  Milwaukee Member Username: Milwaukee Post Number: 393 Registered: 08-2006 |
I've heard about Delray in other posts and I looked it up on Wikipedia, but I didn't really find anything. I checked the Model Detroit site, but that didn't have a ton on this area either. Is Delray a cool neighborhood? That meaning good architecture, but also still full of people? Are there any redevelopment projects going on or new people moving in? If anyone has photos of cool stuff, I love to see those too. Thanks | ||
Cambrian Member Username: Cambrian Post Number: 432 Registered: 08-2006 |
There is a neat downtown area. It's heavily industrialized by vacant factories. There always was more industry than residence there. It was a hungarian enclave. | ||
Milwaukee Member Username: Milwaukee Post Number: 397 Registered: 08-2006 |
Thanks, that sounds pretty cool. Are they old brick or stone factories or newer uglier factories? | ||
Cambrian Member Username: Cambrian Post Number: 433 Registered: 08-2006 |
Old! Delray is home to lovely Zug Island. If you like big old rust belt industry at it's best, you gotta get to Zug. | ||
Pam Member Username: Pam Post Number: 767 Registered: 11-2005 |
http://www.detroitblog.org/?p= 253 | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 1956 Registered: 10-2004 |
Detroit held a "world's fair" type of Exposition event during the 1890s in Delray. The Exposition Spur was built in order to transport the visitors there by train. | ||
Spitty Member Username: Spitty Post Number: 510 Registered: 07-2004 |
Delray is also currently looking like the leading candidate for a second international bridge crossing which will most likely further decimate what's left of the area. Delray is pretty much doomed to disappear. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 3266 Registered: 08-2004 |
That was the Great Exposition of 1889. And the main pavilion was one of the largest wooden buildings ever constructed, in a Carpenter Gothic Style with an enormous tower with huge corner pavilions and large sweeping varandas. What's odd about that exposition is that it doesn't coincide with the anniversary of any great date that I'm aware of (except for the centennial of the French Revolution, as was being celebrated in Paris with the construction of the Eifel Tower that same year). | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 4626 Registered: 11-2003 |
1889 AD is 4525 in China. 5649 in Hebrew. 1267 in Iranian. 1307 in Islamic. 2432 in Thai Solar. 1989, ND, SD, MT, and WA admitted as USA states. 1989, Columbia Phonograph. Adolph Hitler born. Okla. landrush. Johnstown flood. Thomas Hart Benton born. Leadbelly born. Nellie Bly flies around the World in 80 days. Seattle fire. 1st issue, Wall Street Journal. 14 miles of electric line in Oregon. jjaba, on your 1889 history. | ||
Milwaukee Member Username: Milwaukee Post Number: 400 Registered: 08-2006 |
"Delray is also currently looking like the leading candidate for a second international bridge crossing which will most likely further decimate what's left of the area. Delray is pretty much doomed to disappear." Please let that be a joke. How much would get demolished? Sounds like I have to get down there pretty soon. I love Zug Island, I've only seen it from the freeway, but it still looks awesome. It's alot like Gary from what I remember. Does the neighborhood have nice houses and apartments or are they pretty unremarkable compared to the rest of the city? | ||
Kova Member Username: Kova Post Number: 86 Registered: 12-2003 |
delray is Detroit times 3 my fam is from them parts. house was demo'd for the freeway | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 1957 Registered: 10-2004 |
Delray = urban prairie plus the sewage plant and maybe 1800 or fewer residents. Even the church next to the sewage plant is closing. | ||
Cman710 Member Username: Cman710 Post Number: 107 Registered: 07-2006 |
Any links to sites with good pictures of Delray? | ||
Detroit_stylin Member Username: Detroit_stylin Post Number: 3399 Registered: 10-2003 |
Wow Hitler was born in 1989? That doesnt bode well for 2036-2045... | ||
1st_sgt Member Username: 1st_sgt Post Number: 1 Registered: 11-2006 |
This is my first post please be kind. http://www.insidesouthwest.com /delray.htm | ||
Milwaukee Member Username: Milwaukee Post Number: 404 Registered: 08-2006 |
Thanks 1st_sgt, good site. Delray doesn't look too good. I thought it was something like Milwaukee's bayview neighborhood, LY should know what I mean. But it looks pretty run down. No offense to any one here. | ||
Detroitrulez Member Username: Detroitrulez Post Number: 81 Registered: 12-2006 |
you're joking, right? You cannot be serious. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 4627 Registered: 11-2003 |
jjaba meant 1889 for all references to that date. 1st Sgt., welcome to the Forum. jjaba was a 1st Sgt. in the 1964 War on Poverty, not well won in Delray. jjaba worked in the Swimming Pool at Kemeney Park on W. Fort St. in that same era. He ran the locker room, also as 1st Sgt. Semper Fi. jjaba wonders to which suburbs did the Delray Hungarians go. Recently, he met some of them in Brighton. That seems like going from city to Yeminsville. jjaba on the Westside. | ||
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul Post Number: 152 Registered: 10-2006 |
Milwaukee, I think that the delray neighborhood is probably the least likely to be an up and coming area of Detroit. There aren't very many attractions there for Detroiters and it doesn't exactly have a 'neighborhood' feel. Freeways divide it, and industry subdivides it. I second all the other posts here describing that area. | ||
Cambrian Member Username: Cambrian Post Number: 434 Registered: 08-2006 |
Good question Jjaba, I worked with a Hungarian guy at a produce market, he grew up off of Springwells, still some hungarians there. Horvath was his last name. I imagine they would have followed Fort Street for migration, like the west side poles followed Michigan ave. Perhaps the Hungarians are down river now? | ||
Jams Member Username: Jams Post Number: 4336 Registered: 10-2003 |
Spread throughout the Downriver. Allen Park, Southgate, Trenton, Taylor, Woodhaven, Wyandotte, etc. all have Hungarian businesses or at least Magyar surnames on the signs. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 4629 Registered: 11-2003 |
Which businesses or are they all kindz? Name a couple of good Hunagian restaurants now, and bakeries. Thanks for the info. jjaba, Westsider. | ||
Jelk Member Username: Jelk Post Number: 4122 Registered: 10-2003 |
Comparing a place to Gary is a little like telling a girl she is pretty in a Kathy Bates kind of way.
Amazing homes in Delray, sort of like Love Canal but in Detroit. I'm really amazed it isn't the hottest address in southeast Michigan. | ||
Milwaukee Member Username: Milwaukee Post Number: 405 Registered: 08-2006 |
"you're joking, right? You cannot be serious." Going east bound on I-90 going through Gary, look to the north and see all those smoke stacks with fire coming out. The black stained metal buildings, and the occasional run down burnt out house. I saw the same stuff going south to Toledo on the freeway. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 4631 Registered: 11-2003 |
No worries, there ain't much left of the USA steel industry. jjaba recently toured Youngstown, Ohio deep in the Rust Bowl. Your freeway air will get better each yr. jjaba, who went to Chicago via Gary on state roads for yrs. | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 830 Registered: 12-2005 |
Do a google search on "Ranchero Delrayo" It's the next hot investment opportunity in the D. | ||
Milwaukee Member Username: Milwaukee Post Number: 407 Registered: 08-2006 |
"Comparing a place to Gary is a little like telling a girl she is pretty in a Kathy Bates kind of way." Sorry, I meant just that one little part of the city. I didn't mean the city in general. I'm just comparing your two big industrial areas. I'd talk about the port of Milwaukee, but it just isn't the same. | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 1959 Registered: 10-2004 |
Nobody really lived near the port of Milwaukee's Sout Site and sewage plant. Delray once had people, but Young and other mayors ran them out. | ||
Cambrian Member Username: Cambrian Post Number: 435 Registered: 08-2006 |
I can dig what milwaukee is saying about Zug being beautiful. There are many types if beautiful. Zug isn't so in a sexual sense, rather in a "I want to build a model of that for my trainset" sense. | ||
Milwaukee Member Username: Milwaukee Post Number: 410 Registered: 08-2006 |
Why are they going to build this new bridge to Canada so close to the Ambassador? The only positive that a new bridge in the city would be people going through Detroit rather than 30 miles south of the city in the exurbs. | ||
Kova Member Username: Kova Post Number: 87 Registered: 12-2003 |
jams is correct, downriver is where they mostly went. delray baking co and the rhapsody are some examples of these businesses. My father's own family moved to Allen park after the freeway came in | ||
Milwaukee Member Username: Milwaukee Post Number: 412 Registered: 08-2006 |
Cambrian, thanks for clearing that up. Zug Island is really beautiful especially at night. I can see it everytime I come in on 94 eastbound, you can see the flames over the old neighborhoods. I stayed at the Ren Cen once, and we had a room facing south, it wasn't supper clear, but we could still see all the activity down there. It was a good reminder of the city's past, it seems like the one last heavy industrial thing still functioning in Detroit. | ||
Cambrian Member Username: Cambrian Post Number: 436 Registered: 08-2006 |
Too really experience Zug, you gotta go there. Yes it is a company owned / ran property but much of it is accessable to the public. I would take a rental or a ratty car though. When I went there with my Dodge Omni there was tar splatter on the rockers and quarters from that Zug trip right up until I sold the car five years later. | ||
Jams Member Username: Jams Post Number: 4339 Registered: 10-2003 |
You could answer this yourself by taking a map of the region, look at the current freeway systems and the expanses that would be necessary to connect the two sides of the watercourses and you will easily see there are not many choices available. | ||
Milwaukee Member Username: Milwaukee Post Number: 414 Registered: 08-2006 |
Your right, I just feel bad that they would have to tear down this entire neighborhood. As bad as it might be today, it still is an old neighborhood filled with old houses. It sounds alot like the neighborhood near my school. Some great houses, some plain houses, really old, run down. Delray is pretty safe though, right? I don't want to start a huge debate about what is safety and to who is it safe, but I haven't heard about it being one of Detroit's worst. | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 1962 Registered: 10-2004 |
Delray is not considered to be safe, but I never had any problems there. But smart people just know better and stay away and don't push their luck. There's little to no reason for police patrols there (or almost anywhere else it seems these days), so you're on your own down there. Police rarely respond to calls anyway, so that's even more reason for not being in Delray when dark. Your calling 911 might just get a big yawn of a response. | ||
Milwaukee Member Username: Milwaukee Post Number: 416 Registered: 08-2006 |
LY can you think of any neighborhoods in Milwaukee that its like? It really sounds like 27th to 35th and from Michigan to Canal. Just south of Marquette High. | ||
Jams Member Username: Jams Post Number: 4340 Registered: 10-2003 |
As far as disruptions of neighborhoods, it is far more critical on the Canadian side. I spent most of the summer working in Delray, there is really only one relatively dense residential neighborhood, and that area would not be directly affected by any of the current bridge proposals. Most of the proposals affect Delray only in the construction of the supports, which would only be a narrow stretch of land, as most of the bridge on the US side, will be built above Delray. The major disruption of current land usage will be the access plaza which, most likely, will be outside of Delray. | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 1963 Registered: 10-2004 |
I had a close friend living on 29th and Michigan or Clyborn, not far from there. It wasn't bad at all in 1970--the last time I was over there. Visualize a region where, especially near Clark Street or so where there might be one or two houses every couple blocks. The rest being vacant land with weed trees and weeds. There are some clusters of houses, such as near the Forman Wye leading into the Roughmere Yard or to a railroad bridge over the Rouge. But that's about it. BTW, I dated an 18-yo when 22, who lived in Bayview, your city of reference to Delray. The only thing Bayview had in common with Delray was that her father was a 72-yo semi-retired Hungarian minister of some kind of Hungarian Orthodox religion, with his old parish in Chicago. He took a train there every Saturday night for conducting services during the mid 1960s. | ||
Danny Member Username: Danny Post Number: 5313 Registered: 02-2004 |
Delray today is one small blighted area that is next to a world's biggest toilet. Folks there are still maintaining what's left of their ghettohoods as this once boomtown sub-division is forgotten. | ||
Milwaukee Member Username: Milwaukee Post Number: 417 Registered: 08-2006 |
Thanks LY, that definately helped me get an image of the neighborhood. Is there any chance of a renovating corktown ever stretching down to Delray, or will Delray be the base of a bridge by the time that would likely happen? The reason for me asking that it because it doesn't seem like the city would demolish a renovating area. | ||
Jams Member Username: Jams Post Number: 4342 Registered: 10-2003 |
What Danny said, while I usually just ignore his posts, is not inaccurate. Sometime starting in the 60's, it seems the City abandoned the area as a viable residential area and converting it it to solely an industrial area, particularly, necessary industries not welcome anywhere else in the region. Would you really want to live within a few blocks of a wastewater treatment plant? Remember that plant has to go somewhere. | ||
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner Post Number: 581 Registered: 04-2006 |
Landing the bridge in Delray stands formidable challenges on the US Side. the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act, and Environmental Justice will all kick in for this project during its formal review process. Another major problem with the site is that it will have to link into the interstate system to be effective in getting the trucks off of Huron Church. How do you get the traffic from Delray to 80 feet in the air so it can be on the Rouge Skyway, without having a major disruption to the areas environment? There are no easy fixes when it comes to improving this international trade choke-point. We cannot arbitrarily say that Huron Church is Canada's or Windsor's problem because slow downs there impact the productivity at factories on both sides of the river. Windsor and Detroit, while in two separate countries share the same economy. | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 1966 Registered: 10-2004 |
Psst... It's a secret, but C. A. Young didn't like white folks in Delray or Poletown (or elsewhere, for that matter) because, as a Catholic parochial school grad, he couldn't get into the Catholic high school on the East Side. So, he switched religions and became his pleasant self in race relations. He also developed urban renewal projects where any Caucasians were still clustered (knowing that they wouldn't ever vote for him), forcing them to leave and not allowing new construction there. (Message edited by LivernoisYard on December 20, 2006) | ||
Commodore64 Member Username: Commodore64 Post Number: 246 Registered: 11-2003 |
I agree with what has been said about Delray. I have been there many times "testing stuff" on my car. At night, you don't see anyone at all, never any Detroit police. Just be careful when you get to River Rouge, they patrol that area some. | ||
Busterwmu Member Username: Busterwmu Post Number: 324 Registered: 09-2004 |
Delray is home to one of the busiest places in railroading in Michigan - Delray interlocking! Just at the foot of the Dearborn Ave exit from the I-75 Rouge bridge. Go during the day and be prepared to see lots of trains, and slag trucks... and trucks of every kinds... and some cool rustbucket cars... and trains! CSX, Norfolk Southern, Conrail, GTW, CN, and CP all have trains through here. Travel down Dearborn Ave toward Zug Island and you'll pass the "Delray crib in da hood," but you have to look close. St. John Cantius (sp?) is the big Catholic church next to the water treatment plant - too bad it will probably close soon. Zug Island and it's blast furnaces really are a sight to behold. From land is one thing, from water completely another. If you wish to risk it, drive by at night sometime. You'll wish it could be safe to have your camera out for a timed exposure. The "downtown" of old Delray is on Jefferson between Dearborn and West End. Delray is also the neighborhood along the Rouge River, where the big freighters (and some smaller boats too) come nice and close through the Jefferson Ave and Fort St. Drawbridges. Livernois spoke of the neighborhood near the Forman Wye - tucked in between the I-75 bridge, CSX tracks to Rougemere, Dearborn, Ave, Rouge River, and Fort Street. Kind of amazing how quiet it is back in there even with the trucks overhead and trains on three sides. Whomever it was who said much of Zug Island is public is mistaken. If you meant that much of the island is not currently in use, that would be correct (much of the west and southwest sides along the old Rouge Riverbed is a nature area now), but it is not open to the public on any regular basis. It will be sad if the new bridge mows over this whole community, in disrepair though it may be. | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 1968 Registered: 10-2004 |
Delray in its heyday | ||
Dbc Member Username: Dbc Post Number: 17 Registered: 09-2006 |
Are Kovac's and The Delray Cafe still open? | ||
1st_sgt Member Username: 1st_sgt Post Number: 2 Registered: 11-2006 |
Jjaba, I used to swam at Patton Park pool off of Vernor Hwy uptill I enlisted in 73. My Mom worked at the Fleetwood Fort street plant for 30 years, My Dad at Anderson brass on Campbell off Fort St, Till it went south like the other factories he worked at (Commonwealth brass, Essex wire, American standard + others) My family has been on the west side for over 5 Generations. Delray was my backyard | ||
A_franklins_son Member Username: A_franklins_son Post Number: 59 Registered: 11-2003 |
Zug Island! http://static.flickr.com/120/2 89968361_fb656d9937_b.jpg http://static.flickr.com/109/2 89968366_6ecafef1ae_b.jpg | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 1969 Registered: 10-2004 |
The above post depicted the days when an unwary pedestrian risked getting put to work if he strayed too close to any of those plants due to the drunken absenteeism of many of their workers. | ||
Karenka Member Username: Karenka Post Number: 8 Registered: 01-2006 |
Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church is still a very active parish serving the Hungarian community--most parishioners now living outside Delray, but still coming to the old neighborhood for Hungarian Mass and the many other Hungarian events at the church hall. The school has closed, though I've heard rumors of proposed alternative uses in the works. | ||
Milwaukee Member Username: Milwaukee Post Number: 420 Registered: 08-2006 |
Thanks for those photos A_franklins_son. Those are great! I was looking at the demographics of the area on the census bureau. It looks like a mostly white but very poor area. 1,891 residents with an average income of 21,133 dollars. I'd like to see what the life expectancy is for the those living around Zug Island. I can't image that it's very good. | ||
Cman710 Member Username: Cman710 Post Number: 108 Registered: 07-2006 |
Here is a link to the church. It really is on top of the water treatment plant (or rather, the water treatment plant is really on top of it). http://local.live.com/default. aspx?v=2&cp=42.292163~-83.1145 98&style=o&lvl=1&tilt=-90&dir= 0&alt=-1000&scene=5657064 | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 4632 Registered: 11-2003 |
Thanks Livernoisyard. Great info. on trains. Shout out if you know jazz on Visgar Street. jjaba. | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 1970 Registered: 10-2004 |
Duh! The pollution from industry probably isn't felt all that directly when very close to a factory because of the elevation of the chimneys. Pollution was far worse until the 1960s, when residential coal burning ceased. After getting my BSEE, I next studied accounting and chemical engineering, so I should know that most of the effluents of industry are CO2 and H2O, which are both quite benign molecules. If I were trapped in a room in Delray with Milwaukee, I would be affected more by his respiration than any other source of local pollution. (Message edited by LivernoisYard on December 19, 2006) | ||
Milwaukee Member Username: Milwaukee Post Number: 422 Registered: 08-2006 |
Really? I would have thought that after 80 years or so all that crap from the chimneys would have made a big effect on the neighborhood. May not hurt your health, but I still would never live there. Is Lakeside Trailer park near Delray, or is that across the River Rouge? | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 1971 Registered: 10-2004 |
That trailer court was right next to one of the Grosse Points--miles from Delray. I'd live there; it wouldn't bother me--good fishing, but the fish might not be very edible... | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 1972 Registered: 10-2004 |
jjaba, didn't you mean Visger Street? I'm certain without mapquesting that Visger is on the wrong side of the Rouge from Delray. I walked those tracks at Ecorse Junction a few months ago w/o encountering any RR cops (but did see some hobos living there) and got to talk with the engineer of a parked CP train waiting for the traffic to clear. Noticed that nearby Victoria and Visger are parts of another desolate urban prairie, probably in River Rouge or else that dangerous part of SW Detroit next to Lincoln Park. Actually, I think that Zug Island also is part of River Rouge and/or Ecorse--not Delray. (Message edited by LivernoisYard on December 20, 2006) | ||
Sailor_rick Member Username: Sailor_rick Post Number: 153 Registered: 02-2004 |
Making “port” at Zug Island & Delray was always a welcome ordeal, since Detroit was my “Home” port. The dock was dark & dilapidated with entire sections missing so you’d have to leapfrog over the water to reach land. Once ashore you’d make your way to the gate past a surreal world of bubbling pools of fluorescent liquids, steaming piles of slag, jagged pipes jutting from the ground belching fumes and fire while the ground shook from the trains and the sky trailed yellow hued stars. You might be stopped by a security guard, on answering why you were on the Island, “Off the ship.” would usually suffice but invariably be followed with “You’re not supposed to be walking out here.” Before you could ask “So how am I supposed to…” they’d drive off. Once over the bridge, it was, as described, a “Ghost Town”. Passing some of those tumble down, grey, weathered homes, some falling into the river, my hair stood on end like a few scary old neighborhoods in New Orleans. Not much left but a few party stores and a bar or two. I stopped in Kovac’s a few years ago; the owner has it up for sale since even the mill workers rarely visit. I remember my relatives bringing pastries and breads from the bakeries in “Bo-Hunk” Delray to family functions in the 60’s though. There’s a neighborhood in Toledo called “Birmingham”, near the Toledo shipyard that has/had a Hungarian population with the restaurant, Tony Pacos, a few bakeries & bars remaining. | ||
Gsgeorge Member Username: Gsgeorge Post Number: 44 Registered: 08-2006 |
Cool stories, Sailor. next year I'll be shooting a portion of a film I'm making in Del Ray/Zug Island. I'll be sure to post an update when the time is right. | ||
Sailor_rick Member Username: Sailor_rick Post Number: 154 Registered: 02-2004 |
Thanks George, sometimes the stories made the down side of sailing all worth it. What are you shooting? A documentary, drama or experimental? Good luck & keep us "in the loop". | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 831 Registered: 12-2005 |
a_franklins_son--great pictures, really like the Bascule bridge in that first shot did you ever get the crib demolished in Bloomfield Hills? | ||
Jimg Member Username: Jimg Post Number: 752 Registered: 10-2003 |
Jjaba, yes there was jazz on Visger st. but further downriver....perhaps you mean the West End Hotel? Scene of many jam sessions back in the day. Kovac's...they had a hot Gypsy string band in the early 1980s featuring violinist Alexander Shandor Godla, he was the real article, recorded with Stuff Smith, those guys could swing their ass off...going to Kovac's, sit down order a Stroh's and a Kielbasa sandwich soak up the sounds...man those were great experiences...the waitresses behaved like your favorite Auntie, looking after you... | ||
Detroitrulez Member Username: Detroitrulez Post Number: 82 Registered: 12-2006 |
Don't you mean a Lego set? Paging Gistok. | ||
6nois Member Username: 6nois Post Number: 31 Registered: 11-2006 |
Hmm why all the nostalgia for Delray. I have been there recently, and there are a few note worthy buildings such as the church, and a few bussiness buildings in the downtown stretch, but for the most party anything there is not worth saving. The housing stock is not worth anything, and you couldn't renovate much of anything there for historical value either. I thought it was truly a sad place. Close to hell on earth. Would make great post apocolipse scenes for movies though. | ||
Jams Member Username: Jams Post Number: 4344 Registered: 10-2003 |
...except to the people who live there, maintain and repair their homes. | ||
6nois Member Username: 6nois Post Number: 33 Registered: 11-2006 |
Have you been there? They don't do it. I think the possibility of the bridge and the people being bought out is the best thing that could happen here. | ||
Jams Member Username: Jams Post Number: 4347 Registered: 10-2003 |
Does working at Kovac's this past June through October count? I walked those streets, met several of the homeowners and land owners, heard the saws as they replaced the windows and siding of their homes, walked through the garden plots with their caretakers. It may not be a place you might wish to live, but many of those that live there have an obstinate, fierce pride in their homes and property. It is nothing you should easily dismiss. | ||
Jelk Member Username: Jelk Post Number: 4123 Registered: 10-2003 |
I guess my problem with sentimentalizing a place like Delray is that the heavy industry in the area and at Zug Island has not made that area an ideal place to live. The environmental impact is severe. Delray is probably a price we all had to pay for this region and nation to become an economic superpower. Ignoring the reality that living so close to such heavy industry probably shortens your life doesn't do any good. | ||
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul Post Number: 159 Registered: 10-2006 |
Yeah, I think I would rather live in the neighborhood on the southeast corner of McNichols and Hamilton, than living in the Delray community. | ||
Jams Member Username: Jams Post Number: 4349 Registered: 10-2003 |
Jelk, I don't disagree with much of your post. But, who has the absolute power to decide where one chooses to live? Twenty years ago many of those living in the CBD lived in illegal lofts as it was almost impossible to get a Certificate of Occupancy for residential use of a property aside from the few apartment buildings available. Is it reasonable to now deny people who choose to live in an area possibly hazardous to their health despite their personal choice and was residential in the past. | ||
Milwaukee Member Username: Milwaukee Post Number: 424 Registered: 08-2006 |
Great story Sailor_rick, I've been to that part of Toledo. I love Tony Pacos, great Hungarian sausage and the peppered pickles. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 4634 Registered: 11-2003 |
Thanks Sailor Rick. Your stories are priceless. Very entertaining and educational. Nobody has connected the Hungarian "Hunkie" with the black "Honkies". They are connected. Just like in Delray, blacks called them Honkies and it translated into a term for all white guys. jjaba, the Jew, has been called Honkie although jjaba, his bad se'f, doesn't call hise'f white at all. So Delray, et. al., has made a contribution to our American slang. With shipping, with RRs, with Hungarians and with Black people, you can make those connections in launguage. jjaba, tells it like it tis. | ||
Chucktown_motown Member Username: Chucktown_motown Post Number: 26 Registered: 09-2006 |
Delray...the Church that was talked about next to the H2O treatment plant..That's St. John's Canacius--Polish Catholic Church. THe area was Hungarian and Polish. Actually there a old Greek Catholic church there right down the Street from Holy Redeemer. Catholic Greeks that's rare. It's main drag is Jefferson and West End. At that corner sits the Old Pensuliar Savings Bank which was later the Hungarian Club...It's got Kovac's Bar, great chili and you wanna talk about a great burger in Detroit. There's alot of old car factories there. In fact they just tore down the old Fisher Guide factory, I think it was at Dragoon and Fort. There's Fort Wayne, the old Boblo Dock at Mc Kinestry and Jefferson, even that might be too far down to be called Delray. There's business there too now...A Mercury Boat Shop and the Dleray Cafe, I used to live 2 houses down the street from the owner and it's another great place to get a burger. I would say you'd have to peep it out, Delray that is. | ||
Rfban Member Username: Rfban Post Number: 22 Registered: 02-2004 |
My grandfather is 94 years old and lived in Delray his whole life. Perhaps a one time occurrence? Nevertheless it is what it is. I have very fond memories of that little area. | ||
Buddyinrichmond Member Username: Buddyinrichmond Post Number: 100 Registered: 02-2004 |
It's 'Cantius'....Canacius was Ali's former first name. I can see the confusion. | ||
Jams Member Username: Jams Post Number: 4353 Registered: 10-2003 |
Jjaba, The reality is "hunkie is a misnomer, it's Stubborn Hunkie. I'll enjoy my Mom's paprikash with Torte for dessert any day. (although my breakfast of bagels and lox this a.m. was delicious) | ||
Gsgeorge Member Username: Gsgeorge Post Number: 45 Registered: 08-2006 |
Something like all three. Hopefully there won't be any beauty shots of the RenCen though... That's not to say I'll just be shooting Detroit's ugliest, either. I'm trying to emphasize the national gap between city/suburb and its effects on the social realm, and in that way the city in the film should be recognizable only to locals. My last time in Delray was about two weeks ago. I was hoping to meet some of the locals but it truly seemed 'abandoned,' and honestly a lot worse than when my dad took me there about five years ago. Not a soul around. Then I stopped in Riverside Park to photograph the Ambassador--bad idea. Crackheads and johns hanging out in their cars, all giving me dirty looks for checking out thier spot by the bridge. Anyone know how I could go about meeting some of the people that still have homes there? | ||
Cman710 Member Username: Cman710 Post Number: 112 Registered: 07-2006 |
Wow, Delray really, really seems like one of the worst places in the country, if you combine poverty, crime, abandonment, lack of city services, and environmental pollution. I think Delray is fascinating, but probably not fit for human habitation. | ||
Jams Member Username: Jams Post Number: 4356 Registered: 10-2003 |
Statements such as this lead me to believe many on this forum have no ability to understand any other life style than their own, other than an entertaining TV documentary. | ||
Rfban Member Username: Rfban Post Number: 23 Registered: 02-2004 |
Jams, are you Hungarian? Paprikas? no? Im lucky to get it once a year! Also note: Many Italians lived in Delray as well!! | ||
Milwaukee Member Username: Milwaukee Post Number: 435 Registered: 08-2006 |
Jams, I think he means that people shouldn't have to live there. If everyone could live in better conditions, wouldn't you want them to live in a safer and cleaner neighborhood? He's not insulting the residents, just wishing they didn't have to live next to chemical wasteland and a sewage treatment center. | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 1975 Registered: 10-2004 |
The Ford Rouge plant in Dearborn, a mile from here, entertained a pair of blast furnaces before Rouge Industries was spun off as a steel-making division there--since gone bankrupt and subsequently owned by a Russian company (Severstal, NA before another foreign company bought it last year). It's tough to make money in steel in the US... One of those blast furnaces racked up just short of 1/2 $million in EPA fines before it just permanently shut down. It's strange, but the nearby Dearborn, Southwest Detroit, or Melvindale residents weren't streaming away as permanent refugees. | ||
Detroitrulez Member Username: Detroitrulez Post Number: 84 Registered: 12-2006 |
Livernoisyard....um, no it isn't. Steel can be quite profitable these days because of China's unchecked appetite for it. Causes the entire world market to tip. The only thing is you have to manage your raw materials costs...particularly coke. Labor and legacy costs have usually been dealt with in prior bankruptcies. | ||
Jams Member Username: Jams Post Number: 4357 Registered: 10-2003 |
1/2, but enjoying learning about that ethnic heritage.
I'm well aware of the Frog Island enclave, as well as the wonderful Italian restaurants in SW Detroit that haven't achieved the cult status that seems to be be the award of status on this forum.
So much to prove my point about not understanding a different lifestyle. So many on this forum seem to wish to deny the suburban life they grew up with in order to accept the "Urbanism" they wish to achieve without the downside of that life. | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 1977 Registered: 10-2004 |
China is buying old steel and iron from scrap/salvage operations and remaking steel itself in China even cheaper than the US firms could. The transportation costs are much the same either way--in refined form or in a scrap state. | ||
Rfban Member Username: Rfban Post Number: 24 Registered: 02-2004 |
The Hungarian Holy Cross Church is another interesting, and very well maintained functioning parish. My Mother and Father attend this church semi-regularly. I was there about 4 weeks ago after not being there for many years. I could not believe the enthusiasm of the pastor, Barnabas Kiss, and his sincere efforts in pulling the community together. http://www.aodonline.org/nr/ao d/customapplications/parish/pa rish.asp?InstitutionID=116&FRA MELESS=true&NRNODEGUID=%7b2FF9 2941-2657-4A86-A99A-0010DE3640 35%7d -Archdiocese of Detroit http://freepages.genealogy.roo tsweb.com/~detroitchurches/pag e43b.htm - Polish Genealogy Society of America http://groups.msn.com/Hungaria nsontheNet/hungariansindetroit .msnw -Hungarians on the net | ||
Jams Member Username: Jams Post Number: 4361 Registered: 10-2003 |
LY's comment:
Damn, we actually agree on something. Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.... Merry Christmas. | ||
Detroitrulez Member Username: Detroitrulez Post Number: 86 Registered: 12-2006 |
I don't think you know what you are talking about. | ||
Jams Member Username: Jams Post Number: 4362 Registered: 10-2003 |
To whom are you addressing that comment? Or is that a general statement about the forum? | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 4635 Registered: 11-2003 |
JJABA just spent a week in Youngstown, Ohio. In 1974, before Black Monday, 175,000 lived there. After 1974, 50,000 steel worker jobs were lost and today about 80,000 live there. Everybody's neighbor either in Phoenix or Las Vegas is from Ohio. Homes as beautiful as W. Outer Drive, Oakman, or Gesu Parish going for $110,000. Drive Broadway Blvd. in Youngstown and see that! Really nice houses. Youngstown has streets with two houses per block, previously described in Delray. With "pull and pack" junk car lots now, after 30-60-90 days, the cars are crushed and sent on large ships to Korea, Japan, or China. Scrap dealers have never made more money than now and crack-meth addicts are stealing as much metal as they can. In some states, they are dismantling guard rails on the roads and bridges with torch and chisel. jjaba tells it like it tis. | ||
Busterwmu Member Username: Busterwmu Post Number: 325 Registered: 09-2004 |
PS Livernois- There are three blast furnaces at Rouge Steel, now OAO Severstal NA. One is shut down, the other two are running although I've heard some major repairs are in the works for one or both so one may be down right now leaving one running... not sure. | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 1978 Registered: 10-2004 |
Rouge Industries had a consent agreement a few years (2001?) ago to shut down its "North Hole" and pay EPA penalties of over $400,000. The current state of SeverStal's operations: Blast Furnace Upgrade to Kick off 4-Year Modernization Program at Severstal | ||
Enduro Member Username: Enduro Post Number: 31 Registered: 11-2006 |
I had a job last year driving for a GPS company. I combed every single street of a lot of neighborhoods, including a good part of Delray. There is a closed Catholic Church around there that is facing a fence directly across the street of a soap factory. I'm a lifelong Detroiter and I must admit there was spooky feel to Delray. Not a dangerous vibe as much as ghost town feel. Especially driving along the long industrial areas. I saw some really crazy stuff on that job in both the suburbs and city. | ||
Jimaz Member Username: Jimaz Post Number: 1204 Registered: 12-2005 |
An "I saw some really crazy stuff" thread might be fun.  | ||
Pam Member Username: Pam Post Number: 775 Registered: 11-2005 |
We had one like that once. Unfortunately a large number of the stories seemed to involve homeless people using the street as a toilet. On topic, I am interested in seeing some of those churches in Delray. I haven't seen much of that neighborhood except for a visit to Woodmere cemetery to see a family grave once. | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 1979 Registered: 10-2004 |
Woodmere cemetery is a bit outside of Delray, but is bordering close to it. An arbitrary line of demarcation is Fort Street for the northern boundary of Delray. The houses north of Fort or Lafayette Streets are still fairly intact. |
