 
Reddog289
Member
Username: Reddog289
Post Number: 61
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Monday, November 12, 2007 - 2:35 am: |    |
slot car tracks & jerry,s bike shop. well my uncles stories ain,t just stories. 20 yrs ago and now i just wonder what it was like to live in Detroit with gun shots and burned up cars. that neighborhood is with me though i never lived there. thats were my mom & her family grew up. but up grand river i got my own stories |
Chuckjav
Member
Username: Chuckjav
Post Number: 311
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Monday, November 12, 2007 - 10:03 am: | |
Alfie1A....Sounds like we just missed one another; I grew up at Ward and Foley (1969-1976).
Please tell us more about the neighborhood; was it still a nice place in 1968.....where did you go from there? |
Alfie1a
Member
Username: Alfie1a
Post Number: 7
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 13, 2007 - 12:56 am: | |
oops. I made a mistake in my earlier post. We left the neighborhood in '67.
Birwood, sure I remember Jerry's. spent a lot of time in there looking and dreaming. There is, or was a Jerry's Bike Shop on Woodward near 13 Mile 14 Mile. I always wondered if it was the same family.
You mentioned Vio's Pizza. Where was that located? I had many pizzas from Vio's when they were on 5 mile in Brightmoor. great pizza. I wonder if they were the same family. Sadly, they are gone. The last time i was in there, the guy behind the counter had his handgun tucked in his waistband for all to see.
hiya Chuck. Yea, we musta just missed crossing paths. I had a friend who lived at Foley and Steel. your neighbor. His name was William Potter.
From the memories of someone who was 8 years old, the neighborhood was beautiful. Most everyone had lots of flowers and many also had vegetable gardens. Even fruit trees which were well kept. Yes, it was a fine neighborhood.
Speaking of vegetable gardens, does anyone remember a huge community garden in the area? I have no idea where it was but it was just a short drive. A friend and i went there a lot with his dad up until about '65. Then his dad died and we went no more.
Chuck, did you go to Parker? My first grade teacher was named Mrs. Bay. 2nd grade, Mrs. Oday. The art teacher was Mr Levine. Those are all i can remember.
Birwood, you were talking about some explosion that happened then. I distinctly remember hearing a blast that rocked the whole neighborhood. I always thought it came from the direction of Wyoming - Plymouth.
Another thing I remember, the gypsy guy with the pony who came around and dressed up the kids in a cowboy outfit. Set us up on the pony and photographed us.
Another thing, the Mr. Frosty truck. I was lucky cause he was my dads high school friend and he hooked us up. mmmm ice cream. We went to the dairy queen up on Plymouth a lot. My sister's teacher lived in an apartment right across from there and she would let us visit. She was so nice to us.
I used to get my haircut at Plymouth and Pinehurst. Richards Barber Shop. and he had a connected store which had the coolest things. It was the first place i ever saw a frisbee.
Reddog, which part of Grand River did you grow up? I was all up and down Grand River most of my life. Greenfield area. Redford High. lol I live just off Grand River now.
From there, my parents bought a house near outer Drive and Greenfield. |
Chuckjav
Member
Username: Chuckjav
Post Number: 318
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 13, 2007 - 6:50 am: | |
Alfie1a...Yes, I went to Parker; I honestly cannot remember names of teachers...except: Mr. DeGrazia for science (he was also an assistant track coach at Mackenzie). My math teacher had been at Parker for decades (by 1969, she had to be in her mid-70s).
Do you remember a pet store, about a block or so west from the Dairy Dell on Plymouth? |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 2243
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 13, 2007 - 1:15 pm: | |
"Birwood, you were talking about some explosion that happened then. I distinctly remember hearing a blast that rocked the whole neighborhood. I always thought it came from the direction of Wyoming - Plymouth"
Not too far off, Alfie. I'm sure the explosion you're referring to was the one from the Ditzler Color factory. They made paints and stuff, and were located at Oakman just south of Grand River. Was a tremendous blast, and it broke windows for miles around, including the shopping district around the Sears store on Grand River. I was at Eight Mile and Southfield at that moment and the blast even shook everything up that way, miles and miles away.
Was the biggest boom I ever heard until the Pepcon explosion in Las Vegas in 1988. |
Reddog289
Member
Username: Reddog289
Post Number: 68
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, November 15, 2007 - 12:16 am: | |
my uncle told me about the ditzler explosion, said it was bad. as for me i grew up in garden city so what i know has been passed down from my mom& her family. she moved from grand river & ilene in 1967 right before the riots, in fact my parents were on there honeymoon when it broke out and my dad who was a garden city reserve policeman came home. in 69 the year i was born my grandparents moved to 7&evergreen till 1987. one of my uncles owned ruth auto parts which was on Greydale north of Grandriver, it,s all painted up now as you can see in the old redford pix elsewere on this site. i spent alot of time there sitting on a stool behind the counter coloring. as i wrote before i remember the house on ilene being just another half burned down house then a vacant lot. but one more thing when my grandparents& 2 uncles still lived at 7& evergreen 90% of the time if i went down town it would be down Grandriver. then i would hear [jerry,s schwinn was there, the mouse house was over there] then further down [oh that was the grande ballroom]. good thing that my one uncle has a photographic memory. |
Chuckjav
Member
Username: Chuckjav
Post Number: 323
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, November 15, 2007 - 10:11 am: | |
Reddog289....What high school did you attend? |
Alfie1a
Member
Username: Alfie1a
Post Number: 8
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, November 15, 2007 - 9:28 pm: | |
could someone please explain to me how i can link a pic to this thread.? not one i have in a file. its on the WSU page. |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 2261
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, November 15, 2007 - 9:43 pm: | |
Alfie, put your cursor on the picture and "right click" your mouse. Save it to a file such as a photo program of some kind. Note the path and name of the file. Then click on "Upload Attacment" below when you make your DetroitYes post and follow the instructions. Remember that the picture size must be 550 x 550 or smaller. |
Ggores
Member
Username: Ggores
Post Number: 9
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, November 15, 2007 - 9:58 pm: | |
"red rover, red rover, send chrissy right over!" with a dashing bolt, the selected kid would haul ass across the lawn, carefully selecting their intended target - the "weakest link" as they call it now. twisted ankles, bloody elbows, upside-down flips... these were the things that made for much fun. and by night's end, every kid would have no problem falling asleep. |
Alfie1a
Member
Username: Alfie1a
Post Number: 10
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, November 15, 2007 - 10:00 pm: | |
thanks Ray.
This photo, from 1930, is from the WSU virtual motor city site. Apparently, there was a blind pig on the block. This is the south side of Grand River between Mendota and Manor where Johnnie's party store was located. I think it was the storefront with the telephone pole in front. Thats where I went when i had a few pennies. You can see the firehouse tower in the background. I think the firehouse is still there. It was built in 1924.
I once took a brief unguided tour of the firehouse while they were out on a run. lol |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 2262
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, November 15, 2007 - 11:14 pm: | |
Oh, I remember that block well. There was a plumbing contractor in that building for years, "Sivko Plumbing". I'm sure the block has been levelled except for the fire station. On the next block just east of Meyers was Frost-Avis Ford, where I bought my first used car in 1954, a beautiful 1951 Ford. Wish I still had it!
Lot of memories on that street. |
Reddog289
Member
Username: Reddog289
Post Number: 72
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Friday, November 16, 2007 - 12:34 am: | |
Chuck,i went to john glenn i moved a mile to the west when i was a teen, one of my friends thought i lived in detroit cause i was at my grandparents so much. By the time i got to high school garden city only had one high, if it was 5yrs early i,d had gone to gc west. might had gone to lutheran high west, but said no cause i wanted to take shop class not go to college. like this site cause i like history , it also gives me ideas for my model railroad. |
Jjaba
Member
Username: Jjaba
Post Number: 5606
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Friday, November 16, 2007 - 1:16 pm: | |
Birwood, ofcourse we know Jerry's Bike Shop. Ray1936 and jjaba delivered Detroit Times papers out of the Jim Beyers substation on Washburn and Grand River, hard by the alley. Jerry's kept us going. We also remember the party store where we bought 12 oz. Pepsis and a pack of peanuuts to push down the neck. That combination was a newsboy's dream snack.
jjaba's route up on Northlawn and Schoolcraft where he lived had 60 regular customers and was in the family with his brother for 8 years in the 1950s.
Many times it was really cold outside, but we biked the route. Colder than a Livonia well digger's ass, lemme tell ya. The ride up Wyoming dodging trucks and big buses was not an easy one loaded with 60 Sunday papers.
For extra money, jjaba sold Sunday Detroit Times Bulldogs on Sat. night out the back door of Sears-Oakman.
jjaba, Westside old timey newsboy. |
Alfie1a
Member
Username: Alfie1a
Post Number: 11
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, November 17, 2007 - 2:08 pm: | |
Reddog, have you been to the Redford Theatre during christmas season? They have a wonderful model railroad display every year. |
Jjaba
Member
Username: Jjaba
Post Number: 5608
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, November 17, 2007 - 5:07 pm: | |
Alfie1a, welcome to The Forum. We have high hopes for your quality posts here.
jjaba, old timey Westsider. |
Reddog289
Member
Username: Reddog289
Post Number: 77
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, November 18, 2007 - 2:03 am: | |
never knew about that, want to go there anyways, thanx for the info |
Jrvass
Member
Username: Jrvass
Post Number: 323
Registered: 01-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, November 18, 2007 - 10:32 am: | |
Jjaba, I always enjoy your posts.
Can you explain your moniker?
James |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 2272
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, November 18, 2007 - 12:44 pm: | |
I can, but I'll let him do it. |
Alfie1a
Member
Username: Alfie1a
Post Number: 13
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, November 18, 2007 - 1:01 pm: | |
Jjaba, thank you. I'm glad i discovered this site. It's really cool to read what everyone has written about their memories of Detroit's past. And the hopes for the future of our fine city. |
Jjaba
Member
Username: Jjaba
Post Number: 5610
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, November 18, 2007 - 3:03 pm: | |
jjaba is five initials.
Joel Jason Adam Barbara Arnold.
This writer, jjaba, is one of them.
jjaba, Westside Bar Mitzvah Bukkor. |
Jrvass
Member
Username: Jrvass
Post Number: 326
Registered: 01-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, November 18, 2007 - 4:36 pm: | |
Cool. I learn much from you.
James |
Reddog289
Member
Username: Reddog289
Post Number: 84
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Monday, November 19, 2007 - 1:59 am: | |
i too learn alot from ya,ll. when i went by hammerberg a couple weeks ago my mom asked 'how did the baseball field next to mackenzie look like?' i said it looked allright didnt stop cause my girlfriend gets nervous in detroit. my uncle who spent many hours there said " i wouldn,t even go there in a sherman tank" ain,t told him i went there i,d hear for hours how i shouldn,t have went there. |
Birwood
Member
Username: Birwood
Post Number: 62
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 26, 2007 - 9:43 pm: | |
Can anyone remember the reasoning given for zig zag routing of the I-96 Jefferys Fwy thru our neighborhoods.
If I recall, this act seemed to be the begining of the end to the cities neighborhoods on the West Side.
I remember the one priest, Fr Byrne, we had at St. Brigids fighting the city to change the routing to a path that would basically replace Grand River with the freeway proper and limit the damage to the neighborhood.
Can anyone else remember ? |
Dodgemain
Member
Username: Dodgemain
Post Number: 196
Registered: 04-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 26, 2007 - 9:48 pm: | |
It was supposed to pick up the Davidson Freeway at the current intersection. It was planned but never built. All the major intersections of freeways are in place. |
Jjaba
Member
Username: Jjaba
Post Number: 5840
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, December 27, 2007 - 2:04 pm: | |
Davison Freeway? Davison Ditch?
County Wayne, Dodgemain.
jjaba, LOL. |
Reddog289
Member
Username: Reddog289
Post Number: 157
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Friday, December 28, 2007 - 3:34 am: | |
it was done for me to learn how to be a road racer, but when i look at a map it,s funny how it does zig zag. |
Birwood
Member
Username: Birwood
Post Number: 64
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, January 13, 2008 - 8:03 pm: | |
Does anyone remember the DPW Incinerator at Davison and Greenlawn and how sometimes the surrounding neighborhoods, depending on the wind direction, would be covered in ash debris when they'd blow out the stacks late at night. Or even when the ash hauler semi's that would travel, Davison to Wyoming to Schoolcraft and out to a dumpsite west of the city spewing loose ashes debris along the way. What would the EPA and DEQ think today of what was accepted in the 50's |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 2556
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, January 13, 2008 - 8:12 pm: | |
Don't remember any debris, Birwood, but I guess maybe we were upwind of the place. Burning leaves at the curb and burning trash in a 55-gallon oil drum in the alley were also accepted culture in the fifties.
During the war (hey, young'uns, when I say "The War", there's only one war I'm talking about) we recycled nearly everything, but completely lost that practice at war's end. Seems like only in the last two decades has recycling come back into vogue. |
Jjaba
Member
Username: Jjaba
Post Number: 5945
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Monday, January 14, 2008 - 1:39 am: | |
jjaba worked across from the incinerator, at Wrigleys store, Davison and Greenlawn. The store still stands, vacant. There was plenty of pollution, grey smog, and particles. It had giant stacks. Carryout boys made 60 cents/hr.
jjaba, Westside memories. |