 
Kellyroad
Member
Username: Kellyroad
Post Number: 84
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Friday, June 15, 2007 - 10:36 pm: |    |
ES61,
You're reading my mind. The Heilmann thread has gone from park nostalgia, to nearby neighborhood memories, to sociologic observations and commentaries. "The Eastside and Rapid Change" could be the basis of our book....or at least a new thread....I'm there if you are.
Actually, (I know I'm repeating myself) but Paul Clemens' book "Made in Detroit" does a nice job of eastside nostalgia mixed with sociological, political, and philosophical observations/commentaries.
Back to Eastwood: Do you remember the names: Vigneau, Allen, Gallas, Sipos, Shipert, DeLeare,Carter, Pierson, Ryan, Van Leer? Were they there during your Eastwood era? |
Eastside61
Member
Username: Eastside61
Post Number: 72
Registered: 07-2006
| | Posted on Friday, June 15, 2007 - 11:21 pm: | |
KR - Pierson ( across the street)and Ryan ( two doors down) - If it is the same Ryan family.....I remember watching my first TV at their house on a 12" Muntz TV.....There was some clown who lived two down from Ryan's who thought that my father was "jewish" and wouldn't talk to him....My father grew up south of Jeff on Lakewood and was a Lutheran...but Charlie loved to put that JERK on.....those are stories that should be in the first book...along with making all children at Columbus sing ONLY chirstmas carols up and down the hallways during the week before X-mas i always found interesting and I am sure Roda Rose and Rosaline Bohne found it inspiring too.....
"T E and R C" has potential and your connections to Oprah makes it worth our time and efforts. Denby '59er Go Blue could be the older - sage like guidance person we will need...ha ha.
Clemens' book was a good read but the neighborhood had changed at the time of his experiences and would fit as a guide for our second book...... |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 71
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Friday, June 15, 2007 - 11:34 pm: | |
ES61: NS was a well above average golfer...the sort of straight arrow that Coach Reaume could relate to...and another example of a success story coming out of Denby and the far eastside. I continue to be amazed that ya'll chose to work in the DPS versus the burbs. That concept never crossed my mind. I had offers from GP, Livonia, and Warren Wds. when I graduated...never thought of working in the city.
Maybe it is time for a new thread...Observations on Change from an Eastside Perspective. At the same time we don't want to lost track of the thought that ES61 was at the point of DPD Officer H's shotgun lest he harass (if that's the right term) his daughter S. There are yet a thousand stories to be told!
I believe the girl that ES has mentioned would have been from the very early '60's...or the very late '50's. |
Eastside61
Member
Username: Eastside61
Post Number: 74
Registered: 07-2006
| | Posted on Friday, June 15, 2007 - 11:53 pm: | |
GB - Tom Tuschak taught at Joy Jr HS, Jim Beard taught at Knudsen Jr HS....."Brave and Crazy" was the motto of the DHS class of 61.... |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 72
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Friday, June 15, 2007 - 11:54 pm: | |
ES61: Just did the Google search for NS...wow!!...another real notable from Denby...Ph.D. from WSU...major recognition from the MSU School of Medicine...chalk him up to another success story with a Denby background. |
Kellyroad
Member
Username: Kellyroad
Post Number: 85
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, June 16, 2007 - 12:11 am: | |
ES61,
You've must have lived next door to the Whitakers. The Whitakers, as I recall were real nice folks....use to throw the football around or play tag with Kempe (sp?). If so I believe the Carters moved into your house???? Small world. |
Eastside61
Member
Username: Eastside61
Post Number: 76
Registered: 07-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, June 16, 2007 - 12:23 am: | |
KR - Kempton Whitaker is your former football - tag companion!!! What ever happened to him?......I can't wait to head to MI at the end of July to visit with my mother and my younger brother and his family.......we will get on line to show all the Eastwood pics and stories..... |
Kellyroad
Member
Username: Kellyroad
Post Number: 87
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, June 16, 2007 - 6:29 am: | |
ES61,
I believe Kempe became a Detroit cop. The family moved out in the 70s (possibly early eighties). Sadly, Mr. Whitaker (Kempe's dad) passed away due to ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). |
Eastsideboy
Member
Username: Eastsideboy
Post Number: 1
Registered: 06-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, June 16, 2007 - 9:50 am: | |
I'm new to this forum and was drawn in by the Heilmann discussion.
I lived on Novara between Gratiot and Hayes and in the late 40s Heilmannn was known as Ford's Garden. It hadn't been flattened out and kids would ride their bikes over the hilly very uneven ground, much as they do in the more rural areas today.
In the early 50s the military moved in and took about half the park. I remember walking to school (St Jude) and seeing a couple of jeeps and trucks out in the park with a tent and a radio tower. It was snowing and they were out in the open field. Within a week or two there were large tents and more soldiers and trucks and in the spring the place was a mess with trucks driving through the mud and they had wooden "sidewalks" between the tents. The metal barracks didn't arrive till later, along with the anti aircraft guns. They stayed for a few years and occupied the area from Maddelein to Coram or Novara. After they left the city leveled everything and planted 2 rows of Dutch Elm around the Park.
Before they built the skating rink we would play hockey on a natural pond just off Manning, shovelling the snow off the ice. I think it was just a low area that froze every year.
The first improvement of the park was an asphalt lane that crossed park -- about enough for a couple of bikes and replaced a path leading to Burbank. There was a drinking fountain about halfway across.
The skating rink was cool because it attracted a lot of cute girls except you had to pay a dime or something to get in. And the hockey go too organized with teams and all and the pickup games at the pond stopped.
Later they built the swimming pool and people would jump the fence and swim at night and the cops would come by at night and shine their lights over there and hassle people making out in the parking lot.
I went to St Jude 57' and Osborn 61'. I still live on the east side of Detroit on Courville near Mack. |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 74
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, June 16, 2007 - 10:55 am: | |
ESB: Your memories of Heilmann go back a bit further than the rest who have posted...7 Mile was a barrier for those of us who lived south of it until we were a bit older. I was one of the guys on the organized hockey teams...and you're right about the cute girls at the rink.
You must also remember the open fields before they built Eastland shopping center...in the winter the Boy Scouts held arctic games there...our troop had a dog sled (we were the dogs) that we pulled around, built fires, etc.
I'm going to try once more just in case there are new visitors...does anyone recognize the girl in the attached picture...she was my Jan. '59 prom date at Denby...for the life of me I can't remember her name.
|
Karen8824
Member
Username: Karen8824
Post Number: 12
Registered: 08-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, June 16, 2007 - 12:03 pm: | |
Kelly Road:
I lived next door to the Bass's. I lived there from 1968 to 1984. |
Kellyroad
Member
Username: Kellyroad
Post Number: 88
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, June 16, 2007 - 2:28 pm: | |
Karen8824,
If my memory serves me correctly your dad was a Detroit Police Officer, your last name started with a P?????? I had a paper route along Eastwood so a lot of names come back to me. Since your family moved in in 68 and the Detroit News was on strike during that time, I think I remember asking your dad to subscribe to the News when the strike settled.....small world..wonderful memories |
Kellyroad
Member
Username: Kellyroad
Post Number: 89
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, June 16, 2007 - 2:33 pm: | |
Eastsideboy,
Thanks for the history lesson! Those are the stories I was looking for. |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 76
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, June 16, 2007 - 7:48 pm: | |
Karen: There was a Bass family that lived on Fordham in the block east of Celestine in the '40's & '50's...one of the girls was friends with my sister who graduated Denby in '51...wonder if they could be part of the same family as the one you knew?
ESboy: Our first hockey games were like yours...on a vacant lot that flooded and froze every winter...at the corner of Seven Mile & Celestine...there's a church there now...everyone brought a shovel to clear the snow. Hockey in the winter...endless baseball with right field out in the summer. It was amazing that we could play ball all summer with a minimum of fights/arguments without parents there telling us all of the rules! There was a billboard on the lot...the way we configured the diamond a ball over it was a homerun...I never got one over...always was a singles and doubles hitter...still hitting the same way and playing shortstop in senior softball here in Arizona. |
Karen8824
Member
Username: Karen8824
Post Number: 13
Registered: 08-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, June 16, 2007 - 9:19 pm: | |
Kellyroad: OUr last name was Polakowski. My dad worked for the UAW and then he was General Manager of the Wayne County Building Authority. I loved that area... I always take a ride down the street when I visit the area. |
Kellyroad
Member
Username: Kellyroad
Post Number: 90
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, June 17, 2007 - 12:03 am: | |
Karen8824,
I thought you were a Polakowski and I remembered when your family moved in. Your home was one of the nicest bungalows on that block.
GB,
Wasn't there a small playground between Celestine and Chalmers on 7Mi. or did that come later? |
Gtat44
Member
Username: Gtat44
Post Number: 151
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, June 17, 2007 - 9:35 am: | |
Yes, there was a playground directly across from the post office. By the time I moved to Linnhurst and Chalmers in 1982 at the age of 17, it was totally overgrown and missing the old swings. |
Karen8824
Member
Username: Karen8824
Post Number: 16
Registered: 08-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, June 17, 2007 - 10:53 am: | |
KellyRoad: If you send your email I can get some memories of the Eastwood area and Heilman Park stories - but these would be from the 70's. |
Gibran
Member
Username: Gibran
Post Number: 606
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, June 17, 2007 - 12:42 pm: | |
karen what year did you graduate from denby? |
Ron_saad
Member
Username: Ron_saad
Post Number: 105
Registered: 03-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, June 17, 2007 - 12:50 pm: | |
I played ball at Heillman, Balduck and Sasser.
Also lived at 15220 Manning off Hayes, half block to heillman. |
Gibran
Member
Username: Gibran
Post Number: 609
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, June 17, 2007 - 12:54 pm: | |
Ron when did you play ball at Sasser....we had a team in the early seventies...1973-5. |
Karen8824
Member
Username: Karen8824
Post Number: 18
Registered: 08-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, June 17, 2007 - 1:35 pm: | |
Gibran: My sister went to denby: Andrea Polakowski - she graduated in 1977 |
Gibran
Member
Username: Gibran
Post Number: 611
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, June 17, 2007 - 1:40 pm: | |
Thought the name was familar....that's the year I graduated....  Tell her I hope to see her in October...JS |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 78
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, June 17, 2007 - 6:06 pm: | |
KLR: Yeah, there was a play area on 7 Mile but its a stretch to call it a playground...it was more like a large lot...not big enough for a ball game...mostly just swings and sandboxes...it came after our vacant lot games in the late '40's to early '50's. |
Ron_saad
Member
Username: Ron_saad
Post Number: 107
Registered: 03-2005
| | Posted on Monday, June 18, 2007 - 3:48 pm: | |
Since 1970.Same team still plays there. The Treefrogs |
Gibran
Member
Username: Gibran
Post Number: 621
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Monday, June 18, 2007 - 5:24 pm: | |
we were the Sasser stoners....great name ehh...parker, geitzen, faulk, dudus, to name a few...those guys lived near sasser. I went to jH with them... we let parker's older brother be our manager cause he was old enough to buy beer... |
Ron_saad
Member
Username: Ron_saad
Post Number: 108
Registered: 03-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 19, 2007 - 3:49 pm: | |
I probably no them by face and not names. |
Kellyroad
Member
Username: Kellyroad
Post Number: 91
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 1:19 am: | |
bump |
Eastside61
Member
Username: Eastside61
Post Number: 105
Registered: 07-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, July 14, 2007 - 11:45 pm: | |
Remember Heilmann Group -
Anyone remember Ty Fahner from the 60's who lived in the Burbank / Heilmann neighborhood?????? |
Eastside61
Member
Username: Eastside61
Post Number: 161
Registered: 07-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, August 19, 2007 - 1:01 am: | |
One of my best friends who lived on Fordham and dated the girl who lived next door to him ( I think she went to Regina) would always be seen at Heilmann whether it was summer or winter....they were always somewhere between 7 Mile and Burbank school......what a guy!!!!! |