  Focusonthed Member Username: Focusonthed Post Number: 1533 Registered: 02-2006 |
WMU class of '05. Lafayette St via Harvey Hall. Definitely didn't know you guys. ;) | ||
Elimarr Member Username: Elimarr Post Number: 42 Registered: 09-2007 |
I just never had a reason to go to the Westside as a kid. After that, met some Westside friends, but actually we hung out mostly in CENTRAL locations (Downtown or Cultural Center area.) I gotta go Eastside. It's a roots thing. | ||
Fury13 Member Username: Fury13 Post Number: 3392 Registered: 10-2003 |
I remember cruising Gratiot in my high school days. I knew people from the westside who cruised Telegraph. Gas was 35 cents a gallon. | ||
Goblue Member Username: Goblue Post Number: 811 Registered: 03-2007 |
Focus: Shoot...yer just a kid...jjaba coulda been your daddy! Nice to have another Bronco online! Eli: Amen! Its all about roots...mine go back to great-great grandparents who were Detroit French farmers on my mother's side...all eastsiders. Fury: Wow! That's inflation! Gas was 20-25 cents when I was cruisin'...we used to pitch in to buy a tank full or a couple of dollars worth. | ||
Meaghansdad Member Username: Meaghansdad Post Number: 182 Registered: 07-2007 |
I haven't missed anything. I've encountered dozens of individuals in the course of work and recreation, and I constantly hear negative and degrading things about the eastside. Moreover,I feel the same way about the Eastside as some of you fanatical individuals feel whenever someone says something negative about Detroit. P.S Most of you guys do kiss Ray's ass, but thats OK. Thats simply my opinion, and thats what this website is all about, sharing opinions, and exchanging idealogy. Ray does add some wonderful things to this website, far more than me. But I'm OK with that. (Message edited by meaghansdad on December 14, 2007) | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 5751 Registered: 11-2003 |
Goblue, post your email address so jjaba can talk privately. I'd love to check you out in the 1963 yearbook. Ellsworth B208 after a yr. on 4th. jjaba was a telephone operator in lobby. jjaba, WMU, WIDR alum. (1963)Brown and Gold. | ||
Hpgrmln Member Username: Hpgrmln Post Number: 316 Registered: 06-2007 |
"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." Sorry, not true. When us Oakland Countyers say "East side", we mean Macomb County. "East side" has completely different meanings. Folks in Royal oak or Troy mean "The other side of Dequindre." Detroiters mean "East of Woodward". To us in the O.C, it's "Detroit's East side" or "East side of Detroit." If you live on the city's east side, you have to be specific or we'll assume you live in Mt. Clemens. | ||
Eriedearie Member Username: Eriedearie Post Number: 383 Registered: 08-2007 |
I was raised on the East side of Detroit (Van Dyke, Harper, Gratiot area). Attended high school on the West side (12th Street and Canfield). Took three city buses to get there and back until I got my own car. I had many friends from many different neighborhoods in and around Detroit. All my schools were comprised of different ethnic groups. We all got along and were invited to each other's parties and get togethers. We had a blast growing up and being friends. I still keep in touch and see many of the friends I made in school. I would not trade my experience of knowing all the diverse people that I've met throughout my years in Detroit for anything. I think I can speak for all my friends that all of us have the best of both worlds, whether it be we chose to live on the East side or the West side. All of Detroit is the best side! We're all Detroiters. Even though I wasn't born in Detroit, I call it my hometown. | ||
Goblue Member Username: Goblue Post Number: 814 Registered: 03-2007 |
Jjaba: ew310@cableone.net | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 5756 Registered: 11-2003 |
Eriedearie, the same goes for Cass Tech., the United Nations of a high school. Some Eastsiders and some from DelRay had such thick accents, jjaba couldn't understand them. And they were all born here. They probably couldn't understand jjaba with his Jewish-Ukrainian roots too. Our city blocks were a UN too. Yet, we are Detroit. Didn't mattah who you were, when you walked down the summer streets, everyobdy was out on their porches and everybody had the Joe Louis fight on their radios through the open window. jjaba, Westside Memories. | ||
Goblue Member Username: Goblue Post Number: 815 Registered: 03-2007 |
Jjaba: Or Tiger games...neighbors could stroll the entire block on the eastside and never miss a pitch...while the kids play curb ball. Ah, the summers of the 40's and 50's. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 5758 Registered: 11-2003 |
We played more steps baseball than curb ball. jjaba could hit one across the street, over the parked cars, into the neighbors front lawn. Great memories. jjaba on the Westside. get home when the streetlights come on. | ||
7_and_kelly_kid Member Username: 7_and_kelly_kid Post Number: 24 Registered: 12-2007 |
all.......quickie on the gas thing...........sigh.......... .....in order to use my dad's car ('68 Lemans........black).......to cruis Gatiot....my mom would give me 20 bucks to go up to Merit drugs on Kelly and the Standard station on 7 and Kelly........and fill the tank up and get 2 CARTONS......CARTONS I say.....of smokes for her and my dad....... | ||
Goblue Member Username: Goblue Post Number: 820 Registered: 03-2007 |
Jjaba: Our preferred game was step ball...but with the folks on the porch in the evening they were yelling about the noise...and occasional foul ball...so we moved to the curb after dinner. I played infield...liked those hot grounders...still do in the senior softball league at shortstop. Agreed...great memories. 7K: A carton must cost $50 now...incredible to me that anyone smokes...economics if not health. When I was living in B'ham, AL in the early '70s we used to run to a girlfriend's parents home in NC for a weekend...and stock up the backseat for $2.50 a carton to bootleg back for friends...Carolina subsidy. After a pack a day about from the time I was a senior in high school I quit 32 years ago. | ||
Eaglelv Member Username: Eaglelv Post Number: 18 Registered: 03-2007 |
I grew up on the lower eastside of Detroit in the 60s 70s and early 80s, surrounded by canals and Alter road. I Loved every bit of it and can count on 1 hand the amount of times I spent on the westside. I wouldn't trade the neighborhood of Jeff Chalmers where I grew up on the 1st block of Chalmers for anything. I have lived in Hawaii for the past 16 years but always visit my old haunts of Angel park and Lakewood park every time I make it back to visit family. As kids we would spend hours on the banks of the canals catching critters, climbing the trees and watching the freighters cruise the channel heading out to lake StClair or back behind Belle Isle. It was a place that was rich in character and history. Eastsider forever!! | ||
Eriedearie Member Username: Eriedearie Post Number: 388 Registered: 08-2007 |
Jjaba: My next door neighbor attended Cass Tech. I believe she graduated in 1960. There were lots of Italian and Polish kids in my area that went there and to Commerce. I almost went to Commerce but decided on Wilbur Wright. I would imagine that all three of those schools were melting pots of diversity. We had a great school experience didn't we? All of it prepared me for the work experience and gave me tools for a lifetime. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 5759 Registered: 11-2003 |
Add Chadsey HS in there for Culinary Arts. Yes, all of the citywide schools were American Melting Pots first and foremost. It was practical education to make a living, yet you also learned how to learn if college was ahead. Sadly, they tore down the High School of Commerce for a damn expressway. jjaba presumes that program isn't around anymore. jjaba hears that Macomb County and Fordson HS still have vo-tech programs. jjaba. | ||
The_rock Member Username: The_rock Post Number: 2051 Registered: 11-2003 |
Every time I venture to the West side, I have to first stop at the GP AAA and pick up a Detroit map so I can get over there without too much delay and getting lost a few times. 3 Weeks ago, I had to drive over to Mettatel and Wadsworth. Never head of either street. I thought Wadsworth was a town in Ohio, and to this day I have no idea who Mettatal is or was. Thank God for the AAA map. Got lost anyway and ended up at Cooley High School which was interesting as I had never seen it before. Cooley is sure no GP South, but still is an interesting structure. And Cooley is the only high school I know that has a funeral home located across the street. And were those bars on the windows? Fortunately, I found my way back to I-96 and made it home by nightfall. Never again. Henry Ford Hospital on the Blvd is as far West as I need to venture. I might gamble and go out to the Redford Theater and hear the organ and see the train set-up. But only after I get my confidence up. Now where did I put that AAA map? | ||
Caldogven Member Username: Caldogven Post Number: 142 Registered: 05-2006 |
Eriedearie What year did you go to Wilbur Wright? | ||
Eriedearie Member Username: Eriedearie Post Number: 391 Registered: 08-2007 |
Caldogven: I started there September 1962 and graduated in July 1965. Did you go there or do you know someone that did? | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 5761 Registered: 11-2003 |
Here's The Rock, an educated man, and a downtown lawyer for 40 yrs. He's almost as pathetic as jjaba but atleast he tried to find something on a grid driven, perfectly designed, Westside of Detroit. Every taxi dirver in Detroit, many immigrants greener than a newborn, can find anything on the Westside. As for jjaba, he's just too scared, too chicken, to even attempt the Eastside. He still doesn't know how his father, Alva Sholem, did it for 40 yrs. (Factory at 2460 E. Grand blvd.) Yes, try The Redford Theater. You'll have a nice time. Grand River and Lahser, not Lasher as jjaba pronounces it. jjaba, safely on Westside. | ||
The_rock Member Username: The_rock Post Number: 2052 Registered: 11-2003 |
I think they are showing "It's a Wonderful Life" at the Redford this weekend. The inspiration for any "wonderful life " finds its basis living on the East side, jjaba. I bet Jimmy Stewart would have liked it over here, too. He and Alva Sholem had moxie. | ||
Crumbled_pavement Member Username: Crumbled_pavement Post Number: 69 Registered: 08-2007 |
The westside is covered in snow. Crumbled_pavement doesn't like it! | ||
Caldogven Member Username: Caldogven Post Number: 143 Registered: 05-2006 |
Eriedearie - I was at Wright from 1954 to 1958. A great school with great teachers. We had a terrible football team, but it wasn't a school that promoted sports. Education and career were foremost. I was in Automotive. | ||
Eriedearie Member Username: Eriedearie Post Number: 396 Registered: 08-2007 |
Caldogven: So you were there before the school went coed! Did you have Mr. Schimmelfening in Automotive? I know I've spelled his name wrong. He was our senior sponsor and such a great guy. All the teachers there were excellent. And our football team...ha! But you are right, education and career were at the top of the list. Did you hang out in Julie's? I think I had my first cup of black coffee in there. The old jukebox - I think we could get a song for a nickel! Memories - I think what I really liked the most about WWHS was that my classmates came from all around the city. Because of that I feel comfortable anywhere in Detroit. I really know my way around the city because of my wide circle of friends from school. I'm a Detroiter at heart no matter where I'm living. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 5765 Registered: 11-2003 |
Rock, jjaba's father Irving, (alva Sholem,) means "rest in Peace." jjaba shows reverence by statng the Hebrew everytime when referring to his dearly departed father. Yes, he was a hardworking Yiddische arbiter in the envelope business on the Eastside Milwaukee Junction Industrial Corridor. jjaba, just thought you'd like to know this Jewish practice. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 5910 Registered: 08-2004 |
For folks talking about cruisin'... I think that the Woodward Cruisin' was at its' peak in the 50's and 60's, whereas the Gratiot Cruisin' was at its' peak in the 70's and 80's. I remember the cruisin' gridlock on Gratiot around 9-12 Mile Roads. on Friday and Saturday nights back in the 70's. | ||
Goblue Member Username: Goblue Post Number: 825 Registered: 03-2007 |
Gistok: I think you're right on the timing...I never heard of Cruisin' Gratiot...but then I left the Eastside in '69...in the 50' & early 60's we were on Woodward. | ||
Eastside61 Member Username: Eastside61 Post Number: 653 Registered: 07-2006 |
GB - there was a little cruisin' Gratiot out towards East Detroit HS and the lighted tennis courts......but WOODWARD was the place... I do give you credit for your efforts to establish the Eastside tradition of Cruisin" Ballduck Park parking lot....or was it just parking in the parking lot....there was this white '56 ford there all the time...for much of the time we thought that it was abandoned but it was followed one morning leaving B. Park and headed to the 7 and Chalmers neighborhood.....it had a blue top...and a guy who had a princeton haircut....and a NE shopper bumper sticker..... | ||
Goblue Member Username: Goblue Post Number: 829 Registered: 03-2007 |
ES: Had to get there early to get a parking spot...the place filled up quickly. |
