Discuss Detroit » Archives - Beginning January 2006 » Old School downtown Christmas, Crowley's or Hudson's ? « Previous Next »
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Krapug
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Username: Krapug

Post Number: 28
Registered: 12-2003
Posted From: 24.191.56.146
Posted on Saturday, December 10, 2005 - 8:59 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

OK, lets have some Christmas Season fun.
First in order to have had this downtown experience, you would have to be old enough to remember the Christmas Season of 1976, or earlier (76 was the last time both stores were open at Xmas time).

Granted, Christmas at Hudson's was the stuff of legends, but Crowley's held it's own and Crowley's Breakfast With Santa were reported to be the best. So I know some of you, or your Mom's were loyal to Crowley's.

So what was it, Hudson's, or Crowley's (or both).

Ken
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Ray1936
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Username: Ray1936

Post Number: 122
Registered: 01-2005
Posted From: 207.200.116.134
Posted on Saturday, December 10, 2005 - 6:45 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Well, in 1976 it was Crowley's, because they had great sweaters for ladies and I went there to buy some for Christmas presents for my wife. I remember those escalators with the wooden stairs well.

But in prior years, long ago.....well, Crowley's didn't sell Lionel trains, so Hudson's is the ONLY answer!
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Hornwrecker
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Username: Hornwrecker

Post Number: 533
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 66.2.148.210
Posted on Saturday, December 10, 2005 - 7:03 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hudson's

I remember those rickety old, wooden escalators, they moved in a jerky motion, and the smell of that place: like the perfume of dozens of maiden aunts in one place.

Crowleys

Crowleys

(Message edited by Hornwrecker on December 10, 2005)
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Douglasm
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Username: Douglasm

Post Number: 432
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 66.189.188.28
Posted on Saturday, December 10, 2005 - 8:21 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hornwrecker....
....was that second shot taken from the resturant on the Messenine (sp?)?
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Psip
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Username: Psip

Post Number: 625
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 69.246.13.131
Posted on Saturday, December 10, 2005 - 8:30 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

https://www.atdetroit.net/forum/mes sages/5/60143.html?1133888442
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Lilpup
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Username: Lilpup

Post Number: 743
Registered: 06-2004
Posted From: 64.12.116.195
Posted on Saturday, December 10, 2005 - 8:38 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hudson's, home of the real Santa Claus (all others were his helpers)

and kid size drinking fountains right next to some of the adult size ones

and a dime needed to go to the bathroom unless you could wait 'til the single free stall was available

and getting yelled at for crawling under the pay stall door when couldn't wait anymore (did the men have to pay or did they just have urinals? never thought about that before)

and glimpses through the elevator doors of the floors we never got off at (furs, musical instruments, one fancy china & crystal where all the brides to be got off) then our floor - TOYLAND!
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Neilr
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Username: Neilr

Post Number: 151
Registered: 06-2005
Posted From: 69.246.10.48
Posted on Saturday, December 10, 2005 - 9:08 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

... and the big plaque with all the names of J L Hudson employees who served in WWII. I always looked at our next door neighbor's name: Doyle Vaughn.
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Hornwrecker
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Username: Hornwrecker

Post Number: 534
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 66.2.148.200
Posted on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 12:14 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Douglasm... always with the questions. Now that I think about it, it probably was shot from the mezanine restaurant area. Man, I'm really awakening some unused brain cells here.

Time for some more photos of this interesting old building, with emphasis on the bridge over Library.

Crowley, Milner & Co doorway

Crowley, Milner & Co bridge

Crowley, Milner & Co bridge

Crowley, Milner & Co bridge
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Bussey
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Username: Bussey

Post Number: 84
Registered: 12-2003
Posted From: 70.236.200.238
Posted on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 1:50 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

that archway rules


thanks for the photos
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Ray1936
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Username: Ray1936

Post Number: 123
Registered: 01-2005
Posted From: 207.200.116.134
Posted on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 2:19 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Great photos. Nice memories. Thanks!
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Douglasm
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Username: Douglasm

Post Number: 435
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 66.189.188.28
Posted on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 10:46 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Sorry about the questions, Hornwrecker. It's been 30 years since I lived in the area, 35 since I worked downtown, and every time I see a picture from back when, it opens up some memories that have holes in them that need to be filled.

Great photos, great information, great memories. Thank you.....
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Hornwrecker
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Username: Hornwrecker

Post Number: 535
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 66.2.148.135
Posted on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 2:33 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Douglasm, I don't mind being asked questions about the photos, I only dislike the fact that I can't answer most of them. I've got a big hole in my Detroit knowledge base; I went into the Navy in 1978, and when I got out in 1985, Detroit was a very different city. For instance, Hudson's closed, and Crowley's was demolished during those years, not to mention all of the other parking lots that appeared, and the Poletown debacle.
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Burnsie
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Username: Burnsie

Post Number: 369
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 35.12.21.93
Posted on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 4:01 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

It looks like Crowley's used to have display windows in the warehouse part of the building, too. And remember, all those photos are from the WSU Virtual Motor City site, which you can get to from here,

http://dlxs.lib.wayne.edu

and you can find all of them and tons more with a simple keyword search.
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Krapug
Member
Username: Krapug

Post Number: 29
Registered: 12-2003
Posted From: 24.188.90.4
Posted on Thursday, December 22, 2005 - 4:45 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Great Photos of Crowley's, although the store operated in the shawdow of Hudson's, it's building was quite an gem.

I know that Crowley's closed downtown in July of '77, however did they continue to use the building after that? (as Hudson's did for a few years after they closed their downtown store).
Also when was the Crowley's building torn down?

It's too bad that the Crowley's chain went bust after all they kept their HQ in Detroit til the end, and they also operated their store at the New Center also til the end of the chain.

Ken
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Kathleen
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Username: Kathleen

Post Number: 1050
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 69.14.122.57
Posted on Thursday, December 22, 2005 - 9:11 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hands down...it's Hudson's. I can still recall waiting in the long snaking lines of people on the 12th floor to see Santa Claus!!! And we always walked around the building exterior to see all their Christmas window displays!! It's such a shame that so much tradition is gone...my boys hardly even want to celebrate Christmas these days much less participate in any traditional aspects of the holiday.
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Hornwrecker
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Username: Hornwrecker

Post Number: 595
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 12.64.72.74
Posted on Thursday, December 22, 2005 - 11:06 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

A photo of the demolition of the Kern's Block, I guess around 1960(?). One good thing about the making of the giant pentagram is that it opened up a view of the front of Crowley's.

Kern's demolition
WSU/VMC
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Quickdrawmcgraw
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Username: Quickdrawmcgraw

Post Number: 33
Registered: 10-2005
Posted From: 63.77.247.130
Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 4:06 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Although Hudson's was the norm for me when I was a child. But seeing that Crowley's arch was cool. Crowley's building was magical to me because I thought the wood escalators were neat and historic. Man I wish people were visionairies back then. I mean, it would have been a cool mixed-use development with ground floor retail and entertainment.
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Jjaba
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Username: Jjaba

Post Number: 2907
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 192.220.139.24
Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 4:17 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

jjaba got his first haircut in a horsie chair at Hudsons. He didn't even cry. He and mom got there on the Oakman and Woodward streetcars, changing at Manchester Yards in HP.

For a reward, we got corned beef sandwiches at Broadway Market and stood at a table there. The pickle squirted little jjaba in the eye. The table was very high.

Mother worked at the basement store, Crowley-Milners. Jewish sales ladies couldn't work above the main floor in any of those stores, and Hudsons was rumored to hire very FEW Jews. Black people could sweep and run elevators.

Dating girls with those Green Hudson Charge Cards meant they had money. We had no charge cards in our family.
Money talks, bullshit walks on 12th Street where we shopped.

jjaba, Westside memories.

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