 
Crawford
Member
Username: Crawford
Post Number: 147
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Friday, November 09, 2007 - 2:28 pm: |    |
I'm curious about Oak Park and its relative prosperity. My brother (who lives nearby) recently mentioned that Oak Park was worse than it was when we were growing up (we're in our late 20's). Is this true? My brother tends to exaggerate so it could be off base.
He also mentioned that the Orthodox Jewish Community in northern Oak Park (basically just east of Greenfield and north of I-696)had shrunk quite a bit, with many people moving to the Maple/Orchard Lake area in West Bloomfield. Growing up the Maple/Orchard Lake area was very Jewish, but mostly Reform and Conservative Jewish, not Orthodox Jewish. He says the infrastructure (schools and synagogues) has moved or is moving from Oak Park to this vicinity. This would be unfortunate, as it would probably mean Oak Park would lose its relative balance of blacks and whites.
How is the majority black area doing south of I-696? It always seemed ok to me growing up. Any changes in recent years?
I always thought the community was sort of a transitional working-class stepping-stone community for blacks and Jews. They had made their way up out of tough neighborhoods in Detroit, but were not quite ready to afford a big home out in more prosperous parts of Oakland County. Maybe the residents of Oak Park are simply doing better in life, and decided to move to an area with bigger, nicer homes and more space.
Any thoughts? |
Johnlodge
Member
Username: Johnlodge
Post Number: 3524
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Friday, November 09, 2007 - 2:30 pm: | |
From my perspective, it seems to be doing alright. Lots of infrastructure improvements going on along Coolidge, redoing the intersection at 9 mile there with some nice brick work and sidewalks. Don't hear too much about crime there. The community center on Coolidge seems to always be hopping, which is a good sign. I believe they have a pool and miniature golf there. |
Norwalk
Member
Username: Norwalk
Post Number: 138
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Friday, November 09, 2007 - 2:31 pm: | |
Any town that bans the sale of alcohol by the glass..............."Nothing sadder then a town with no cheer" |
Fareastsider
Member
Username: Fareastsider
Post Number: 676
Registered: 08-2006
| | Posted on Friday, November 09, 2007 - 3:04 pm: | |
I love the look of the brick ranches in Oak Park. They are similar to most of that era...but the ones in Oak Park seem to have a bit more style...a style all its own. |
Focusonthed
Member
Username: Focusonthed
Post Number: 1454
Registered: 02-2006
| | Posted on Friday, November 09, 2007 - 4:59 pm: | |
Ah, the continued NW migration of the Jews. Can't stay anywhere too long. |
Texorama
Member
Username: Texorama
Post Number: 101
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Friday, November 09, 2007 - 5:55 pm: | |
Another group that seems to have settled in (or to be passing through) is Chaldeans--check the 9 Mile-Coolidge corner. The Sahara restaurant there is an interesting place to eat--good Middle Eastern fish dishes, and a place to see large groups of Arabs who are not Islamic. |
Hpgrmln
Member
Username: Hpgrmln
Post Number: 266
Registered: 06-2007
| | Posted on Friday, November 09, 2007 - 6:15 pm: | |
I looked at a few houses in OP and decided not to move there because I was a little concerned about safety. It seems like no matter which neighborhood I went through, a majority of the houses had those steel doors that look like little more than fancy security bars. I'm sure much of it is strictly for decorative purposes but it does not leave a good impression. The area south of 9 between Rosewood and Scotia concerned me the most.
There are still a lot of Jewish families South of 696, East of Greenfield, for a few blocks. The synagogues are still there as well as the Jewish schools, so hopefully they will all stay. If those jewish families leave, the Jewish buildings may close up, creating several blocks of abandonment. It is largely black now East of Church street. |
Danny
Member
Username: Danny
Post Number: 6785
Registered: 02-2004
| | Posted on Friday, November 09, 2007 - 8:11 pm: | |
Oak Park today is 46% white and 45% black and the population is growing. The Hasidic Jewish community still remains along the 10 Mile Rd. Greenfield area near I-696 FWY. As long they have their corner synagogues and Hebrew Schools. If those things moved away, the Jewish communities move away, too. By 2010 Oak Park will be the 5th suburban city to be 50% black. But the black folks do take good care of their neighborhoods. |
Jjaba
Member
Username: Jjaba
Post Number: 5598
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, November 10, 2007 - 12:58 pm: | |
jjaba reports the obvious. Jews move every generation, which is 25 years. In the case of Oak Park, a 1950s suburb, this means most of the acculturated Jews have moved North and West, replaced by Chasidc and Orthodox Jews, who really like to like in a "shtetl", as if SE Michigan was Poland or Romania.
There has been much written about the 3 long tunnels on I-696, Walter Reuther's Expressway.
These tunnels were constructed to connect the W. 10 Mile Rd. Jewish communal Institutions with the housing by walkways for the community on Shabbos and other times. Above are wide parks so the traffic is well hidden.
As families get wealthier, they will move up and out. That's the American dream. You might also look at the concept of "eruv" in Jewish community building, which accomodates American life with traditional Jewish law.
jjaba, Westside Torah Bukkor on the Dexter bus. |
Clarie
Member
Username: Clarie
Post Number: 1
Registered: 11-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, November 10, 2007 - 5:22 pm: | |
How are the public schools? I saw a front page article about a large knife taken from a student.
Any input on the schools? |
Jimg
Member
Username: Jimg
Post Number: 961
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, November 10, 2007 - 6:04 pm: | |
I was raised in OP, 50s/60s. Don't remember any black folks living around our area (9/Scotia). My pals were either jewish or catholic - I was not a member of either group, but was accepted by both, esp. my jewish pals. I learned a lot about jewish culture, lox/bagels, Bar Mitzvah, and it was wonderful, very down-to-earth friends. My catholic pals all had really big families, were more reserved. Swimming at the Oak Park pool late morning during the summer (girls in two piece swim suits!•••• baseball in the afternoon, newspaper route after the game. What more could a 12 year old want? By 1968, when I graduated from Oak Park High School, the shit had really hit the fan: Vietnam, Civil Rights, anti-war protests (one of which we held in the high school; it wasn't well received at all by the principal.) We had some really good teachers at OPHS, too. |
Bearinabox
Member
Username: Bearinabox
Post Number: 353
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, November 10, 2007 - 6:06 pm: | |
Oak Park is split between at least three different school districts, (Ferndale, OP, and Berkley) so I'd imagine the quality of the schools depends on where in Oak Park you live. |
Sarge
Member
Username: Sarge
Post Number: 802
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, November 10, 2007 - 6:21 pm: | |
JimG,
You probably ran with or at least knew some of my family. My stepfather's family grew up in the two old white houses at Scotia and Kenwood. My cousin was about your age and lived at the SE corner of Scotia and OP Blvd. Small world. You probably have some of the same memories as I do. Buying town club soda from the machine at Moe Sternberg's gas station and messing with whatever you found that day behind George Young Nursery. Picking up tennis balls hit out of sunken courts behind Frost Middle School, etc.....Sound familiar? |
Clarie
Member
Username: Clarie
Post Number: 2
Registered: 11-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, November 10, 2007 - 6:23 pm: | |
any current residents that speak on the current condition of the Oak Park schools? |
Sarge
Member
Username: Sarge
Post Number: 803
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, November 10, 2007 - 6:42 pm: | |
The schools within the OP school district pretty much sucked as far as I can remember. They weren't all that great to begin with in the 70's and 80's when I was attending. Much less so when I moved away in 2000. |
Bigb23
Member
Username: Bigb23
Post Number: 12
Registered: 11-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, November 10, 2007 - 6:47 pm: | |
I grew up there until we moved in '65.
Lincoln and Coolidge. I had a nice collection of Playboys I retrieved from the fence in the alley behind the gas station where the sanitation workers took their lunch break.
I remember a friend who's dad was a Conservative Jew and his mother was an Irish Catholic from Dublin!
Heavy Irish accent,red hair and freckles.
Clotted cream and Gevelte fish anybody? |
Ccbatson
Member
Username: Ccbatson
Post Number: 6898
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, November 10, 2007 - 11:27 pm: | |
I think it is doing quite well and slowly on the rise. There are not really any Orthodox synagogues further out in the burbs, so the Jewish population is pretty stable there. Neighbouring Huntington Woods is a booming residential area. Overall, doing well IMO |
Lefty2
Member
Username: Lefty2
Post Number: 657
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, November 10, 2007 - 11:51 pm: | |
so ccbaston do you reside in oak park? |
Luckycar
Member
Username: Luckycar
Post Number: 52
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 7:49 am: | |
Jimg,I think you used to hang out with my brother Mike A.Growing up in Oak Park was great in the 60s.Very small townish.Jews and gentiles got along .9 mile and coolidge was our downtown.Stafford's,Candy Cone,the music store,Mumfords?
The scrap dealers trucks parked at the gas stations,the hill at the park,the manor,Dexter Davison market,old ladies driving Dodge Darts,Katz's and Stage deli's,Zukin's Rib Shack,when are they going to build that 696 freeway down 10 mile?Kids north of 9 and east of Scotia going to Ferndale school,the park,the outdoor ice rink and the pool, Mr Goff,OPHS class of.... |
Steve
Member
Username: Steve
Post Number: 129
Registered: 02-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 9:55 am: | |
Don't forget Hy's Juvenile, which later became The Little Professor Bookstore. |
Jimg
Member
Username: Jimg
Post Number: 962
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 11:48 am: | |
Yeah Sarge, certainly does. Your Cuz is David, yes?
I always wondered who lived in those white houses.
Luckycar, I saw your bro at this years jazzfest. |
Cmubryan
Member
Username: Cmubryan
Post Number: 474
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 11:53 am: | |
Oak Park and the surrounding area are a lot more city neighborhood style living than suburban. Oak Park is an older established bordering city to Detroit that still has neighborhood blocks, sidewalks, streetlights, stores and restaurants along the street lacking acres of parking, etc. compared to its successor suburbs which have the typical suburban culdesac, no sidewalks, more sprawlish look and feel to them. |
Sarge
Member
Username: Sarge
Post Number: 805
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 12:01 pm: | |
Jimg,
My cuz indeed is David. I have some film from the 50's and 60's at his birthday parties in the backyard. Were you one of the kids bouncing around? |
Jimg
Member
Username: Jimg
Post Number: 963
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 12:14 pm: | |
We met in the early 60s, I remember swimming in his pool, don't specifically recall b'day parties but I do clearly remember Linda from next door coming over to swim.
(Message edited by jimg on November 11, 2007) |
Ccbatson
Member
Username: Ccbatson
Post Number: 6940
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 4:11 pm: | |
I used to live there Lefty. Not in many years now, but still hang around some over there and have friends, relatives who do. |
Patrick
Member
Username: Patrick
Post Number: 5130
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 5:34 pm: | |
I dunno, Oak park looked kinda rough last time a drove through it. Didnt look ghetto, but it looked really worn in many places. Sure, it's an older suburb, but still. |
Ccbatson
Member
Username: Ccbatson
Post Number: 6964
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 9:08 pm: | |
I don't see it that way. Maybe you are comparing it to rosier memories from your youth? |
Grandpamike
Member
Username: Grandpamike
Post Number: 26
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 10:55 pm: | |
There was something in the paper last week about fights at Oak Park High School. I don't remember the details, but I believe that there were some arrests. |
Clarie
Member
Username: Clarie
Post Number: 14
Registered: 11-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 11:34 pm: | |
What was Hys' Juvenile? |
Clarie
Member
Username: Clarie
Post Number: 15
Registered: 11-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 11:35 pm: | |
Yes, I also saw the article |