  Penelopetheduck Member Username: Penelopetheduck Post Number: 17 Registered: 09-2006 |
I really miss the Bell Isle Aquarium. When I was caregiving for an autistic, developmentally disabled girl we went to the aquarium at least once a week. I still love the conservatory but I haven't been in months. I miss when the white deer used to roam free. I understand why they needed to take care of their inbreeding/overbreeding but still... | ||
The_ed Member Username: The_ed Post Number: 588 Registered: 10-2007 |
I remember the elephants on Belle Isle, bike rentals & canoe rentals. Were there ever seals in the fountain?...live seals? | ||
Markopolo Member Username: Markopolo Post Number: 5 Registered: 10-2007 |
I remember going to Belle Isle with my mother as a kid. I remember the children’s zoo with the elephant and the hippopotamus. I remember renting a horse and carriage for a ride around the carriage trail. I remember the fountain lit-up at night with different colored lights. I remember the schooner, J.T. Wing, moored on the Canadian side of the island where the Dossin Museum is today. I remember the U.S. Navy submarine, U.S.S. Tambor docked in Detroit by the bridge behind the naval armory. I remember the two mirrors downstairs in the Casino that would distort your image. But most of all I remember eating shrimp cocktail upstairs at the Casino during warm summer evenings on the veranda. I remember, Belle Isle of the 1950s. | ||
Lefty2 Member Username: Lefty2 Post Number: 569 Registered: 07-2007 |
Belle Isle could be better than Central Park NY. Instead we now have a dilapidated history of Detroit in one of the best urban parks in the world. I guess we are all to blame for letting this happen. Old story, my grandma was with a boyfriend on belle isle way back when there was a swinging bridge there. Well they did not make it back in time over the bridge before it opened and they could not get back that evening. It was a mini scandal in the family as women do not stay overnight with someone and the parents didn't know where she was. Reputation was at hand you know. | ||
J32885 Member Username: J32885 Post Number: 46 Registered: 11-2005 |
For me, it was going to see the Aquarium, the Greenhouse, and the Zoo with my aunt and grandma back in the early 1990s. | ||
Bbq1945 Member Username: Bbq1945 Post Number: 34 Registered: 10-2007 |
Here's what I remember about Belle Isle from a kid born in 1945. Most people probably don't remember the Ferry that went from the park with the submarine across the river to Belle Isle - it cost 10 cents each way. Doesn't sound like a lot of money but when I was a kid it was! My favorite thing was swimming off the docks at the bathhouse. We spent many days each summer having a blast - good, clean, fun. I also remember playing a lot of handball. Belle Isle was safe, clean, and a very happy place to be at that time. As I got older, we did the ice skating and the submarine racing at night was fantastic. | ||
Buyamerican Member Username: Buyamerican Post Number: 335 Registered: 02-2007 |
The sub was the Tambor, I remember it well being a kid born around the same time BBq1945. I remember the Ferry. Do you remember the elephants at the zoo? The bicycle pavillion? Knapp Riding Stables? What great memories of the island back then. | ||
Eastsiderules Member Username: Eastsiderules Post Number: 6 Registered: 01-2008 |
I still walk the dog, and run through, the woods(without the dog) No one has every bothered me.In fact, I wave and receive waves back from other dog-walkers and runners and cyclists. Even been there after dark(started the run while sun was still up) in the summer on a Friday or Saturday(when the place is crawling with cruisers) I've had some racist epithets thrown my way(I'm white) and even a few beer bottles. I just challenge the little sh##s and its amazing how fast they drive away. To quote from the movie Braveheart: Hamish: What in the hell are the Irish doing fighting with the English? Stephen: I wouldn't worry about them. Like I said, it's my island. | ||
Flanders_field Member Username: Flanders_field Post Number: 93 Registered: 01-2008 |
My memories of Belle Isle include wild Woodside Drive parties at night with gigantic bonfires and mostly high and/or drunk, teenagers in the early to late 70s,with their car trunk lids up blasting rock music out of their speakers. Camping overnight in a tent during the bicycle marathons and riding around Belle Isle in the wee hours of the AM. Watched some idiot climbing up the side of the bandshell to try to steal one of the huge metal loudspeakers. Getting it on with a girl I met at a party there, on a blanket behind some shrubs by the fountain one night in late June of 74, and a few days later seeing both of us marching on the TV news after a huge multiple HS student walkout downtown to the City-County building, that a schoolmate of mine and I created and organized to protest the teacher strike of the previous fall. | ||
Jrvass Member Username: Jrvass Post Number: 419 Registered: 01-2007 |
Hippie!  | ||
Hamtragedy Member Username: Hamtragedy Post Number: 64 Registered: 10-2007 |
Last time we took the nets over by the Ice skating pavillion, about five years ago, we had a pretty smooth sheet of glass to skate on for a couple weekends. We emptied out a what seemed like a bag of pucks and a case of ginger-ales, on what we now know as Puck Island, (which is the closest Island to the Bell Tower) and towed the Chickadees around in the sleds, which we doubled together (one inside the other) so the rope wouldn't rip thru the holes. But the fun part was when a young guy got outta his car with his two kids and started watching us. I offered to take the kids on the sled. After convincing Daddy the ice wouldn't break, the little girl was too scared, but six year old brother couldn't wait. So I hauled him around, under the bridges, between the islands, tipped the sled up on its side a few times......and he would not stop giggling. Took him back, now his sister wants to go, but not by herself, which was fine because her brother hadn't had enough. Same thing. Frozen snot everywhere. I take the kids back, and the father saw what he was missing, and he wasn't going to ask....so I offer Daddy a ride. This is why I double the sleds up, because we were flyin.' I had this complete stranger, kicking up an ice roostertail, sliding around the turns sideways, in the sled, up on his ass, holding on for dear life...partially terrified, mostly giggling. I learned to skate on Belle Isle, in the early 70's, right there at that same pavillion, and they served hot chocolate. I'm a Jack Adams Rec Center graduate and coach, having spent 25 years there as an adult and child. And the thing I enjoyed most about skating on Belle Isle when I was little wasn't skating at all, it was having my old man pull me around in the sled. | ||
Vetalalumni Member Username: Vetalalumni Post Number: 894 Registered: 05-2007 |
Flanders_field, you brought back memories of a few similar experiences out on the Rock. Partying with good friends out there was always awesome. Peter Frampton (Do You Feel Like We Do etc..) was one of the anthems of my youth. And there was something special about making out with my girl there . Bought up the sun many times in the late 70s. Some of the secluded areas without the street lights were perfect for privacy (almost pitch black!). There was an area by an old looking tall structure (15' maybe) which was off the beaten path. | ||
Omaha Member Username: Omaha Post Number: 89 Registered: 12-2007 |
Youth: Being taken on family and school trips to the Children’s Zoo, and having pictures taken sitting in the crescent moon and on the Arc. Boarding and walking around the J.T. Wing clipper ship. Riding my “three-speed” down Jefferson, past Solidarity House, across the MacArthur Bridge and going round the island and back home. My mom dropping a few of us off and ice skating around the inter-island water way. Watching Slo-Motion kick ass. Watching the daring of “Wild Bill” Cantrell drive Miss Gale. Being sad when some “stinking” Seattle unlimited hydroplane took the gold cup away from Detroit. My most vague memories of early youth are of watching people sail toy boats on the Windsor side in a section of the island near where the Dossin Museum would eventually be built; riding the ponies; going on the merry-go-round; and watching a “water show” down by the Scott Fountain. Can somebody help me here. Am I making up the merry-go-round? Teen years: Canoeing around the inter-island waterway. Playing golf and being thrilled at scoring a 45 for nine holes on the par three course. Taking dates to the aquarium and carrying on a "humorous" (but one-sided) conversation with the alligator snapping turtle, running over to the botanical garden and greenhouse (sneaking a kiss in the "tunnel"), and going to Scott Fountain and climbing into the lap of old Mr. Scott to tell him how infatuated I was by the girl I was with. Driving down to the water by the Armory on Jefferson and watching the “submarine races.” Not strictly Belle Isle but it was in the background. Young adult years: Playing handball against “old timers” who kicked my ass and finally getting to the point where I could “jog” around the entire island without stopping. | ||
Melody Member Username: Melody Post Number: 106 Registered: 11-2007 |
My first memories of Belle Isle was seeing photos of my parents in the '70s standing next to the frozen fountain. I remember going there for picnics and going down the big slide as a kid, but that stopped around the mid '80s. As an adult I go there to visit friends at the DYC. One of my least favorite memories of Belle Isle is one year when I agreed to bartend at the boat races on the dock of the DYC. "Yes, I know I'm sunburned, thank you. Yes I do have sunscreen on, thank you. Yes you can have another gin and tonic, ma'am." My favorite memories are of just sitting by the DYC pool with friends, or when I was in pre-school and we took a trip to the Zoo and we all got our photo taken by the big yellow moon. | ||
Tigersfan9 Member Username: Tigersfan9 Post Number: 151 Registered: 03-2005 |
Is there any chance of getting the Aquarium to open again? I know there was a movement right before and after it was shuttered, but I haven't heard anything since. If I recall correctly, the fish and other aquatic species were not given away, but were loaned to other institutions, so Detroit could get them back if the aquarium were to re-open. | ||
Goblue Member Username: Goblue Post Number: 1035 Registered: 03-2007 |
My main memories of Belle Isle are of getting it on with my then fiance on the front seat of my convertible (with the top down) parked on the river side of the island...it was called watching the submarine races. | ||
Gibran Member Username: Gibran Post Number: 1652 Registered: 02-2007 |
gee could never see those subs...then again I really wasn't looking... did enjoy winters skating on the channels... my dad took us canoeing...in the summer... but always loved shining deer and remember a huge contingent of raccoons...man they were big.... of course learned to drive there, loved the fountain and my sister's wedding outside the arboretum...too many great memories for each generation of my family... | ||
Pgn421 Member Username: Pgn421 Post Number: 320 Registered: 02-2005 |
I remember one hotsummer night leaving DYC with my parents. I was about 14 years old. Diana Ross and the Supremes were playing in the bandshell. The island was mobbed.We had to spend most of the nite at the DYC,This was back in the 60's. | ||
Omaha Member Username: Omaha Post Number: 92 Registered: 12-2007 |
I heard from relatives that at one time, long ago, Belle Isle was informally called Pig Island because the citizens of Detroit introduced pigs to eliminate the snakes that infested the island. Any truth to that, or is it an urban legend? | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 11301 Registered: 10-2003 |
Wonderful stories of public sex, drug use and alcohol use. And we wonder why Belle Isle was allowed to fall in stature and upkeep. Omaha - Here is a link to the history of Belle Isle from the friends of Belle Isle. The first paragraph answers your question. I recall seeing somewhere that at one point the census recorded 200 farm animals and 5 people as residents of Belle Isle. I can't recall were I saw it but if I remember I will post for you. | ||
Gnome Member Username: Gnome Post Number: 623 Registered: 08-2007 |
Hog Island or Ile Aux Cochons ... but not to eat snakes, settlers put the hogs out there to protect them wolves. Now, they may have snacked on snakes but I was pretty young back then and can't remember that far back. http://www.fobi.org/history.ht m http://www.historydetroit.com/ places/belle_isle.asp | ||
Goblue Member Username: Goblue Post Number: 1040 Registered: 03-2007 |
Jt1: Trust me...my generation...50's & 60's... didn't invent sex on Belle Isle...my old man had stories to tell...and for that matter so did my grandfather. Besides...the front seat of a car parked in the dark wasn't exactly public...the stars overhead added to the experience. Belle Isle or a blanket on the grass at the foot of Lakewood were the preferred summer locations. (Message edited by GoBlue on January 30, 2008) | ||
Pythonmaster Member Username: Pythonmaster Post Number: 127 Registered: 12-2006 |
We go there at least once a week all year but Spring is my favorite- http://farm1.static.flickr.com /167/472374410_663b569975.jpg | ||
Omaha Member Username: Omaha Post Number: 93 Registered: 12-2007 |
Jt1 & Gnome -- Thanks for the correct information. Here's a question that I posted earlier. Can you help? My most vague memories of early youth are of watching people sail toy boats on the Windsor side in a section of the island near where the Dossin Museum would eventually be built; riding the ponies (which were attached to some device that had them going in circles around a center pivot); going on the merry-go-round that was next to the pony ride; and watching a “water show” (divers and synchronized swimmers) down by the Scott Fountain. Can somebody help me here? AM I MAKING UP THE MERRY-GO-ROUND? And another memory just came up. There was a pond on the end of the island where the driving range was later located. In this pond people used to occasionally race remote-controlled gas powered "speed boats." I think they got in waders went into the middle and spun as their boat did laps. Wow, had to get some cob webs out to recall that one too. | ||
Ookpik Member Username: Ookpik Post Number: 378 Registered: 01-2007 |
In reading this thread, I was surprised to see several references to a "Wishing Moon" or "Crescent Moon" that served as a photo-op on Belle Isle. Is this it?  Ookpik | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 11310 Registered: 10-2003 |
Omaha - No idea on the Merry Go Round. Sorry I can't be of help here. | ||
Omaha Member Username: Omaha Post Number: 94 Registered: 12-2007 |
Jt1 -- You have to be "of a certain age" to even remember the pony rides. It wasn't a big merry-go-round (at least in my older mind there was one). Ookpik -- That's what I remember way back in the day when it cost a dime (or the cost of 10 of those beautiful penny post cards on the other thread) to get in. | ||
Summertime1 Member Username: Summertime1 Post Number: 15 Registered: 01-2008 |
My Belle Isle memories are,the Michigan Wolverine bike races and the WABX radio station "Kite In"s in the early 1970's. The whole bridge would be shut down!! How exciting it was. | ||
Vetalalumni Member Username: Vetalalumni Post Number: 896 Registered: 05-2007 |
Participated in the Belle Isle 20 mile Walk-A-Thon almost 30 years ago. Was for a good cause which helped off-set the pain my feet endured. | ||
Gibran Member Username: Gibran Post Number: 1680 Registered: 02-2007 |
kite in's always cold....but interesting... |
