Discuss Detroit » Archives - July 2008 » What's your Detroit (short personal essay thread)? « Previous Next »
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Mrsjdaniels
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Username: Mrsjdaniels

Post Number: 1075
Registered: 08-2005
Posted on Friday, August 01, 2008 - 9:35 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I am an 80's kid who attended Mark Twain Elementary. I remember us taking yearly trips to Boblo and dancing, dancing, dancing on the boat coming back. One year that I went I even had a boyfriend named Bobby who even helped foot the bill for food because my money had fallen out of my fanny pack (that he'd bought me at the Bill Picket rodeo) while on a roller coaster.

Those were the days.

Every Sunday my family and I watched my dad play in the PAL leagues at 1300 Beaubien and then we'd go eat at Pizza Pappalis or head back to SW Detroit and eat the Pizza Hut on Michigan in Dearborn. We'd laugh and yell, I'd eat from the salad bar because I was going through my "no more pork phase".

Summers were the best, because dad worked nights we'd run the streets during the day and watch the ballers play at St. Cecilia. We also got hip to Original Pancake House and would stand in line to eat every Saturday.

I remember that we moved on Jefferson and I couldn't wait to join the crowd of cruisers that ventured onto Belle Isle. It seemed like such innocent fun.

My Detroit is filled with 2 eggs, hash browns and wheat toast from Coneys, hearing people say JC Penneys, LiverNOISE, Lasher and 6 Mile. Watching Terry Durod shoot the 3 to seal many games in the PAL league. Hanging out in the parking lot at King; skipping school on senior skip day every year of high school ;-); the t-shirt shop in Greektown and graduation night a Legend's night club.

What's your Detroit?
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Awfavre
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Username: Awfavre

Post Number: 279
Registered: 08-2005
Posted on Friday, August 01, 2008 - 5:09 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Great thread, Mrsjdaniels.

My Detroit was born in the late 1970s with two trips to see the Shrine Circus at the Michigan State Fair Grounds. As a redneck hick kid from Central Michigan, my Detroit then was so much concrete & tons & tons of overpasses (my childhood obsession … but they never seemed as cool when you were on them).

My Detroit in 1997, as a law clerk in the Legal Dept at Solidarity House, was the Red Wings winning their first Stanley Cup in years & everyone – I mean EVERYONE – wearing red. (Except me. I look like hell in red.) Red Wings car flags on seemingly every car. I’ll never forget when a guy at a gas station shook his head in amazement & said, “You’d think we’d won a war.”

In 2000, my Detroit changed forever. One of my two jobs was on a higher floor in the Plaza Building off the Lodge. That is where I first learned about the tiny little mailboat under the Ambassador Bridge delivering mail, sundries, & crew to giant passing freighters without stopping.

Since then, my Detroit has been many things. Two more Stanley Cups. Two more jobs I hate(d). A front-row seat to watch Super Bowl XL’s excesses. Barking dogs out my window during the Winter Blast. Innumerable opportunities to curse the Lions & the traffic.

My Detroit is her people. The homeless pushing their carts around Downtown. Daytime suits & shorts-wearing Tigers’ fans jostling for sidewalk. Prodigious fishermen at riverside parks who always seem to be having a better time than me. Countless kindnesses from friends & strangers alike.

My Detroit is the water that gives her her name. The boats & the tugs. Salutes at Downtown from the lovely steamer Edward L. Ryerson. Chasing boats in & out of the oozy Rouge.

At this moment, my Detroit is my wide-open 37th floor window on a quiet Friday evening before heading home. Warm, muggy air rushing in. The odd lazy siren commanding nobody’s attention. Ant-cars and ant-people scurrying home. An occasional freighter passing by.

It’s a pretty good place to be.
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Dtowncitylover
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Username: Dtowncitylover

Post Number: 236
Registered: 02-2008
Posted on Friday, August 01, 2008 - 8:34 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I am the product of 1990s and 2000s Detroit. Remembering my mother and father and other Detroit relatives raving about Dennis Archer and what good things he will do for the city. Remembering when "KWAME KILPATRICK, MAYOR" replacing Archer's name on the side of the Detroit Zoo. I remember going to Tiger Stadium only twice, therefore not having the same nostalgia as some of our older members have. I remember being haunted by empty Hudson's on a trip to Downtown and my father and aunt telling of Christmas stories going down to Hudson's and going on the Children's Floor, where no parents where allowed, and being mesmerized by that. I remember going down to the Rathskeller Dakota Inn eating and hardy German meal and singing the International Friendship (in German of course!). I remember the tornados that ripped through Detroit. Going to Dalley in the Alley with my ENTIRE family and my aunt's friends, which means about 30 of us were there picnicing in the middle of the festival. Going to the Belle Isle Zoo, the BI Aquarium, and the BI Conservatory. Going to see all the mansions in Indian Village and Boston Edison

Today, my Detroit is one of hope and excitement. Campus Martius, Riverfront, and the scaling off of our old racism, and plenty of family friendly festivals. But my Detroit is one of disappointment of our elected officials who are supposed to be honest and sincere, but instead are fibbers and childish. But that doesn't deter me to still be in love with Detroit. My future Detroit will be one of rebirth and rebuilding, not only of our city, but of our image around the world.
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Gazhekwe
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Username: Gazhekwe

Post Number: 2417
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Friday, August 01, 2008 - 8:57 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Before there was Dally in the Alley, there was the seed from which it grew. Our apartment building backed on that alley, and I had a parking spot in a backyard there. Summer days of love beads and music, hot nights watching the traffic pouring down Third, frat boys and their girlfriends cooling off on their roof next door. Incense and peppermints and Iggy Popp, Plum Street, free concerts, summer heat and ultimately, the explosion that rocked the city for the next forty years.

Working downtown, taking the express bus out to my mother's house, crowds in the streets. Lunchtime shopping at Hudson's. The 1968 pennant, with downtown packed elbow to elbow all night with happy people. Blue firefly lights glimmering in the dusk in the new trees along Lafayette and Jefferson. The day I had to ride the bus past tanks at Grand River and West Grand Boulevard, with the indelible scent of burning clogging the air.

Then, in the 70s, living at the edge of Grandmont, watching the vibrant Grand River and Greenfield melt away, and our corner of the neighborhood along with it.

Now, the city is a mecca of hope, weighed down by anchors of poverty and inertia. I remember past celebrations of uniqueness, and look forward to seeing many more such treasures grow and prosper.
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Nemoman
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Username: Nemoman

Post Number: 10
Registered: 03-2008
Posted on Friday, August 01, 2008 - 11:23 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Born in 51 in Berkeley, I spent 54-60 in Mount Clemens. My paternal grandfather was head of the music department at JL Hudson and I spent much time at the store. When I began collecting stamps, I recall that the store had a rare stamp and coin department. My maternal grandmother lived in an apartment in downtown Royal Oak. She took my sister and I every other weekend. Saturdays we had to go to church (she was a seventh day adventist). Afternoons we would hit the zoo or Belle Isle, and Saturday night was hot fudge sundaes at Saunders, a short walk into Royal Oak. Sundays we had a buffet lunch at Greenfields. My dad was an automotive engineer so we took in the automobile show every year. I seem to remember an annual christmas display at the Ford Rotunda. Living in Mount Clemens, I also remember weekends at Metropolitan Shores, ice fishing for buckets of perch on Lake St Clair, and boat trips to Strawberry Island.
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Mortgageking
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Username: Mortgageking

Post Number: 194
Registered: 12-2006
Posted on Saturday, August 02, 2008 - 12:32 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Last week I was reminded of my Detroit.

I spent the afternoon cleaning out the garage, digging through stacks of yellowed newspapers and giving due accord to yesteryear's headlines and periodicals. Waist deep in my precious mountains of Reader's Digest and my son's Ranger Rick, I sniffed the crinkled sheets and listened to the birds outside my garage door. I glanced toward the dusty road in front of my house to see Gladys drive her ancient Jeep to my mailbox, dropping in it my daily bills, and hopefully on this day, the pear tree seeds from my mail-order gardening catalogue.

Gladys has been doing the mail rounds in my neighborhood since my Oldest son was in diapers; cloth diapers that we would wash by hand in the stream behind my house. One Indian Summer my son caught a bad case of the loose stools from eating my home-grown squash and pumpkins. That week, my downstream neighbors were not happy about the foul waters that came running through their rock gardens and fish ponds, in fact, the subdivision association threatened legal action if we didn't stop. So, from that date forward we washed the soiled cloths in our giant garage washtub; using giant boxes of Lever Brother's Lux dry laundry detergent.

That fall, as we call it now was known the year of the pumpkin pie. The spring before that fateful autumn, Dave Machowiak a amiable farmer from the other side of town graced us with his presence. Stopping by for chamomile tea and my wife's butter cookies we talked about the melting snows and rising lakes. We sipped on warm tea for nearly an hour, I must have filled Dave's cup half a dozen times, and given him at least eight cookies. (Dave was a very large man at nearly 275 pounds). At the end of our afternoon snack, Dave slid me a bag of seeds leaving me with instructions to plant them in the sun and to water them every other day. Worried about what I might be accepting, I asked my trusted friend what it was that I was planting, Dave replied "Don't worry my friend."

Not worried any longer, I planted the seeds in the sun as he suggested. I watched intently through the first weeks of their interment, and nothing happened. Undaunted, I watered religiously through the first weeks of summer, carrying buckets of cold spring water from the stream behind my house. Seemingly after ages, tiny sprouts began to poke the surface of the rich Kalkaska soil. Rejuvenated, I watered through Independence Day and Labor Day, by which point my tiny sprouts had grown into large green gourds. PUMPKINS!
By October the pumpkins hit a growth spurt, growing to the size of a large medicine ball, by Halloween the gourds were as large as the Neighbor's lawn tractor; the time had come for harvest. We scooped out the orangish flesh and ate it raw in cold spoonfuls, we roasted seeds and handed them out to the neighbor kids in their halloween baskets, and we made pumpkin pies that filled the house with the odor of comfort and rich nutmeg.

My feelings at this point can probably be best described in the words of the great Paul Harvey, who once said " In times like these, it helps to recall that there have always been times like these." These words comfort me as I think back to those wonderful pumpkins; and the great mess that my son created in the stream behind my house.

And that is my Detroit.
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Alley
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Username: Alley

Post Number: 494
Registered: 02-2008
Posted on Saturday, August 02, 2008 - 1:30 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Gazhekwe, take me back with you!!
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Reddog289
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Username: Reddog289

Post Number: 503
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Saturday, August 02, 2008 - 3:00 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

My DETROIT is when i knew no borderlines between Detroit and the burbs,With Dairy Queens at the end of both Grandparents blocks, Chain grocery stores in the neighborhood. Two foot tall grass in the city parks and wild dogs runnin loose.Call boxes on the corner and of course Santa at Hudsons.Oh yeah forgot about the drug stores,pizzarias and Sanders on 7mi& Evergreen.
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Hamtragedy
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Username: Hamtragedy

Post Number: 240
Registered: 10-2007
Posted on Saturday, August 02, 2008 - 3:11 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"Motto"

I play it cool
and dig all jive,
that's the reason
I stay alive

my motto, as I
live and learn is dig,
and be dug in return.

-Langston Hughes
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Grumpyoldlady
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Username: Grumpyoldlady

Post Number: 191
Registered: 06-2005
Posted on Saturday, August 02, 2008 - 4:38 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

MY Detroit is the Detroit that WAS...no fear of drive by shootings, no drug dealers on the corners, no crack houses down the street, schools where teachers actually taught, and didn't have to just try to keep the students from killing each other or them. MY Detroit was safe for me to cut through the alley to go to the local "beer store" where I would buy pop, chips, ice cream or loads of penny candy. The Detroit of the days when you didn't lock your door on a hot night, didn't fear coming home to a ransacked house and knew your car would be there when you woke up in the morning. In My Detroit, neighbors got together at each other's houses to play shuffleboard in the basement, have a big bonfire cookout in someone's back yard, and looked after each other's children as if they were their own. We didn't fear for our safety when waiting at a bus stop, nor have to cower in the basement when gunshots rang out too close for comfort.

That is MY Detroit...a Detroit that will never be again. Bless her memory!
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Ed_golick
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Username: Ed_golick

Post Number: 1029
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Saturday, August 02, 2008 - 2:30 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Your Detroit

http://www.detroitkidshow.com/ yourdetroit.wmv
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Sean_of_detroit
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Username: Sean_of_detroit

Post Number: 1318
Registered: 03-2008
Posted on Saturday, August 02, 2008 - 3:38 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Your Detroit? I am guessing from the above posts, you are asking for a summary of poster's biographies?
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Rickinatlanta
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Username: Rickinatlanta

Post Number: 172
Registered: 07-2006
Posted on Saturday, August 02, 2008 - 3:45 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

NOT a biography, but simply what each thinks of when calling the D, "MY Detroit".
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Mrsjdaniels
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Username: Mrsjdaniels

Post Number: 1081
Registered: 08-2005
Posted on Saturday, August 02, 2008 - 3:48 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

yes Sean...your own personal essay
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Buyamerican
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Username: Buyamerican

Post Number: 706
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Saturday, August 02, 2008 - 4:15 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

My Detroit was peaceful, calm, quiet. All the neighbors knew each other. They all sat on their porches in the evening after dinner. Everyone watched out for us kids and occasionally a grumpy neighbor would yell at us if our ball went on his grass. Elm trees lined the street where I lived on both sides, forming a tunnel. Playing with my friends who lived on the block or behind me, across the alley. Kick the can, hide and seek, Playing army or policeman. Climbing trees, hopping from garage to garage, riding bikes around the block and later, when I was 12, to Belle Isle. The alley was our freeway, the shortcut to everyplace. Warm tomatoes right off the vine. Grapes from the grapevine in our backyard. Playing ball in the alley. Making a fort from snow, and it seemed like the snows were huge back then. The candy store on the corner, along with the Chinese cleaners next door, then the local grocery store, Leo's. Bogus market on the other corner, they were our neighbors.
Taking the Charlevoix bus to Hudson's downtown, then the Vernor bus back home with Grandma.
Walking to elementary school with all the kids. Having to be on the front porch when the street lights went on. Wonderful memories of Detroit that are stored in my mind forever.
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Putnam
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Username: Putnam

Post Number: 130
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Saturday, August 02, 2008 - 4:52 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

More of a list than an essay:

Barrel fermented sauerkraut at my Italian friend's cousins stall in Eastern Market.

Stroh's Biergarten tours and lectures and beer drinking. Watching the brewery implode.

This you can still get: Earthworks honey. The jams are very good too, but the honey is really special, pungent, brined citrus notes and very floral. Maybe someone can explain why and what the bees are harvesting ...

Boston Coolers, made with Vernors and vanilla ice cream.

Small World Cafe, which is closed now, but used to be in the basement of the Historical Museum (IIRC, I'm senile.)

$4 pitchers of Blatz Dark at Circa 1861 with a free concert by the WSU jazz band.

Coney Dogs. Red Pelican mustard.

Casa de Espana when it was on Bagley, but especially when it moved to the old fire station on Michigan. They had ONE seating on Saturday and it was full. Many people brought coolers full of their favorite drinks. Then a show afterward, flamenco, which was always the same and seemed to get better every time.
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Peterhuntprincess
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Username: Peterhuntprincess

Post Number: 3
Registered: 03-2008
Posted on Sunday, August 03, 2008 - 8:54 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

My Detroit was of not that long ago. There were no vacant lots or urban prairies on my grandma's block. There were so many beautiful trees that lined the streets. I used to play with the kids down the street. I didn't know them, but grandma said it was okay. And yes, there was a (black) family owned dairy at the corner of burns and harper. There was also a penny candy store (black owned) across the street from there. We would go into the back yard and pick fruits from the trees, and veggies from the garden below. Two of my aunts lived around the corner, one lived right across the street, and we lived four blocks away. Every Sunday we would go to church and meet at grandma's. Everyone coming down the street would stop to catch up with old friends. I would go to the kiddy disco at the eastown theatre. The school I attended was full of cheerful faces of all colors, and I wanted to be just like them when i grew up.

Today my grandmother's house and most others on that first block of burns are gone, along with most of the houses on peter hunt. the dairy no longer opens, and the candy store is long gone. The school is terribly overcrowded, and the trees are all still there. I teach in Highland Park, because I dont want to forget the good old days. They still have some trees and houses, and a neighborhood penny candy store, dairy, crack house, etc.

I live on w. outer drive less than a mile from livernois, filled with beautiful trees, black owned businesses, neighbors your kids can play with, and I can take a walk without to much harassment.

Its strange because I would have never imagined myself as a west sider as a child. we never had a car so i didn't even know where it was, or what it looked like. I still drive by the old hood when im in the area. Two words cross my mind and strike my heart, "what happened?".
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Ed_golick
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Username: Ed_golick

Post Number: 1036
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Sunday, August 03, 2008 - 5:33 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Kid Dynamite,
Austin Powers fan???
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Senior
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Username: Senior

Post Number: 41
Registered: 10-2004
Posted on Sunday, August 03, 2008 - 10:29 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

My Detroit was pretty neat. We knew where to go for most everything, and more importantly where not to go. We had Chandler Park for most active sports and the great circle for bike riding. We went to St. Clair Rec. for swimming, Jackson Intermediate also had a pool. We had frequent bus and streetcar transportation to go to Tiger games. We either walked to school,(Hamilton) or took the bus (Jackson and Denby). We went to all the neat places like Greenfield Village, the Detroit Zoo, Ford Rouge Plant, Music Hall, Belle Isle Aquarium and Zoo, all through our school system. We had such advantages and opportunities that seem mindboggling now under present conditions. My Detroit------Wow!

Senior
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Bearinabox
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Username: Bearinabox

Post Number: 761
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Monday, August 04, 2008 - 1:01 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

My Detroit can kick your Detroit's ass.
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7_and_kelly_kid
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Username: 7_and_kelly_kid

Post Number: 253
Registered: 12-2007
Posted on Monday, August 04, 2008 - 1:43 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

My .sigh.........getting my driver's license in 1968 and picking my Dad up from work on French Road and Gratiot then fighting the pedestrian and auto traffic to find him.........Going back less than 20 years later and finding NOTHING but tumbleweeds and vacant lots...............NO people...........and NO CARS...........and no dad..........The Bob-Lo Boat.........steaming down the river.........hearing, seeing, and feeling the engines POUNDING, POUNDING, POUNDING to the beat of Tears for Fears "everybody wants to rule the world" and dancing with my 3 year old daughter Katie............the smile on her face backdropped against the Detroit skyline.........the smile on mine.....the smile on mine.........the smile on mine.....that's my Detroit.........DJV
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Diane12163
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Username: Diane12163

Post Number: 34
Registered: 07-2008
Posted on Monday, August 04, 2008 - 6:01 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

My Detroit began in January of 1963 on the 21st. As the youngest of 6 girls in an all girl household, I was the dubious baby and stayed that way to this day. I recall going to St. Jude church and school. I went to St. Jude school from 69-77. I recall those awful school uniforms. I was a product of the 60's and free love even though I was only 6 in 69. I remember JL Hudsons downtown and eating at their restaurant, Sanders Hot Fudge Sundaes at Eastland Mall. The Woods Theatre in Grosse Pointe was my first job in 1981. I was a candy girl in a way too short uniform that made me look more like a French Maid in a kinky flick. I recall drive by produce sales, Twin Pines milk, Good Humour ice cream, fire engine rides, block parties, wrestling with the paperboy's best friend on my front lawn, nice neighbourhoods that were well kept. My dad was a bricklayer and mom worked for the UAW. She had been with them since they began in a house. She grew up on Roans and went to Commerce High. Dad was an immigrant from Belgium, came over on the boat in 1920 at two years old. His dad was a pow in World War 1 and had a number on his arm. I went to alot of weddings, funerals, graduations ans showers in the burbs. I went to Dominican High School from 77-81. We graduated at Ford Auditorium. There was Gratiot and Garfield and you could find all you needed on both streets. I remember Passtime lanes and going to see my folks bowl. I recall my folks having pinnocle club every month at various houses. I was only 2 when the 65 riots took place. I recall great music on the FM dial and got into performers like David Bowie when he wasn't a household name and I was just 5. I recall watching American Bandstand, Pro Bowlers Tour, Ed Sullivan, Carol Burnett, Bob Hope, Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts and Sonny And Cher. I recall Bill Kennedy and Rita Bell.I have a lot of fond memories and horrific memories of growing up in Detroit. I'll always love Detroit, though.
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Eriedearie
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Username: Eriedearie

Post Number: 2580
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Tuesday, August 05, 2008 - 10:20 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Mortgageking - your story sounds an awful lot like a story I read on another forum. Kinda strange that 2 people would have the same memories of their Detroit. hummm...?
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Mortgageking
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Username: Mortgageking

Post Number: 198
Registered: 12-2006
Posted on Tuesday, August 05, 2008 - 11:33 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I dunno... maybe I read that before and it subconsciously slipped into my writing.
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Richard_bak
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Username: Richard_bak

Post Number: 170
Registered: 04-2008
Posted on Tuesday, August 05, 2008 - 11:51 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Oh...kind of like what happened with Steven Ambrose and Doris Kearns Goodwin....
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Tponetom
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Username: Tponetom

Post Number: 314
Registered: 06-2007
Posted on Tuesday, August 05, 2008 - 12:33 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Most of the above:

" Loving Litanies of Life in Detroit!"
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Mortgageking
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Username: Mortgageking

Post Number: 199
Registered: 12-2006
Posted on Tuesday, August 05, 2008 - 12:42 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Pretty much exactly like that.
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Alley
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Username: Alley

Post Number: 511
Registered: 02-2008
Posted on Tuesday, August 05, 2008 - 12:46 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Peterhuntprincess, that's the street my mom grew up on, around how old are you? she's 50. did you know the meier family?
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D_mcc
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Username: D_mcc

Post Number: 1115
Registered: 12-2007
Posted on Tuesday, August 05, 2008 - 12:53 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

my detroit is a blank canvas at the moment...waiting for the artist with his brush to create a masterpeice with the pigments and paints the mother city has provided...

some day
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Sean_of_detroit
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Username: Sean_of_detroit

Post Number: 1362
Registered: 03-2008
Posted on Tuesday, August 05, 2008 - 1:35 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I think a couple posters have good imaginations.

I also think that the Detroit that is, quickly is becoming part of the Detroit that was.

I like D_mcc's post the most though. I don't think it is a blank canvass though.

My Detroit I think would be all those things.... which doesn't really make a blank canvass, but rather an ever changing community art project, constantly being added to. There are good parts and bad... some people painted like Monet, while others could only draw stick figures... but many did contribute, for over three hundred years.

My Detroit is a constant place of change. Shopkeepers cleaning their storefront windows in the early mornings, office workers on their lunch breaks listening to Jazz in Campus Martius. It's the tourists on the People Mover, and the children visiting a downtown theater for the first time. It's the old and new friends meeting for a drink, and the new lovebirds on a first date on Belle Isle. It's the down and out business mean and former factory workers, and the bankers and CEOs, all friendly, but having no problem walking over each other... never really understanding the gravity and karma of their actions.

It's the memory of the Madison-Lenox, and the dream of Cadillac Centre.

It's the place my fiancee and I chose to spend majority of our life's in, marry in, and to raise our kids in. It is the city that will surely provide as much pain as happiness to all who live there. It's the city that so many generations will continue to pass through, like dusk to dawn... and if I am lucky enough to grow old, I will remember how my elders once told me how perfect it was once, and then I to will reminisce... imagining how perfect it was when I was young.

Of course... none of what any of us actually posts here, even comes close to describing what Detroit truly was, is, and will become.

(Message edited by Sean_of_Detroit on August 05, 2008)
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Peterhuntprincess
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Username: Peterhuntprincess

Post Number: 5
Registered: 03-2008
Posted on Thursday, August 14, 2008 - 8:42 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Alley, my mom is in her early 50s, but im only 26, and not many were left on my end of peterhunt when i was coming of age. our last name is Reymond, though... My grandpa owned a couple houses, a candy store, and a small grocery store back in the 50s though. Maybe you have heard of us?
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Cub
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Username: Cub

Post Number: 717
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Thursday, August 14, 2008 - 9:20 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hi Peterhuntprincess,
I live on Georgia, between Mcclellan and May. I remember The candy store and Lucy's(RIP). I wonder why the Dairy doesn't open anymore. They still sell fruits and Vegies out of the red truck though. Our last name is Covington.
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Blksoul_x
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Username: Blksoul_x

Post Number: 301
Registered: 06-2007
Posted on Thursday, August 14, 2008 - 10:27 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Since we are feeling all Nostalgic, I'll add my memories...!

I remember in the (80's) growing up around the McGraw and W.Grand Blvd area next to the oldest firehouse in the city( recently celebrated their 100th year anniversary) wanting to be a fireman.

That's all changed now (that is, being a fireman) ...but as a youngster, I remember playing baseball and kickball all-night under the light of the alley. Alley's were a wonderful and adventurous affair...we did a bit of everything in the alley (I even got my first smooch in the alley)...I remember playing baseball for the Church league, PAL, and Parks and Rec. The Detroit A's was the first team to which I officially made the cut. I remember making the cut, and wearing my uniform the entire day. I also played for the DY Yankees, Outcast, Clippers and later as an young adult, Northwestern, The Merchants, The Americans, The Panthers and Tennessee State University.

I also remember my neighborhood hangout...AMES playground on the corner of Vinewood and McGraw. That was a place that had a mean reputation. I remember the neighborhood G's that claimed the hood...The Gishna 30 30's...'Al', 'Slick Rick', 'Big Will', 'Joe Brown', 'Bebop', 'Skeem', 'Dre', 'Bear', 'Fox', 6'9, 'Big Greg', and most of all 'Big Skeet'...I remember those brotha's would drive up to AMES in there big shiny cars with the music blasting, flashing money, and they always whore the finest gear. I remember once Big Skeet gave me 100 dollars because I received all A's on my report card. I remember us, the younger of the G's, or lil' homies would try to mimic the 30's style...we would chase guys from our neighborhood on our hot-rod bikes, if no one recognized them...We even had a code (pre-gang signs), so that no outsiders could trick us....of course all innocent fun!

I also remember hanging out at the edge of the riverfront on the BLVD in the summertime (Riverside Park)...we would listen to the Electrifying MOJO on the BOOM BOX all night long...I can hear him jamming Perfect Beat, and Planet Rock, for hours....and if the train docked around the riverfront...then we had to stay until it moved. The rumor was, if the train docked...then people would be stuck overnight (for some reason that rumor never contained any truth.)

I also remember family trips to the 'Isle', and family 'get-togethers' around different aunties houses. Four of my aunties and cousins stayed at Collingwood and Dexter. I remember going over to Collingwood and flagging down ice cream trucks and playing four square, racing tag, pom pom, spiders and fly's, with all of my cousins.

Currently, Detroit is alot different, (in terms of the Black experience)__ our communities have fallen apart. Many of the people that held true to the community are now living and investing in the suburbs, and they have taken all of the knowledge and love with them. It is unfortunate that we don't recognize our neighbors any longer. I can remember in my neighborhood, I could walk across the street to a Black Dentist, and I also had 2 Black Teachers, a Black principle and a Black Congressman that stayed within a 2 Block radius of my house. I knew the people that stayed on the street in back of me, as well as the street down the Block. We (my neighborhood) had an ice cream shop, a professional barber, beauty shop, mattress store, 2 Libraries, a market, a mini-station, 2 soul food restaurants, a video store, an arcade, and a National recreation center (Kronks).

West Warren Ave was a major Avenue in my neighborhood which offered many services. I remember, thinking Warren Avenue was a different City__one could get anything and everything from the Street of West Warren...and I mean anything!

I'm not sure if my Detroit will ever be like what I remember...My Detroit will be soon handed back over to the dominant white society...and as a Black in amerikkka, I will be forced to move in a southerly direction...I soon will not be a part of my Detroit...perhaps becoming part of a more important role in the new southern Black movement!

That is my memory of my Detroit!

blksoul_atcha!
Founding member of the BJL.
Obama 08'
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Flanders_field
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Username: Flanders_field

Post Number: 867
Registered: 01-2008
Posted on Friday, August 15, 2008 - 12:50 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

My Detroit was the smell of oily alleys on hot muggy summer days behind collision shops along Gratiot. The chime of bells on the Good Humor Ice cream truck coming down my street. The loudspeaker of the red vegetable truck announcing three tomatoes for a quarter, ect...

The ding-ding noise made by cars running over the reddish-brown rubber hoses snaking out from bells inside gas stations. The roar and diesel smoke smell of DSR busses leaving bus stops filled with passengers going to work.

The feel of the chrome posts and seat handles, holding onto them while staggering my way down the aisleway trying to find a seat as the bus moved back into traffic. The florescent bulb lit inky darkness inside the windowless small barbershop where I got my hair cut.

The glint of the blades attached to the sides of work boots worn by Bell telephone company workers to climb the wood poles. The clack-clack noise made by the mailman's cart hitting the sidewalk seams as he pushed it ahead and then walked up to my house to make a delivery.

The buzz of the propellers from airplanes whose flight paths to the City Airport took them right over our house, which I got used to. The clanging/squeeking noise made by the No Parking/Standing signs on a very raw, cold and windy winter day.

The feel of almost losing control of my car's steering wheel from rainwater hitting the wheelwells, while "hydroplaning" down Gratiot's ruttish lanes on a rainy day. The noise that the studded winter rear tires on my first car made on dry pavement.

The clatter and banging of metal garbage cans being emptied by DPW workers in the alleys. The mechanical moan of their truck compacting the garbage. The unusual sound of a car or truck being driven down the alleys that contained objects that could quickly flatten tires, such as glass shards from bottles and jars, and jagged metal scrap.

The electric humm sound of the huge neon tube letters of the funeral home's sign at the end of my block, The amazing muffled silence that a heavy overnight snowfall created in the early mornings in the winter. The hiss of car tires on salted streets on a very cold day.The flapping sound of kites caught in telephone wires and trees in April.

The smell of burning leaves near the curbs of neighborhood houses on a late fall afternoon. The sight of trees decorated with toilet paper and car windows soaped on Devils Night, then entire blocks alight with their porchlights on, signaling the giving out of treats after the "tricks" of the previous night on Halloween evening.


(Message edited by Flanders_field on August 15, 2008)
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Hamtragedy
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Username: Hamtragedy

Post Number: 270
Registered: 10-2007
Posted on Saturday, August 16, 2008 - 6:05 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Lived on Lakewood & Mack in 1970. An old white -haired man used to always greet me with "Hey Whitey!" cuz I had really blond hair. I would greet him right back "Hey Whitey!'

We moved to Bewick, first block off of Jefferson. I was four and we were the only white family on the block. One day all the kids were in front of the house and yelled "Hey Whitey!" Without missing a beat, I yelled right back at them all "Hey Whitey!" My mom saw the puzzled look on their faces, went in and made Kool-Aid, and we all hung out on the porch every day till we moved.

I grew up in Grandmont, and can't think of a more ideal environment to grow up in. Families, regardless of color, seemed to have the same expectations of their kids. Be home when the street-lights came on, stay off other people's grass, and don't talk back grown ups when you get caught messing up. The whitey, and "hunky" (honky) comments kept coming.

I remember the first time I saw that walk, some dude walkin' down Lyndon, in the middle of the street. You know the walk where you dip your hip to the side, cup your hand, and wave it behind your butt (like you just cut a fart). You know, THAT walk. I learned it at age 6.

Edison Elementary was Happy Land. We also played pom-pom everyday at lunch. Mr. Martin was the science teacher, and ran the Safety Patrol. We would have roll call (with hot-chocolate) every morning, and on Thursdays, we played dodge-ball or softball. I also got to put up the flag with Felicia Daniels. We would sit in homeroom, and when it rained, we'd look at each other and get permission to take down the flag, just to get out of class.

Young Boys Inc. actively recruited Grandmont back then, especially the paper boys. I walked by Butch Jones Mercedes or Jaguar every morning on the way to catch the Gd River Bus. He shacked up and stored his money at a classmates house on Archdale. Most of the paper boys that were recruited made some pretty fast cash, until fathers and uncles realized Adidas Top Tens took more than one weeks earnings on a paper route. After a quick beating, most those guys were back throwin' newspapers. We all listened to MOJO and had our MFA cards.

We all had sweet-ass Schwinn Sting Rays, with the handle bars pushed as way forward as possible, 8 reflectors on each wheel, and bungie cords wound around the sissy bars. I could out-run a pack of thugs or wild dogs on mine, even with 75 papers on the back.

I've always joked with people that if you can ride the bus in Detroit, you can do damn near anything. I remember being on the Greenfield in ninth grade, the white boy comments flying as usual. Finally, voices from the back were taunting me to move to the back of the crowded-ass bus. So I did. There was a lot more room back there, and a bunch of friends waiting for me. Since then, I always "hold down" the back of the bus or subway, whenever using mass transit, in any city.

The bus was also the great equalizer. If the Grand River bus was full, it would pass you, even if in the rain.....and make you miss the Greenfield bus. When we would finally get off the bus at Outer Drive & Greenfield, we all still had to walk in the rain, looking like a bunch of wet dogs, to get to Renaissance.

I still drive down Grand River several times a week. I don't get nearly as nastalgic because of the frequency, but I love crossing the Southfield freeway and seeing downtown in the distance.
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Maxdetroit
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Username: Maxdetroit

Post Number: 38
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Saturday, August 16, 2008 - 6:58 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Sanders & Kresges in every neighborhood & Cunninghams on every corner

Captain Bob-Lo

A live band playing "Anchors Aweigh" as the Columbia pushed off from the dock at 9AM

Looking down into the engine room on the Bob-Lo boat and that oily humid smell of the engines.

Ice skating and sledding after dark near 7 Mile & Berg Road (forgot the name of the park)

Santa on the 12th Floor at Hudsons

Soupy Sales, White Fang & Blacktooth

Northand when every store in the place smelled NEW---Peter Pan, Himmelhochs, Wright Kay, Chandler Shoes, Brothers, etc etc etc

Burning leaves at the curb after school, cooking baked potatoes and marshmallows in the fire.

Ringing doorbells and throwing eggs after dark before Halloween and getting grounded for it.

Walking for miles on Halloween, filling up pillowcases with candy. Eating the Mounds and Almond Joys first. And nobody ever imagined getting poisoned.
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Richard_bak
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Username: Richard_bak

Post Number: 425
Registered: 04-2008
Posted on Saturday, August 16, 2008 - 7:12 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

My Detroit pretty much moved to Oakland and Macomb counties.
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Swede1934
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Username: Swede1934

Post Number: 56
Registered: 04-2007
Posted on Saturday, August 16, 2008 - 8:24 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

From the forty's I remember the freedom to move safely around the city even as a young teen. I lived at 70 Highland in Highland Park from 1940 to 1944 when we moved out to Sherwood Forest. I was able to take the streetcar out to the RKO Uptown at McNichols and Woodward, by myself, to see a movie. A friend of mine and I took the streetcar out to Royal Oak to the Zoo, again only 9, but my parents allowed me to do this. Even after moving to 7-Mile/Livernois area I still felt free to travel downtown by bus and/or streetcar to go shopping, and then figure out a novel way to return home. I figured out seven different routes, with only one transfer, to make that trip.
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Detroiterbybirth
Member
Username: Detroiterbybirth

Post Number: 2
Registered: 08-2008
Posted on Monday, August 18, 2008 - 2:57 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

My Detroit is long gone but here goes.

Eating pizza on the front lawn with all the neighborhood kids watching 8mm sound movies projected onto a huge sheet that was spread out across our lawn and our neighbors lawn.

Our eerie infatuation with Franchek funeral home and dead bodies.
Hanging out in Mt. Elliot cemetary all hours.
Playing frozen tag and hide and seek.
Riding our bikes along dead man's curve.
Dan and Vi's pizza and tantalizingly sloppily wet and hot ham and cheese subs wrapped in Saran wrap.
Coneys of course.
Belle Isle especially after one of our famous blizzards or ice storms which turned the island into a virtual Winter Wonderland and lets not forget the family reunions on the island when everyone would get together and act a complete fool.
Woolworth's on Chene as well as the pharmacy,laundromat and stationary store.
Hudson's especially at Christmas.
Mrs Keen, Mrs Baske, Mrs Wade ,Mrs Lewis, Mr Flood, Mrs Thomas,Mrs Simmons etc. All my old teachers when they really cared about us kids.
Summer nights in Hart Plaza experiencing all the ethnic festivals and walking around downtown till all hours of the night blasting our music on our Sharp GF-777 ghettoblaster.

Pizza at Nikki's. Bread fresh from Mikes.
McDougall Bakery. Joe's corner store. Clarence's corner store.
Bel-Air drive-in, the fox, the Adams, The Grand Circus,Big Boy on Woodward and the Hamtramck Cinema.
Nick's Coney Island too.
All the 3 for a dollar cheesy 70's movies and when a karate movie played we all thought we were expert martial artists afterward as we so playfully exhibited on the walks home punching and kicking each other and any inanimate object in our way.
We were fearless.
Chris,Crissy,Casey,Shelly, Heather, Jen and Crystal from Rochester/Oakland.
P.S. Thanks for showing us that people actually lived peaceful lives other than what we were used too. We thought that only happened in the movies.
Peanut,Lillian,Dorothy,Cassandra,Carmalita,Lilian,Lea,Natasha,Vesna,rachael,Yvette.
To all the girls I've loved before.
Drinking my first 40 of some wicked shit called Magnum back in the day at the Rot.
Yuck!

Yard parties for the adults and us kids would sneak Golden and Pink Champale up to the room and listen to Prince ,Michael and Mojo all night after getting drunk off of one 12 ounce bottle between 8 of us.

Basement and house parties.
Concerts at Cobo.
Working my first job downtown when it was jumping and had the time of my life . I thought I was on top of the world.

Cruising the city in my bosses car even though I did not have a license.
Being a part of the birth of hip hop when it was great and fun for all of us.

Yes ,I have a million more memories but my mind is tired right now. Anyway, what a great way to begin here.

Thanks.

(Message edited by detroiterbybirth on August 18, 2008)

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