 
Hpgrmln
Member
Username: Hpgrmln
Post Number: 650
Registered: 06-2007
| | Posted on Monday, February 02, 2009 - 5:34 pm: |    |
The house in Oakland County my father grew up in was recently demolished. I never understood why he was so "cold" towards a house he lived in from birth to graduation. His parents sold it in the late 70s. The last owners gave him a tour and all he would say about it to me was "they should have torn it down years ago". I never understood that. They put an addition on the back that was not very well planned and detracted from the house. Otherwise, it was absolutely unchanged from when his parents sold it. It still had a light fixture that was there in the 50's. His cold attitude towards the house was based largely on the fact that no good updates were made to the house, as well as the fact the floor plan was bad, with odd dimensions and room sizes.
He also said he has great memories and thats all that matters. The physical property itself and the memories associated with it are not the same thing to him.
Its interesting how peoples feelings differ. Everyone here is mourning the demolition of a house they lived in. My dad had little emotional connection to the structure and felt it was an obsolete, impractical house. Sort of like, the past is the past,memories are cool,but lets move on. |
Jerrytimes
Member
Username: Jerrytimes
Post Number: 166
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Monday, February 02, 2009 - 5:43 pm: | |
My Great Grandfather built the 2nd house off the corner on the north side of Westphalia just west of Gratiot. He sold it in the 70's. This house is basically the setting for all of my fathers chilhood photos that weren't in his own house in EastPointe (East Detroit as we all know it). Years ago the corner house was torn down. In about 2003 my father and I drove by it, he always like to to check on it and it was burned. The basement caught on fire and he couldn't believe it. You could see right through the back of the house through the front window. He was so pissed and I don't blame him. I just can't imagine growing up in a city like Detroit in the 50's and 60's and them just watch a city as nice as it was turn to crap and everywhere that you like to go is just a hole. I'm only 29, I never experienced anything that he did in the city, and I hate seeing it too. |
Detroitnerd
Member
Username: Detroitnerd
Post Number: 3423
Registered: 07-2004
| | Posted on Monday, February 02, 2009 - 5:45 pm: | |
Well, the reaction of people who left Detroit to what's happened to Detroit is a complex and nuanced phenomenon. It's often struck me as odd how a community would leave a neighborhood in Detroit, lock, stock and barrel, taking everything -- Their money, their banks, their businesses, their belongings, their churches -- and then come back for a peek 40 years later and be appalled that it's so run-down. Well, you left didn't you?  |
Jt1
Member
Username: Jt1
Post Number: 5755
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 02, 2009 - 5:51 pm: | |
quote: I just can't imagine growing up in a city like Detroit in the 50's and 60's and them just watch a city as nice as it was turn to crap and everywhere that you like to go is just a hole.
I just can't imagine hundreds of thousands of people leaving a city then having the gall to be pissed at those still around for not keeping it up to their expectations.
Thread like these are so ridiculously stupid it is laughable. Boo, f'in hoo. As opposed to being pissed (not directed at Jerry times but the people whining about their old house) about their old neighborhood maybe they should recognize that when they are one of the nearly 1 million people that left the city they helped bring on this condition.
Whining about 'their house' is just fucking pathetic. Maybe those of us in the city dealing with a depleted tax base, depleted population, legacy costs from the 'good old days' should be complaining about the condition of the city which you helped bring about.
Take your whining somewhere else. Your not going to get too many tears here. |
Leoqueen
Member
Username: Leoqueen
Post Number: 2789
Registered: 07-2004
| | Posted on Monday, February 02, 2009 - 6:08 pm: | |
quote:There is a certain psychological effect of the loss of your childhood home. But it is important to remove ones memories from the physical space in which the memories took place. Also keep in mind it is very rare that anyones childhood home remains the way that the remember it, and thats not just a Detroit thing, that is a life thing. It happens everywhere. Also just to throw this out there imagine the effect the loss of homes around you has on the people who live there now.
Thanks, 6nois....when I read that I thought about why I don't want to ride by my old home, 15614 LaSalle. My memories are mostly sweet, some are bittersweet, but they all speak to a time when my parents were alive and my friends and I could play outside safely. I had heard that some squatters were living in my home, and just didn't want to see the home that my mother and father worked so hard to keep up, dilapidated in any way.
My parents and older sister moved into this home in February 1949, 5 years before my birth. They were the first black family on the street. My family had a 50-year run in 15614...after my parent's deaths in 1987, my younger sister lived there with her 4 kids. Finally she had to move out in 2000. Memories abound.
The neighborhood hung on for as long as it could. We heard from former neighbors about who has died, which homes are gone, what the general state of the street is. But I just don't want to see it. I look at the old pictures. |
Johnlodge
Member
Username: Johnlodge
Post Number: 9298
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 02, 2009 - 6:35 pm: | |
I understand Jt1 and Detroitnerd's frustration, but at the same time a lot of those people left like 40 years ago. You're yelling at a bunch of 70+ year olds at this point, most of them probably don't post here if they're still alive. So, you know... Time to move on. |
Detroitnerd
Member
Username: Detroitnerd
Post Number: 3424
Registered: 07-2004
| | Posted on Monday, February 02, 2009 - 6:40 pm: | |
Oh, I'm not yelling at anybody. I'm not all that frustrated either. I'm just saying that it's more complicated than looking at your family's one-time home and saying, "Look at what THEY did to it."
In fact, at the very best, looking upon a one-time home with that sense of "ownership" could be a good thing, if done open-eyed and researched well. And, for a lot of people, it's their first stab at finding their suburban family's connection to the city. It's just that there's this whole complex narrative we must first admit that we're part of. |
Ragtoplover59
Member
Username: Ragtoplover59
Post Number: 507
Registered: 09-2006
| | Posted on Monday, February 02, 2009 - 6:43 pm: | |
All of this goes so much deeper then what is being remembered,
Even if no one had left the city, Our houses still would have aged and gone through different looks.
Everyone staying put wouldn't have saved the houses?
I recall most of the houses in my "Hood" had shingle siding years ago? well that stuff can only have so many baseballs bounced off of them before the shingles broke and the house started looking shabby, lose a piece here and there and over the years it's gone!
The best kept Houses at the time were getting that new Aluminum siding, That would make any shack look like a fine home!
Along comes another generation of kids bouncing balls off the house and before you knew it, That siding looked worst then the shingle ever did!
Then came the vinyl siding, again looks great, resist dings from balls, comes in many colors (which really makes some areas look funny) and all is well,,,,until it molds or gets cleaned so much it is dull looking? Its a never ending job trying to keep any place looking it's best.
Every rehab that the house has gone through has changed the overall look of the area, and still does!
I think the areas with the all brick houses have retained the most authentic look and ageless beauty? |
Pam
Member
Username: Pam
Post Number: 4941
Registered: 11-2005
| | Posted on Monday, February 02, 2009 - 6:43 pm: | |
http://www.habitatdetroit.org/
quote:Habitat for Humanity Detroit, in partnership with God and families in need of adequate housing, brings together people from all walks of life to revitalize Detroit neighborhoods through the construction of decent affordable homes. Since 1986, Habitat for Humanity Detroit has helped to house over 220 families in the city of Detroit. |
Detroitrise
Member
Username: Detroitrise
Post Number: 3769
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Monday, February 02, 2009 - 6:44 pm: | |
I agree with Jt1 and Detroitnerd.
Instead of crying about your home, how about convincing all of those people to come back and fill the void they (their parents or grandparents) created? |
Alfie1a
Member
Username: Alfie1a
Post Number: 150
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Monday, February 02, 2009 - 6:59 pm: | |
This thread brings to mind the opening scenes in the cinematic masterpiece, "High School High", starring the venerable John Lovitz. |
Bearinabox
Member
Username: Bearinabox
Post Number: 1172
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Monday, February 02, 2009 - 7:06 pm: | |
quote:I recall most of the houses in my "Hood" had shingle siding years ago? well that stuff can only have so many baseballs bounced off of them before the shingles broke and the house started looking shabby, lose a piece here and there and over the years it's gone! And if the home is occupied by a responsible and conscientious person, the shingles will be replaced as they fall off. It's only if the home is abandoned, or owned by a slumlord, that it will inevitably fall apart. Most people keep their houses up. |
Eriedearie
Member
Username: Eriedearie
Post Number: 3565
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Monday, February 02, 2009 - 7:18 pm: | |
Reasons people left Detroit...deaths, marriages, divorces? The new partner already had a home in a different area. Employment opportunities elsewhere. All sorts of reasons.
Why was there no pride in ownership from the new tenants of the homes we left behind? Why no upkeep? What was the problem? There were some beautiful brick homes in my neighborhood. Our landlady next door to us had a brick home...hers was one of the first to go. Why?
Yet just a few blocks away from my old home, there stands a beautiful neighborhood of well kept old homes still to this day.
What is the difference in the makeup of the people that bought the homes on my old block compared to the people that bought those homes just blocks away?
I think it boils down to having pride in what you own. Taking care of your property. A little paint goes a long way. A little upkeep here and there, is that too much to handle?
And it's not because black families moved in. The house that my friend grew up in just a few blocks away is very well kept. The black family that bought it from her parents back in the 70s still own it. The parents died and the youngest son and his family live there. We were invited inside their home and walked all around in the yard. What has made that family so different from the ones that bought on my block? Pride in ownership?
The reason my friend's parents sold when they did...they moved to Minnesota because her father had a sick family member there and she needed them to help her at that particular time. My friend was married with a home of her own - in Detroit.
There are all sorts of reasons - don't lump everyone into one category. We can't go home again - we're not whining - but we have our memories and we think of our childhood homes in Detroit fondly. |
Detroitnerd
Member
Username: Detroitnerd
Post Number: 3425
Registered: 07-2004
| | Posted on Monday, February 02, 2009 - 7:22 pm: | |
Erie: Sure, not everybody left at the same time for the same reasons. (My grandpa left in 1924 or so.) But, just the same, we can't soft-pedal wholesale capital flight 1945-1995 just because we don't want to lump people together. That would be disingenuous. |
Beech_cricker
Member
Username: Beech_cricker
Post Number: 41
Registered: 10-2008
| | Posted on Monday, February 02, 2009 - 7:55 pm: | |
The house my mom grew up in is alive and well at Beatrice and Downing in extreme SW Detroit. I happened to drive by there the other day.
In the past I looked for where my grandpa and great uncle first settled in this area--on Copland Street in Delray. Well there isn't a residence left on this street. What is there is abandoned industry and junk galore. Moreover the water treatment plant is right next door. Ugh. I highly recommend not taking a clean car down this street! |
Ragtoplover59
Member
Username: Ragtoplover59
Post Number: 508
Registered: 09-2006
| | Posted on Monday, February 02, 2009 - 8:11 pm: | |
Bearinabox
I was kind of going in the direction that as homes needed repairing, The newest item on the market was used, and over many decades, many different materials were used.
In the end , Giving the neighborhood the look of a coat with many different colors!
A lot of mismatched styles all thrown in together?
as opposed to when the neighborhood was newer and most of the houses looked alike?
Not that anything is wrong with that, Just that in time everything is going to look different from what we were used to.
And if the home is occupied by a responsible and conscientious person, the asbestos shingles will not be replaced as they fall off, a new material has to be used. |
Softailrider
Member
Username: Softailrider
Post Number: 266
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2009 - 5:22 am: | |
The house I grew up in , on Littlefield between Vassar and St.Martins is still there and looks as good as it did 40 years ago. |
Danny
Member
Username: Danny
Post Number: 4451
Registered: 02-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2009 - 8:42 am: | |
You all folks are starting to fell the effects of the old Detroit dwellings that you and your parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws Grandparents and Great-Grandparents grew-up. That's what happen if you all left Detroit for the suburbs just because most of you all can't live in racial harmony with black folks or any other ethnic folks. They don't mean any harm you all folks when they have move right next door in your neighborhood. They just want to live the American Way just like the middle class white folks.
If you all can log on to google maps, zoom your mouse down to Chicago's neighborhoods and move that orange person to any street. You will see how well preserve the kept up those neighborhoods are. Black, white and Hispanics. That took pride of their community and most of them aren't thinking about buying a home in the suburbs. That is another reason why most suburbs in Chicagoland area remain small like towns and villages; while our suburbs in Detroit are big and complex.
When your parents went back to your old Detroit neighborhood and saw that their childhood home is now a black ghetto mess. Sometimes they wish that they should have see their home to their kids or in-laws. |
Detroitnerd
Member
Username: Detroitnerd
Post Number: 3426
Registered: 07-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2009 - 8:49 am: | |
At least white people are comfortable living around orange people. |
Scooter2k7
Member
Username: Scooter2k7
Post Number: 203
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2009 - 8:52 am: | |
Danny is 100% correct. My grandmother was the old white lady you refused to leave Detroit. Luckily by the time my grandfather had passed and she grew older, their SW Detroit home had sold and she was living in an apartment building across from Indian Village. It was easier to get her to the safety of the suburbs. |
Eric_c
Member
Username: Eric_c
Post Number: 705
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2009 - 10:03 am: | |
Here's a true story:
Once upon a time, there was a young White man who married his neighborhood sweetheart. They were both raised in the area now known as Lafayette Park on Mullet Street. Like so many others, their childhood homes were erased by urban renewal in the 1950s. Nevertheless, they were old-school Detroiters through and through and would grudgingly speak about having to "go all the way out past Six Mile" on occasion until their last days.
In the early 1960s, as they approached middle age, the couple bought their dream home on the city's Lower East Side near Belle Isle.
Together, they loved and tendered the place through thick and thin, good times and bad. They were there during the transition from White to Black neighbors and stayed involved in the community.
About twenty years ago, the husband died and about five years later, the wife suffered a stroke. Never having had any children of her own, the woman lived her last years in relative solitude (save for the company of several cats).
She never learned to drive and continued to walk to the market at the corner until it closed down. Afterwards, neighbors would shop for her and perform odds and ends around the property.
Unfortunately, as she aged and her health continued to deteriorate, the house began to head south as well. Over the last few years of her life she abandoned all but three rooms and lived exclusively in the parlor, bath and kitchen.
Upstairs, roof leaks went undetected eventually resulting in the collapse of several bedroom ceilings. Trees grew over the roof of the house and caused severe damage to the soffits. The front porch steps collapsed and the landscaping went wild. The huge oak at the street dropped leaves and acorns for years at the curb which became a perpetual muddy mess. The water tap at the street broke and ran as a steady stream over the sidewalk, creating a thick blanket of ice in the winter. Paint peeled outside, cats sprayed inside and the house literally began to disintigrate.
Outsiders would drive down the street, look at the house and cast shame. One day, a delivery driver even opined, "Those people obviously don't care."
One day two years ago, the lady had her final stroke. She was taken to the hospital where she died. Shortly thereafter, I bought the house and began the restoration.
The point of this anecdote is to illustrate that there is indeed a cycle that plays out in neighborhoods and in life. Though one of the oldest in Detroit, my neighborhood never saw the complete wholesale abandonment and destruction so many others have. As a result, it was ripe for investment and new blood.
Unfortunately, other neighborhoods have been so ravaged there is often no incentive or reason to attempt a continuation of civilized living. In other words, too many risks and nowhere near enough reward.
Make no mistake, however - anyone who thinks ALL of Detroit is lost and that there are NO opportunities is ignorant of the facts. There are Detroit neighborhoods where good, decent middle-income people live, work and raise children. They do exist and more often than not, they thrive. Through thick and thin, good times and bad, Black and White; witnessing and living the cycles of life together. |
Johnlodge
Member
Username: Johnlodge
Post Number: 9302
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2009 - 10:43 am: | |
quote:Instead of crying about your home, how about convincing all of those people to come back and fill the void they (their parents or grandparents) created?
Ok, you let me know how guilting people into moving somewhere they see no advantage to living in works.
Meanwhile a better strategy might be to forget all that tired bullshit, and actually work at making the place somewhere people would want to live and work. |
Jcole
Member
Username: Jcole
Post Number: 5651
Registered: 04-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2009 - 10:51 am: | |
As I've said before, it's been 30-40 years since the people who decided to move left. Most of the decision makers are either dead or in no condition to move anywhere. The children and grandchildren of these people are the current generation, and they never lived in the city. You can't rely on them returning to someplace they never lived. |
Bearinabox
Member
Username: Bearinabox
Post Number: 1173
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2009 - 10:57 am: | |
quote:As I've said before, it's been 30-40 years since the people who decided to move left. There are still people deciding to leave Detroit every day. I know I had family living here a lot more recently than 30 years ago.quote:You can't rely on them returning to someplace they never lived. I think that's more likely than the folks who chose to leave ever coming back. |
Jcole
Member
Username: Jcole
Post Number: 5653
Registered: 04-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2009 - 11:39 am: | |
I realize that people leave the city all the time. I'm talking about the ongoing blame of the people that left beginning in the 60's;the so-called 'White Flight' that began under Coleman Young's administration. There is a tendency to hold them responsible for the decay of Detroit and an expectation that they need to do something to restore it. Yes, it's more likely that their children/grandchildren would move back, considering that the original group are dead or very old, but my point is that they don't "owe" it to Detroit to come back. |
Johnlodge
Member
Username: Johnlodge
Post Number: 9305
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2009 - 1:51 pm: | |
quote:There is a tendency to hold them responsible for the decay of Detroit and an expectation that they need to do something to restore it. Yes, it's more likely that their children/grandchildren would move back, considering that the original group are dead or very old, but my point is that they don't "owe" it to Detroit to come back.
Come to think of it, since my family came from Italy to COME to Detroit some 100 years ago, doesn't Italy have first dibs? After all, I hear Italy is having a population crisis, they probably want us back. So I guess by this theory of ancestreal obligation, all those "white flight" folks should pack up and head back to their respective origins overseas. |
Jcole
Member
Username: Jcole
Post Number: 5654
Registered: 04-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2009 - 1:58 pm: | |
Boy, now I have to decide, Poland or Hungary? Who needs me more? |
Denbytar64
Member
Username: Denbytar64
Post Number: 120
Registered: 03-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2009 - 2:00 pm: | |
Our house (Chalmers & Harper area) was torn down some years ago. It was sad, but looking back we moved to move up in the world...the American Dream. The memories are still there and can not be taken away. |
Crumbled_pavement
Member
Username: Crumbled_pavement
Post Number: 669
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2009 - 2:24 pm: | |
quote:Originally posted by Johnlodge:
So I guess by this theory of ancestreal obligation, all those "white flight" folks should pack up and head back to their respective origins overseas.
The Native Americans would probably like that. . . |
Detroitrise
Member
Username: Detroitrise
Post Number: 3772
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2009 - 2:28 pm: | |
quote:The Native Americans would probably like that
True. |
Detroitrise
Member
Username: Detroitrise
Post Number: 3773
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2009 - 2:31 pm: | |
quote:but my point is that they don't "owe" it to Detroit to come back.
The point is, it's not fair to blame the city government or the citizens left behind for their "lost memories" when they packed up and took their money elsewhere (not looking back). |
Detroitrise
Member
Username: Detroitrise
Post Number: 3774
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2009 - 2:34 pm: | |
quote:Meanwhile a better strategy might be to forget all that tired bullshit, and actually work at making the place somewhere people would want to live and work.
We REALLY try our best (but it's obvously not working). |
Jcole
Member
Username: Jcole
Post Number: 5655
Registered: 04-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2009 - 2:36 pm: | |
My memories aren't 'lost'. I still have them right where they belong, in my mind.
And it's not fair for the city government and its citizens to blame people that left 30 years ago for the problems of today. |
Detroitrise
Member
Username: Detroitrise
Post Number: 3775
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2009 - 2:39 pm: | |
Oh, and I completely agree with Danny. |
Detroitrise
Member
Username: Detroitrise
Post Number: 3776
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2009 - 2:41 pm: | |
quote:My memories aren't 'lost'. I still have them right where they belong, in my mind.
Great! As a Detroit citizen, I would appreciate it if you kept them there.
quote:And it's not fair for the city government and its citizens to blame people that left 30 years ago for the problems of today.
So, can we come to some type of consensus? |
Laveo44
Member
Username: Laveo44
Post Number: 10
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2009 - 2:46 pm: | |
I can understand the frustration of some of the posters on the board. I left Detroit in 82 when I joined the military, and I married a man from another state. My family lives in the suburbs around Detroit because of crime and concern about the condition of DPS.
I may be whining because a way of life has been lost. I enjoyed living in the city, closer to downtown and shopping. I miss being able to walk to the store at night. How do we get some of it back?
Damn, that's a hard question. I think the first thing would be to make our government do something about the drugs coming into this country, and stop the growth of the drug dealers' customer base. The education system needs to educate our children, not warehouse them. My two cents.
Judy |
Jcole
Member
Username: Jcole
Post Number: 5656
Registered: 04-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2009 - 2:50 pm: | |
I'm not blaming the city for loss of memory.I have wonderful memories of growing up in Detroit. If I want to come here and talk about them, I believe that is my privilege. As a 'citizen of the world', I don't think there are any city limits on the internet, nor do I see any rules posted on this site that state that if I don't live in Detroit proper, I can't post here. Correct me if I'm wrong. |
Detroitnerd
Member
Username: Detroitnerd
Post Number: 3431
Registered: 07-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2009 - 2:50 pm: | |
Not to derail, but: Drugs will always be in our schools. Lets instead legalize them so they can be taxed and regulated. |
Detroitrise
Member
Username: Detroitrise
Post Number: 3778
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2009 - 2:54 pm: | |
quote:I'm not blaming the city for loss of memory.I have wonderful memories of growing up in Detroit. If I want to come here and talk about them, I believe that is my privilege. As a 'citizen of the world', I don't think there are any city limits on the internet, nor do I see any rules posted on this site that state that if I don't live in Detroit proper, I can't post here. Correct me if I'm wrong.
It's not about anyone sharing their memories, but placing the blame on some innocent people unrelated to what was lost or has passed in those memories is very wrong. |
Jcole
Member
Username: Jcole
Post Number: 5657
Registered: 04-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2009 - 2:59 pm: | |
I haven't placed blame on anyone for anything, so why did I deserve quote:Great! As a Detroit citizen, I would appreciate it if you kept them there |
Johnlodge
Member
Username: Johnlodge
Post Number: 9309
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2009 - 3:04 pm: | |
Consider the source. |
Jcole
Member
Username: Jcole
Post Number: 5659
Registered: 04-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2009 - 3:10 pm: | |
Thanks, JL, I'll try to take that into consideration. |
Zitro
Member
Username: Zitro
Post Number: 2663
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2009 - 3:22 pm: | |
Gee, I'm sure glad my old house is still standing I don't think I would be up for the fight! |
Danny
Member
Username: Danny
Post Number: 4497
Registered: 02-2004
| | Posted on Friday, February 20, 2009 - 3:59 pm: | |
Check this out!
In Said Street in Detroit. A poor white woman who is the last resident in the ghettohood filled with lots of vacant houses and lots of getting help from the troops full of Guardian Angels in which KING KWAME and Big "BULLY" Cummings put them into exile. They are going to protect that white woman from theives and squatters and let her come out of the own domestic prison.
It was being reported by FOX 2 news at 11:00pm. |
Grumpyoldlady
Member
Username: Grumpyoldlady
Post Number: 362
Registered: 06-2005
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2009 - 7:03 am: | |
A friend of mine drove past her old house over near Longview and Annsbury. She sat in the car looking at it, and two boys about 10 came out of the house and asked her what she was doing. She told them she used to live in that house. They went back inside and then came out and said their mama had asked if she wanted to come inside and look around. She (I think foolishly, since she was alone), went in, and proceeded to tell them stories about the house, and the "secret" room that was upstairs. She took the boys upstairs, and in the "peak" on the front of the house was a built in dresser. She pulled out 2 drawers and there was a hole in the back to crawl into a room that accessed that little round window on the front of the peak. The boys were thrilled to have a special "hideout" that hadn't been discovered in over 40 years. My friend was sad to see that the house interior was in horrific condition. In the living room was a HUGE flat screen TV hanging on the wall, and a delapidated sofa. Holes in the walls and doors, filty floors and carpeting, a tub that looked like it hadn't been cleaned in 40 years, and lots more. It made her very sad to see "her" house in such horrible condition, but she was happy to have given those little boys a special place of their own to play. The mother of the boys appeared to be high on something...probably why she let a stranger in the house. I'm glad my friend didn't walk into a bad situation and ended up robbbed, raped, or dead. The desire to see the interior made all her common sense fly out the window. |
Grumpyoldlady
Member
Username: Grumpyoldlady
Post Number: 363
Registered: 06-2005
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2009 - 7:21 am: | |
We drove past the house my parents owned when I was born in 1949, and I lived in until 1989. The house itself looked good, but the garage was laying in a pile in the back yard. I've often been tempted to write to the current owners and ask for current interior photos, or at least answers to some questions such as "Is the big old converted coal furnace still in the basement?" Is there still green plastic tile in the bathroom? Is the knotty pine floor upstairs still in good shape? Is there still a lipstick mark under the bottom shelf of the bathroom linen closet? Trivial I know, but stuff I wonder about. I'm also tempted to tell them about the "buried treasure box" I buried near the garage when I was about 6. It had some coins...probably worth a lot now...plastic toys...baseball cards, and I can't remember what else. |
Detroitchef
Member
Username: Detroitchef
Post Number: 118
Registered: 09-2008
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2009 - 7:48 am: | |
Danny, where do you get your info?
Curt's "Guardian Angels" from NYC have been trying to establsh a Detroit presence since at least 1990. Ir wasn't just Kwame and his ventriloquist-Doll Chief who exlied them, all the way back to CAY and Chief Hart, the Detroit City leadership has resoundingly told Sliwa 'NO' to supporting the vigilante justice idea in Detroit.
I know it's seductive to blame the Kilpatricks for EVERYTING that irritates youm but try to look into the assertations you blithely put out as 'fact' |
Alfie1a
Member
Username: Alfie1a
Post Number: 190
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2009 - 6:49 pm: | |
Hey grumpy. Cool story about your friend. My sister did that too. |
Bobl
Member
Username: Bobl
Post Number: 561
Registered: 07-2008
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2009 - 6:59 pm: | |
Grumpyoldlady:
"I've often been tempted to write to the current owners and ask for current interior photos, or at least answers to some questions such as "Is the big old converted coal furnace still in the basement?" Is there still green plastic tile in the bathroom? Is the knotty pine floor upstairs still in good shape?..."
My brother once got a request for a quote on a home improvement project, and noticed the address was our late grandfather's old house. Grandpa died in 1958. My brother personally went to the home and noticed the same wallpaper on the walls in the dining room! The owner gave him a tour of the house and it was in great shape. This was early 1990s. Go ahead and write! |
Reddog289
Member
Username: Reddog289
Post Number: 940
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 24, 2009 - 4:11 am: | |
While rereading this thread I got to thinking. A little over 20 yrs ago the last of my family left Detroit city limits to live in the house I grew up in in Garden City. That house had renters in it for about 3yrs, It was a mess. Yet It got cleaned up and I liked having my Grandparents closer to the rest of the family. Two of my Uncles were also living with them.After my Grandparents passed away the Uncles kinda let the house go. But I can say now that things are looking up. Both of them being laid off gave one of them the time to fix the place up. So every thing might just be a cycle of some sort.The Georgia St garden at one time was some early Detroiters farm, It became a neighborhood and now it's back to growing food. the houses I grew up in are still there yet I live elsewhere, So I have to focus on staying here and keeping this place up. Like I said before when I drive by that house on Pierson in NW Detroit, I do miss that little room with the window that I could look outside and see the snow pile up and later check on my car. Then I just say "The place looks good , just needs some paint". Then I do think of the other houses my family lived in and think. "Good place for a garden" |
Chiclette
Member
Username: Chiclette
Post Number: 3
Registered: 02-2009
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 24, 2009 - 10:23 am: | |
The house I grew up in on Holland street in Birmingham was torn down. I went there as they ripped it down & picked up some of the old boards that covered our house. Because the owner after us put up siding the boards of green paint that we painted as children were still there. I took some home & made frames for my Sister & I out of them. I put a picture of our home & us kids playing in its yard in the frames. We will always have our house now. |
Rhymeswithrawk
Member
Username: Rhymeswithrawk
Post Number: 1838
Registered: 11-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 24, 2009 - 10:30 pm: | |
"They tore it down last week from what I heard. I drove by today to see a pile of bricks covered with snow. The houses accross the street were also gone except for one burned out shell of a house. Unbelievable. Sad. Detroit."
Sad indeed. Do you see what happens when people turn their backs on their city? Abandoned houses follow abandoning families. |
Kennyd
Member
Username: Kennyd
Post Number: 100
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 25, 2009 - 12:11 am: | |
quote:Sad indeed. Do you see what happens when people turn their backs on their city? Abandoned houses follow abandoning families.
BS - When Blacks asserted themselves and their rights, winning offices and power in the city, you'd think the intent was to build a new Black Detroit. A showplace offering hope and pride to a new generation.
The real agenda seems to have been just to get the keys to the henhouse and rob the shit out of it. There are nearly a million people in the D. All blame for the city's condition lies within the city limits. |
Switchmanjim
Member
Username: Switchmanjim
Post Number: 33
Registered: 10-2008
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 25, 2009 - 1:49 am: | |
quote:
Sad indeed. Do you see what happens when people turn their backs on their city? Abandoned houses follow abandoning families.
Sorry pal, I didn't turn my back on the city.
After applying for the position of police officer in '73 and being told I didn't pass the test. I knew it was time to 'hit 8 mile'. (I passed the city of Southfield's similar test).
I often wonder how my life would have been living in the "D"...I'm kind of glad I didn't pass now. |
Nickstone
Member
Username: Nickstone
Post Number: 80
Registered: 02-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 25, 2009 - 2:08 am: | |
...I've posted (too much) that I live (much to the dismay of my parents) in the City and have for a few years now... I live downtown... which is good and bad, but travel throughout the city for rehearsals, social visits, etc... and have seen the house my dad grew up in on Grixdale east of Van Dyke (where I was warned not to go)... it's just sad to see what was once a thriving, multi-use community, has come to. These houses are VERY well built (which is why most of them are still standing to this day)... it's just going to take a lot of time to get the area back to what it once was. I have faith that if we keep paying taxes and pushing others to vote, we can change the tide... I only wonder how long and what it will take for the tide to finally turn. I would love to someday live in one of these once vibrant areas. |
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