reddog...were the Marcus burgers of the "loose meat" variety; served on hot-dog buns?
I remember a joint like that located near the confluence of Fenkell, Schaefer & Grand River.

Ray...the market seemed to be mostly "open air" with fresh produce being the main fare.

Regarding illustrious Mackenzie folk - although he did not graduate from our school - I am reminded of Stanley "Mouse" Miller.

Check out his awesome website:

http://www.mousestudios.com/pa intings.htm
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Oakmangirl
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Username: Oakmangirl

Post Number: 398
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 10:49 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Carol,

Welcome to the forum ;-)

I lived near Plymouth and Evergreen for several years; you can't get away from us Dixons!
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Mother_earth
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Username: Mother_earth

Post Number: 7
Registered: 09-2007
Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 11:06 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Oakman Girl, thank you! I am so glad I joined. I am getting much more out of it than I am giving.
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Mother_earth
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Username: Mother_earth

Post Number: 8
Registered: 09-2007
Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 11:17 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Chuckjav,
The Marcus burgers were just like a hamburger, only difference is they were rolled long like a hot dog instead of round, so they laid right in a hot dog bun. They had a very different taste.
Wonderful...

Gazhekwe... you mentioned Puri-Test. I have been trying to think of that name for years. That is the same place that had the large parking lot next to it where all the cars and kids hung out at night. Right?
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Gazhekwe
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Username: Gazhekwe

Post Number: 565
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 11:25 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I think so. I believe they tore it down to build Drew Middle School.
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Reddog289
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Username: Reddog289

Post Number: 7
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Wednesday, September 19, 2007 - 2:29 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

i have to talk to my mom about more stuff, i thought about mouse today, my friends folks knew him from cooly. i hear hammerberg field was a great place to play ball. i heard also that around 69/70that the drivers ed class had hemi chargers and superbirds. i was a baby when my grandparents moved up gr so i don,t remember anything reilly about the area except the first time i saw the house [half burnt] and the last time [torn down].
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Chuckjav
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Username: Chuckjav

Post Number: 54
Registered: 09-2007
Posted on Wednesday, September 19, 2007 - 6:54 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

....Almost forgot to write about Mouse's time at Mackenzie; he was there during 1956 (also '55, I believe) - great artist who took his craft quite seriously. Mouse was unceremoniously expelled from Mackenzie after he re-painted the facade at "The Box" restaurant - across the street from MHS.

Unreal.
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Gazhekwe
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Username: Gazhekwe

Post Number: 569
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Wednesday, September 19, 2007 - 7:38 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

You should put Mouse in your Wikipedia piece. When I was at Mack, they got a brand new 1965 Barracuda for the driver training classes. I got to drive it first thing, way cool! It even had a radio in it, which the other beaters did not.
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Chuckjav
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Username: Chuckjav

Post Number: 55
Registered: 09-2007
Posted on Wednesday, September 19, 2007 - 8:18 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Gazhekwe....Good Call; Mouse has officially been added to the MHS Wikipedia page.
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Mother_earth
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Username: Mother_earth

Post Number: 9
Registered: 09-2007
Posted on Wednesday, September 19, 2007 - 12:22 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I loved the Box! I can see the little man that ran it, sweeping with his broom, and do you remember if he asked someone to leave and they wouldn't, out would come the broom and he would start swinging that broom, and of course the whole place would roar, and the individual would run out the door. I see are lots of black leather jackets!!! I remember the chips and coke for breakfast! My counselor John Laub would always say to me, you are to stay away from the Box! We did have fun in those days.....
I also remember Mouse. I believe he was doing all the pin-striping on the cars. Does anyone remember that to be correct.
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Chuckjav
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Username: Chuckjav

Post Number: 60
Registered: 09-2007
Posted on Wednesday, September 19, 2007 - 12:39 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Mother.....I think you are correct; Mouse's website mentions his love for customizing cars as a teenager.

Yes...The Box was still rockin' when I attended MHS in the mid-70s; good burgers, but pricey & very crowded. Since juniors & seniors were "permitted" to leave campus at lunchtime, many of us would pile in to one car and head for the nearest White Castle.

The nearby Dairy Queen was another favorite haunt; but I have no memories of heading there for lunch - only after school & during the summer.

PS I bought an incredible 1950s era Mackenzie wool pennant on eBay last night - it's huge and in very nice condition.

I plan on hanging it in my classroom - down here in Kettering, Ohio
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Chuckjav
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Username: Chuckjav

Post Number: 69
Registered: 09-2007
Posted on Wednesday, September 19, 2007 - 8:06 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Oakmangirl....are you kin to any Dixon folk that lived - and may still live - on Ward, between Plymouth and W. Chicago?

I went to school with a gal named Zoe Dixon (Drew Junior High and then very briefly at Cass Tech).
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Birwood
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Username: Birwood

Post Number: 8
Registered: 10-2007
Posted on Thursday, October 04, 2007 - 11:47 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Greetings.....MHS "68" here.
I lived on Birwood north of Schoolcraft.

I read some of the names of teachers we had at MHS and here are a few that I had when I went there, 65-68.

ENGLISH: Mr Keenan, Mr Bennett, Mr Ferger, Miss Aprahamian, Mrs Jenkins
LANGUAGE: Mrs Robinove, Mrs Bruno
ROTC: Sgt Tapo, Sgt Beaty, Sgt Braucks, Sgt Townes, Sgt Thompson
MATH: Mr Pietella, Miss Mont, Mrs Maier, Mr Kaner
SOCIAL STUDIES: Mr Carr, Mr Keliher, Mr Despres, Mr Cohen.
The In-House Substitutes: Mrs Holtzman, Mr Choronzy, Mr Frankowski, Mrs Spinks.

"Did You Know" the following about some of our MHS teachers: Mr Pietella was a Pearl Harbor Survivor, Mr Bennett held a comission as a Captain in the Navy Reserve and had his ship torpedoed & sunk during WW II, Miss Aprhamian was a MHS Alumni and returned to teach there, Mr Choronzy was an Air Nat'l Guard pilot and flew photo recon over Detroit during the 67 riots, He had some great aerial photos of MHS and surrounding neighborhood, Mrs Robinove lost most of her family to the Nazi death camps, Mr Keliher wrote a controversial book call New Africa High.

On of our most famous Alumni was the Channel 2 Sportscaster Ray Lane, MHS "46"
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Gazhekwe
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Username: Gazhekwe

Post Number: 742
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Thursday, October 04, 2007 - 12:12 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

OMG, Mme Robinove! I had her for 4th year French. Also Mrs. Wilson for Russian. Mr. Ferger, I mentioned up there ^^^, I still see him occasionally as we travel some of the same trails here. How about Pater Noster Mr. Derderian for Driver Training?
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Ray1936
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Username: Ray1936

Post Number: 2030
Registered: 01-2005
Posted on Thursday, October 04, 2007 - 12:20 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

When I attended our 50th year reunion in '04, the reunion committee put together a great book for the occasion, and of those who submitted comments for it, I was amazed at how many named Ms. Robinove as their favorite teacher. I didn't have any of her classes, but she must have been some kind of teacher for the overwhelming response she got a half-century after the fact.

Ah, Mr. Keenan. Flunked me in 10th grade. Only class I ever failed. Still don't know why, English has always been a natural with me.

There was also a counselor for the guys by the name Wayne Nestor. He played on the Cleveland Indians farm teams for some years; couldn't make the bigs, though.