Discuss Detroit » Archives - Beginning January 2007 » 7 And Van Dyke [panoramic pics added] » Archive through May 01, 2007 « Previous Next »
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20043_stotter
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Username: 20043_stotter

Post Number: 4
Registered: 03-2007
Posted on Tuesday, March 20, 2007 - 7:34 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Great Site. Does anyone remember the model airplane competitions every Sunday behind Van Zile School? This drew crowds.Contestants would place a crate paper streamer on the tail of the planes and two of them would fly their planes trying to remove the streamers with the propeller of their planes. It was exciting to watch then, but life was slow back in the early 50's. Most of those planes were beautifully made
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Larryinflorida
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Username: Larryinflorida

Post Number: 27
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Tuesday, March 20, 2007 - 9:25 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I used to go out there every day and watch those U-control planes chase each other with Enya 35's on them. One guy's name was Bob Frehley and the other was Mike Grocki. They would collide a plane at noon.. (which were basically wings with motors) and have a rebuilt plane in air by 5 pm. When their lines got cross-tangled, the planes were unpredictable as to where they would come down! Sometimes at you!

Before R/C took off, that was the most fun you could have.

Don't get me started on Estes Rockets!
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Elviswithteeth
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Username: Elviswithteeth

Post Number: 10
Registered: 03-2007
Posted on Thursday, March 22, 2007 - 11:52 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Ladyinabag....

Spoke with my mom this morning and asked a bunch of questions. She knew who Sonny is but my dad I knew him quite well. She told me a story how he had burned hands pretty bad at Bankas Collison shop. Also, his nickname she said was "Rubber Nuts". She didn't know why but it was a different time back then. We were on the phone bsing for quite some time. Did you know George or Joanne?
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Ladyinabag
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Username: Ladyinabag

Post Number: 133
Registered: 03-2007
Posted on Thursday, March 22, 2007 - 12:54 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Elviswithteeth-

I did not know George or Joanne. Remember that we moved when I was 13. I observed what was going on but was not part it. Those "kids" were all older than me and my mother wouldn't let me go over there.
Don't think that it wasn't disheartening either.
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Middleageguy
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Username: Middleageguy

Post Number: 9
Registered: 01-2007
Posted on Thursday, March 22, 2007 - 5:57 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

ccheski

Martin and Matthew were the Zdybel twins. Identical enough that they ended up in the paper. Thats really the only famous part, but to an eight yr old, it was an event.
They had an older brother, Mark maybe.
We were in Sr. Lawrence's class. She whacked them 9 times each with one of their belts for talking.
Sr. Lawrence ended up living to 93; died around '99.
I lived on St. Louis, w/in eyesight of Brandy's bar. I believe it still exists.
We were 2 doors up from the Dzinic's (Jinnis). You may be old enough to know Terry or Philip. Barb was even older.
Other names I knew: Skowron Kasperski Lysiak
Kozak Polis Juras St. Angelo Stribling Dine
Barszewski Szyfka Opher Wolanin Runyon Krystaforski Mazdrek

Please lemme know if you knew these folks!
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Middleageguy
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Username: Middleageguy

Post Number: 10
Registered: 01-2007
Posted on Thursday, March 22, 2007 - 6:07 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

20043 Stotter

I was 8 in 1971 and do not remember Sherwood Forest, but at corner of Sherwood and 7 there was a lot where they had a fair.
I lived on St. Louis and could see the ferris wheel from my window.
I went to Silversteins and they would give me a free balsa wood rubber band airplane. I remember the giant cut away view machine gun hanging up in sporting goods...I guess it was for instructing large groups of soldiers.
They had a Stuart tank up by six mile, and a Sherman and DUKW amphib vehicl further in.
Went ther til about 86, and it closed at some point.

I'm sure all us Kids would like to hear your stories.....I would!
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Ladyinabag
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Username: Ladyinabag

Post Number: 135
Registered: 03-2007
Posted on Thursday, March 22, 2007 - 6:12 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I remember Silversteins....even though I never went there. A lot of my friends did, and always came back with some very wondrous things. Wasn't Silversteins on McNichols, east of St. Louis?
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Larryinflorida
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Username: Larryinflorida

Post Number: 31
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Friday, March 23, 2007 - 3:26 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Silversteins was cool if you were into electronics.
They had a long parking lot, then all the big stuff was outside, then you went into the building and it was a smörgåsbord of small parts and junk. I hear it was amazing though in the 50's. I missed that period.
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Ccheski
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Username: Ccheski

Post Number: 9
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Friday, March 23, 2007 - 6:10 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Middleageguy --

I remember Phil Dzinic by name, but I sure couldn't place the face. Otherwise, I guess I didn't know many families just a couple blocks away. Most of the kids I hung with lived on Dwyer, between Outer Drive and 7 (Provencher, Lachut, Leja, Zarczynski, Balmas [of the funeral parlor], Orlowski -- I'll have to look at my St. Louis the King school annual).

So ... Silversteins was still there in 1971. I remember getting a hula hoop and and other stuff when I was a kid in the early '60s. I have no idea what my parents bought when we went there.

Can someone tell me if the Kmart at Sherwood and Outer Drive is still open? I worked there in the summers of 1974-76. My beloved 1965 Dodge Polara was stolen from the parking lot one day in 1976, never to be seen again.
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Psip
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Username: Psip

Post Number: 1591
Registered: 04-2005
Posted on Friday, March 23, 2007 - 6:18 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Polara
People
Obviously
Love
A
Romantic
Automobile
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20043_stotter
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Username: 20043_stotter

Post Number: 5
Registered: 03-2007
Posted on Friday, March 23, 2007 - 6:50 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I used to chum with Eddie Wujek from the funeral home across the street from Lipke Park. Tom Krantz, my cousin, who lived on Stotter, Ken Chappe, Tom Randall, Rich Grunow, Barney Granada, who opened a barbershop on 7 mile and Concord. Richard Schotz, Kenny Monzo, Tom Duell and his cousin Jim Klepachek who was a star pitcher for OLQH grade School. The Sahutske brothers, Dean, Danny, Joe and Frank. Played pool at Baseline Rec. N of 8 mi. on VD and Angelo's on N side of 8 mi. E. of VD. More to come.
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Middleageguy
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Username: Middleageguy

Post Number: 14
Registered: 01-2007
Posted on Tuesday, March 27, 2007 - 5:47 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

ccheski

Phil had a buddy named Buzby....
Skowrons lived on Dwyer, between Lantz and 7.
What became of Balmas/P....funeral home?
Do you remember the little party store next to it?
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Larryinflorida
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Username: Larryinflorida

Post Number: 35
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Tuesday, March 27, 2007 - 7:52 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"Angelo's (pool hall) on N side of 8 mi. E. of VD"

I'm sure I saw you there as I was a regular in the 70's.

Angelo Brucato was his name and he drove a giant caddy.

(Message edited by LarryinFlorida on March 27, 2007)
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Psip
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Username: Psip

Post Number: 1665
Registered: 04-2005
Posted on Tuesday, March 27, 2007 - 8:40 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Howard's Discount at 8 and VD. Down 8 mile was that Foam Rubber store that burned down with huge blooms of black smoke. I remember a greasy spoon dinner down a little further.
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Larryinflorida
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Username: Larryinflorida

Post Number: 36
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Tuesday, March 27, 2007 - 10:02 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I bought a Pulsar LED watch at Howards in 1975 when they first came out. Took 2 hands to use, but man I was Suave. =)
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20043_stotter
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Username: 20043_stotter

Post Number: 7
Registered: 03-2007
Posted on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 - 11:05 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I was so pumped up from this site that Saturday I drove down to 7 and Van. It was good and bad. the memories were very good. I drove by Queen of Heaven and toured all the streets and homes of people I knew back in the 50's and 60's. The Nortown bar has been torn down. The bad part was the blight, but I was seeing right past the blight and into my past. Memories rushed over me. It was worth the trip. I went by Lipke Park but the building looks like it's factory now with quite a few cars in the parking lot. the building must have been sold. When we were bad boys, we'd throw cherry bombs into the pool back then. I only know 1 living person that still lives in the old neighborhood and she's in her 80's. Now there's bars over all the doors and windows. So sad because those bars keep people out, but also keep people in. When I was there, it brought back the first time I copped a feel at the N'town theatre. How can a guy forget that?
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Ccheski
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Username: Ccheski

Post Number: 10
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Monday, April 02, 2007 - 5:20 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Middleageguy --

Sure don't know if there's still a funeral home at 7 and Dwyer. But I remember going home for lunch once with Rosanne Balmas and being a bit creeped out by the thought that people lived above a funeral home.

That party store that leaned up against the funeral home carport was my favorite candy store. I'd collect pop bottles in my bike basket and turn them in for enormous bags of penny and two-for-a-penny candy. I did the same at the party store that was at the southwest corner of Lantz and Mound.

20043_stotter: Thanks so much for the travelog of 7 and Van Dyke. I swam in Lipke pool and saw kiddie matinees at the Nortown, and it all makes me feel very MiddleAgeGal.
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Middleageguy
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Username: Middleageguy

Post Number: 18
Registered: 01-2007
Posted on Tuesday, April 03, 2007 - 12:14 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

20043_stotter

So, tell us the details!!
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20043_stotter
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Username: 20043_stotter

Post Number: 9
Registered: 03-2007
Posted on Tuesday, April 03, 2007 - 9:17 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Well, I was 13 or 14. They start alot earlier today. It was up in the balcony, in the crying room. I put my arm around her and cupped a padded bra. She probably wondered what the hell I was doing. I didn't know what I was doing. She was real cute and her nickname was "Noodles" Wonder where she is now. "Come back Noodles", I know what to do now.
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Psip
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Username: Psip

Post Number: 1729
Registered: 04-2005
Posted on Tuesday, April 03, 2007 - 9:57 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Here is a very sad incident at Van Dyke and E. Lantz. I think it happened in about 1969.

A young boy was crossing VD and had pressed the stop light button (remember that?). The light had changed, and he started crossing VD. A Chrysler steel hauler didn't stop in time and ran over the little lad, killing him. It was a terribly gruesome sight.
We lived a block away at Terrell so I heard the noise and went to see what was going on. One of the boys friends ran ahead and got the boys mother, she was standing on the west side of VD. A sight I will never forget.
If you are faint of heart, DO NOT click on this link. It is a CKLW news report about the accident in all of the Big 8's sensationalism.
http://www.detroitradioflashba cks.net/retroreplay2/Cklw_20_2 0_News.mp3
Again, it is upsetting, at least to me it is.
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20043_stotter
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Username: 20043_stotter

Post Number: 12
Registered: 03-2007
Posted on Thursday, April 12, 2007 - 10:50 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I remember that between 1947 and 1951, a bookmobile from the Detroit Public Library would come into the neighborhoods once a week. I think this was before the Wilder Branch was built on 7 mile. It was cool having books to read each week. Does anyone remember Hartley's Drugs, Mayday's Market, Ben's Hardware, The original Dee's Sport Shop on VD and Savage, before they moved to Outer Drive and VD? Also when you crossed 8 Mile north, you were in Baseline MI, not Warren MI. Warren came later. There was a poultry store 3 blocks N of 8 mile that sold live chickens and ducks. The were kept outside in a chicken wire pen that was about 8' x 10'. You would buy your chicken live and they would clean and defeather it. Talk about fresh meat. Polish people would also buy ducks and get the blood in a jar for making czarnina soup. This store was in business until about 1951. Baseline feed store is still in business today it's on west side of VD about 4 or 5 blocks N of 8. More nostalgia to come later. Regards.
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Larryinflorida
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Username: Larryinflorida

Post Number: 39
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Thursday, April 12, 2007 - 2:36 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

How bout Theut's Toy's just north of 8 Mile? I got a lot of stuff from there as a youngun.
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Gtat44
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Username: Gtat44

Post Number: 112
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Thursday, April 12, 2007 - 2:39 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Could that be the same Theut's as Theut's Products further to the north on Van Dyke?
Just curious.
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Exmotowner
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Username: Exmotowner

Post Number: 214
Registered: 06-2005
Posted on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 - 2:06 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Todds closed I think shortly after Bob and Dan passed away.Sometime in the mid 80s I think. Wasnt that dance floor awsome! No better floor for dancing than on the bowling lanes. There was still half the bowling alley that was never utilized in the bar and the lanes remained intact on the other side of the wall for the duration of Todds.
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20043_stotter
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Username: 20043_stotter

Post Number: 16
Registered: 03-2007
Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2007 - 10:07 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I remember the Nortown Theatre would have yo-yo contests 2 or 3 times a year. The winners were always the Sahutske brothers and they would win more yo-yo's. Nobody had a chance against those ba$tards. They could wipe their ass with a yo-yo. I ended up befriending them when I was about 17. Joe,Dan and Dean. Dean ended up my best man at my wedding in 1962.
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Exmotowner
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Username: Exmotowner

Post Number: 261
Registered: 06-2005
Posted on Friday, April 27, 2007 - 3:23 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Is the Nortown Theater what they turned into the Akron (gay bath house) then it later became a church.?
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Karenk
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Username: Karenk

Post Number: 33
Registered: 07-2006
Posted on Friday, April 27, 2007 - 6:10 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

We used to go to the Nortown and Silverstein's. Does anyone remember Sirko's Liquor Store on VanDyke just barely north of 8 Mile Rd. John's daughter, Kathleen was a budding opera singer and I always wondered what happened to her. The Liquor store was there in the early 1950s, until I don't know when...We lived on Jackson Ave, just a block or so up from it. My grandfather owned alot of land on Jackson Ave. in the 1930s & 40s. I remember when it had vacant house lots still on it.
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Ladyinabag
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Username: Ladyinabag

Post Number: 242
Registered: 03-2007
Posted on Friday, April 27, 2007 - 6:14 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I think the Nortown is torn down and a Church's Chicken in the spot.
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Thedeadofnight
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Username: Thedeadofnight

Post Number: 19
Registered: 11-2004
Posted on Friday, April 27, 2007 - 8:19 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Exmotowner - Todd's actually closed in the early 90s (though it was under new ownership). I didn't start going there til 1987 (I was still in high school, LOL). When new owners took over I think they tried to convert it to a straight heavy metal bar which obviously didn't work. Last time I remember going there was in 1991. It had changed names and was boarded up within a year of that. Though short lived for me, was still one of my favourite hang outs!
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Kahnman
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Username: Kahnman

Post Number: 30
Registered: 02-2006
Posted on Tuesday, May 01, 2007 - 3:21 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Wow...incredible recollections. These memories do not deserve to drop off the bottom of the page.

BTW, Our Lady Queen of Heaven is one of the all time coolest school names - ever!