  Billk Member Username: Billk Post Number: 171 Registered: 09-2005 |
Every time the Detroit News writes about the MotorCity Casino, they refer to it as the former Wonder Bread 'Factory'. Isn't a place where bread is made a 'bakery' ? | ||
Ndavies Member Username: Ndavies Post Number: 2891 Registered: 10-2003 |
That's only if you consider wonderbread bread. For wonder bread, factory is definitely more appropriate. | ||
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen Post Number: 2589 Registered: 10-2003 |
Because Wonder Bread produced loaves of bread on such a large scale that factory is more appropriate: "A building or group of buildings in which goods are manufactured; a plant." Bakery implies something on a smaller scale: "A place where products such as bread, cake, and pastries are baked or sold." Google "Wonder Bread Factory" and you'll see the term is used in reference to the same in cities such as Seattle, San Diego, Dallas, Columbus, and St. Petersburg. | ||
Craig Member Username: Craig Post Number: 488 Registered: 02-2007 |
ndav - no joke... the bread was awful. However, were you ever in the area when they were baking? I was, I now I am certain that in heaven there will always be bread baking. | ||
Rax Member Username: Rax Post Number: 1 Registered: 11-2007 |
Is this the Wonder Bread factory that was located on Grand River? Near the Lodge Freeway entrance? | ||
Irish_mafia Member Username: Irish_mafia Post Number: 1104 Registered: 10-2003 |
I used to sell to the Wonder Bread Bakery in LA. They called it a bakery... of course Google wasn't around then... so how could they know they were really a factory? | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 5621 Registered: 11-2003 |
Every Detroit school kid growing up was taken on tours of Wagner's Wonder Bread on Grand River, hard by Trumbull. For good behaviour, we each got our hot loaf of Wonder Bread, small to eat now, unwrapped with a cup of milk. The school took us on a chartered bus. It was a nice little field trip, although Ford Rouge tour was jjaba's favorite. jjaba still remembers the Wonder Bread tourguide showing us his pocketfull of nails. He said they sort through the dough adding just the right amount of iron to the bread. Sometimes, he finds an extra nail that didn't belong there. Then, he read the ingredients on the package noting the iron content. jjaba was in about 4th grade at Noble School and remembers. jjaba, on the Grand River bus, off at Oakman. | ||
Rax Member Username: Rax Post Number: 2 Registered: 11-2007 |
So Grand River and Oakman? Thank you Jjaba! | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 5623 Registered: 11-2003 |
Rax, welcome to The Forum. Returning home, jjaba took the Grand River electric feeder bus from downtown to Oakman, changing there for the Northlawn. That was back a few yrs. ago. jjaba, Proudly Westside. jjaba. | ||
Rax Member Username: Rax Post Number: 3 Registered: 11-2007 |
Interesting. Thank you for the warm welcome! | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 5784 Registered: 08-2004 |
Ironically the Wagner Baking Company building (that today houses MotorCity Casino) was built in 1915 by Walter W. Ahlschlager. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_W._Ahlschlager Mr. Ahlschlager later became famous for designing the 1930 Carew Center in Cincinnati, but his greatest claim to fame was his 1927 5,920 seat Roxy Theatre in NYC... the largest of all 1920's movie palaces.  The enormous Roxy Theatre... formerly located near Times Square, razed in 1960-61. (Message edited by Gistok on November 21, 2007) | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 1904 Registered: 12-2005 |
Jjaba--can you remember when Wonder bread only "built strong bodies 8 ways"? | ||
Professorscott Member Username: Professorscott Post Number: 912 Registered: 12-2006 |
Coincidence: "razed in 1960-61", about the same time Jjaba would have been riding on the Grand River electrobus. | ||
Fury13 Member Username: Fury13 Post Number: 3243 Registered: 10-2003 |
I am convinced that Wonder Bread is made from Styrofoam. | ||
Professorscott Member Username: Professorscott Post Number: 913 Registered: 12-2006 |
No, Styrofoam is a brand name - they would use an off brand, to save money. | ||
The_ed Member Username: The_ed Post Number: 1159 Registered: 10-2007 |
Wonderbread had no nutritional value. I used to hate to have to make a PB&J sandwich with Velvet Peanut butter and Wonderbread. The bread would always tear and the jelly always soaked it's way through. | ||
Flyingj Member Username: Flyingj Post Number: 47 Registered: 08-2006 |
My science professor taught us scientific method by squishing a slice of Wonder Bread into a ball & bouncing it. True to his hupothesis, no other brand bounced. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 5626 Registered: 11-2003 |
56packman tells it like it tis. Iron conent was one of the eight ways. Thus the joke. professorscott tells it like it tis. jjaba also reminds The Forum about Grand River's progressive signalizations. You could drive from Telegraph Rd. to downtown without stopping on Grand River Avenue, a highway engineering feat for the day. At the time before the expressways (except the Davison was built), when Detroit had twice its population of today, traffic moved smoothly on Grand River and other arterials. It was a thing of beaudy. jjaba, Westside Memories. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 5627 Registered: 11-2003 |
jjaba's girlfriend had Wonder Buns. He took her to Briggs Stadium, down a few blocks past Jimmie Hoffa's Teamsters HQ. He kissed her on the strikes, & she kissed him on the balls. It was nice Spring day high up at the ballpark in Sec. 23. jjaba, Westside Memories. | ||
Maxcarey Member Username: Maxcarey Post Number: 197 Registered: 07-2006 |
Dizzy Dean really needs to be footnoted here ^^ | ||
Jiminnm Member Username: Jiminnm Post Number: 1516 Registered: 02-2005 |
Fury, you can't roll styrofoam into those little balls like you can Wonder Bread. jjaba, I hope you send a royalty payment to Soupy Sales every time you use that line. | ||
Mauser765 Member Username: Mauser765 Post Number: 2103 Registered: 01-2004 |
" Isn't a place where bread is made a 'bakery' ? " Is Wonderbread even baked ? I thought it was a chemical reaction. | ||
Jimaz Member Username: Jimaz Post Number: 3872 Registered: 12-2005 |
 Yummy. Library paste! | ||
Bigb23 Member Username: Bigb23 Post Number: 34 Registered: 11-2007 |
Jjaba - I remember those miniature loaves of Wonder bread they used to have for school groups. What a spark from the past - Ouch - | ||
Yaktown Member Username: Yaktown Post Number: 263 Registered: 02-2006 |
My mom used to work for Taystee bread as an accountant. I recall her having to take me to work when I had a day off from school every now and then. I can still vividly remember the smell of fresh-baked bread when we entered the building and climbed upstairs to the office. This apparently started my life-long love of carbs and starches. I'm not sure if she ever referred to it as a bakery or factory, maybe a plant. Guess I'll ask her tomorrow. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 5628 Registered: 11-2003 |
jjaba adds "with a nod to Soupy Sales." Gistok is the theater king. He knows more theater history than anybody in Detroit, St. Claire Shores, Grosse Pointe, et. al. Thanks Gistok for the connections with Wonder Bread. The bldg. was well designed. jjaba, who knows the Wagner Bakery since as long as he can remember. BTW, the corned beef sandwiches in the Casino aren't very good. | ||
Craig Member Username: Craig Post Number: 499 Registered: 02-2007 |
jjaba - do you know the one where you ask someone if their refrigerator is running? | ||
Fredgarvin Member Username: Fredgarvin Post Number: 69 Registered: 02-2007 |
I used to work for Michigan Consolidated GasCompany across Grand River from that bakery, behind Carl's Chop House. I had a summer job as a night time janitor, and I remember hot summer nights taking a break in front of that building, smelling the freshly baked bread, and hearing the crowds from Tiger Stadium off in the distance. Man, what great memories. | ||
Professorscott Member Username: Professorscott Post Number: 914 Registered: 12-2006 |
Fredgarvin, I'm curious who is using that handle; I understand the reference (a memorable Dan Aykroyd SNL character from round about 1976). I knew some fine fellows at U of D (pre-Mercy) who used that particular name for somewhat nefarious purposes a good many years back. Ahh, memories. Jjaba, if the food at a casino was any good you might linger over the meal which would slow down the gambling. Fill 'em up fast and get 'em back to the slots. See you on the Dexter bus (one of the few bus routes that never was a streetcar, I'm told). Prof. Scott | ||
Reddog289 Member Username: Reddog289 Post Number: 94 Registered: 08-2007 |
my grandpa would say about the wagner bakery, " get it when it was a a old & toast it" |
