 
Dfd
Member
Username: Dfd
Post Number: 676
Registered: 09-2004
| | Posted on Monday, September 29, 2008 - 3:49 pm: |    |
Thanks everyone! These are great stories. Does anyone have any photos that they could post? |
9936sussex
Member
Username: 9936sussex
Post Number: 193
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Monday, September 29, 2008 - 5:09 pm: | |
Going downtown to shop at Hudson's was a special event in my family. We usually went twice a year--back to school shopping and Christmas shopping. We would get dressed up and walk to the Plymouth bus stop (around Robson) and take the 9:00AM Plymouth Express downtown. It would drop us off in front of St. Aloyisius Church on Washington Blvd. I still remember the scent of warm doughnuts from Quickee! We would walk over to Hudson's slowly....and wait for the doors to open. It was a magical day! We would shop at other stores--notably Crowley's, Franklin Simon, Winkleman's, B. Spiegel, but we would ALWAYS have lunch at Hudson's....not on the mezzanine (that was reserved when me and my girlfriends would go) but somewhere around the 11-13th floor. My mom would get a tuna salad sandwich or the chicken pot pie and I would get something off the children's menu----and if I was really lucky, I'd get the Mickey Mouse ice cream! Ah....those were the days! |
Dfd
Member
Username: Dfd
Post Number: 678
Registered: 09-2004
| | Posted on Monday, September 29, 2008 - 5:44 pm: | |
sussex, was the toy dept. extra decorated at Christmas time? The big store we went to was amazing at Christmas! |
9936sussex
Member
Username: 9936sussex
Post Number: 194
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Monday, September 29, 2008 - 6:19 pm: | |
Dfd: Yup, the toy department was amazing at Christmas!!!! |
Maof2
Member
Username: Maof2
Post Number: 767
Registered: 06-2008
| | Posted on Monday, September 29, 2008 - 6:42 pm: | |
i remember the "north pole" at eastland at christmastime. we would walk through santa's house and they would have mechanical little characters and twinkling lights and women dressed as santa's elve's and then finally at the end, we would see santa in his chair.
also does anyone remember, in the 60's, driving through the "pointes" and seeing the huge christmas displays homeowners would put up? my parents would take us every year and they were pretty extravagent. |
Sec106
Member
Username: Sec106
Post Number: 37
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Monday, September 29, 2008 - 6:47 pm: | |
My aunt worked in Millinary downtown, she started around 1930 and worked there for 35 years. I just recently found her bracelet with charms for the years. The 20, 25, 30 and 35 have little diamonds and the 25 is white gold. It is very cool. My mom worked at Hudson's Northland when they first opened in the early 50's. I worked there too out of Immaculata High in '73. I think I was making like $2.20 an hour as a contingent. Which meant I went to differant departments to work.
God I forgot about the Mickey Mouse ice cream!!! I loved that. Lunch at Hudson's was so special. My grandmother and I would take the bus down. When I was a teenager we would take the Tireman bus and spend the day meandering every floor.
We took our kids to Hudson's to the big Santa floor, that was fantastic.
What a magical store downtown Hudson's was for us all. I loved every inch of that place.
When I drove up to Fairlane and saw the Hudson's name was gone, I was so upset, still think I am. |
Lefty2
Member
Username: Lefty2
Post Number: 2349
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Monday, September 29, 2008 - 7:18 pm: | |
i rode in hudson's elevator and saw the parade... |
9936sussex
Member
Username: 9936sussex
Post Number: 195
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Monday, September 29, 2008 - 9:13 pm: | |
When I was working downtown, I would frequently go to Hudson's on my lunch hour, just to walk around and look at all the beautiful things. One day I decided to take myself to lunch "upstairs" at the restaurant that my mom and I used to eat at. I felt VERY grown up and brave to eat there alone! It was probably one of the last times that I ate there, as it was expensive, and I was living on my own with very little money to spare. Hudson's will always be very special to me. |
Terryh
Member
Username: Terryh
Post Number: 1010
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Monday, September 29, 2008 - 10:02 pm: | |
Did any of you ever witness any shoplifter struggles or takedowns? |
Huraporta
Member
Username: Huraporta
Post Number: 2
Registered: 09-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 30, 2008 - 7:19 am: | |
As many of you have referred to Hudson's was magical at Christmas but throughout the year they would have promotional events with elaborate creative displays. A huge flower show in May where the first floor was filled to the brim with live flowers and an import fair where the great bridges of the world were constructed between the main floor columns. Another was Good Ole Summertime where they would remove the large display windows along Woodward and put in small shops - ice cream shops, toy shops etc., all accessible directly from the street. Hudson's had a creative display department that spared no expense. I wish all of you could have experienced it. |
Maof2
Member
Username: Maof2
Post Number: 779
Registered: 06-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 30, 2008 - 7:41 am: | |
They also had fashion shows. My mom would take me and my three sisters. Does anyone remember those? |
Detroitbred
Member
Username: Detroitbred
Post Number: 134
Registered: 06-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 30, 2008 - 7:56 am: | |
One of my neighbors in Detroit was a wonderful retired elderly lady who worked at Hudson's. She was an artist and would draw many of their newspaper ads, particularly the women's lingerie ads. She was very talented and "artsy", and funny as all get out, especially after a few martinis! |
Pffft
Member
Username: Pffft
Post Number: 1745
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 30, 2008 - 9:47 am: | |
We swapped all that for what? National brands like Target that market a generic snarkiness that's the same everywhere. Or Kohl's, that markets a generic blandness everywhere. |
Wanderinglady
Member
Username: Wanderinglady
Post Number: 121
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 30, 2008 - 2:00 pm: | |
Hey Terryh, no actual takedowns, but I did see security chase a couple of teenaged girls who were trying to boost designer jeans from the Northland store. The girls ditched the jeans as ran through my department before they ran down the escalator. Made my day a lot more exciting! |
Mortalman
Member
Username: Mortalman
Post Number: 361
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 30, 2008 - 2:27 pm: | |
How about, "Downtown Detroit Days"?
I never saw any shoplifters or take downs in the store. But, in 1963 I saw for the 1st time someone stealing in any store, anytime or anywhere. I was working at Hudson's downtown and I went into the back room at knock off time and there was a guy I worked with was putting on Italian knit over Italian knit which were popular and expensive in the day. I had such a naive view of the world that I didn’t snap to and figure out what he was doing. I said, “xxx, hey what are you doing with those Italian knits.” He laughed and said, “Brother, I’m making more money down on John R every night than I make all week working here.” Then it hit me what he was doing and it made such an impression on me that I never forgot it and remember every word he said!
It also brought to mind what our supervisor use to say that the cost of shoplifting and theft made the prices of merchandise much more than it otherwise would have been. Welcome to the real world of Detroit! That was the only negative experience I ever had working at J.L. Hudson's downtown. I loved every minute of it while I was doing it! |
Warrenite84
Member
Username: Warrenite84
Post Number: 400
Registered: 01-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 30, 2008 - 2:31 pm: | |
(I just wrote a lengthy story that got wiped out when I hit the "back" button  )
Here's the short version: In 1985-86, we got swamped with Santabears. Had'em stacked 20 boxes wide, 15 deep, 10+ high on the Dock, and every nook and cranny. In 1986 the Cracker Jack Sale after Thanksgiving was crazy busy. We ended up selling $1 million+ in sales that day.
They had THE BEST Christmas Parties I've ever been to. They rented out all of Penna's Banquet Hall on Van Dyke @ 17Mi. for our store employees and their spouses. Very Classy. |
Warrenite84
Member
Username: Warrenite84
Post Number: 401
Registered: 01-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 30, 2008 - 2:38 pm: | |
We in Package Pickup would occasionally help Loss Prevention with shoplifting. Men's Jeans near the 14 mile doors at Oakland Mall had 50% loss due to theft.
Every demographic was busted. We had a 300+ lb. guy in a wheelchair who would fold up jeans and sit on them. Another notable was a lady wearing a fur coat busted for shoplifting. |
Mortalman
Member
Username: Mortalman
Post Number: 362
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 30, 2008 - 3:23 pm: | |
Warrenite84, here's a hint on losing something that you tried to post but the "back button" wouldn't work. That has pissed me off more than once. So, what I figured out is that since I never know if the "back button" will work I always highlight and copy whatever I'm going to post that way if I can't go back I've got it to paste into a word document so that I can go back into the DetroitYes site and try again. Hope that helps because it sure has saved my ass more than once with long posts. |
Johns
Member
Username: Johns
Post Number: 11
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 30, 2008 - 4:13 pm: | |
I worked in security at Hudsons 1973-1975. The store where I worked (Dearborn) was relatively quiet, but I know things could get pretty wild at Northland and Downtown. There was an article recently in the New Yorker about loss prevention at the New York department stores, and the level of sophistication of the theivery and prevention is far beyond what we experienced in those days.
Jean Pitrone's book on Hudsons relates a couple of shoplifting incidents, including one in which a downtown salesperson was killed trying to stop a shoplifter. It's interesting reading the comments about Hudsons. People generally have such positive feelings about working there, including myself, even though it could be a fairly oppressive environment. |
Sharms
Member
Username: Sharms
Post Number: 73
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 30, 2008 - 5:02 pm: | |
Johns.....I don't remember his name, but the man who was killed worked Mens' Suits on the second floor. He was a large guy, looked like a football player. As I remember he either was helping security or tried, on his own, to stop a shoplifter. He was stabbed and tragically died. I think this happened in the 60's. |
Burnsie
Member
Username: Burnsie
Post Number: 1491
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 30, 2008 - 6:51 pm: | |
It must have been eerie sometimes to leave work late at night and walk through that huge building, down to the exits. |
Warrenite84
Member
Username: Warrenite84
Post Number: 402
Registered: 01-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 30, 2008 - 7:27 pm: | |
Thanks, Mortalman. |
Chuckjav
Member
Username: Chuckjav
Post Number: 889
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 30, 2008 - 9:38 pm: | |
Too Strange.
This Hall-of-Fame thread just flashed me back to a very terrible day, in the summer of 1965.
I was a little boy, growing up on The Bottom (Maple Street, between Chene & Jos. Campau) - our next door neighbor was a very pretty lady & single parent. She worked as a full-time elevator operator at the Downtown Hudson's store.
Some sick, psychopathic bastard followed this nice lady home from work - walked right into the house and attacked her with a butcher knife. He then chased the poor woman onto the porch - in full view of horrified onlookers - and continued his assault.
Thank God & the Detroit Police, she managed to survive the attack. |
Johns
Member
Username: Johns
Post Number: 12
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 30, 2008 - 10:24 pm: | |
Jen Pitrone's book says the salesman was killed November 30, 1966 trying to assist security in apprehending a man stealing a coat from Menswear. The killer was paroled and killed somebody else. |
Detroitplanner
Member
Username: Detroitplanner
Post Number: 1927
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 01, 2008 - 7:46 am: | |
John's which Dearborn store did you work? Warren Ave or Michigan Ave?
The youngsters may not remember those stores, there was an expanded version of the Rainbow Store on Michigan and Greefield as well as a store that sold all sorts of odd stuff on Warren across from what is now Shatilla's. Hudson's had retail in the front and a warehouse in the back. |
Mortalman
Member
Username: Mortalman
Post Number: 365
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 01, 2008 - 9:33 am: | |
quote:Jen Pitrone's book says the salesman was killed November 30, 1966 trying to assist security in apprehending a man stealing a coat from Menswear. The killer was paroled and killed somebody else.
Unfortunately and sadly what you said Johns has become a cliché. Society still hasn't acquired the moral and intestinal fortitude to recognize what the truth of the matter is about these people and do what is best for society. Put them to sleep!
|
Johns
Member
Username: Johns
Post Number: 13
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 01, 2008 - 10:29 pm: | |
I worked at the Budget Store on Michigan Avenue. It became the "Rainbow" store while I worked there. Store #9 on the old Hudsonian scorecard. It closed in 1975 when Fairlane opened. |
Mortalman
Member
Username: Mortalman
Post Number: 373
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 01, 2008 - 11:27 pm: | |
On what freeway can you drive on and see J.L. Hudson Dr. on an overpass? |
Burnsie
Member
Username: Burnsie
Post Number: 1494
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 01, 2008 - 11:35 pm: | |
It's the Lodge just north of 8 Mile where you can see that sign-- about the only thing in Metro Detroit that still says "J.L. Hudson." |
Mortalman
Member
Username: Mortalman
Post Number: 374
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 01, 2008 - 11:38 pm: | |
Right you are Burnsie! That was probably too easy but fun, anyway. I always get a smile on my face when I pass under it. |