  Masterblaster Member Username: Masterblaster Post Number: 102 Registered: 03-2005 |
This past Sunday, I was driving my church's van along Wyoming Avenue through the deceased Wyoming/Curtis commercial district, and one of the sisters in the van commented how there used to be all kinds of shops in this particular commercial strip. And we lamented that the only shopping we have in the neighborhoods are dollar stores and beauty supply stores. That conversation got me thinking, WHAT KIND OF STORES EXISTED IN THESE NEIGHBOR COMMERCIAL DISTRICTS before they all died. In Detroit city, there were a plethora: - Grand River/Lahser - Grand River/Greenfield - Grand River/Oakman - Dexter/Davison - Avenue of Fashion - Wyoming/Curtis - Schaefer/McNichols Those are just the commercial strips on the Northwest Side!•••• To the old-timers who lived in the city in the 50's through the 80's, what businesses/offices existed in these areas. Do you have any special memories of patronizing the businesses in these areas? And other question. In what time period did the city make an effort to market these commercial strips with unusual streetscaping. For instance, at the major intersections of the Dexter-Davison, Wyoming-Curtis, and Schaefer/McNichols areas, those 4-story tall skinny towers bearing the names of the commercial districts were erected. Another example are the canopies (?) that were erected in the Grand River/Oakman and New Center (along Woodward) shopping districts. Were those streetscapes a hasty attempt to attract shoppers to commercial districts that were sinking fast and in decline?  Wyoming/Curtis - long gone as of this summer  Dexter Davison | ||
Reddog289 Member Username: Reddog289 Post Number: 114 Registered: 08-2007 |
grand river&lasher, i,m not an old timer yet in the 70,s and 80,s i remember a few stores, 7/11 on lasher @ mc nichols, rexall on the corner i belive a fabric store across lasher, lawsons, chatams grocery, a few auto parts stores [my uncles included] the dodge dealer, olson olds, later g&r bike shop ,the record collector, vennette,s pizza box, and the cab co with that old volvo parked on lasher. | ||
Kimistree Member Username: Kimistree Post Number: 104 Registered: 01-2004 |
This is what I remember about Wyoming and Curtis, when I was growing up in the late 60s to the 80's. At the southwest corner of Wyoming and Curtis there was a shoe store (late 60s), then it became a record store. I don't remember the names. At the Northwest corner of Wyoming was Dexter/Davidson supermarket, obviously move from Dexter and Davidson. At the Northeast corner was a podiatrist, and I think at the southeast corner there was a gas Station. Heading down Wyoming toward 7 mile there was a lot of small dress shops, a hair salon, a 31 Flavors, 2 bowling alleys (one called WY7) I don't remember the name of the other one. There was Midway Hardware on the east side of Wyoming between Clarita and 7 mile. The Kentucky Fried Chicken that is now on the corner of 7 mile and Wyoming, was originally on Wyoming between Margareta and Clarita. | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 1927 Registered: 12-2005 |
Also at Grand River/Lahser: Good Housekeeping shops, Iverson's bakery, Miller's feeds (great hobby stuff in there)the dime store (Kresge's) Kinsel's drugs, Master's candies, Mary's restaurant, the paint store on the point @ Lahser and Redford streets, Habs Jewelers, A&P supermarket on Greydale (later became social security center) The Bear wheel alignment place in the alley behind Master's candies on Lahser. That whole area suffered the Alex Pollack "decorate with concrete" money-suqander in 1977--the Concrete benches,wastebaskets,kiosks, the small trees that became big trees and obscured all of the signs, the diagonal sidewalks--all for naught, They should have spent the money on police patrols. | ||
Danny Member Username: Danny Post Number: 6859 Registered: 02-2004 |
A long time ago Detroit was a city of neighborhoods full of mom and pop stores mostly white owned and few black owned, Mexican owned, Chinese owned Asian owned, Chaldean and Arab owned businesses. That's until segregation, xenophobia, FWY's suburban sprawl, automotive job flight, red lining, blockbusting, disinvestments the 67 riot, Coleman Young, corrupt police force, violent crime, white flight, economic flight, growing black population, poor schools and more corrupt city leaders too the city's toll. Since Detroit is still in the dark ages its going to take a very long time for communities to heal. Most of out mom and pop stores are gone forever. Only we have left is our memories. | ||
The_ed Member Username: The_ed Post Number: 1307 Registered: 10-2007 |
There was/is the Deli Plaza on the corner of Wyoming and some street. You could get a pastrami or corned beef sandwich there that would fill you up. | ||
Larryinflorida Member Username: Larryinflorida Post Number: 1059 Registered: 02-2007 |
In the 70's, I enjoyed Brother's BBQ on Wyoming and Curtis. Featuring: "Jean's Sauce of the Islands" mmmmm | ||
Wanderinglady Member Username: Wanderinglady Post Number: 14 Registered: 10-2007 |
Gee, MasterBlaster, I don't think I'm an "oldtimer", but on the other hand, I have to remember that today's 21-year-old was born the same year I graduated from college!••• Anyway, IIRC, during the '70s and early '80's in the Schaefer/McNichols (we always called it Six Mile) area, there were: Mercury Theater, Woolworths, Federal's Dept. Store, The Clock Restaurant, McNichols Hardware, a bike shop, a shop that sold & repaired adding machines and typewriters (••••• Further east on Six Mile: Detroit Audio, B & B t-shirt printers, Gimmy's teachers' supplies, a video arcade (briefly). In the Wyoming/Curtis area: Brother's BBQ (home of the Boogaloo sandwich), EL Rice Co. ("catalog" store -- the place where my mom bought wedding, graduation, etc. gifts), a record store, Baskin-Robbins 31 Flavors, Dexter-Davison Market, Andy's Candy Pantry, a childcare center (which was located in the building in MasterBlaster's picture above), and Miss Fanny's beauty salon. George Cantor of the Detroit News wrote an article about the changes on Curtis over the years, and he interviewed Miss Fanny, who did my hair when I was in high school. She was so proud to be in the paper. The unusual streetscaping in the Wyoming/Curtis area came about in the mid-1970's. I remember it going on at that time, because I went to Beaubien Middle School, and I had to transfer from the Dexter bus to the Wyoming bus at that location. Those years were the worst years of my life. Both I and the city of Detroit went through tough transitions at that time. | ||
Gazhekwe Member Username: Gazhekwe Post Number: 1056 Registered: 08-2007 |
Grand River and Greenfield in the 60s-- Federal's on the SE corner, Wards on the NE and Crowley's a block east were the big stores. Cunningham's Drug Store was on the NW corner. Big Boy was a few doors west. I need some memory pills to remember which dress shops, men's stores, shoe stores and jewelers were there. Our dentist was a block south, and there was a big grocery store, I think Wrigley's, in back of Federal's. The first Burger King opened up a block west, too. Robert Hall was there a little ways west. | ||
Winstin_o_boogie_iii Member Username: Winstin_o_boogie_iii Post Number: 105 Registered: 02-2007 |
Have a lookie here-big time discussion on this forum about Grand River and Greenfield https://www.atdetroit.net/forum/mes sages/6790/24296.html?11872832 31 | ||
Douglasm Member Username: Douglasm Post Number: 977 Registered: 10-2003 |
Like Gazhekwe, my memory is about shot, but when I worked in the New Center area at Mary Jane Shoes (1968) the stores included Demery's, a Kresge, Neisners, maybe a Cunningham Drug. It wasn't really a big area, extending from Grand Blvd. south a block and a half to the railroad tracks. Always reminded me of the Highland Park commercial strip on Woodward between Bartlett and Manchester...... | ||
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 2361 Registered: 01-2005 |
If you drove from downtown to Redford out Grand River, the mix of stores was both amazing, but with a degree of regularity. Probably within a mile or two of each major intersection was a Smith's grocery store or an Awrey's bakery. Hardware stores were found at least each mile. At Joy and Grand River, besides the Riviera Theatre, there were banks, ladies apparel shops, mens stores, and jewelery stores. Down the street a tad was Ned's Auto Supply, which seemed to offer tires more than anything else. New auto dealers were common, with most of the used car lots located on Livernois, also known as sucker's row. Grand River and Greenfield had the canopies installed in the early 70s in response to the drain on the area caused by Northland and other shopping malls. The bridge over to the Federal's store didn't last long when Federal's owners (what were their names???) stole it blind and shut it down. It became a bridge to nowhere. I would say that in the fifties, Grand River was a shopping mall itself. It just looked awfully different from what we're used to today. | ||
Bigb23 Member Username: Bigb23 Post Number: 81 Registered: 11-2007 |
Winstin_ 2004, $1.85 for gas - we all miss the good ol' days. | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 1000 Registered: 09-2007 |
^^^And to think, back in 2001, that was considered "high." | ||
Gibran Member Username: Gibran Post Number: 1463 Registered: 02-2007 |
always enjoyed the walk to the civic center and although not a large district, it sure was a fun place to shop for a kid at the holidays... | ||
Clarie Member Username: Clarie Post Number: 32 Registered: 11-2007 |
I remember Habermans Fabrics on Lasher at Grand River. That was the 80's. Also another fabic store on Grand River. I also remember a nice steakhouse that had a bar to it on Grand River and Fenkell(?). | ||
Clarie Member Username: Clarie Post Number: 33 Registered: 11-2007 |
How about Davision and Dequindre? Any memories there. That was a nice community with all types of stores before I 75. | ||
Reddog289 Member Username: Reddog289 Post Number: 120 Registered: 08-2007 |
7/evergreen had a bunch of stores also. wish i had that many by where i live. | ||
Kville Member Username: Kville Post Number: 88 Registered: 04-2007 |
The city had many neighborhood shopping areas way back when. I'm an old east sider and in our neighborhood we had a choice: 7-Gratiot, 7-Mack, the old Civic Center (Hayes/Kelly & Whittier). The biggest was 7-Gratiot and just like its mirror images on the west side that everyone has been talking about above, it had a Wards, Federal, Kresge, Cunningham's, Sanders, several clothing stores, etc. When the area began its decline, everyone blamed Eastland and other such big shopping centers that began to open in the 50's & 60's. When Sears closed its Gratiot-Van Dyke and later Highland Park stores, it was remarked how it was the end of an era with the last of the big-name department stores leaving the city. It's not just a Detroit phenomenon, though. I now live in a small town (10,000 pop) in NE Indiana and it's the same story, but on a smaller scale. The people are lamenting the passing of the era when the "downtown" had a Sears, Penney's, and all the same things we are observing about Detroit. The part that's interesting is that our "downtown" is only blocks away from "suburbia." People shop differently now. Although the suburban strip shopping centers are really the same thing as the street-front stores, the perception is different. The strip shopping centers have visible parking out front, which really is no better than the parking behind the stores that we had at 7-Gratiot, but because it was not highly visible, people perceived greater risk and inconvenience. People want to shop at the big box stores these days and the city is not conducive to attracting those kinds of stores. As long as we can get in the car and just drive wherever we want (difficult in the 40's & 50's when there was no more than one car per family), we'll go to those big stores or travel much farther to shop. The Mom & Pop store era has changed. | ||
Craig Member Username: Craig Post Number: 553 Registered: 02-2007 |
quote: "...the drain on the area caused by Northland and other shopping malls..." That's about all that you need to know about what was in these districts and why they withered. The nostalgia is nice, but there's a reason that malls and big-box stores now dominate. | ||
Irish_mafia Member Username: Irish_mafia Post Number: 1147 Registered: 10-2003 |
7 Mack Center: Woolworth, Kresge (where I had my first Rueben sandwich and a chocolate shake at the counter), Lane Bryant, The Bottomless Pitt (head shop with cool black light posters), A&P (I think), probably a Hallmark store...Across the other side of Moross was Cunninghams and the golden Lion Restaurant, Kitty corner was the Sears store where we would ride our bikes to, buy a hot dog and pop, out back by hardware and Auto and walk up to the Mack side to play a new video game called Pong. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 5865 Registered: 08-2004 |
Irish_mafia... I to remember that Kresge's store... my first foods consumed there were hamburgers and ham salad sandwiches. I would then go check out the toy aisle, and then the fish tanks. My older brother used to work as a cashier at the Wrigley's Supermarket across the street from Kresge's. I also like Sanders (loved how the water they served you came in those paper cones with the metal stands). Tuna Fish sandwiches or Hot Fudge Sunday's were the standard fare. Usually took in a matinee at the Woods Theatre... back before they broke it up into separate theatres.. they only had a main floor... to a kid it was a vast sea of 2,500 seats. Also loved going over to the Lerner Shop... going thru the breezeway between the store and the window display island... made lots of loud echo noises as a kid there... Irish... you also jarred my memory about the glass pavilion at the back of the yellow bricked Sears store... inside that pavilion... besides selling appliances and furnishings, they also had a refreshments counter... ah the good ole days... (Message edited by Gistok on December 07, 2007) | ||
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen Post Number: 2625 Registered: 10-2003 |
Check out this Ookpik's Where Is It Photo that was identified as Seven Mile and Mack, and the ensuing discussion that followed: https://www.atdetroit.net/forum/mes sages/6790/91953.html?11721774 13 | ||
Irish_mafia Member Username: Irish_mafia Post Number: 1148 Registered: 10-2003 |
Good memory check there Gistok. It was Lerners , not Lane Bryant and I used to ride my bike through those glass aisles. and Wrigley's not A and P. I probably bought some 45's from your brother. Had a few sundaes at that Sanders too. Woods Theatre...The Poseidon Adventure and The Getaway.... I remember walking into 7 Mack diner and asking for a Reuben sandwich. Sue, the waitress who was married to the cop, looked at me and said "where do you think you are, Kresge?" and everybody laughed. It is now on the menu at that same diner. | ||
Irish_mafia Member Username: Irish_mafia Post Number: 1149 Registered: 10-2003 |
Good link Kathleen. Thanks! | ||
Expatriot Member Username: Expatriot Post Number: 20 Registered: 09-2007 |
In 1956 I was 10 years old and walked the 6 blocks home from school through 3 blocks of a neighborhood commercial district that contained pretty much every kind of store from a Food Fair "supermarket", Nash car dealer, bowling alley and assorted others. There was Wilsons soda fountain and a Kresges Dime Store. There were 4 movies theaters within walking distance of my house (Uptown, Eloma, Lakewood, Cinderella). Today there are none in the entire city. (DIA doesn't count). All of the arterial radial streets where lined with nothing but commercial establishments, usually with apartments above. Livernois between 6 and 8 Mile used to be signposted, not inaccurately, the "Avenue of Fashion) It was a city of neighborhoods like New York, albeit on a much smaller scale. | ||
Birwood Member Username: Birwood Post Number: 57 Registered: 10-2007 |
In the 1960-70 period at Grand River & Oakman, had Federals, Sears, Winklemans, Robert Hall, Shifrin-Willens Jewelers, Beverly Theater, Cunninghams Grand River & Greenfield had Wards, Federals, Crowleys, Winklemans, Thom McAn, Kresges, Great Lakes Theater, Big Boy restuarant, Cunninghams Michgan & Junction had Woolworths, Crowleys, Kresges several dress shops. Grand River & 7 Mile had 7 Grand Shopping Center | ||
Danny Member Username: Danny Post Number: 6864 Registered: 02-2004 |
jjaba could probably tall all of you what happen to the Fenkell and Livernois Shopping District. For far as I know it's know its a area of a black ghetto nothingless. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 5690 Registered: 11-2003 |
jjaba can share much. He sold Detroit Times Sunday bulldogs off the back door of Sears, Oakman. There was a huge parking lot back there. Birwood does a good job recalling the stores. The Northlawn bus originated at Cunninghams's on the corner. Sears Auto Center at Oakman Blvd. and Elmhurst was a big operation for tires and batteries. We would shop Kresge's on a transfer off the Grand River feeder electric buses. jjaba worked at Wrigley's behind the Federal's on Greenfield and Grand River. He would lunch at Big Boys. The Big Boy Combination was 79 cents. He also worked in the Shoe Dept. for Mr Manko, at Crowleys, Grand River and Greenfield next to Wards. Manko was quite an objectionable oddball. When you worked dairy at Wrigley's, sell it or smell it. The same for Produce Dept. National Shirts, Thom Mc An Shoes, Army-Navy War Surplus stores, and many theaters dotted Grand River. jjaba, Westside Torah Bukkor. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 5691 Registered: 11-2003 |
Masterblaster, Google Topor's Pickles and see what you learn. Share it with us. That's some Wyoming-curtis lore for ya. jjaba, walking with Mumford girlfriend when it was 60% Jewish. 1958. |
