 
Jcole
Member
Username: Jcole
Post Number: 386
Registered: 04-2005
| | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 1:11 pm: |    |
Oh, so you were the guy in the blue windbreaker running around in the parking lot acting like Batman. They had an APB out, but I'll tell them it's okay. I was just an Eastsider out for a lark |
7andkelly
Member
Username: 7andkelly
Post Number: 261
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 1:19 pm: | |
I wish it was me, but my jacket is long gone, I'm too old to run, and I can no longer afford the gas it would take for my SUV to make it that far up north.
So you may want to batten down with your two little dogs, and a nice hot foot bath, and ride this one out until it's safe again:-) |
Kellyroad
Member
Username: Kellyroad
Post Number: 382
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 1:59 pm: | |
OD: At first I thought you were referring to a video rental until I realized the time line when mentioning blockbuster (insert drum rim shot here). Zitro's sewar grate M80 story reminded me of a fellow News deliverer who obtained a block of potassium nitrate from the Cass Tech store room. We would usually stop at a party store on Lindhurst and Macrary to enjoy a pop before delivering our own routes. Anyway, he opened a brown bag and asked "Do you know how potassium can react with water? Let's see." He moved the sewar grate just enough to drop the brick in....then boom ...that sewar grate lifted at least 20 feet. He was pretty smart and loved chemistry but didn't expect that kind of reaction. actually the force of the explosion was greater than the noise (maybe because the brick was not encapsulated in anything and the water muffled the noise). Those grates were HEAVY though. We finished our pops and went on our business like nothing happened. Funny thing I don't recall the store owners over reacting |
7andkelly
Member
Username: 7andkelly
Post Number: 262
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 2:15 pm: | |
People used to dump all kinds of stuff down those sewers. Murray's sold a kit for flushing your radiator. It came with a T-joint you would splice into your heater hose with a connector to your garden hose, and a spigot you popped onto the top opening of your radiator. Turn on the faucet and flush all that slime out of your radiator, into the street and down the sewer.
And your neighbors would all think it was cool, and then pay you to clean out their radiators too! |
7andkelly
Member
Username: 7andkelly
Post Number: 263
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 2:23 pm: | |
...used motor oil, turpentine left over from cleaning paint brushes, dirty kerosene used to clean out an engine, rat poison...whatever you weren't allowed to dump down the sink... |
7andkelly
Member
Username: 7andkelly
Post Number: 264
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 2:24 pm: | |
LMAO! |
7andkelly
Member
Username: 7andkelly
Post Number: 265
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 2:26 pm: | |
No wonder those sewar grates kept popping off. Drop a cigarette...BOOM! |
Zitro
Member
Username: Zitro
Post Number: 258
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 2:31 pm: | |
I wonder why all the fish were dying in the Great Lakes. Hmmm |
7andkelly
Member
Username: 7andkelly
Post Number: 266
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 2:46 pm: | |
No doubt!
Okay, only the radiator flush portion of the story was true, but Popular Mechanics (or Popular Science) from my recollection did at one time recommend people dump their used motor oil down the side of their house to help stop a leaky basement. In the days before recycling was mandated, that type of re-use was probably considered progressive, like the mercury filled fluorescent bulbs and the bio-fuels they're pushing now. |
Olddetroiter
Member
Username: Olddetroiter
Post Number: 86
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 5:51 pm: | |
What?? You mean we're not supposed to flush stuff down the sewer?? Nobody told me. |
7andkelly
Member
Username: 7andkelly
Post Number: 270
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 7:34 pm: | |
OD: Sorry, the statute of limitations only goes so far back.
Back to the alleys:
Another neat feature was almost all of the yards had a gate to the alley. This was convenient for taking shortcuts, or evading an angry neighbor.
We used to play hide-and-seek across a few blocks, and these alleys and the attaching back yards made for great spots to hide.
Some kids even used these alleys to sneak into peoples' yards to pick tomatoes, cherries, peaches, pears and plums. |
7andkelly
Member
Username: 7andkelly
Post Number: 271
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 7:35 pm: | |
...rhubbarb, chives, dill, onions,... |
Kellyroad
Member
Username: Kellyroad
Post Number: 384
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 8:14 pm: | |
7andkelly: If you were picking tomatoes, etc. via the alley ways you must have been a member of the Eastwood thugs or a close alliance. I thought the Fordham gang or the Mapleridge marauders were tough but that was way out of line.....All that hard work of composting, fertilizing and watering just for the amusement of thrill seekers. It's too bad the DPD 15th precinct didn't have a gang control squad back then. |
7andkelly
Member
Username: 7andkelly
Post Number: 272
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 9:18 pm: | |
...grapes, cucumbers, carrots, leaf lettuce,...
Gang member? Not me. Just a kid who liked to eat. Still foraging a bit today, but now it's the food stand, vending machines, the coffee room for bagels, going away parties, birthday cakes, pretzels and candy in various locations... |
7andkelly
Member
Username: 7andkelly
Post Number: 273
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 9:23 pm: | |
Speaking of little dogs, mine is waiting for his walk. |
Jcole
Member
Username: Jcole
Post Number: 387
Registered: 04-2005
| | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 9:49 pm: | |
We had neighbors right behind us who had a HUGE garden. They had an extra lot and it had a concord grape arbor, rhubarb, tomatoes, lettuce peach, apple and pear trees. The works.
And they had no back gate. Just and open area in the fence to drive into the alley. They also had a 4 car garage with doors on both the front and the alley sides.
We used to sneak in their yard for fruit all the time. Only later did we find out they really didn't care, as long as we didn't pull the grape arbor down. |
7andkelly
Member
Username: 7andkelly
Post Number: 274
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:32 pm: | |
...oh yeah, grapes, currents, blue berries, raspberries,...
Jcole: I missed that lot, but it sounds like it would have been right up my alley! You know we did them a favor picking all that so it wouldn't rot on the vines and stuff.
Must...get...snack |
Jcole
Member
Username: Jcole
Post Number: 393
Registered: 04-2005
| | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:38 pm: | |
The house I'm talking about was in the alley between Maddelein and Lappin and Boulder and Redmond. The people's name was Daudlin. Of course, being kids, we had to have a house where the people were mean or witches or some such drama, and we chose them to represent that. We'd do dares to sneak into the yard, and they had piles of old ceramic tile from the garage, and you had to steal a piece of that and not get caught. When I got older I found out they were really just a nice old couple with grown kids.
As far as I can tell from Google maps satellite imaging, the house and lot are still there. Look up 16061 Maddelein, and it's right behind. |
Jcole
Member
Username: Jcole
Post Number: 394
Registered: 04-2005
| | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:39 pm: | |
I meant the house was off the alley, etc, not IN the alley. |
7andkelly
Member
Username: 7andkelly
Post Number: 276
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:47 pm: | |
I will drive by there someday, and if the garden is still there, I may not be able to stop myself from taking...some...pictures and then posting them here.
I wonder why they had two lots. Were they just loaded, or did the builder just move on and sold the lot off cheap? Or did a house burn down or something? |
7andkelly
Member
Username: 7andkelly
Post Number: 277
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:49 pm: | |
I didn't even catch that, but a house in the alley would be super cool! I would have been all over that! |
Jcole
Member
Username: Jcole
Post Number: 397
Registered: 04-2005
| | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:51 pm: | |
As long as I can remember, it was two lots, and the house was unusual for the neighborhood. It wasn't one of the asbestos sided bungalows, or the small bricks. It was stucco or cement or something like that and had a large front porch. I remember it as being pinkish or beige. I think it had a spanish roof, but that could be romanticized. It may have been an original farm house or some such, and just kept that parcel.
It was cool. |
7andkelly
Member
Username: 7andkelly
Post Number: 278
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:57 pm: | |
An original farm house...that makes sense. But since it wasn't wood or small brick, maybe it was originally a store or other building that was converted to a house. |
Jcole
Member
Username: Jcole
Post Number: 398
Registered: 04-2005
| | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 11:04 pm: | |
Here is an aerial shot, with annotating (best I can do on short notice)
|
Jcole
Member
Username: Jcole
Post Number: 399
Registered: 04-2005
| | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 11:06 pm: | |
I know a lot of you knew Frank Bardalino, so I notated his house on the left. Mine's in the middle, and the one in question behind mine. |
7andkelly
Member
Username: 7andkelly
Post Number: 280
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 11:13 pm: | |
Great work! Are those bushes, or is that a grape arbor?••• |
Jcole
Member
Username: Jcole
Post Number: 401
Registered: 04-2005
| | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 11:17 pm: | |
The grape arbor would be on the right side of the property from this view. Right up against the neighbor's fence line. Th big building in the back is the huge garage. If the arbor is still there, you'll have to sneak in under cover of darkness, on the night of the full moon, you know. |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 1536
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 11:20 pm: | |
ES: The Fordham Group, Ltd. WAS NOT a group of "psychos"...we worked under contract...SH put a hit on you boy...you were lucky to escape.
Ah, the technology of alley warfare...we moved from slinging rocks with limited accuracy to Whamo slingshots...the accuracy was greatly improved! We loved those alleys...we could make a hit it the Mapleridge-Columbus area and then duck into the alleys west of Hayes until we reached our home turf with no one (parents) ever the wiser.
The best action was when Troop 706 was provoked into war with 309 at a Jamboree...we pinned the suckers down with a hail of acorns fired from our Whamos and then sent in a rain of lit cherry bombs...it was a real thrill to see the spark trail of those bombs arching through the air into the middle of their campsite...of course, we caught hell with a lecture about setting tents on fire...but 309 never messed with us again. |
7andkelly
Member
Username: 7andkelly
Post Number: 285
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 11:26 pm: | |
If the arbor is still there with grapes and all it would certainly be tempting to just go get some.
Before I do I'll need to check the fine print on my life insurance to see if it would cover such insane acts of reckless criminal activity. |
7andkelly
Member
Username: 7andkelly
Post Number: 286
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 11:35 pm: | |
Speaking of rhubarb, my Mom made the very best rhubarb jam and pies. She also made current jam (red and black). I sometimes see current jam, usually at Blake's, but I don't recall ever seeing rhubarb jam in a store. |