 
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 2138
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, October 25, 2007 - 12:54 pm: |    |
They were, Chuck, although the two days after those photos were taken high winds knocked a lot of the green leaves off the trees. Wasn't a lot of color this year, although I did get this shot out at New Hudson.
|
Chuckjav
Member
Username: Chuckjav
Post Number: 287
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, October 25, 2007 - 1:54 pm: | |
Ray1936....I see a Pulitzer Prize (or two) in your immediate future; one for excellence in narrative non-fiction, the other for photography. |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 2141
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, October 25, 2007 - 6:21 pm: | |
Naw, my brother's the photographer. Took numerous professional courses, but he's still hung up on 35 mm.
Nice thing about that photo is that as a desktop photo, my two rows of icons line up nicely on the left side of the picture without covering up the branches. |
Birwood
Member
Username: Birwood
Post Number: 38
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Friday, October 26, 2007 - 11:06 am: | |
Ray1936
Thank you very much for the photos of the Birwood house and Al Pisa pharmacy.
One of the last jobs I did before entering the USAF in 1968 was paint the trim along the roof and it looks like it hasn't been painted since
I haven't seen the house since 1969, I was home on leave before going to SEA and my parents moved while I was gone.
I noticed they did change the front door on Al Pisa's. It used to be at a 45 degree angle at the corner of the building. I noticed where Jerrys Barber Shop and Kriss Shoe repair used to be look like that is now part of the drug store.
I'm gonna have to go back some day
Thank You Again Ray |
Birwoodsis
Member
Username: Birwoodsis
Post Number: 1
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Friday, October 26, 2007 - 11:06 am: | |
Ray Thanks for the pictures. Funny that your posting appeared EXACTLY 43 years after I married & left the neighborhood. Our house looks not too bad. |
Chuckjav
Member
Username: Chuckjav
Post Number: 289
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Friday, October 26, 2007 - 11:49 am: | |
Ray, Birwood, Birwoodsis, Jjaba, 9936Sussex.....
I have noted the quirkiness of boundaries with regard to Cooley, Cody, and Mackenzie.
I am wondering (aloud) the southern boundary for Mumford; was there a lot of politics involved with determining the boundaries? |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 2143
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Friday, October 26, 2007 - 12:43 pm: | |
Oh, jeez, Kriss shoe repair. I had forgotten all about him. He was a WW II displaced person who emigrated, and I never could catch his accent to determine his nationality. Do you know?
I agree about the entrance; it used to be right on the corner of the building.
Notice the brick apartment building behind Pisa's. Someone earlier mentioned she lived in that building. It is now a wrecked-out shell.
Chuck, I gotta pass on the school boundaries; was never very sure of them at all. |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 2144
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Friday, October 26, 2007 - 12:46 pm: | |
Honored to have post #1 from Birwoodsis! Thanks right back!
The neighborhoods don't look too bad. I was bothered by the fact that the trash dumpsters are generally all stored in the front yards. Awfully dumb, I think. You can see two in the photo. |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 2146
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Friday, October 26, 2007 - 6:54 pm: | |
Found this on the Social Security Death Index:
------------------------------ ------------------------------ --------------------
Albert PISA
Birth Date: 31 May 1907
Death Date: May 1982
Social Security Number: 375-34-8187
State or Territory Where Number Was Issued: Michigan
Death Residence Localities
ZIP Code: 48239
Localities: Detroit, Wayne, Michigan
Redford, Wayne, Michigan
Redford Twp, Wayne, Michigan |
Jjaba
Member
Username: Jjaba
Post Number: 5583
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, October 28, 2007 - 4:08 pm: | |
Ray1936, names like Kriss and Kriz are Czech adaptations. Ofcourse, it is always hard to determine, given that you try to sound American.
In jjaba's family, Yankel Yossippowitz comes out of Medical School, "Dr. Jonathan Joseph" and Moshe' Varshavsky is a lawyer named "Morris Warsaw." So it goes in Detroit.
jjaba, son of immigrants. |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 2149
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, October 28, 2007 - 5:17 pm: | |
Only variation in my surname is when it changed from "Downynge" to "Downing" c. 1600 in Devonshire, England. So it is recorded at St. Disen's Church, Bradninch, Devon. |
Reddog289
Member
Username: Reddog289
Post Number: 31
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - 2:15 am: | |
in wayne dumpsters in the front yard are a no no, i miss the alley, my mom went from being rutkowske [german] to rutkowski [polish] to just ruth, like babe ruth sounded more american. that was during WW2, talked to my uncles about their old neighborhood, i guess nothing was better then hammerberg field. |
Chuckjav
Member
Username: Chuckjav
Post Number: 290
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - 6:19 am: | |
I remember (during the summer of 1971) a huge baseball event at Hammerberg Field; folks were lined up at the ticket booth on the c/o West Chicago & Wyoming - looked like a really big deal. I also remember Friday night high school football games at Hammerberg; something like a "Game of the Week" involving schools other than Mackenzie - this was during the mid-1970s.
My family name was Tabachnikov until Great-Grand pappy and kin came over from Revolutionary Russia; the immigration folk changed our name to Greenstein. Twenty years later, to facilitate Grand pappy's admittance to Colombia University Medical School, our name was changed to Greene. |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 2157
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - 1:28 pm: | |
Reddog, anyone who lived in Detroit learned how to spell Polish names; even the more difficult ones. Friend of mine, Jerry Maciejewski, legally changed his name to Machesky, and I kidded him that he did that only because I had learned to spell the original.
Polish folks are good folks. And I always wished I could Polka........ |
Birwood
Member
Username: Birwood
Post Number: 42
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - 5:39 pm: | |
Ray1936, Do you remember some of Detroit famous people in our neighborhood ?
Claire Cummings, he played Milky the Clown. He lived over on Sorrento near Intervale.
The Hoffa's lived on Monte Vista just north of Fenkell |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 2160
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - 5:54 pm: | |
Heh! No, Birwood, seems like everyone in our neighborhood was just a routine rubbydub like me! And except for the lumberyard fires, seems like nothing newsworthy or exciting ever happened in our neck of the woods. |
Chuckjav
Member
Username: Chuckjav
Post Number: 295
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - 6:59 pm: | |
Birwood & Ray....I've heard more than one person mention that several Detroit Red Wings from the 1950s-60s lived in the area (roughly) bounded by Meyers/Plymouth/Schaefer/Grand River. |
Whithorn11446
Member
Username: Whithorn11446
Post Number: 161
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - 7:30 pm: | |
Even in 1964 Alex Delvecchio was still living at 12352 Indiana
From 1953-59 Gordie Howe lived at 8556 Stawell
Jimmy Hoffa lived at 16154 Robson |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 2162
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - 9:27 pm: | |
Was not aware of those facts. Most interesting. |
Whithorn11446
Member
Username: Whithorn11446
Post Number: 162
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - 10:00 pm: | |
Thanks for taking the time to look at it Ray.
I have some other addresses of people from this general area as well
-Lefty Wilson(Detroit Red Wings trainer)
9982 Mettetal
-Ray Lane (WJBK-TV) 8108 Freda
-Bob Reynolds (WJR-760) 8333 Pinehurst
These addresses are from the 1964-65 era. Doug Fraser who later became UAW President may have lived on St. Marys St. during the 1950's-1960's as well, but I don't know the name of his first wife to confirm this. |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 2164
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - 10:43 pm: | |
Doug Fraser was in Lafayette Park by 1977 or so. Had the pleasure of picking him up and taking him to City Airport to pick up Ted Kennedy. Drove the two of them back to his digs in the Park, and then later back to the Airport. Doug was one of Detroit's five Police Commissioners at the time.
The Senator is pretty regular people when he's not politicking. (Imagine this lifelong conservative saying that!)  |
Reddog289
Member
Username: Reddog289
Post Number: 34
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 31, 2007 - 4:47 am: | |
where i worked there was a ukey& a pole, they could talk, they would teach this irish/german all the bad words. the ukey drove a garbage truck and lived in detroit till 2002 does he have the stories, my folks allways said that blakney,s ranch house in farm hills remined them of marcus burgers. |
Birwood
Member
Username: Birwood
Post Number: 43
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 9:51 pm: | |
Can of you folks from the old hood remember just how many families and kids lived on your block ?
Here is a sample of Birwood, between Schoolcraft and Kendall, circa 1959
Thomas 3, Sprinkles 2, Gross 3, Finch 2, Greenleaf 2, Kelly 4, McHenry 4, Patchett 1, Dumont 2, Paver 2, Provost 5, Murphy 6,
Whitworth 2, Fouchett 3, Kanitra 4, and Cochen 4.
Never had any problems, played ball in the streeet, roamed the alleys, played in the vacant field, went to Butzel Pool, raced bikes, built push carts, played cowboy and indians or played army and shot mud balls from Daisy Pop Guns...never had any problems and a lot of fun |
Chuckjav
Member
Username: Chuckjav
Post Number: 296
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, November 03, 2007 - 10:01 am: | |
Amen to that Birwood.....your remembrances speak volumes of the Baby-Boom era; young people abounded. Detroit had a triple-boom:
1. Children born to a huge influx of factory workers during the 1920s & 30s
2. To WWII factory workers
3. To soldiers returning from WWII.
Incredible! |
Mother_earth
Member
Username: Mother_earth
Post Number: 13
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, November 03, 2007 - 5:57 pm: | |
Ray 1936 thank you so much for the picture of the apartment bldg behind Al Pisa Drugs. Yes the third floor was my apartment, those were my windows (well there used to be windows). What memories you have allowed me to have. However, to look at this corner store and the apartment bldg and see what it looks like today is very sad! My heart aches for Detroit Michigan.....I also remember the door to Al Pisas being on the exact corner. Again Ray, thanks! |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 2186
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Saturday, November 03, 2007 - 8:11 pm: | |
The building seems to be completely gutted, Mother_earth, although I didn't see any signs of fire on the exterior. Seems to have just been abandoned and then probably stripped by scavengers. Yes, it's sad.
Many of the homes in the neighborhood, however, still look good and show ownership pride. Unfortunately, in every block there is either a badly run-down home or an abandoned/boarded up one.
"You can't go home again" is such a profound thought. |
Mother_earth
Member
Username: Mother_earth
Post Number: 14
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, November 03, 2007 - 10:51 pm: | |
Ray 1936....my mother always told me " you can never go back, as it will never be the same" but I always have tried to prove she was wrong...well guess what, she wasnt. I lived there from about 1963 to 1968. As I think I told you in a earlier post, I loved living in that apartment bldg. I always felt safe. I used to love to sit and watch the traffic and goings on out the window.
Thanks again Ray......they cant take our memories away from us! |
Reddog289
Member
Username: Reddog289
Post Number: 41
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, November 04, 2007 - 1:33 am: | |
i went to dearborn today[warren & manor] cause it was nice out, well i took a detour. the dairy queen on wyoming is bundled up for the winter, mackenzie looks good enuff to not be closed, and well my mom,s house is still an empty lot, but the area don,t look bad. go to warren & wyoming for that. wondered whats up with the for sale signs on the wyoming side of the ford/wyoming drive in? |
Alfie1a
Member
Username: Alfie1a
Post Number: 3
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 1:37 pm: | |
Hi all. Its nice reading this thread. Brings back some of my fondest memories. I lived on the corner of Pinehurst and Foley from about '63 to'68. This was such a cool neighborhood for a little kid 7-8 years old. so much to do. Butzel pool. Tower Theatre. RR tracks. I used to ride the train so i could go past the house of a girl from my class at parker school. I had the deepest crush on her. (are you out there, Gina) . She lived on Washburn right besides the tracks. I was all over the place, unsupervised. I don't remember exactly where it was but, does anyone remember the slot car track? Think it was on Wyoming near W. Chicago.
To this day, i occasionally dream of standing in front of all the penny candy in Johnny's party store on Grand River between Manor and Mendota. Thanks for allowing me to reminisce. |
Birwood
Member
Username: Birwood
Post Number: 46
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 3:56 pm: | |
Alfie 1a WELCOME
Posting your memories of our old hood is GREAT.
Did your ever go into Jerry's Bike Shoppe at Washburn & Grand River ? It was next door to Arizona Saddlery. A lot of Mounted Detroit Cops hung out there |