 
Gistok
Member
Username: Gistok
Post Number: 5889
Registered: 08-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, December 13, 2007 - 2:07 am: |    |
... LOL... that sure is saying a lot...
For a nice zip code on the eastside... 48224. |
Jjaba
Member
Username: Jjaba
Post Number: 5728
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, December 13, 2007 - 2:41 am: | |
It was only after jjaba met Lowell that he ever was on the Eastside, except for Belle Isle, if that's Eastside. Lowell had 4 bodyguards and a Big Four patrol car when we toured the Eastside. jjabs was very scared, almost plotzing.
jjaba doesn't know the Eastside and so any contempt is out of ignorance. Gistok is the most saavy theater historian in the city. If that's Eastside, then jjaba backs it. When attending Cass Tech., students from Eastside Intermediate Schools had such thick accents, Westsiders had to engage interpreters.
jjaba, also born at Women's Hospital, 1941. His brother was born June, 1943 during race riots. |
Urbanoutdoors
Member
Username: Urbanoutdoors
Post Number: 662
Registered: 11-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, December 13, 2007 - 6:54 am: | |
There is a lot of things that I do love on the east side Belle Isle, BP, EEV, WV, LP, IV, Boston Arden Park, Pawabic, part of the river walk, and Waterworks Park, but through the 5 generations that have lived in the city none lived on the east side always west which has part of the river walk, Rouge park, RDP, Corktown, UD, BE, WB, PW, PP, SWF, HR, HF, GA, NCC, Grandmont, MCS, yes the west is a little more expansive and yes both sides have their issues but its all my city and I love it for those issues and will always strive to change it for the better.
(Message edited by urbanoutdoors on December 13, 2007) |
Danny
Member
Username: Danny
Post Number: 6886
Registered: 02-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, December 13, 2007 - 7:32 am: | |
The west side of Detroit is bigger and better than the east side of Detroit. |
The_ed
Member
Username: The_ed
Post Number: 1475
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, December 13, 2007 - 8:07 am: | |
I live on the far east side of the west side of Detroit. |
Detroitstar
Member
Username: Detroitstar
Post Number: 833
Registered: 01-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, December 13, 2007 - 9:58 am: | |
I have only lived in Detroit for two years (Lansing transplant). I entrenched mtself on the east side, and spend most of my time here. I have absolutely nothing against the westside, but it is just inconvenient for my situation. I love what the westside has to offer, and I have met some good people from West of Woodward. |
Fury13
Member
Username: Fury13
Post Number: 3360
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, December 13, 2007 - 10:57 am: | |
In general, the eastside is older and had more frame housing (rather than brick). Frame housing, when owned/inhabited by poor people, is more costly and difficult to maintain. Thus, the peeling paint and rotting wood... and then often the eventual fire or demolition, leaving vast expanses of empty city lots in the older sections. |
Bobj
Member
Username: Bobj
Post Number: 3319
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, December 13, 2007 - 11:01 am: | |
We have a BIG lake on the Eastside |
Detroitrise
Member
Username: Detroitrise
Post Number: 1088
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, December 13, 2007 - 4:22 pm: | |
We have good Pizza too. ALL of the good, authentic pizza restaurants are EAST of Woodward. |
Dhugger
Member
Username: Dhugger
Post Number: 315
Registered: 03-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, December 13, 2007 - 5:38 pm: | |
Great question. I grew up on the east side and the family continued to move north to only east side suburbs.
To my best recollection I don't think I went west of Woodward until after I was 18.(I am a life long Detroiter) A bizarre Detroit phenomena.
I think it has to do with family ethnicity. Being of Polish, Irish, German & American Indian descent we stayed where people sold us houses. Didn't Detroit have some kind of special laws indicating where people could live? I can not remember the name of that law. |
Jjaba
Member
Username: Jjaba
Post Number: 5731
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, December 13, 2007 - 6:11 pm: | |
Dhugger, the Westside is a United Nations of Americans, too. The claim of racial and ethnic diversity superiority cannot be claimed by the Eastside. Huge populations of Polish, Hungarians, Irish, German, Jews, Arabs, and hundreds of countries of origin are represented. |
Gsgeorge
Member
Username: Gsgeorge
Post Number: 449
Registered: 08-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, December 13, 2007 - 6:14 pm: | |
Fury, interesting reasoning re: the proliferation of abandonment on the Eastside. |
Chuckjav
Member
Username: Chuckjav
Post Number: 334
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, December 13, 2007 - 6:24 pm: | |
I've resided on the lower east side & on the near northwest side; both were good, bad, and ugly.....this, that, and the other.
Overall, seems to me that the east side is more crowded - homes built very close together.
One man's observations & opinion |
Plymouthres
Member
Username: Plymouthres
Post Number: 329
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, December 13, 2007 - 6:38 pm: | |
Megansdad-
You seem to be one angry dude. Ray was kind of joking, something that he, jjaba, the_rock, Gistok do all the time here. What he said wasn't any reason to single him out. For someone who just joined this forum in July, you sure have a lot of nasty to say about someone you don't know very well.
He has contributed plenty to this forum, this city and he is a really nice guy. His knowledge of geneology is second to none, and he has helped many others answer questions that they haven't been able to get answers to before. His contributions here have CERTAINLY been more appreciated than yours.
Also, no one here "kisses his ass" and with comments like that, it is clear that you have no respect for anyone, including yourself or your elders.
Post on, Ray! |
Dhugger
Member
Username: Dhugger
Post Number: 319
Registered: 03-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, December 13, 2007 - 6:41 pm: | |
Jjaba = I grew up in the 60s & 70s. My father moved us farther out into the east side suburbs up to Utica/Rochester. White flight or what ever. Yes my late father was racist God bless him.
I am embarrassed to say I did not interact with African American folks or people of Jewish descent until after I was 18. When I left home I headed straight for the inner city much to my parents dismay. My offspring have been raised in a very diverse cultural background. I think this will benefit them in their adult lives and will make them much more sensitive human beings.
I am happy to say that our children's circle of friends included African Americans, kids from Iraq, young people from India, and youngsters from the Jewish faith.
They have celebrated Passover, learned about Ramadan, and participated in Kwanzaa celebrations at school. Yes I do believe the world is a better place than when I grew up. |
Gsgeorge
Member
Username: Gsgeorge
Post Number: 450
Registered: 08-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, December 13, 2007 - 7:59 pm: | |
I think Megansdad missed the idea. The eastside/westside conflict has never really been taken seriously by anyone (except Megansdad, that is). It's all in good fun. I don't think any westsider actually broke out in hives after living in the eastide for a short while. Although I had to drop someone off at Alter and Kercheval last week... I have this strange pain in my chest... kind of like there's something inside--- BALLAHCHH!••••(alien explodes from chest) |
Jjaba
Member
Username: Jjaba
Post Number: 5736
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, December 13, 2007 - 9:26 pm: | |
Gsgeorge tells it like it tis. The Eastside of Detroit is still Detroit, Tigers Fans, love for the music, the food, and the angst. Even though he doesn't know the Eastside, jjaba sure as hell knows it's NOT Cleveland! Plymouthres is right. Lighten up and enjoy the inside humor of it.
Dhugger is talking about the practice of Red Lining in Detroit, and suburbs. Such lines around neighborhoods are now illegal but at the time, were very racist. They were used by insurance and morgage companies to steer clients to where they thought people should live.
jjaba, now he's getting hives. |
Terryh
Member
Username: Terryh
Post Number: 597
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, December 13, 2007 - 10:11 pm: | |
Go central. Live in Ferndale or somewhere along the Woodward corridor in Detroit, then you can have the best of both worlds while at the same time being centrally located. |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 805
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, December 13, 2007 - 11:02 pm: | |
I think GsGeorge nailed it...the east/west thing has always been in fun...growing up on the eastside (7 & Gratiot) we told jokes about Ohio, Canada, the Yoop...but we never told jokes about the west side...nothing funny about it. Hell...we didn't even know that anyone lived over there...Windsor yes...but the west side was too close to the edge of the earth! |
Jjaba
Member
Username: Jjaba
Post Number: 5741
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 4:39 am: | |
Terryh, Ferndale, central to what? Sounds way out there to jjaba. Nine Mile, Ten Mile Rds., Yeminsville.
Goblue, start on Grand River downtown and drive Northwest. You'll discover what's left of the Westside.
jjaba. |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 806
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 1:24 pm: | |
Jjaba: Wish I could...these days I live about 2000 miles to the southwest...still an eastsider in my heart...always will be...the folks are buried in Gethsemane Cemetary on Gratiot...right across the street from where the 15th precinct used to be...where my dad was badge #1052. |
Gsgeorge
Member
Username: Gsgeorge
Post Number: 453
Registered: 08-2006
| | Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 1:37 pm: | |
I think Jjaba and Goblue bring up something interesting here. Grand River is the main drag of the westside, Gratiot the main drag of the eastside. If an eastsider wants a peak at the westside, drive down Grand River; reverse and go down Gratiot for westsiders. You'll see that the two streets are quintessentially DETROIT, but that they differ greatly from each other as well. Not really sure how to pin it down, but the overall feeling is different.
Woodward and Jefferson are everyone's territory.
Interesting how this divide exists in the suburbs too. Those living in Oakland County west of Woodward don't really know that Macomb County exists. It's a different world out there. Mt. Clemens? There's mountains over there? |
Jjaba
Member
Username: Jjaba
Post Number: 5745
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 1:52 pm: | |
jjaba would compare Mt. Clemens to the ski mtns. in Michigan like Mt. Brighton. It ain't exactly The Alps, folks. Not quite Colorado skiiing.
But Gsgeorge is right. Westsiders like jjaba have never stepped foot in Macomb County and so knows nuthin' about it. We have read that it is a model for politcal counts. As Macomb County goes, so goes the Country. When those Carshop Johns decide to vote Republican, so goes the country. Must be an interesting place. jjaba would love to spend an evening in East Pointe sometime talking about the "situation."
jjaba. Westsider. |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 807
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 4:35 pm: | |
Gsgeorge & Jjaba: I never thought about that before...Gratiot & Grand River. I have never made the full drive down Grand River...couldn't begin to count the trips down Gratiot...on my own or with buddies starting around age 12 on the bus. Woodward was akin to Checkpoint Charlie...believed to be a crossing point until into college years...laughing now...hell, I didn't even know that Jefferson went west until I was working at the old City Bank in the Penobscot Bldg. during the summer of 1960.
When I graduated from WMU in 1963 I was offered jobs in Warren, GP...and Livonia. You guessed right...I chose Warren...for less money but I really liked the guy I was working for.
Macomb County....at least in my long past experience was never a seat of intellectualism or liberal thought...it was the stopping point for the first tier of white flighters. |
7_and_kelly_kid
Member
Username: 7_and_kelly_kid
Post Number: 19
Registered: 12-2007
| | Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 4:47 pm: | |
GB.........ahhh!............cr usin' Gratiot in my '67 (or '68 or '69 in later years) 'vette....why?....who knows.........oh yea......girls!............... ....sigh....'round and 'round between 8 mile and 12. |
Gsgeorge
Member
Username: Gsgeorge
Post Number: 456
Registered: 08-2006
| | Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 4:53 pm: | |
Goblue, never really made the trip all the way down Gratiot, farthest I've made it is about to Grand Blvd before I start getting the willies. |
Gingellgirl
Member
Username: Gingellgirl
Post Number: 98
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 4:55 pm: | |
We bought our first house in Berkley, one half block west of Woodward. My "East Side" relatives in Hamtramck tried to disown me for becoming a "Westsider." |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 809
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 7:11 pm: | |
7K: Never heard of cruisin' Gratiot...we cruised Woodward about 8 Mile to 12...in my '56 white Ford convertible...skirts, glass pacs, spinners...it was hot shit...a real chick magnet!
Gsg: I know that feeling about willies...used to get 'em myself whenever I crossed Woodward... unless I was on 94 and it just sorta looked strange over there...so kept the foot in the accelerator.
Gg: They shoulda disowned you! Shame on you! What in the world was a nice eastside girl like you doing over there with THOSE people? lolol |
Jjaba
Member
Username: Jjaba
Post Number: 5750
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 8:11 pm: | |
East-West does not count for suburbs. That's a basic rule, just like downtown Detroit is claimed by all sides. Hamtramck doesn't understand East-West any more than we understand Nortside-Soutside in Chicago. Berkley, Michigan is suburban, counts for neither.
Gsgeorge, we can get all the way down Grand River, but get the schpulkas East of I-375.
jjaba's father ran an envelope factory at 2460 E. Grand Blvd. corner Du Bois. Talk about scared to go over there. jjaba plotzed so badly he went to de-trauma therapy. It helped to have friends at Cass Tech. from over there.
Goblue, jjaba, WMU class of 1963, Ellsworth Hall.
Gov. Soapy Williams handed jjaba his diploma. |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 810
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 8:20 pm: | |
Jjaba: I'm WMU class of Jan. '63...Elementary Education...Ellsworth Hall. My first room was A410...the last B218. GoBlue comes from grad school. |