 
Goblue
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Username: Goblue
Post Number: 687
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 - 1:22 pm: |    |
ES: Never did the camp thing other than as a counselor during a spring break one time. Worked Detroit Parks & Rec. summers and was a stock boy at Hudson's Eastland one summer. We likely worked at Eastland at the same time.
We drove thru Bad Axe on our way to the cottage...then thru Pigeon...big towns! We were a little less than a mile from Sleeper State Park but not lakefront. They sold the place some time in the early '70's...my dad had had a disabling stoke back in '66...I was living in Birmingham and my sister wasn't interested anymore...oh well! |
Kellyroad
Member
Username: Kellyroad
Post Number: 135
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 - 2:31 pm: | |
ES: Interesting observation....summer vacations in Michigan....We may want to include in the chapter....where did Detroiters vacation according to where they lived. Hunch: Eastsiders vacationed more often in the thumb, westsiders toward the westside of the state and downriver toward the south. I'm sure a lot of it had to do with geographical proximity, where your family migrated from, and most importantly the availability and direction of major highways back in the day. Our family vacations were in Owen Sound, Ontario (Mom's family from there) I-94 thru Sarnia up Highway 21. The Michigan stops were in the thumb (Coincidentally, my sister has a cottage/home between Caseville and Port Austin). The chapter could include migration maps showing parallels of where people relocated when they moved out of the city: ie. eastsiders to East Detroit, Warren; westsiders to Southfield, Livonia; Southwest Detroit to Downriver (Wyandotte, Ecorse, Southgate etc). We could include how the "migratory lines" have changed recently due to recent east/west highways, migration of jobs out of state, etc. etc. The same chapter could include data of where eastsiders relocate or retire to....Is there a trend???
GB: I worked Detroit Parks and Rec AND Eastland (Hudsons) also. The magic of Eastland around Christmas time when it was an outdoor mall is fondly remembered
(Message edited by kellyroad on November 26, 2007) |
Eastside61
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Username: Eastside61
Post Number: 542
Registered: 07-2006
| | Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 - 4:04 pm: | |
KR - GB - KR - glad you have not bailed out on GB and myself....we will need about 5 series of Eastside Adventures....but a vacation chapter should be in there...... |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 688
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 - 4:56 pm: | |
KR/ES: I suspect that you are correct about vacation destinations being closely aligned with highways. In our case my dad had started taking his Boy Scout troop camping in the Thumb...driving up M-53 to a county park a few miles north of Sleeper State Park...there was still an old tall chimney standing there from a long gone sawmill when I was a kid...he was a scout master as a young cop in the late '20's and early '30's. Then my parents bought a lot right at a small county park just north of the state park (if it had a name it escapes me)...we went up there and rented for years...then while I was at WMU they built their own.
I worked at Hudson's stocking during the summer of 1960...mostly in the garden shop that was outside...but sometimes in other departments...probably my greatest catastrophe was when I dropped a large tray full of fine crystal...smashed every piece...the sales woman almost cried. |
Kellyroad
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Username: Kellyroad
Post Number: 136
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 - 7:41 pm: | |
GB: Wasn't the garden shop at Eastland located next to the WWJ auxiliary radio station near the hippopotamus? I seem to recall that it was converted into Santa's fantasy land around Christmas time.
At HEILMANN PARK ice skating and hockey were extremely popular during the winter and with the enclosure of the outdoor pool (mid 60s) the community center became even more crowded. I recall both parking lots filled to the max during the winter (60s and early 70s)...9PM adult swim was always crowded year round.
It's funny to think back with a perspective of a young kid. Denby pool (before Heilmann was enclosed) seemed so ultra modern...it was longer (100ft compared to 75 ft), it had a partition wall, it was tiled, had bleachers and was indoors.
Does Denby school pool still exist? Are there still swim teams in the PSL? ...Maybe I should ask this in one of the Denby threads. I'll start here. |
Eastside61
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Username: Eastside61
Post Number: 543
Registered: 07-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 - 2:47 pm: | |
KR - I only hung out at Heilmann in HS in the winter when hockey season was in and open skating became a social scene.......I do remember GB getting crushed by Billy Cooper in a hockey match....I think he was never the same after that hit.....I would imagine that the pool is still there since it was enclosed in the building...whether there are swim teams I am not sure..... |
Kellyroad
Member
Username: Kellyroad
Post Number: 137
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 - 7:33 pm: | |
GB: Do you recall being crushed by Billy Cooper in a hockey match at Heilmann? |
Eastside61
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Username: Eastside61
Post Number: 546
Registered: 07-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 - 9:41 pm: | |
KR - Remember you have asked a "Q" from GB - who has not told the truth since being questioned by a cop who lived on the corner of Parkgrove and Salter...... |
Kellyroad
Member
Username: Kellyroad
Post Number: 138
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 - 11:49 pm: | |
GB: Tell me it's not true. Your insightful participation has led contributors to this Heilmann thread to believe that you are of keen intellect and possess the moral voracity that gives credence to your frequent musings. Hopefully, your discussion with Detroit's finest on Parkgove and Salter did not lead you to a life of lies and deception. |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 692
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 - 10:32 am: | |
KR: It is indeed sad...ES continues projecting his behaviors and history onto others...one definition of insanity is when the patient expects a different outcome from the same continued behavior...likely his tendency is the result of his time in the '60's as a flower child doing too much "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" in San Francisco. The truth be known...SH's father was a member of the DPD...he caught ES messin' with her in the basement...the way I heard the story he slapped ES around a little while threatening to take him to the station to book him because she was only 14...then he took him home where ES's father took him "to the woodshed" while his older and younger sib stood around and laughed like hell. I got that from a very reliable source. The story was all over the Heilmann area in those days.
B Cooper was a forward on an opposing team at Heilmann...unfortunately he wasn't a very good one...there was nothing I liked better as a defenseman than to have a forward come down the ice looking down to see where the puck was...BC had a tendency to do just that...and...I nailed his ass...likely they never did detach his stomach from his vetebrae...I do know that they repaired the broken boards that I put him through.
I like the way you phrased that...yes... my "moral voracity gives credence to my musings"...its so very true! |
Eastside61
Member
Username: Eastside61
Post Number: 549
Registered: 07-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 - 11:14 am: | |
KR - Fiction Plus is a program the great Dr. GB started when in the southland supposedly running school districts - BC and his brother Dave C......skated by the poor slow moving defenseman at Heilmann so many times that GB's team would resort to telling him the incorrect times for the games......so that he would not be demoralized on the great sheet of ice that Heilmann provided....
His fantasy world of hitting one on rushing forward is told in his make believe story of crushing opposing players through the Heilmann boards.....the true story was told many threads ago as there is the sacred Heilmann board that does have the initials "SR" TLA carved into them......maybe this was done while sitting on the bench waiting for the call to go over the boards an stop the cooper brothers...... |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 695
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 - 1:11 pm: | |
KR: Another demonstration of what that street stuff can do to one's brain! While you and I stayed on/near the eastside doing our best to build and restructure the culture of our beloved city ES was on the west coast...marching against our government...indulging in God knows what all narcissistic and shameful behaviors...selling tie dyed t-shirts on the street in order to obtain the latest mind altering concoctions...it is sad indeed! This said with great moral voracity! |
Eastside61
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Username: Eastside61
Post Number: 552
Registered: 07-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 - 4:22 pm: | |
KR - It can also be noted that GB skated at Heilmann rink with double runner bladed skates......It was part of a special education PE outreach program......as a defense man In Name only he was able to skate in a forward direction but could never skate backwards......He was good when open skating was allowed between games as then he could skate in the direction of the other skaters.....He also played for the CLOUD NINE team which was a rehab program for drug addicts in the late 50's.... |
Goblue
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Username: Goblue
Post Number: 697
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 - 5:16 pm: | |
KR: Here we go...ES projecting again...you know as well as I do that the strongest thing on the eastside was a cold can of Stroh's. |
Kellyroad
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Username: Kellyroad
Post Number: 139
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 - 10:33 pm: | |
I never played hockey at Heilmann but do remember open skating during the mid 60's. My hockey skates never did fit just right (got em at Vetere's on 7 MI).I had ankle support inserts and even a lace hook to keep em tight. The next year my folks got me figure skates (because they laced up better)....BIG mistake...Boys just didn't wear figure skates at Heilmann....My skating experience was short lived...grew out of the skates and that was it. Heilmann was remembered more for summertime acitivities especially swimming. So..this formerly weak ankled kid remembers the hot cocca as the highlight of the rink scene at Heilmann.
ES: Your flower power days during the 60s in SF reminds me of an interesting time I had in 2004 during a visit. My bro-in-law (yes the one in SJ) acquired tickets to a fund raiser for Ralph Nader taking place in a private residence on Haight street in SF. There I was in someone's kitchen with my wife, daughter, niece, nephew and about 30 other people listening to Ralph wax politically...a man who four years previous had more to do with who occupied the White House than any hanging chad. It seemed very surreal. I wish I had brought a picture of me standing in front of my first car (a Corvair) for Ralph to sign.
(Message edited by kellyroad on November 28, 2007) |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 699
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, November 29, 2007 - 10:19 am: | |
KR: That's a great story about Ralph Nader...you are correct he had more to do with the 2000 election than the Supreme Court. That would be a great autographed picture...you and your Corvair!
Heilmann for me was winter and skating...largely because I never could hit a curve ball...I got my first pair of skates at about age 5...double runners...the alley behind our house on Fordham was constantly flooded so it became my first ice rink. I'm not certain when I got my first real skates...hockey, of course, that I used to get sharpened at Vetere's ...but I do know that it just came naturally to me...there was a large vacant lot at the N.W. corner of Celestine and 7 mile...there's a church there now...the lot flooded every winter and that became the neighborhood rink...when I was 14 or 15 a buddy formed a team to play at Heilmann and invited me to join...the Easttown Disks...a few years later we won the city championship. Our games were on Saturday mornings. Evenings were the social/date time...and a chance for all of us to show off for our girlfriends. We also skated with dates at Balduck...it was a natural ice rink and there was a warmup shed...of course the parking lot was nearby to help with warmup also...lolol. The Belle Isle canals were another natural ice location for skating dates...and there was a real nice hot chocolate and warmup building.
There were times too that we played pick-up hockey on the lake ice at the foot of 7 mile & Lakeshore. I remember one time chasing a loose puck that was sliding toward the open water and hearing the ice start to crack under me...I slammed on the brakes and spun around while the puck dropped off the edge into 8-10 feet of water...close call!
Its amazing to me how things have changed...two of my grandkids are now playing hockey in Kalamazoo...a girl 7 and a boy 9...they have full uniforms...he plays on a travel team and practices 5 nights a week plus they're on the road every weekend to Detroit, Chicago, Traverse City, etc. ...there might be something in the genes because both of them laced on skates for the first time and hit the ice like they'd been born there. I don't approve of this kind of intensity in athletics for small kids... but...what do I know...I'm only grandpa retired from a 40 year career in education. When ES comes down from his Haight Street High I'd be interested in hearing his professional opinion about young kids and sports. |
Eastside61
Member
Username: Eastside61
Post Number: 553
Registered: 07-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, November 29, 2007 - 10:55 am: | |
GB - Two 40 year Ed Vet's.....and grandpa's, too.....Heilmann yes...never did the Belle Isle canal or Ballduck skating. We played a backyard game, since the lots on Mapleridge we a wide 40 feet (cough) but 100 feet deep....so we played a game year round called BYH for Back Yard Hockey.....nets, sticks and various tennis balls....and played forever and even when we were home from college.....various tennis balls because next to us a doberman lived in the backyard just waiting for the ball to go over...and he would smile and bark..."Game OVER".......Hockey needs to be one of the chapters, toooooooo
No Nader stories except he should be blamed for screwing this country....Wife recently was at a small gathering (20 people ) in the Pacific Heights area of SF and met B. Obama.......she is voting for him.......or moving to Canada.....
Come WEST Boys........Hockey at the TANK rocks and the weather is ideal.......later!••• |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 702
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, November 29, 2007 - 11:30 am: | |
ES: Better plan to visit SE in Canada after the convention...Hillary's got it locked...she has the boots on the ground...well organized and lots of them...BO could get a shot at VP maybe...my choice was Edwards but he's not getting the traction. They won't turn Bill C. loose until after the convention...but once they do...the guy is awesome...heard him speak a couple of months ago...1300 people at the dinner...mesmorized! I'm hearing Republican friends say that by voting for her you get two for one and he can go out to the world to begin to repair the damage as a roving international ambassador...or as secretary of state.
Personally I've thought more about Costa Rica...better climate than amongst the Cannucks der eh! But....no hockey! |
Eastside61
Member
Username: Eastside61
Post Number: 558
Registered: 07-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, November 29, 2007 - 3:29 pm: | |
GB - I think you have it right........Bush is such a dick.....He needed the eastside experience......but missed the opportunity to get his head on straight.....a spinal cord for president is interesting...only in America....lets start practicing "Oh Canada....The true north strong and free.........." |
Kellyroad
Member
Username: Kellyroad
Post Number: 140
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, November 29, 2007 - 3:44 pm: | |
GB and ES: Another chapter in the Heilmann/Fareastside book could be "The Demise of Outdoor Winter Activities". What happened? Back yard rinks were all over the place back in the 60s. We too had a 40 ft wide lot (5 ft wider than most) and with the closing of most alleys in 60s natural ice skating rinks were were even larger. Do you remember the natural ice dotting Moross Blvd back in the day? Heilmann no longer has an ice rink; and I wonder if the Det. Parks and Rec supports or organizes winter activities as a generation or two previous.
GB, I concur with your observation of kids starting young and the intensity of organized sports. (Of course I should talk. I got involved with my kids as coach, general manager, and athletic director in baseball, basketball, softball...but it was a great conduit to stay close to the family while getting involved with the community....at least that's my rationalization) Anyway, the chapter on winter activity could include demographic changes, the dwindling population of children in the eastside area, warmer winters. etc. etc We can make analogies on the demise of snowball wars, building snow forts, hitching rides on bumpers, sledding/toboganing to the demise of summer activities such as pickup baseball, curbball, pickle, strikeout, jump rope etc. again probably due to a sparser kid population and the propensity to have the young ones involved in a more competitive/organized setting. Warmer weather probably should be underscored more than we want to admit (No. I'm not promoting Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth at this point). Let's face it....the winter activities we enjoyed during yesteryear in Detroit was due to plenty of snow and ice every year...from early December till March...That does't seem to be the norm any longer. Even here in Riverview (yes GB the home of Lloyd Carr) Riverview Highlands (Mount Trashmore) no longer is a ski hill due to the lack of snow (been converted to an addition to the golf course. One of the bright spots in Detroit for outdoor winter activities is the new ice rink on Campus Martius in front of the Compuware Building and Hard Rock Cafe on Woodward Ave. It's has night time skating and reportedly bigger than the rink at Rockefellar Center. You can rent skates for a nominal fee. Check it out when you return from your warm environment of AZ/CA
On the political scene (yes I realize this is way off topic) Hilary does have her war chest ready but the primaries have yet to be started. Remember John Kerry had a 15 point leas over Bush at one point in 04.....way too early to tell. Besides who knows what goods the GOP has on HC or vice versa. I'm sure there are a few skeletons shaking in an Arkansas closet. |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 704
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, November 29, 2007 - 3:46 pm: | |
ES: This administration has been far beyond our worst nightmare...I truly don't know if we'll be able to repair the damage on literally every issue...everywhere we turn there is nothing but disaster...hard to say which is the worst...in my mind its likely the destruction of the middle class plus the entire international scene...as a nation we have lost our moral standing in the world entirely. If I say anymore I'm going to start frothing at the mouth again.
I still think maybe Costa Rica...there's a large American community there...a stable democracy...sound economy...strong middle class, etc.
You are right though...if the little jackass had any kind of background like the eastside.....oh well...I'm starting to froth! |
Eastside61
Member
Username: Eastside61
Post Number: 563
Registered: 07-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, November 29, 2007 - 9:27 pm: | |
GB - The destruction of the middle class and the shipping of US jobs out of this country - along with the demise of strong labor organizations which i think started with Nixon / Reagan and with GW (Spinal Cord with ears) has put a major hurt on this country......Euro's will replace the $$ and when China calls in our debt......we need to be on the beaches of CR with family and a lot of friends...it would rock.....•••••• Should we start looking at the EASTERN COAST of CR........ha ha... |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 706
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Friday, November 30, 2007 - 10:00 am: | |
ES: Amen...you've nailed it...nothing wrong with Wal-Mart that a good union wouldn't cure...China is our biggest threat...cannot imagine selling our debt to them...and then importing their toxic junk...and then one of Bush's gofers tells congress to vote against more inspectors. What a gdmf__in' IDIOT!! I didn't like the old man's politics...but at least he had a brain. She must have been foolin' around with a roustabout while the old man was away...I'd be embarrassed as hell if I were him to have sired such a dumb fuck.
That's to say nothing about the environment... read in the Times yesterday that 11 Western states are suing the EPA because they just relaxed the rules on toxic waste dumping...now they can dump four times as much without reporting it...a victory for Bush's pals in the mining and oil industries...these bastards are laughing all the way to the bank and could give a shit less how many kids die of asthma or...is autism linked?•••
CR here we come...you're right...a TAR enclave on the beaches..."Rum for my friends!" |
Eastside61
Member
Username: Eastside61
Post Number: 564
Registered: 07-2006
| | Posted on Friday, November 30, 2007 - 2:00 pm: | |
Gb- love to wear shorts, a shirt and my black crocks.......Corona....limes.. ....it might be the place to go!!!1 |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 709
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Friday, November 30, 2007 - 2:26 pm: | |
ES: It wouldn't be all bad to have a wardrobe that consisted of 2 pairs of shorts and three t-shirts...but...you gotta promise...no MSU shirts or calf high black socks held up with garters with your wingtips! |
Kellyroad
Member
Username: Kellyroad
Post Number: 141
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Friday, November 30, 2007 - 4:03 pm: | |
To my Heilmann comrades in arms: Don't abandon ship. Keep hope alive. Stay strong. The grass always looks greener from the other side. |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 712
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Friday, November 30, 2007 - 9:26 pm: | |
KR: No belief here that life is perfect in CR...however it is the purest democracy in the western hemisphere...but...the damage done to this country in the last seven years on literally every issue is immeasureable...we will need at least two generations to repair the losses...to the middle class through the Bush tax structure...to the environment (an example cited earlier)...to our standing in the world (trust me...we are no longer respected and admired)...to our democracy (has your public library usage been monitored yet?)...the corruption that has undermined our self confidence (isn't it interesting that Haliburton obtains no-bid contracts...guess who is a major stockholder)...the economic impact of a multi-trillion dollar debt as the result of a war brought about by an Oedipus driven moron controlled by a cynical cabal (read Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc.)...national debt which has been sold to China...the importation of toxic goods because we refuse to impose restrictions (isn't it curious that a major consultant to China is the president's brother...just following daddy's lead as a consultant for $6M a year to the Saudi's)....on and on and on. I've been to the other side...believe me...the grass is indeed greener on many dimensions.
I'm sorry...I don't mean to sound like I'm attacking a friend...because I'm really not...hope is indeed alive...I will again be knocking on doors urging people to vote during the next election. At the same time I had plans to leave this country before I met ST. Her parents are aged and for that reason...if no other...we remain...but...I no longer have great confidence in the American empire. |
Eastside61
Member
Username: Eastside61
Post Number: 567
Registered: 07-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, December 01, 2007 - 3:00 pm: | |
GB - Well stated.....2 generation for sure and it is amazing to me that more people are not pissed!••• The other thing we need to eliminate is corporate financing of political campaigns......THE EUnion has NO corp. funding of those making decisions and one can see how they have cleaned the environment and protected workers....... |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 714
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, December 01, 2007 - 3:57 pm: | |
ES: Amen...amen! I simply do not understand why the country is not up in arms...82% of the citizens believe this president is an absolute fool...and yet, they sit on their hands. I keep saying that we need the military draft reinstated...if we had one the campuses would be in revolt...and would again be demanding change.
I agree too...that we have to put an end to corporate financing of campaigns. The entire matter has become ridiculous. Here in AZ CD1 the campaign will cost $3M...to represent a district of about 500,000 people! The UK is able to do it without...they protect their environment...and...provide decent healthcare to all citizens.
I never used to believe in term limits...but I have come to the conclusion that it is the only way we'll get control of our government. The Founders never intended for service in the national government to be a career in which one became wealthy.
To the barricades! |
Kellyroad
Member
Username: Kellyroad
Post Number: 142
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, December 01, 2007 - 10:00 pm: | |
ES and GB: I'll leave the political hot stove issues for a moment and return to the Eastside...Got together with a long time friend from the eastside last night and did our usual thing...shoot a few games of pool in Eastpointe, enjoy some libations in a Grosse Pointe Park Irish Pub, and tour the old neighborhood. ES, your old homestead (15847 Eastwood) is still sitting pretty. Yes you lived right next door the the Whitakers. If I'm not mistaken your house was sold to the Carter family. Anyway, it was a cold evening in the big D. All the reminiscing about Heilmann and outdoor winter activities provided a stark contrast to the field light up with mercury vapor lights surrounding the two schools and the new community center. Yes, the new center is exactly where the old ice rink use to be. Nobody was skating!••• |