  Supersport Member Username: Supersport Post Number: 10647 Registered: 10-2003 |
I figured this would be an interesting thread, as so many on here have such different backgrounds in regards to Detroit. Some, like myself, grew up out in the country 1.5 hours away with very few visits to Detroit. Another group is from the suburbs, perhaps born and raised, or maybe leaving Detroit at a young age for the burbs. Then there are those born, raised, and still here. My visits to Detroit consisted of the occasional Tigers game, which in all honesty amounted to probably only a 1/2 dozen visits. In addition, I made a few North American Auto Shows as well. During those few visits, the first being at a very young age, I can recall my first impression. We were leaving a Tiger game headed towards the freeway. While looking out the window I noticed bars on the windows. I asked my dad "How come there are bars over the windows here?" He replied with "It's a bad area, the bars keep people from breaking in." That was it, from that point forward I had instilled in my mind that Detroit was a dangerous place. Growing up, I watched Bill Bonds on channel 7 news. That was the station of choice in our household, though I can't recall why. Toledo was much closer, and unless I'm mistaken, even back then we had a good 3 or 4 stations out of Toledo. But for as long as I can remember, channel 7 news was telling us to stand up and tell'em where you're from. With Bill Bonds always passing along the news, perhaps a bit sloppily at times. I remember going to the auto show one year and noticing a little place on a side street leading up to Cobo. The name said "Mac's on 3rd." I thought to myself at that time "Man, that looks like a rough place. Just one window with bars on it and a bunch of brick walls." Many years later, that same recollection came to mind as I sat in that very bar drinking a beer with a fellow forumer, this time thinking how silly that misconception was. My perception of Detroit didn't change over night. It didn't change while I lived in Dearborn my first year back in Michigan and pondered taking my college roommates initial advice "Move to Detroit, that's where you want to be." After a short time I found myself venturing downtown more and more often, yet I was still always VERY skeptical of my surroundings, as I had this mentality etched in my brain that this place was dangerous, don't let what's on the surface fool you! Initially, I thought simply driving around downtown after dark was "a bit daring." A short time after moving to Dearborn I knew my old roommate was right, I needed to be in Detroit. There was this attraction, some sort of draw, or perhaps it was simply going against what most people would do. Whatever it was, I signed a lease in October (with a January move in date), though my current lease ran until the end of January. I overlapped my leases by about 2 weeks, as I could no longer stand it. I often tell people it took some readjusting, as I was in the minority for the first time in my life. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't uncomfortable inside for that first 1.5 years or so. It was simply a feeling I had never felt. While my parents weren't outright racists by any means, they were raised during an era where "the black side of town = the bad side of town," and so that mentality was instilled in me as well. They by no means held anything against a person due to their race, and yet at the same time, if you clumped a black race together into a neighborhood, then that was a bad thing. So here I was, finding myself in a place where my parents, most of my friends, and even myself would have considered "a bad place." Yet with each passing day, every Sunday drive around the city, I tore down these misconceptions one by one. Even to the point were I feel I became a bit gullible, almost refusing to accept that Detroit had any real problems at all. I spread the word, telling everybody I knew how great Detroit was, how they should seriously move to the city. I wouldn't say I have come full circle, but many of my misconceptions (or so I thought) have taken a 180 turn and I have realized, perhaps what I was brought up to believe was as far off as I once thought. I've been here now for exactly 4 years and 8 months today. I now have owned my house for a touch over 2 years, and my outlook on Detroit has changed drastically over time. I still love Detroit, I still believe it is on the rise in many ways, yet I replaced the years of sugar coating with an artificial sweetner, one that tells it like it is. I still hold praise for Detroit, but the reasons I hold praise are much different than my initial "I wanna be close to the bars and sporting events" mentality. I now look at our homeless with a different eye, one that doesn't see them as just another bum like I did when I first moved here. I see them as individuals, each with their own problems, with their own unique stories, and possibly most importantly, they have names. 5 years ago I wouldn't have felt that way, you could have painted each and every one with the same stroke of the brush, they all would have been nothing more than a homeless bum, people whom I didn't care about their problems, they were pests to me. Had I never moved to the city, I'm not so sure perception would have changed, as I think I likely would have continued to blow them off. I would have never had any type of conversation with them, as I viewed them as pests back then. That really sickens me, that I felt that way, but fortunately that was the old me. I've avoided crime ever since moving here, though many of....perhaps I should say MOST of my friends have experienced it in one shape or form. Maybe I've been lucky, or perhaps extra precautious, what ever it was, it has avoided me. Now that's not to say that I haven't taken steps recently, perhaps more drastic than most, to ensure my level of security is maintained, but that level is dependent upon the individual and for your own reasons. Many who don't agree, likely don't take the chances I have either. So as you can see, in some ways my perception has resorted back to my initial line of thought, yet one thing is true now that wasn't then. Ok, two things are true now that weren't then. First and foremost, I now love Detroit. Secondly, the city no longer scares me, nor has it for a long time. For people who can't discover those two key points while living here, then one is destined to be miserable, as this city isn't Chicago, nor will it ever be. Yet it is unique in it's own way, a uniqueness that I would still love even if you took away 90% of the development (you gotta give me Ford Field over the Silver Dome) over these past 5 years. I could still walk a vacant and boarded up Woodward Ave, a town center lacking Campus Mmartius, or even the riverwalk. I could still find enough to love about this place. So tell me, what was Detroit to you growing up, how has it changed for you today? | ||
Pamequus Member Username: Pamequus Post Number: 76 Registered: 07-2005 |
WOW.....fab post Supersport!!! | ||
Cambrian Member Username: Cambrian Post Number: 145 Registered: 08-2006 |
Many fond memories! I was born in '70, out of the friends I knew growing up in the burbs; I was the only one that could say I was born in the city and even attended school there 'til I was seven. We lived in a beautiful house on St Mary's, the house was like a brick castle, with lead beveled glass. The R&B music unique to Detroit's airwaves growing up, flying kites with my gramma on Belle Isle,or going to visit her at work at AMC HQs, watching the Thanksgiving Parade from Dad's office in the David Whitney Building, Big X mas eve polish dinners at Grandma and Grampa’s house on Rutherford. Riding the Boblo Boat in the Summer time. The city is not much different to me now as when I was young, I was born after the city's Auto Capital of the world hey day. I see lots of more positive things happening in the city, and I hope it progresses, it is too bad that the misfortunes of Domestic Auto Industry have to way so heavily on local economy and everyone's attitudes, where it not for that, this could be an even cooler place to live. | ||
Bobj Member Username: Bobj Post Number: 1135 Registered: 11-2003 |
I grew up on the Warren side of 8 and Gratiot. My parents grew up in Hamtramck and most of my relatives lived in Detroit and Hamtramck when I was a kid. My Mom worked at the Downtown Hudsons. We did our business mostly in the City. Our Doctor, Dentist, etc were all in Detroit. I went back to school clothes shopping at 7 and Gratiot. I never thought much about it. That is what my relatives did and our neighbors. My brother and I would ride our bikes down Gratiot to the Downtown area. I remember the riots and seeing troops go down Gratiot from Selfridge. OUr routines never really changed.It wasn't till I went to college at Oakland University that I heard a lot of Detroit is bad and dangerous type talk. I was a little surprised how many people believed that. In the mid to late 80's I avoided the City more and it did seem more dangerous. I went to events, Greektown, and a few other places, but stayed in the Suburbs for the most part. The 90's started to change that and I became more of a booster. I still remember the 60's and a Downtown that was much different than today and hope to see it more like that soon. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 4359 Registered: 11-2003 |
Perhaps the most obvious thing for jjaba today is the lack of people walking on the streets of Detroit. People are still in Detroit but somehow, they aren't on the streets. Woodward Avenue is vacant, Cass Park vacant, Capitol Park with a couple of buses, and nobody pushing and shoving to get a seat. Ten people milling around Campus Martius, and fewer at Hart Plaza. 10 people in the great lobby at the Fisher Bldg. and the great General Motors Bldg. reduced to a Welfare Office. Sure, there is that hour before a Tigers or Lions game, and people going into the Fox Theater, and the hockey crowd or folks "crowding" the People Mover at the Auto Show. But, you know what jjaba means. jjaba remembers from the 1940s when the street cars brought the socialist hoards to Hudsons, Kerns, Crowley-Milner, Sams Cut Rate, Kresges, and Broadway Market for Christmas shopping. He remembers when Sax Fifth Avenue drew window shoppers to New Center. He remembers the 50,000 fans walking through Corktown on Sundays going to ballgames, taking street cars home. He remembers 100,000 Ford Rouge workers getting there on buses and streetcars and the metal shavings reeking from their uniforms after work in July on those buses and streetcars, every window open and the fans blowing out the stink. The people are gone. That's the impression. And don't believe jjaba. On Woodward Avenue, along that famous shopper's paradise are memorial signs to the shoppers. The people are gone and historical markers remember them now. jjaba appreciates what Supersport has to say, his impressions from small town Michigan roots to today living in the centre of this place, not too damn far from where Cadillac landed in 1701. jjaba, Westside Bar Mitzvah Bukkor on the Dexter bus. | ||
Tetsua Member Username: Tetsua Post Number: 764 Registered: 01-2004 |
Born, raised, and educated in the D with a small stink on the East coast for a while after college. I grew up on the NW side and remember when city REALLY started to show some changes inregard to shops shutting down. I was about 5 when Montgomery Wards on Greenfield, and Grand River shut down and my parents were trying to explaint to me why everything was changing. I can't really remember what it even feels like to have a big box retailer where you can get electronics in the city proper. Growing up in the 80s, and 90s I guess was a pretty rough time for the city, but I wouldn't change a thing about the way i grew up. Even as a child I never understood why people would move out to the Boonducks out of spite of the city. After all the foolishness I've seen and lived through here I could never see myself living in the burbs, I'd sooner leave the region all together. Needless to say, I've been one of the biggest city backers for as long as I can remember. Nobody is happier than I am seeing the turn around that the city has been going through since the 90s | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 4361 Registered: 11-2003 |
jjaba and Ray1936 rode their bikes for the Detroit Times on Detroit's Westside. We worked from the substation on Washburn and Grand River, just W. of Wyoming. How many kids today do you see peddling through the Fall leaves and the winter blizzards on bikes to bring you a newspaper. jjaba and later, his brother, owned our Detroit Times route for eight years (1953-1961). On Friday nights, we collected from each customer and paid our bill Sat. mornings. That's a big change, eh? jjaba, Old newsboy. | ||
Cambrian Member Username: Cambrian Post Number: 146 Registered: 08-2006 |
Cool Jjaba, I delivered the News and Southfield Eccentric, honest work for a kid. Other things from my Child hood; I remember my school was on harper off Woodword, they were fond of taking us on field trips to Belle Isle Beach to go swimming, I remember the smoke stacks from the Edison Plant (7 sisters?) and seeing the Uniroyal tire plant on the way back to school and that wierd multi shade of gray ring pattern mural on plants east side, and oh the smell of rubber when we passed by it. I was pleased to find a pic of the plant on this site, I now have it on my PCs wall paper. | ||
Jjw Member Username: Jjw Post Number: 173 Registered: 10-2005 |
Detroit was riding two buses to work and school, riding my bike all over hell (loved the flat land), getting a malt at Sanders, walking across the Ambassador Bridge, bars (tons of them), enjoying the parks especially Rouge and Belle Isle, hanging downtown, and more than anything else---waiting for positive change. Detroit for me now is a memory. I chose to leave. Not to the suburbs but to another city. Not for a job-but more for a life. I love checking out this web site and reading the information on here but that's about it for me and Detroit. | ||
Ron Member Username: Ron Post Number: 292 Registered: 03-2006 |
I remember climbing the trees in my neighborhood (even had a real tree house in one). Playing tag and hide-and-seek with my friends until the street lights came on in summer. Walking to the corner store. My neighbors telling my grandmother when I was acting up. Playing basketball in the street with a milk crate as the hoop. Walking up and down my street and stopping at every house where someone was sitting on the porch. The ice cream truck. The candy store (loved those Lemon Heads). Having "grape" wars (throwing grapes from a vine in my friend's yard at each other and using the garbage can lids as shields). Seeing who could walk the furthest on their hands. Learning how to "cat walk" my bike. Aaahh, the good ole' days. | ||
Bongman Member Username: Bongman Post Number: 1267 Registered: 12-2003 |
Fishing at Alter Park...chasing that damn fruit truck down the street.....sledding at Balduck Park...running thru fire hydrants in the heat...christmas lights downtown..."black power" & "soul brother" painted on businesses down gratiot...seeing movies downtown. | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 6849 Registered: 12-2003 |
Born in Detroit, father moved us to Westland...although it had a different name back then, probably Nankin Township...until the rest of the family revolted. Settled in the city by my third birthday, where I quickly learned that on the other side of the block you get milk and cookies. Later in life, I learned that generosity was only reserved for hysterical three year olds, but those Oakman Boulevard housewives knew their cookies. We ALL got our milk from that guy with the clown on his truck...and the street was a canopy of trees, a natural cathedral. Next door neighbor, preacher's kid, taugh me how to jump from the garage rafters onto the soft roof of my mother's Pontiac Tempest convertible. I taught myself how to go through it. We did our shopping at Hudsons, but usually at their store on the corner of Michigan and Greenfield. Going downtown was reserved for special events, especially after I learned what that round red button at the bottom of the escalators did. Never was shy around buttons, I guess. We played cops and robbers over an increasing turf, first our yard, then the front and back, one time I climbed the garage for a surprise attack...next it was the neighbors, since it nearly adjoined ours after they increased the depth for their l-o-o-n-g Chryslers. Within a few years, we were playing about four city blocks, including three or four sections of the Oakman Boulevard islands...with ten to twenty people per side. Never knew how we kept score after three per, though. Dunno what we were thinking, running around with good guys and bad ones, running through everyone's yards up and over their garages...within a few years of the riots?! I wonder if our game was a wee bit misperceived. Everything DID go downhill after that... | ||
Oldredfordette Member Username: Oldredfordette Post Number: 521 Registered: 02-2004 |
I grew up in Northwest Detroit - was a kid in the 60's. My childhood in Detroit was idyllic. It was a beautiful neighborhood full of children. We rode our bikes from dawn to dusk with no fear, almost no restrictions. In the summer we slept in tents in our yards or on our porches, in the winter we all flooded our backyards and skated, dragged our toboggans to Redford (now Rogell) Golf Course and sledded. We had a little downtown with the Redford Theater, a Jupiter, a Woolworth, a candy store, several grocery stores, the mighty Bell Records to buy our Motown 45's at. I lived with my little Panasonic transistor radio next to my ear so I could listen to CKLW and Keener, on clear nights WOWO from Chicago. I could take the bus everywhere I wanted to go. When I was a teenager I was stupid and lucky enough to successfully hitchhike every where I wanted to go. When I got older I shared a house with a girlfriend, near Stoepel Park, and I worked downtown, also taking the bus everywhere. This time, in the mid 70's, is when Detroit really started to change. I never had a bad experience but I watched as downtown crumbled and became empty. When I was married, my husband had never lived in Detroit and didn't want to, so we moved to the suburbs and still live in one now. I am in Detroit every day. I love this sad old city, but as my former roommate said to me (on the occasion of her move to Canton) it doesn't love me back. I don't think I will ever live in the city again. I work very hard for my money and just can't stand to see it midhandled the way Detroit does. It's bad enough to live in Michigan! It's bad enough to see my tax dollars used for Middle Eastern murder by our Federal Government. I live in a city that is clean, the cops will come, I can walk everywhere, where the kids can go to public schools without fear. But something is lost, something funky and funny and kind and brave. It's what brings me back every day, even after the weird earlobe mugging, even after naked bums by the Book Building, even after reading about one more Kwame outrage. I'm still a Detroiter, if a sorry ex-pat. | ||
Gravitymachine Member Username: Gravitymachine Post Number: 1293 Registered: 05-2005 |
option 3, i grew up out of state. came through once on a family trip when I was oh, 10 years old at the time? we did the henry ford and greenfield village, stayed in dearborn, and didn't even stop in the city proper. I only know of detroit in the context of the last 8 years or so. | ||
River_rat Member Username: River_rat Post Number: 230 Registered: 02-2006 |
river rat lived through the heydays of the auto industry and worked as a newsboy in NW Detroit for both the Times and the News. I walked a mile to school every day along Fenkell and later took the bus to Wayne State (Fenkell to 14th & Warren and the over to Wayne on Warren.) Worked at Hygrade's Foods on Michigan and 22nd and went to Briggs / Tiger Stadium as often as a kid paying his way through college could. Then worked in the Woodward - Mack area for half a dozen years through the tumultuous 60's and into the 70's. I always loved Belle Isle and ice skating at the State Fair and Butzel Park. What happened......? I read with amazement the threads of those who don't realize that those were the days of milk and honey. These are the days of decay and dispair. I wish it were different..... | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 6850 Registered: 12-2003 |
Everybody acted different after GI Joe came to life at the end of our street. Tireman at that Meyers/Littlefield intersection was some sort of staging area, or they just liked parking in the shade of our elm trees. Wonder if bad karma showed itself when all those elms died. Elms died about the same time everything else changed, so it at least looked related. | ||
Czar Member Username: Czar Post Number: 3256 Registered: 11-2003 |
Grew up in Dearborn but spent a lot of time in Detroit and Hamtramck at my grandparents, aunts and uncles houses. One set of grandparents lived on the west side around Lonyo/McGraw. Other set of grandparents lived on Jacob, across from Lili's in Hamtramck. Started hanging out in the city on a regular basis in high school. A couple of my good friends lived in the Old Redford/Rosedale Park areas. We used to hang out at the Old Elwood because one of my friend's older brothers knew the bartender and we didn't get carded. My summer job during college was doing sales for a Stroh's distributor. My territory was Telegraph on the West, 8 Mile on the north, the river on the south, and Livernois on the east, roughly. If anyone bought Stroh's at a party or grocery store around that time in that area, I might have saved you from a terrible headache as virtually none of those places rotated their stock, I had to do it for them and pulled out beer stock that was two or three years old. This was around 1985-1989, the same time I became a regular at Steve's Place, until I moved to Chicago after college. | ||
Chitaku Member Username: Chitaku Post Number: 769 Registered: 03-2006 |
I was born at St. John's and lived in the area until I was 4. We moved to Clinton Township where I spent the next 20 years. I had a cousin who lived off Moross and we would ride bikes around and I would wonder why, when we went to get pizza we would order through a window, and get it through a door. My mom took my sister and I to the Science Center and Motown museum when we were young. We rode the people mover just for the hell of it and she showed us Hudsons and what not. I remember going to her work on Grand River where she did ultrasounds. I wore my Bart Simpson shirt because I thought it would make me look bad (I was 8). Through High School I only ever went down to hockey games and tiger games. I saw no point and figured Detroit was a lost cause. "Knock down the whole damn place" was my attitude. I remember taking trips to NYC and being jealous of the kids and the enviroment they got to enjoy. So much culture and things to do. I remember cruising Gratiot and the stopping point was 8 mile, but we would just keep going all the way downtown. We wanted to see what we were told to "stay away from"! Age 19 I started doing comedy workshops at Second City and a reason to go to Detroit without my parents getting on my case was opening. I started meeting friends at the Magic Stick on Thursdays and met a lot of people. Staying the night at the CCS dorms and an onflux of great music circa 2001-2 coming at me like a tidal wave, I became interested. I started telling my parents I wanted to move to Detroit, much to their dismay. I got into Wayne State and moved to a house my friends Dad owned at Michigan and Central. The nighborhood was rough but we had alot of fun there. Needless to say my parents freaked out about the hood and bought a house at 8 and Mack for me to live alone in. I couldn't refuse, so I moved there, knowing my beloved Detroit was only a mile away. Making friends through Wayne who live in Woodbridge made it easier to spend more time in the city. Walking and rollerblading discovering all of the ruins I had read about online, and discovering the hidden gems. There was a time when I thought it was crazy to live in Detroit. Then I decided to move back, I was sick of the atmosphere in SCS and I wanted to be a part of a community that I actually cared about. I want to see Detroit succeed really bad. Unfortanatly the situation here is really bad and overshadowed by big events or "renovations" to a few buildings. Michigan has become so bad that we revolved our whole city around 1 football game for about 2 years. Painting over a few cracks here and there. Downtown looks really good, don't get me wrong. But drive a mile down any of the spokes and it is a different story. Why would any person want to live in a place where they pay taxes and get nothing out of it. Instead we have to pay extra for services that are taken for granted in the burbs. The hope for Detroit is people like us who decide to make sacrifices because we believe strongly in something. | ||
Harmonie Member Username: Harmonie Post Number: 619 Registered: 08-2004 |
My parents moved in 1979 like many people were doing. The difference is that where most people were saying, “I don’t want to raise my kids in Detroit.” My parents were saying, “I don’t want to raise my kids in the suburbs.” They wanted me to grow up in a diverse neighborhood, and they also wanted to support the city. So, I was born in Detroit on the far eastside on October 7th 1980 (yes it’s coming up and yes there will be lots of partying). It was a big house built in 1926 for the daughter of R. Hirt, Jr. My parents bought the house from her estate when she died in 1979. Of course, I didn’t know or care about the history of my house growing up. I cared about sledding at Balduck in the winter and playing softball there in the summer. I had a very “old school” childhood. We had a great neighborhood with kids that I went to school with on every block within a 5-block radius. We played pick up basketball. We walked to Yorkshire Market for candy or Mr. C’s for pizza. My sister worked at Woo’s Chinese Food down the street and would always bring home the best Egg Drop soup. I was proud to live in the city, and as I grew up I was even prouder that my parents hadn’t followed the crowd and left. My dad insured the Michigan Parade Company so we literally NEVER missed a Thanksgiving Day Parade or Fireworks. In fact neighborhood kids and family friends would show up at our house Thanksgiving morning to ride downtown with us and share our scaffolding. We always went to the DIA, Greektown, Belle Isle, Eastern Market and the Cass Corridor Food Co-Op. I got to skip school on Tigers Opening Day and go with my dad to the games. I remember “Hug Tiger Stadium Days” and going to see the circus at Joe Louis every year for my birthday. I remember Trapper’s Alley with the fudge making and the store where everything was purple. As a teenager my friends would have to lie to their parents and tell them I lived in Grosse Pointe so they could come over. I used to get so mad at the ignorance. Our neighborhood was plenty safe. In 20+ years, one car had a window broken on the street and then once someone reached through an open screen to grab the CD player sitting on the windowsill…that’s it. I started hanging out downtown when I was 18. Seeing Thornetta Davis at the Music Menu every Wednesday, and chatting with Farouk at the Mediterranean Café. I loved the soul, the diversity and the lack of automatic pilot that the city offered. I moved downtown almost 4 years ago, and no matter what is going on in my life the one decision that I am ALWAYS happy about is living downtown. I agree with Supersport in that, though Campus Martius, Compuware and all this loft development is great, Detroit made me happy before all of that happened. Don’t get me wrong I enjoy C-Mart very much, and I love that people are moving down here more and more, but bottom line is: I don’t love Detroit because of its parks or restaurants; I love Detroit because of its unique energy, and its ability to make feel 100% alive everyday. | ||
Supersport Member Username: Supersport Post Number: 10649 Registered: 10-2003 |
I've thanked you all before, but and I'd like to thank you all again. This thread is giving me something I haven't felt on the forum in awhile. An energy, a passion, a love for Detroit that sometimes gets lost amongst the bickering and one liners, which I fall under more often than not. E_hemmingway's "Call for civility" thread on the connections side got me motivated to do this thread. Every now and then I have to remind myself, perhaps even remind others, what it is about Detroit we all love. Jack Lessenberry wrote an article about Detroit apparently that used "terminal cancer" or something along those lines to describe Detroit. I skimmed through enough of the article to get a grasp on what he was saying. To me, he is somebody who doesn't get it, whom will never get it. He'll always be the person arguing why I shouldn't live in Detroit. They are the type of person you eventually have to give up arguing with, you simply have to tell them what a friend told me he resorted to after years of fighting that battle "You know what, you'd never understand." I've been here long enough, even though it's only been close to 5 years, to have heard all of the excuses. How I don't understand the situation, how they'll be back after living in the burbs for a bit, and every other excuse. To me, it opens my eyes, it allows me to realize that they never had that same feeling I had, that burning passion. It's not something I can turn off, it's not something I can take a break from, it's just there. Sometimes this city hurts, sometimes it makes you hate, I've seen what I consider my strongest friends in Detroit just about be broke down when something bad happens, or they are a victim of some sort of crime. Yet the vast majority get back up, whipe the dirt off, and rekindle that flame. Keep up the great stories people, as they go back to the roots of what created this site. The origins which occasionally get lost under the ruins. | ||
Goat Member Username: Goat Post Number: 8810 Registered: 10-2003 |
I grew up in Windsor but I always thought Detroit had it all. The commercials with all of the different products for sale at such low prices, I could only dream of that stuff over here. Detroit had all the sport teams, concerts, big buildings...The few times my family went over (they too thought it was a scary place) I was always so excited. A different country where I always felt like there were endless opportunities. When I was old enough to drive over myself, I was hooked...and still am. For all of its pitfalls, Detroit always seems to me, to be the the place that will never give in regardless of what is thrown at it. | ||
Dillpicklesoup Member Username: Dillpicklesoup Post Number: 177 Registered: 05-2006 |
I grew up in Royal Oak- My friends and I often took the bus to downtown Detroit to go shopping, and to go to King's Bookstore. My great grandmother lived on Willis in Detroit. My grandmother and I took the bus down to see her quite frequently. We walked past the Willis Show bar and some place that sold live chickens- Great grandma did all of her shopping at Eastern Market- We also took many drives downtown on Jefferson, the News Center Area and to Belle Isle. We also frequented many of the downtown theatres. It was a nicer, safer place back then. During the Depression, my great grandpa drove a double decker bus downtown- My great uncle was a Detroit cop and another grandfather was a Detroit fireman. The last time I was in the "D" about a year ago- it looked like a war zone. | ||
Jasoncw Member Username: Jasoncw Post Number: 240 Registered: 07-2005 |
For me it was interesting because I mostly grew up in Saint Clair Shores. But I lived in Detroit for a few years after I was born, and during and past then my family was still involved with some things in the city, so I was in the city and knew people from the city. But that's not the interesting part, the interesting part is that in my mind there were two different Detroits: the one where I had memories from, but didn't register as "Detroit" in my mind, and then what I imagined when someone said "Detroit." For a long time I didn't know the city even had a real downtown. I imagined a few 15-25 story buildings spread across a bunch of gravel parking lots. The buildings being abandoned and surrounded by bums, of course. So from about 1-7 I had no concept of "Detroit" either way. From 7-14 I had the two concepts of the city I described above, and from 14-19 (now) I've had an increasingly more realistic perception of the city as I've gotten to know certain areas better. | ||
Detroitteacher Member Username: Detroitteacher Post Number: 652 Registered: 06-2006 |
For me, Detroit meant home. Late 60s through the mid-80s. I was raised in the city (Tireman and Warren area) surrounded by dozens of "fathers" in the fire department. It meant going to visit the firehall and getting to sit in the truck and slide the pole. Lived around the block from my best friend (even now). We played hide and seek, swam in our pool, dove off of the garage into the pool (and got my butt whooped for that, too). Went ice skating in Rouge Park where our fathers made a rink in the winter. I fondly remember the book mobile, arts and crafts in the summer at Ann Arbor Trail school on the playground, the old Good Humor man who stopped to visit with our parents all the time on his route (and gave us freebie ice cream if we were far from home, he knew we'd catch him next time). Detroit also meant going to gramma's house on Lahser Rd and the other gramma's house in Rosedale Park (around the corner from Bob Segar's old drummer, the one who was paralyzed in an accident). Detroit also meant friendly neighbors, safe outside play (until mom came onto the porch and called your first, middle AND last name), it meant bike rides up to Wagon Train party store for a soda and gum and the Dairy Queen on Telegraph to get a Mr. Freeze and sit on the wall scoping the boys. It meant my first kiss (happened to be at the DQ, romantic, huh?). It meant sleep overs at friends' houses (we'd rotate). It means my favorite teacher, Ms. Weisack (Kindergarten) and the boy, Timothy, who threw up on me in first grade (red hair and freckles, an Opie look-alike, if you know him, tell him I have a beef and want some new Mary Janes!) NOW, it means work and tons of great kids that I teach (and most of their parents). It means visiting the wonders of Detroit and museums. It means HOCKEY! It means...all this means is I still love the city. It means driving by the old house and youthful haunts, taking pictures for my best friend who lives in DC. It means reminiscing about my childhood which always brings a huge smile to my face. Thanks for the trip down memory lane, Super!! A much needed smile after a hellish day of work and school. | ||
Tarkus Member Username: Tarkus Post Number: 103 Registered: 04-2006 |
For me it was growing up on Devonshire on the East Side. Went to Stellwagen and St. Matthews for grade school and old DeLaSalle on Connor for High School. It was a good area as I rode my bike to LaSalle everyday which was a preety long ride. Used to play jet-ball up at Stellwagen everyday during the summer, when we got thristy the neighbors always let us get a drink from the hose. Or, if we had some change someone would run down to Ray's Deli or Nino's Market for a quart of Coke. Playing football in the street. Used to play with Steve Phillips who went on to be GM of the Mets and now on ESPN. It felt like the family was splurging when we went to Cal's or Fair Star Inn for Chinese. Mr C's was everyones favorite. Saturday afternoons were spent at the Alger Theatre. I had friends from Alter to Cadieux and Mack to Harper, everyone knew everyone. It also seemed my Mom had a friend on every block, cause no matter what I did wrong she knew about it, thats if the neighbor didn't take care of it first. Thats whats missing these days, your mom's implicet consent to scold or smack Johnny for misbehaving. Oh yeah going thru the woods at Balduck. We finally moved out in 1990 after my Mom got mugged at our side door at 12 in the afternoon. (Message edited by tarkus on September 21, 2006) | ||
Ordinary Member Username: Ordinary Post Number: 38 Registered: 06-2006 |
This seems like a feel-good kind of thread but I feel that I have to tell this story. I hope it doesn't derail this thread. I was born at St. John's on the eastside. My parents lived in that house until I was about 6 months old and then traded houses with my dad's parents. My parents house was getting too small and my grandparents was getting too big. My mom still lives in the same house. My grandma used to take a bunch of us kids down to Tiger Stadium on Ladies and Retirees day. Man she was brave! I think it was 50 cents to get in. One time we got separated from her. Did you ever try to find your grandmother in a sea of gray heads? I can't believe we ever found her. After that it was always, "meet at Gate 9 if you get separated." Unfortunately on one of these occasions when I was probably somewhere between the ages of 10 and 13, I took off in the middle of an inning to go to the bathroom. I was in there just getting done pissing in the last urinal when this one short black kid came in and told me he wanted all my money. I was just going to try and get around him and get the hell out of there when two more black kids a little bigger came in and and then two more even bigger. Needless to say I gave them the money. They gave me my empty wallet back and told me to wait five minutes before I came out. They knew what they were doing. They never hit me or threatened to but it did scare the shit out of me. I went back and told my Grandmother what had happened and I'll never forget when she took me down to the police station, I told the old white cop what happened and he just looked up and said, N-----s, right? For whatever reason I never condemned the city or was afraid to go back to Tiger Stadium. I still love Detroit, always will. You gotta be careful no matter where you go. | ||
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 815 Registered: 01-2005 |
Funny thing. Although I thought Detroit was a great place to grow up, I had an aunt and uncle and cousins who lived in Chicago. When we visited them, I always felt a little inferior. After all, they had TWO major league baseball teams, and they had TWO football teams (Cardinals franchise was in Chitown back then, for you young'uns). And Chicago had trains all over the place. Yeah, we had 'em too, but Chicago was the main hub of the nation for east-west travel. We had a dinky river, they had magnificent Lake Michigan. Yup, I kind of envied my four cousins in that family for their location. Funny thing is that today one lives in Seattle, one in Phoenix, one in Paris (France, not Kentucky), and one in Arlington National Cemetery. I guess they didn't think that much of Chicago after all. | ||
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner Post Number: 208 Registered: 04-2006 |
I grew up in Franklin Park. Franklin Park, where is that you say? It is the area around Cody High School, N of Hermann Gardens and Warrendale. I can remember walking to kindegarden with Jimmy to what is now Cody, but was the Everett. No one ever bothered us. I can remember the bus rides to my Dentist in the David Whitney Building. While we were downtown mom would usually poke around in the Rainbow store, Crowley's, Woolworths, Kresgee's, sometimes we would go to B Siegals, or to Grinnells. We would normally stop at the snack bar on Hudson's Mezzanine, or Sander's. The neighborhood had Stores like Kmart, Federals, Woolworths, Winkelemans, Kline's Department Store. My mom's parents were nearby and lived near Jjabba's favorite corner of Grand River and Greenfield. My dad's parents lived (and grandma still does in East Warrendale). Saturday's meant trips to the Sears at Grand River and Oaklman by car. Sometimes we would take the Bus to Olymipa and see the Howe boys play with the Jr Wings. One saturday we went to the olympia and saw something called the Ice Follies, me and my siblings did not like it, but mom was very happy. We even ventured to Plum Street on a few occasions and to Trapper's Alley back when it was really an alley! Boblo Trips were made on Saturdays too. Sundays were for Church, then going to the grandparents houses. I can remember Dad driving us home. He always had a huge Pontiac. When we would drive out some barren road named Orchard Lake we would get to the end and dad would explain that Chief Pontiac was buried on the island in the middle of the lake (he did this several times). As we got older, my parents would often let us run loose in places like the cultural center, Fairlane Mansion, or Greenfield Village. The Detroit Museums were all free back then, and we would have a family pass to Greenfield Village. When Fairlane opened Saturdays were spent there too, sometimes we would take the people mover over to the Hyatt, go to the top floor and throw candy at people in the lobby. It would not take long before security would come and toss our asses out of there. Growing up in Detroit does not make you rich in terms of money, but in terms of experiences, you can't beat it. | ||
Lowell Board Administrator Username: Lowell Post Number: 3017 Registered: 10-2003 |
Like millions before me, from all around the world, I came to Detroit to find work on its assembly lines. Starting at the coke ovens of Zug Island and then moving on to the Dearborn Engine plant in the Ford Rouge complex I found myself, working my way through college, getting real lessons is life in the pounding heart of Detroit in the heady summers of 1966, '67 and '68. Detroit was awash with the counter-cultural ferment, rebellion, anti-war and civil rights activities, black power, baseball fever, and booming auto sales. Problems were there but the confidence to face them was greater and it was a big party. I settled in the Cass Corridor living in an apartment, where the Barnes and Noble now sits on Warren, during the riot summer. Later I lived across from Stone Park on Forest by the Lodge. The Vernor’s Gnome still ruled on Woodward while further down Woodward a squalid 24 hour movie theater ran in a place that would become abandoned, its roof rot away and then be saved and revived as Orchestra Hall. The DIA was a refuge on hot days with its air conditioning and the Rivera Court was regrettably used as a smoking lounge with gray plastic sofas carelessly pushed up against the walls and bottom of the murals. Downtown shopping streets were still jammed and I once actually barely talked my way out of a jaywalking ticket! Detroit music ruled the airwaves and in those days of little air conditioning and open windows, the music poured out into the streets. It was a very joyous time and Tiger Stadium games were packed. During night games a pall of tobacco smoke would hover eerily over the field. Hot summers were so different then. I have a theory that air conditioning is the enemy. It keeps people cocooned -- no longer sitting porches chatting to the neighbors, visiting parks or driving with their windows rolled down. We have become globally connected and personally separated. I fell in love with the place and three years later, after serving in the Peace Corp and wandering Africa, Asia and Europe, I was compulsively drawn back, Detroit’s reputation and problems be damned. Give me the D's energy anytime; if I have than I can deal with the rest. I found my home. | ||
Imperfectly Member Username: Imperfectly Post Number: 131 Registered: 06-2004 |
Great stories everyone! I was also born at St.Johns on the eastside in 1976. We lived my first year of life on Barlow. I have no memory of that house as we moved before my brother was born in 1977. I then lived on Mckinney between Whitter and Courville til 1989 and I was almost 14. I went to St.Matthew until the 7th grade. I have great memories of growing up, I lived right across from Dominican HS and we played baseball on the grounds until the nuns would yell at us. Sledding at Balduck was a given. My brother and I rode our bikes everywhere including the Library next to the Alger which now in hind sight is a pretty long ride for kids our age...perhaps my mom was trying to get rid of us. If any of you went to St. Matts you have to remember Marvelous Madness day it was the day you looked forward to all year. I dont have memories of going downtown because we were pretty poor. We never went to games or shopping down there or cultural events. We moved from Detroit to Eastpointe in 89. I understand why, my neighborhood was getting kinda rough. In fact there was a body dumped in our dumpster once, eek that was weird. My uncle was and is DPD and he came and picked us up from school because he didnt want us walking home that day. But honestly I never had anything happen to me, our house was never broken into or anything like that. I did not want to move and I was devasted. I then lived in eastpointe til 98. I was then 22 and moved out and rented a house in Warren for a year. Then my friends and I rented a house on Fairmount between Cordell and Boulder. I wandered here and there between Ferndale and the Grosse Pointe Park. I began looking for a place downtown seriously about a year ago. I just felt drawn to it. I felt I had to be down here. Fortunately my gf felt the same way and we bought our place in Lafayette Park 3 weeks ago! Its great to return back to your roots. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 4364 Registered: 11-2003 |
Lowell brings up an incredible point about air conditioning and hermetically sealed houses. In the 1940s, when Joe Louis was fighting, on a hot-ass Detroit night, you could walk down any street and hear the entire fight with radios blaring from everybody's porch. There was a sense of community like none other. Didn't matter where he was, we all were with The Brown Bomber. And he knew it, felt the love, and kicked another guy's ass from Chicago from New York, from Philadelphia, to the clouds. The next time you go to Joe Louis Arena, take the time to remember one of our greatest. At Arlington Natl. Cemetery, listed as Joe Louis Barrows, take the time to visit his grave to honor him. jjaba, Fond Westside Memories. | ||
Mayor_sekou Member Username: Mayor_sekou Post Number: 13 Registered: 09-2006 |
You all have some interesting posts that speak of a time in this city I have never seen. I grew up in the mid to late 90's so I never saw the Montgomery Wards on the corner or people taking the street car downtown to shop. The city I knew then is similar to the city I know now and there is nothing that bothers me about that. I figure im gonna be around to see it turn back into the city you guys knew or even a better city in fact so im optimistic. So therefore, I figure that recanting my childhood experiences wont be that interesting of a read for all of you but ill try. In my mind I lived in the greatest and biggest city in the world until I was about 6 or 7. I remember watching maybe even earlier, Home Alone 2 and wondering what that big city was that Kevin was lost in, is that somewhere downtown? I found out instead that it was this city called New York and that it was much bigger than Detroit was, and in fact Detroit wasnt that big after all. Then came the Toronto trips, then Chicago, then Manhattan, and then London and then I never thought of the city the same again. Like Ray 1936 I had another city envy but instead of Chicago it was mainly Toronto. From the 401 you could see those random sprawlwed skyscrapers in Missagua, Scarborough, and that other city on route to my cousins house in Pickering that I thought was so cool back in the day. And then there was Younge St. and downtown Toronto which angered and at the same time facinated me because the only cool building we had in my mind was the Ren cen and they have hundreds more than we do. I liked Toronto so much I used to get mad when we had to go back home to that "old dirty city" we lived in. My first Manhattan trip was even worse I was disgusted after that when I went downtown, but did in fact think we had much nicer neighborhoods then they did, and i still do. Since then I have wanted that that "alive" feel that New York, Toronto, and Chi town have. Like Jjaba mentions this city at times is empty and devoid of life and before I kick the bucket I would live to see life in the city not just downtonwn but everywhere. Other than that I cant complain Ive lived well here and I think I can hopefully continue to do so as I get older. I think Detroits been through the storm and many sunny days await those who stick around long enough to see them. (Message edited by mayor_sekou on September 22, 2006) | ||
Barnesfoto Member Username: Barnesfoto Post Number: 2507 Registered: 10-2003 |
jjaba mentioned the thing that I miss the most about the Detroit of my childhood: The streets filled with people walking. I can't empasize what a great place to grow up Detroit was. My corner of Detroit had been a small town that was swallowed up by the city in the 1920's. Grand River and Lahser still felt like the main street of a small town. My street, Burt Road, bore the name of a man whose farmhouse once stood at the corner of Grand River and Burt Road (where a Pizza Hut now stands) when I was very very small. The same man had donated land for my school. What made my neighborhood great was the fact that we were sandwiched in between a poorer neighborhood (Brightmoor) and a wealthier neigborhood (Rosedale Park). So within a few square miles was a fairly wide demographic of income levels. When I was little, the place was lilly white. Then, by the mid-seventies, it wasn't. One could walk to a variety of stores, including groceries, bakeries, clothing stores, fabric stores, bookstores, and my favorite, Miller's Feed Store (which was actually a hobby shop with a giant HO track, a wall of model car kits, a showcase full of Matchbox cars). An eight year old boy could spend an entire Saturday afternoon wandering around that place, run by two old-school gentlemen who smoked pipes. When the movie "Billy Jack" came out, I saw ten other kids from my sixth grade class at the Redford Theater. My best friend in 4th grade, Ed I. had four older brothers, so he was a fountain of knowledge about things like sex, the myth of Santa Claus, and politics. He explained to me one day, on the way back from lunch, that I, a fan of President Richard Nixon, was a conservative. (Once I got out of 9th grade, my political views began to change). The variety of activities within a mile of my house was amazing. There was the commercial hub of Grand River-Lahser but also an abandoned hospital that we would sneak into, a small forest, a small park, a larger park, and the Grand River bus line, which led to downtown Hudsons. Since my father was a Hudson's employee, we got a family discount, and so my mom would take me to JLH a few times a year. The trip down Grand River gave me an appreciation for architecture. There were so many amazing buildings, most of them gone now...The Riviera Theater, Grand River/Greenfield where my grandparents lived, Olympia, Northwestern HS, which had a giant WW1 Cannon in front of it, the red stone Scovill Church... It's sad that so many people were willing to walk away from the place when things got rough. I'll die happy knowing that I put up a bit of a fight and worked to make the place better, even during the worst years of the inept Young administration. At the same time, I've been fortunate enough to live in some of the world's other great cities... Valencia, Spain. Mexico City, and Los Angeles. Detroit made me like big cities. It long ago ceased to feel like a big city to me. It's really just a big small town. And it will always be home, though I will also call other places home too. When I'm far away, and I dream about "home" it's still a small white bungalow on Burt Road. | ||
Oldredfordette Member Username: Oldredfordette Post Number: 522 Registered: 02-2004 |
God, Barnes. I forgot about that hospital. It was so freaky and forbidding looking. My friends brothers used to race cars at Millers. Who the heck are you? I must know you! When I dream, I'm on Northrop, riding my bike on the uneven sidewalks, or walking through the rooms of my house, looking out my bedroom window overlooking the mock orange tree, breathing in the perfume of the blossoms. | ||
Yupislyr Member Username: Yupislyr Post Number: 150 Registered: 07-2004 |
Another Canadian perspective here... I grew up rather poor so we didn't end up crossing over very often from Windsor. Most of the time the trips would end up being field trips to the Zoo, DIA, or the Science Centre. I think my first Detroit memory at all was riding with my parents north up Ouellette avenue into downtown Windsor and thinking all those skyscrapers in the distance were part of Windsor. Hah. I was very young still. 5 or 6 perhaps? I lived out in the country at this point so even going to Windsor was an experience. I don't remember specifically what caused it but I do know I had the impression that Detroit was dangerous from an early age. Probably in part due to the media. I've been a very regular news watcher since the Challenger disaster and I was in grade 3 when that happened. Ever since then I would read and watch the local news all the time. Anyway, as I grew older, I would take one or two trips to the auto show, the odd Tiger game, but mostly excursions with friends where their parents would drop us off at some concert. I soon found myself taking the tunnel bus over all the time to go to a show and as soon as I could drive, driving over all the time. What can I say now, since then I've been hooked. I'm usually over at least once a week nowadays to go to a show, see a game, visit a friend, or just roam around. I've had a couple bad experiences in the downtown before but I've had bad experiences in Windsor too, and actually the Windsor ones have been far worse. It could happen anywhere though... oh well. I'm really rooting for Detroit and Windsor. They're both looked down upon by the majority in their respective countries but I hope some of the turnaround work that has started in both keeps going. I'd hope I someday get to see Detroit bustling again like some of you older folks remember it. | ||
Jams Member Username: Jams Post Number: 3749 Registered: 10-2003 |
Barnesfoto, Thanks, while some, at this point, cannot appreciate it, I so much enjoy the reminces of those who lived here in a different era. Will I ever impart the joy I had spending Saturdays taking the bus Downtown with that cute brunette to catch the bands playing the fashion show at Hudson's? Probably not, but if one person picks up the emotion and enjoys it as well. Than it is worth my expenditure of words | ||
Pam Member Username: Pam Post Number: 503 Registered: 11-2005 |
My parents grew up in Detroit but my Dad joined the Army a year before I was born so up to age 12 I lived in other states and one other country. Detroit was where all the relatives lived and visits mostly consisted of sitting around their various homes. I have a vague memory of going on the Boblo boat once. The History museum Streets of Detroit exhibit made a bigger impression. There was a place my Dad always had to stop and buy big containers of potato chips but I don't know where it was. Did Better Made have a factory outlet? My parents split up in 1974 and my Mom brought us back to Mich to be near her family. (Dad never moved back.) We lived in the burbs but came downtown for the museums and cultural events. Teenage years and beyond I still came for concerts and museums. In recent years I have been trying to learn more about the city and the roots of my family. My Mom and I have enjoyed visting some of the old Catholic churches to see where our family members used to attend. I have also been enjoying some of the PW and Det. History Society Tours. I have learned a lot from this site and you all too, thanks. | ||
Barnesfoto Member Username: Barnesfoto Post Number: 2509 Registered: 10-2003 |
Oldred: a disclaimer: I never actually used the racetrack at Miller's--I just hung out there. I probably saw you once at the Redford Library. That place smelled like Oak bookshelves and old books. I would go there to do my homework sometimes. Did you know that the old Redford Hospital-the place that taught me to be an "urban explorer"-was the original Redford High School? Prosperity, like joy, is fleeting. How many other cities have seen a few decades of boom, and then have faded? The list is long. | ||
Lowell Board Administrator Username: Lowell Post Number: 3020 Registered: 10-2003 |
More great stories. Where was old Redford HS / Hospital? Also now that I know both Oldred and Barnes, I can just about guarantee that the two of you have been in the same place at the same time, probably several times. | ||
Oldredfordette Member Username: Oldredfordette Post Number: 523 Registered: 02-2004 |
It was on Grand River between the fire station and the police station. When they closed it, they built the little hospital on Grand River and Beech (now closed I think). Come on, Lowell. Give it to me. | ||
Pamequus Member Username: Pamequus Post Number: 78 Registered: 07-2005 |
Redford Receiving Hospital, almost next to the Police Station on Grand River at Six Mile Road. You can probably add me into the old Redford crowd too Lowell. | ||
Pamequus Member Username: Pamequus Post Number: 79 Registered: 07-2005 |
Okay, I lived on Patton, OldRed, you lived on Northrup, Barnes on Burt. My cousin lived on the corner of either Northrup or McIntrye, across the street from the Methodist Church. I think it was McIntrye though at one point they had lived on Northrup closer to the golf course. My Mom and Dad both grew up in the old Redford area, my Dad on Stout, my Mom on Chapel. Both went to Redford HS. What a great place to grow up!!! | ||
Oldredfordette Member Username: Oldredfordette Post Number: 525 Registered: 02-2004 |
*shakes head* small small world. Holcomb, Emerson, Redford High. (with a couple years at Christ the King thrown in) | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 1469 Registered: 10-2004 |
Once upon a midnight dreary, Oldredfordette uttered: "I lived with my little Panasonic transistor radio next to my ear so I could listen to CKLW and Keener, on clear nights WOWO from Chicago." WOW! That's great reception--having WOWO's signal getting from Fort Wayne, IN to Chicago and then to Detroit. Perhaps, when your memory returns, you might explain just how this bit of wizardry occurred. I worked twelve years in commercial broadcasting and never heard of such magic, so I would be impressed knowing how this could happen. (Message edited by LivernoisYard on September 22, 2006) | ||
Oldredfordette Member Username: Oldredfordette Post Number: 526 Registered: 02-2004 |
Excuse me, Fort Wayne. And stick it in your ear. | ||
Rosedaleken Member Username: Rosedaleken Post Number: 244 Registered: 06-2005 |
Until I was 5 I lived near the old Grace Hospital where I was born, around 7 mile and Meyers. After my folks split my mom moved my sister and I to Rosedale. I remember my mom telling us that why we moved, and I was easily convinced, but my sister was 8 yrs older and always missed the closer, if not slightly more gritty neighborhood that I remember most. Spent a few years in Christ the King, Cooke Elem. Murphy Middle. I remember riding my bike to the Redford Bowl a few times before it was torn down, don't know what's there now. Went to see Around the world in 80 days at the Redford Theater after I finished the book. Brought home stacks of Encyclopedia Brown books from the Redford Library. Spent countless summer hrs at the community house when Parks & Rec would come open hydrants, bring games,etc. G&R bike shop had my wheels more than I did since I rode the thing so hard. Saw one of the last movies at the Norwest. Great memories... | ||
The_rock Member Username: The_rock Post Number: 1383 Registered: 11-2003 |
Although I grew up in the suburbs, I fortunately had a father who worked in Detroit in the 40's thru the 60's, so I had the opportunity to spend a fair share of time in the city, first as a youngster and where I had a ride downtown, and then later when I had a car of my own to serve as transportation. And following 35 years working downtown, and being privileged to serve on the Detroit Historical Society for a term, its clear to me now that those factors have all lead to my appreciation of the city and concern for its future. Favorite memory? Many have already been related on this thread, and so I will not duplicate those efforts though I shared in many of those pleasant times and experiences. The large movie houses will always come to mind. Downtown was vibrant on a Friday or Saturday night. SO many people walking the streets. However, the big event which will always be in my memory bank were the numerous train rides in and out of the city to /from Pontiac and B'ham on the Grand Trunk. The GT station where Renaissance now stands was a bustling place. If only that train service was around now. Yes, Amtrak takes you to "the Blvd", but I mean downtown.I know it was tried once again (in the 70's?), but it failed for lack of passengers. | ||
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 816 Registered: 01-2005 |
Just had a thought joggled out of my fog. As a kid, I was taken regularly to a dentist on the 8th floor of the David Whitney Building. Got there via the Grand River streetcar, and Mom usually did a shopping thing on the same trip. Anyway, all the posts lately about the David Whitney building brought back the memories of that dentist. He was a nice fellow, as I recall, but his chair was a torture chamber for me. In those days novacaine was not used, and to this day I hate dentist's visits. Those early days come to mind as soon as I walk into such an office. | ||
Jams Member Username: Jams Post Number: 3753 Registered: 10-2003 |
SSport, Kudos to you for starting this thread. I also sometimes need a reminder why I love this City so much and remain here. I look around me and see the past, the present, and the foggy future of this place. I left this place over 30 years ago vowing never to return. I came back for a visit and have never left. It was a fluke to find my "temporary" place and neighborhood to live. I needed a place to hang my hat, met a guy in a bar that suggested I might move into his place as a large portion had been vacated and they needed a new renter. Almost 20 years I've lived in an area that has gone from people asking "Why would you live there?" to "What a beautiful neighborhood!" We have many problems as Detroiters, and most of us are not blind to them, we just tend to shrug them off and continue on with our lives or make jokes and comments about our situation to get a rise out of others who couldn't or wouldn't live in this fabulous place. Meant to keep this a short post, but I love the City I live and work and extol its virtues and accepting its warts. | ||
Pamequus Member Username: Pamequus Post Number: 80 Registered: 07-2005 |
Holcomb, with a couple of years at Christ the King thrown in, and Mercy High School. Would have gone to Emerson and Redford had it not been for my parents penchant to educate me Catholic. Graduated HS in 67. When I was in Holcomb my cousin lived on Karl, a stones throw from the school. Remember the little store across the street from the school and the two spinsters that owned it?? | ||
Pamequus Member Username: Pamequus Post Number: 81 Registered: 07-2005 |
I remember with great pleasure...... Christmas window displays at Hudsons downtown... The Thanksgiving parade.... Devils night when it was just good fun... Boblo... THE Zoo... Sock hops at Catholic Central... The Library (Redford)... U of D v CC football games (Boys Bowl)... Redford Theatre on Saturday afternnon, home of my first kiss... The sound of the wooden floors in Woolworths and Jupiter... The smell of Sanders..... and the taste of a real chopped liver sandwich... Sledding at Marion Park... 20 kids on each block (baby boomers had it made!)... Dang, it was a marvelous place to grow up!!! | ||
Cambrian Member Username: Cambrian Post Number: 147 Registered: 08-2006 |
Funny thing about train stations, I believe I rode out of Michigan Central station in '77 with my folks to visit friends in Jackson. There's gotta be some slides of that in my folks cabinets somewhere, yes, all though I was born relatively recently, many of the things I experienced in the D growing up, my kid born in '94 won't know...sad. | ||
Oldredfordette Member Username: Oldredfordette Post Number: 527 Registered: 02-2004 |
Gozzies was the store I think. My sister used to send me to Sanders for mashed potatoes and gravy. She was addicted! Which reminds me of a question I always had, why do you have to have a little paper cup of water in a tin holder with a ice cream sundae? I can't eat ice cream without water since my Sanders upbringing. | ||
Jams Member Username: Jams Post Number: 3758 Registered: 10-2003 |
Ahh. sitting on thos stools at the counter eating those Cream Puff Hot Fudge Sundays made those days dragged by mother shopping for hours bearable. I miss those paper cups in the pewter holders. | ||
Oldredfordette Member Username: Oldredfordette Post Number: 530 Registered: 02-2004 |
My MIL could make cream puffs just like Sanders *whispers so Mr. Dette doesn't hear* but she used cheap ice cream and it SO ruined the effect. No substitution for the hot fudge. That would be un-American. | ||
D2dyeah Member Username: D2dyeah Post Number: 19 Registered: 09-2005 |
I was born at the old Ziegler Hospital on Livernois and Michigan Ave. We lived on Mcgraw and Livernois until I was 5 years old, then moved to West Dearborn. My Grandparents lived on Military near Michigan and Livernois, and it was a wonderful, vibrant neighborhood. Yes, we used to go downtown to Hudsons , and it was like entering another world, but the great thing about Detroit was how it had all these little urban areas for each neighborhood. The Michigan and Junction area was hopping with activity when I was a kid. My uncles used to take my cousins and I to the Kramer theater when they had to "baby sit" us, then go to Jets to meet girls, taking us along with them. That was an education! There was a kresgee and a Woolworth there. The Woolworths store had a fire in about 1958, and they didn't rebuild it. Kresgees ruled!! Even the buying of groceries was a neighborhood ritual. The corner store my Grandma went to, Maceks, had her loyalty. That s where she sent us with the "book" to pay for everything. They were the nicest People, and if they didnt have what she wanted, you didnt get it anywhere else, even though there was another store further down the block. My parents and I, as well as my mothers 10 siblings and their families, spent more time at Grandma and Grandpas then our own homes. Detroit is still the place we all call home. | ||
Pam Member Username: Pam Post Number: 505 Registered: 11-2005 |
Rinsing with water after all that sugar is good for your teeth. Perhaps Sanders just cared about dental hygiene?  | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 622 Registered: 12-2005 |
Oldred--I lived on Braille between Clarita and Pickford from birth (1959) until 1969, went to Holcomb, and certainly remember the little store across the street. I used to not buy milk with the 2 cents I was given each day and go after school to that store and buy some little candy thing--I remember those wax "bottles" containing some sugary liquid that burned your throat on the way down. Living close to 7 mile, most of our shopping was along that street. O'Brien's drug store was on the corner, I remember the soda fountain before it was removed. There was an auto parts store next door to O’Brien’s. Their van was broken into in the summer of '68. AC Delco boxes were strewn everywhere. My friends and I decided it would be a fun place to play with matches, and we learned how fast cardboard ignites. We beat it out of there, and after the fire dept. came someone said that they saw a bunch of teenagers setting fire to it. We shopped at the Star bakery, the beer store with the electric eye that set off a doorbell when you came in the rear entrance, the Kresge's, the toy store on the same block, First and Last clothing shops, Cunningham’s on the corner of 7/Evergreen, my eye doctor next door. We went to church at the Methodist church (next to the synagogue) on Evergreen, just north of seven mile. We stopped and bought bagels at the bagel shop on seven mile. Certain Friday nights my Dad would bring home fish and chips from the fin and feather on the north side of 7 mile. I spent a lot of time at the Redford watching movies, and have been active in the restoration and operation of the place, since 1973. Iverson's bakery had the best baked goods. I went to Millers and saw the slot car track, as well as chemistry sets and dissection frogs you could purchase in glass bottles. My older brother had a slot car set-up, but he raced it at a hobby shop on the south side of 7 mile, near evergreen. I used to ride on his handle bars and hold his tackle box that contained his car, speed controller (you brought your own) and spare parts. Do you remember another drug store on the south side of 7 mile, closer to Evergreen, that had a Lionel train that ran around the perimeter of the room, above everyone's head? I remember my Mom giving the druggist the prescription slip and him telling us "It'll be a few minutes. You can look around the store. when you see the train go to the front of the store, you can get your prescription from the clerk". Sure enough, after a while the train chugged to the front of the store, just above the clerk's head. It stopped automatically, and the clerk pulled the little bottle out of a gondola car. more later | ||
Pamequus Member Username: Pamequus Post Number: 82 Registered: 07-2005 |
Was that Johnson's Drug Store??? | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 2831 Registered: 08-2004 |
Well, I grew up on the far east side near Balduck Park in the 1960's. It was a great area, with lots of stores on Harper, Warren and Mack, we had Balduck Park to play in, and the Vogue and Woods Theatres to go to for a Saturday Matinee. I remember Sanders, Woolworths and Kresges at 7/Mack shopping center, old Earl's Bike Shop on Harper at Audobon, Lester Roman's Coins & Stamp Shop at Mack & University... It was a great place to be. I went to Marquette Elementary School, and graduated from Finney High School back in the days when it was a great school to go to. I remember Wrigley's Drug Store, and Elmo's Meat Market on Harper, going to vacation bible school at Ebenezer Baptist Church on Moross, and the old ice rink at Balduck Park... I remember getting real silver for pocket money... Mercury dimes, walking liberty and Franklin halves, and a few Buffalo nickels in change... I remember watching TV... Popeye with Captain Jolly and Poop Deck Paul... Milky The Clown, At the Zoo with Sunny Eliot, Dark Shadows soap opera, and Razzle Dazzle kids show. And I remember watching Gordy Howe on Hockey Night in Canada in black/white, back when there were only 6 teams in the NHL... I remember the great Elm trees that lined the city streets, and burning leaves along the curb... the smell of burning leaves would permeate the air all autumn long. As a kid, burning leaves was akin to playing with matches, but in a safer way. It was always fun to watch them burn... I remember the Milkman coming around... the sound of the produce mans truck driving by yelling over his loudspeaker "Strawberries, Strawberries... 3 quarts for a dollar"... I remember Chatham Supermarkets, the Good Humor ice cream man, Fizzies, and yes even Ovaltine... | ||
Awfavre Member Username: Awfavre Post Number: 69 Registered: 08-2005 |
Detroit for me growing up (in the Central Michigan area near Big Rapids) was three things: 1) The place where I saw the Shriners Circus at the State Fair grounds. My impression as a 5th-grader was that the area had too much trash on the ground, but the abundance of overpasses fascinated me to no end. 2) The extremely cold place where I, a high school sophomore, marched down Woodward with our marching band in the 1984 Thanksgiving Day Parade. The staging area was a riot of colors as various bands’ drumlines performed their cadences, & freezing cold band members danced & skipped & jumped in interweaving, endless, conga-like lines in an attempt to keep warm. I regret to this day I was too chicken to join one of those lines.  3) The place where the Lions & Tigers & Red Wings played. Detroit for me now consists of innumerable things: #1) The River System. I love Belle Isle & how the fish pier by the Coast Guard station gets you seemingly right out into the middle of the river. I love Tri-Centennial State Park & its plaques, the Tawas Lighthouse replica, & the fishermen/women there. I love Atwater & watching for boats on the river as I drive up & down it, dodging potholes & people. I miss the cement plants & the way the sun could make those rigid concrete silos look soft as down. I love the J.W. Westcott Office & the view of the Ambassador Bridge from Riverside Park. I love the DelRay Fish Park & all the fishermen/women there. I love how the Old Rouge is impossibly green-aqua on sunny days. I love combing along the greasy banks of the Rouge, chasing impossibly large freighters from the Jefferson Street Bridge to the Dix Street Bridge, & grinning like a fool if a boat blows its whistles for whatever reason. I love how the G-tugs nestle in their slip like sleeping little kids. 2) The industries. I love how the fuel tanks along Great Lakes Avenue loom large over you. I love hearing the empty whistle of the automated railroad engine pulling train cars along the countless railroad tracks by Nicholson’s Ecorse. I love & hate the disgusting filth that is Zug Island & US Steel’s mills. I marvel at the closeness of the houses in that neighborhood, reminiscent of a time when one walked to work. In the winter time at night from my office, the whole area glows like a slice of heaven . . . or hell (take your pick). 3) The Buildings (Abandoned & Otherwise). The Fisher Building, Guardian Building, Penobscot Building, & so many others simply defy description, as do my feelings for them. How do you describe how it feels to look at those lights in the Fisher Building from the second level? To see the Michigan Central Railway station with a red sunset backlighting it? To see the gilded ceiling of the parking garage in the Michigan Theater building? To walk into the lobby of the Guardian Building for the first time, your neck seemingly snapping in two as your head flies back? To throw wide open all three of the windows in my office on the 37th floor of the Cadillac Tower & lean out over the City? To see the snow blow through the cracked windows in said office in the winter time. 4) The People. This forum. The fishermen & women at all the many parks along the water. The visitors marveling at how “nice” Detroit really is. The janitors & security guards working late at night after most people head home. The waiters & waitresses in the local food & spirit establishments. The bikers with their tiny little gazelle bodies (the buggers). The joggers with their headphones. The homeless guy I saw this morning pushing that huge trash cart filled with absolutely everything. The policemen & women walking the streets. Detroit for me isn’t so much as what it was when I was growing up far far away, as what it has been in the last 10 years since I’ve worked here. It hasn’t all been pretty, but it’s almost always darn interesting, & I look forward to the next 10 years. | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 307 Registered: 12-2005 |
I grew up in Center Line, but I do have some memories of places in Detroit during the 1950s & 60s. I remember nothing about the first time I was in Detroit, which was when I entered the world at Holy Cross Hospital on Outer Drive near Van Dyke. However, I do remember the time I went back there to get my tonsils taken out - how could I ever forget the smell of that ether they used on me! Every Thursday night from 1960-64, My mom would drive me to my music lesson on East Seven Mile at Waltham. Occasionally, we would stop afterwards to do a little grocery shopping at the store just down the street (I think it was a Food Fair) before heading back home. It was during this period that I attended my first Detroit Lions game. My father and I went on a chartered bus with a group of other men to the game, which was at Tiger Stadium. I remember that it was very cold that day and that some fans started a fire in the stands nearby to keep warm. My dad would always take us to see the Cinerama movies, which I believe were shown at the United Artists Theater - Ben Hur, Sound of Music, etc. After getting my driver's license in 1968, I began driving down to attend Tigers and Red Wings games at Tiger Stadium and Olympia with my younger brother. We got to see a lot of good baseball that summer! At Olympia, we would get there in time to purchase the $2 standing room tickets as soon as they went on sale, then rush to the escalator to claim our favorite spot in the balcony. Whever we needed to buy hockey or other sports equipment, we always went to Dee's Sport Shop on Van Dyke, just south of Outer Drive. Once I started dating, my forays into town were less about sporting events and more about concerts ($7 tickets to see CSN&Y at Masonic), dinner dates at places like Top of the Flame and Chin Tiki and movies at the Bel-Air Dirve In Theater. | ||
Pam Member Username: Pam Post Number: 506 Registered: 11-2005 |
Nope, that was at the Music Hall. (Thanks PW theater tour for teaching me that!) | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 308 Registered: 12-2005 |
Thanks, Pam I wasn't sure of the name, but it comes back to me now that you mention it. Maybe you will know the answer to this one. At least once, I went with my dad to a theater downtown in the early 1960's where they showed nothing but b&w newsreels, you know, they kind that were narrated by Lowell Thomas and brought you the news of the previous week. It was a very narrow and small theater, but beyond that, I can't remember the name of it or its location. | ||
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner Post Number: 212 Registered: 04-2006 |
THat was the Tele-News. The Tele-News became the Tele-Arts and showed art films in the 1990's. The place eventually became Bleu. | ||
Supersport Member Username: Supersport Post Number: 10663 Registered: 10-2003 |
What I find perhaps most interesting about this thread is everybody's different perspectives. For me, I never knew this Detroit from way back when. How can I be depressed over something I never knew? Some from this era may possibly never see Detroit in the same light as I do, as they know first hand what Detroit used to be like. Having never seen that, I don't have that level of expectation. I am happy with simply watching continued improvements over each year I am here. Others, like Awfavre, share almost an identical take as I do. It's so many of the little things, things that perhaps many fail to pick up on. Things that are often even hard to explain, yet where you are there, at that very moment when you are taking it in, you smile to yourself and are reminded why you love Detroit so much. Part of me is glad I never knew that thriving Detroit from the 60's and before. Had I known it, perhaps I would be really disappointed in what has occured here. For me, I'm creating my own memories. From sporting events like the All Star game and Super Bowl, to our own home town teams. Being downtown when the Pistons and Wings won it all. Standing in Hart plaza for the parade for both, feeling united as one among the thousands there. It's all the friends I have met, and long nights at the bar with those friends. The concerts I have seen, the festivals I've attended. While my memories may differ from those of old time Detroiters, they are memories that I will tell years from now, memories that mean just as much to me as your's mean to you. Perhaps I'm mistaken, but Detroit has a vibe that I simply don't believe many other cities have. People may love their city, love their sports team, love their shops, etc. Yet I don't feel that passion like I do here. It's like this city is family member to me, I feel both it's pains and it's joys. A casino commercial uses "The Pulse of Detroit," to me, that is what it's like. It's not just a city, its a living breathing thing that has a pulse all on it's own. I'll never forget when I left my employer after signing a contract for work, moving me up here from Indy. I left the office, had 104.3 playing on the radio, and said to myself "Fuck yeah baby, I'm going to be in Motown, right where I belong!" Not 5 seconds later I noticed the license plate on the 80's Cadillac in front of me which read "MOTOWN." This was long before I really discovered Detroit or even knew the area or much history, but it was like a sign, a reassurance that I made the right move. To this day it still amazes me that at that very moment, out of all the plates in the state of Michigan, I'd pull up behind that car. Just another memory from "somewhere" metro Detroit that I'll always recall. | ||
Aarne_frobom Member Username: Aarne_frobom Post Number: 32 Registered: 10-2005 |
For a kid growing up at 15 Mile and Gratiot in the 1960's, Detroit was the center of the universe. I can recall crowds on Woodward thick enough to require pedestrian cops at Christmas, and yes, you could get jaywalking tickets. I got glasses and braces at Ford Hospital, riding the DSR and Great Lakes Transit buses to get there. I saw the Cinerama movies like How the West Was Won, the travelogues, and It's a Mad, Mad World at the Music Hall. (And the wide-screen "2001" but can't recall the name of the second not-quite-Cinerama theater.) I recall school trips to the DIA and the Historical Museum and the Dossin Museum, and innumerable trips with my dad to his job at the J.L. Hudson Co. As a high schooler I would walk around the store, and out into the city without hesitation. But by the late 1960's that was already regarded as exotic by my fellow suburbanites. When a high school English teacher sent us to the Wayne State library to do research, I was the only one who could navigate the car down Cass and back onto the freeway. I recall the first time I walked out of Hudson's onto Woodward and realized mine was the only white face in sight (the hare krishna cymbal-ringers didn't work weekends). Oddly, I ran into a black high-school acquaintance at the same moment. I still felt like I belonged. Still do, in fact, although when I go downtown or up and down Gratiot now I feel like a tourist. Much of the tour takes place inside my head, as I see stuff that isn't there anymore. Walking through Harmonie Park to where my dad used to park opposite the Music Hall is like navigating a ghost town in which someone has built new restaurants. (Remember the Adler/Schnee art gallery?) It's not bad, it's just not 1968. Of course, I know now about a lot of stuff I missed in 1968: the Guardian Building, the Opera House, Indian Village and lots more. And the fact that the surface parking lot opposite the Music Hall has been torn down and replaced by the Gem Theater is just too cool. | ||
Barnesfoto Member Username: Barnesfoto Post Number: 2512 Registered: 10-2003 |
"How can I be depressed over something I never knew?" You can't...this is an asset. You are not biased by remembering what was. I could never live in my old neighborhood because I remember what it was. But I've lived in Southwest Detroit on and off for two decades, and while old timers would say "yeah, but it used to be nicer", I can honestly say I've watched it get (mostly) better and more populated. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 2833 Registered: 08-2004 |
I feel for all of you who remember your neighborhoods as it was, and is no more. I am fortunate in that I lived in a Detroit neighborhood that is still pretty much intact. Yeah the movie theatres are gone, and the retail has changed, but the far east side is still intact. Virtually no houses have been torn down there (from Whittier/Outer Drive to the city limits 2 blocks east of Moross). I feel empathy for those folks who's neighborhoods have been decimated. They no longer have "the old neighborhood" to go back to. | ||
Detroitteacher Member Username: Detroitteacher Post Number: 656 Registered: 06-2006 |
My old "fireman's neighborhood" in the Warrendale area is pretty much the same as it always has been. Still the DQ, still has the Wagon Train party store (with the same name). Santia's pizza is still there. I LOVE driving through there and seeing some of the people I knew from way back. Kids I used to babysit are still there. On a side note, I got my first pack of "cigarettes" from Saunders on Greenfield and Grand River. I don't know HOW I could have forgotten Saunders Cream Puffs and those awesome stools, metal counters, and pewter and paper water cups!!! Now I really need a PUFF (cream, that is). Henry Ford Museum's cafeteria (the one in the corner by the Village) sells them (yes, the originals). Might have to scoot the few blocks and go get one tomorrow!! | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 4369 Registered: 11-2003 |
Gistok, yes the Original Six were Detroit, Chicago, Boston, New York, Toronto, and the feared Montrel Canadiens. jjaba remembers the games at Olympia. The electric feeder buses on Grand River would drop the poles and wait for the sporting hoardes to alight. Eastsiders had to cross the street and then transfer Downtown late at night to the great beyond. We took the Grand River bus home to Northlawn Ave., a ten minute ride. The Production Line of Abel to Lindsey to Howe, with Terry Sawchuck in nets made the 1950s Detroit Reg Wings so great. Their pictures are in the Hockeytown Cafe. We walked to Tigers games from Cass Tech. in the Springtime. We sat with our girlfriends in Section 24, in the back. I kissed her on the strikes, she kissed me on the balls. (With a credit to Soupy Sales, I couldn't resist.) jjaba, Proudly Westside. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 4370 Registered: 11-2003 |
Ray1936, Dr. Peters, my dentist in the Highland Park Medical Arts Bldg. was just as rough as yours. jjaba recals atleast having a great view of the Davison Ditch, the great new marvel of the 1940s. Seeing the Woodward PCC streetcars glide by was also a treat while he drilled and drilled. We rode the Woodward and the Oakman street cars back and forth from the Westside. jjaba, drinking a bottle of Pepsi filled with Planters Peanuts like in our newsboy days. | ||
Douglasm Member Username: Douglasm Post Number: 671 Registered: 10-2003 |
Interesting thread. Keep in mind that I was born in '48, grew up in Ferndale and left SE Michigan for Colorado in 1973, and I've been in Washington state 28 years. Massive. That's how I remember Detroit. When Mom took me downtown on shopping trips, that's what impressed me. The massiveness of the buildings. When I was able to drive, I would occasionally go downtown early on Sunday morning and just walk around, impressed by the majesty of the buildings. Got the same feeling when Mom would take me to Dr. Coles office in the Fisher Building for my allergy shots. Massive buildings. Massive industrial plants. When I got a bit older (college) and worked downtown, I still got the same feeling. On lunch hour I'd walk from Crosby's or Mary Jane Shoes (I worked both) to the HoJo's on Washington Blvd for lunch. My memory tells me that State was narrow compared to Woodward (past The Colonial Department Store) but to come out at Washington Blvd and see that expanse of green and the hotels was awe inspiring. I should have known that something bad was going to happen, though. I had a friend, Mary Politika (sp.) who worked in the J. L. Hudson advertising department. I commented to her one evening that the thing I liked about the big store was that it was made up of so many little stores. Every floor was different, unique, unlike the shopping center stores where you could stand in electronics and look across into mens wear. Mary looked at me sadly and commented that she had wished I had mentioned that to her the year before when they were trying to develop advertising stratigies to draw people back to the downtown store. By 1970 they had pretty much given up. I have other memories, though. Cars and displays in the GM Building's showrooms, the Cultural Center and Cass Corridor, Plum Street, dressing up to take my best gal to a movie downtown. Don't get me started, there isn't enough bandwidth here. It's 33 years later, I'll live with my memories. I was last back in 1994 for a reunion. Dora and I drove downtown and I was absolutely shocked and depressed. Nothing (well, almost) was there that I recognised. Woodward was a ghost town, as was Washington Blvd. Even Belle Isle was shoddy. At least the freighters were on the river..... I'm glad there's a rebirth going on in the city, saddened that it will never be the same city I grew up with, but hopeful that the new Detroit will be better than ever. I'll live with my memories, though..... | ||
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 817 Registered: 01-2005 |
The view I had from the dentist's office in the David Whitney building was that of GCP and the huge "Camel" cigarettes billboard that had a guy blowing smoke rings from it. Not to mention the large sign atop the Wolverine Hotel. Just looked through my old Mackenzie HS yearbook from 1954. The girls all wore skirts and blouses, and the guys slacks and sport shirts, and ties were not uncommon. No tattoos, no pierced whatevers, no baggy pants, no jeans. Well, on reflection, I guess my male counterparts looked kind of dorky, but the young ladies looked absolutely beautiful. They looked classy. I went to my 50th year class reunion two years ago. The guys no longer look dorky, but the gals, bless them, look as gorgeous as ever. | ||
Ragtoplover59 Member Username: Ragtoplover59 Post Number: 1 Registered: 09-2006 |
Hello to all, I have been lurking here for several years, Supersport started a thread that I couldn't walk away from! Although I Now live in Tenn. I have always wanted to come home to the "Detroit" of my Childhood. Many times I've wanted to get in here and Share some Memories of my side of town, I've seen arguments over where my side "was" on this forum, But when I lived there it was SW Detroit. My Mother And Father Met While Both Worked at Hudsons, mid to late 50's My life started in 1959 on Central just off Dix, We Lived right next to the Firehouse (still waiting to see that one on the Firehouse thread) and from there down to Hubbard off Vernor. Hubbard st. is where My Memories kick in,Very early 60's . My Father would walk me down and around the corner on Vernors for my Haircut while he Admired the Used Car lot just across the street. And we still had Home delivered Milk in Bottles, Ice Cream from a man on a 3-wheeled motorcycle w/cooler( may have been Good Humor or not? ),And a Man that walked a Horse and Wagon down the street with Farm grown goodies! Many other things come to mind But I guess the one that sticks out the most was the Air Raid Siren and also the Weekly playing of the Church Bells in the Air Around 63 we moved Down around The Beard School area. We lived on Beard,Lafayette and then Rademacher.(Dad was always a Renter and between 1959 and 1975 we had 9 different Addresses.) This was while I-75 was being Built. We (Dad & I ) spent much time exploring the many Houses that were being torn down, Wondering what the Lives were like for the people that lived in them before they had to leave, This was the only exploring of vacant buildings you could do in Detroit back then, The rest of the city was still very much Alive ! My House on Rademacher was the only one spared on my side of the street, I Actually lived on the corner of the Playground behind Beard School (corner of Rademacher and Lafayette)until the school Board wanted to further enlarge the Playground in about 68 or 69. Living on that block was just too cool as a kid. I had a new Sears Bike and I rode it Hundreds of times around the block. My bike path was bordered by Rademacher, Lafayette,Waterman (front of school) and the Brand New Service Drive ,,and everything in between! . The playground was org.beside the school, the Digging of the ditch for I-75 required it to be moved behind the school. The Playground was never as much Fun as playing in that Ditch when they were digging it out. One fav memory about the construction I have was using the Pedestrian overpass as a Fort, this was before any of the walkway was built, just the support pier that the walkway was attached to was there,as well as a ladder someone left standing next to it. (this is at the end of Casgrain st) We then moved back to Central, Between Lafayette and the Train Viaduct, Still going to Beard School and now having a 7 block walk, I was also a Safety Patrol kid for 5th &6th Grades. Best Memory is the early mornings during the winter time Standing on my post at Lafayette & Lewerenz just before Daylight looking toward Downtown and seeing the top (with the white tree) of the Penobscot Blinking ! Christmas Time in Detroit was Something else Back then, Mom would take my Sister & I downtown on the Bus to do Shopping, Hudsons was a special treat and although she worked there before(in the Toy Dept) She never ruined it for us be telling us how many Santas were really there at one time! 1972 found me going To Wilson Jr High, Just one block up Central from where I lived (poor sis still had to walk to Beard alone) and Jr high was the age we really start to explore on our own. My friends and I would leave our little "Hood" and venture out for some real fun! After School we would walk up to Patton Park to Swim on most days,,,Notice I said "Walk up to Patton Park" We knew if we took our Bikes,,it would be the last time we'd see them. This was when 10-speeds were the thing to have. 10-speed bikes were like our "Bling" back then and places we were going into for awhile were no place to take them, But for our trips elsewhere they were perfect! We would Venture as Far away as Greenfield Village for a short trip,or we would lie and tell our Parents we were going to Patton Park pool for two swim periods,then actually head for the Ambassador Bridge,We would spend time up there waiting for a freighter to pass so we could drop a ball down onto the deck just to watch it bounce ( Prob be a Federal Offense these days) and then ride into Canada as far as we could get and still get back home in time. The River Has a special hold on me, Dad Made sure of that!. We were always going down to watch Boats Pass from the park beside the Bridge, Many Hours could be spent there,Like the Day the "Cort" came by. Dad Had lived on both sides of the river in his life time, and told of many times he would walk across the Bridge or through the Tunnel. It was ok back then, On one of our trips Back across on the Bikes, we were told to go to Customs and fill out some paperwork, we went in one door,got the paper and was told to go outside,fill it out then take it into the next door,,,well, we didn't know what was up but when we went back outside ( and knowing we didn't want our Parents to find out where we really were) we Hopped on our bikes and rode like the wind down I-75 to the Springwells exit. Good Times not Forgotten ! One of Dads Pals in Canada Had a little Wooden Cabin Cruiser, We would go out for Day Cruises up and down the river,Now I was young and don't even remember where he kept that boat or where we even got on it at,But I sure remember the stops behind Zug Island to a Bar that was on Jefferson. That was when I was in charge of watching the boat while Dad and his Pal " filled their Tanks". That boat was just fine to go out on, But going to Bob-lo Had to be done on either the St Clair or Columbia ! We went 1 time each year and How I wish My Kids could have done that too. Theme Parks are just fine,But no one can Compare a car ride to a Boat ride. I had no intention of writing a book here, Forgive me, I'm a former lurker turned Noobie ! In future post I'll work at one thought-one time I'll finish this "Rant" by just telling you that My Dads Job moved to Ok, (He worked at Wolverine Tube on Central between our House and the Jr High) after having no luck finding Work for over a year,he was forced (by no Job and a wife who was from Tenn) to move, We Headed south and started a new life in 1975, in Fact, all Family we had there either moved back here or to Florida. Been back a few times to party with friends Almost made a surprise visit during the forum picnic the 1st time, thought it would be fun to show up knowing so much of the ones there at the time,and having no one have a clue about me? one year it still may happen ! | ||
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen Post Number: 1600 Registered: 10-2003 |
Welcome, ragtoplover59! Thanks for sharing your memories with us! | ||
Ragtoplover59 Member Username: Ragtoplover59 Post Number: 2 Registered: 09-2006 |
Jjaba I've always enjoyed your post, and I hope to do as well as you in Promoting Detroit From Afar ! sorry in advance for saying this in the wrong thread | ||
Ragtoplover59 Member Username: Ragtoplover59 Post Number: 3 Registered: 09-2006 |
Thank you Kathleen, some how I feel like I'm back Home | ||
Ragtoplover59 Member Username: Ragtoplover59 Post Number: 4 Registered: 09-2006 |
I keep thinking of more I wanted to add, In regards to the "Coney" wars I seen here over the Years--------one word, Dulys :~) | ||
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen Post Number: 1601 Registered: 10-2003 |
That's why I haven't yet posted to this thread...it's rather overwhelming to want to cover so much and I don't want to leave out anything that was important in my childhood in Detroit. In some ways, it would be tying together so many other individual comments I've made on specific Forum topics. | ||
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 818 Registered: 01-2005 |
Good story, Ragtoplover. As Kathleen notes, the topic just about demands lengthy tales! Supersport started a real neat thread, didn't he? | ||
D2dyeah Member Username: D2dyeah Post Number: 20 Registered: 09-2005 |
Douglasm One note on your friends observations about Hudsons. I was recruited by Wilmer Weiss, who was the vice president of visual arts in the mid 1970's. I came from Bergdorf Goodman in New York ,and believe me, nobody gave up on the downtown Hudsons store. Millions of dollars were spent on promotions, displays and the best fashion, New York, Paris and Milan had to offer. Hudsons was one of the first stores in the midwest, including Marshall Fields in Chicago, to actively promote Gianni Versace, Giorgio Armani, Geoffrey Beene, Calvin klein, and alot of other top notch designers. Hudsons still advertised in Vogue and Harpers Bazaar, and was a favorite of Womens Wear Daily and W, because of their first rate Fashion buying office. They were always way ahead of alot of other retailers in the United States, and designers worked with the buyers to bring exclusives to the Detroit area. The Display department was considered one of the best in the country. They spent BIG money to get that Hudsons look ,and it worked. In the late 70's, the focus was geared to the Oakland, Northland and Eastland stores, but the big store still dictated the rules, and was still held in high regard by retailers around the world. | ||
Ragtoplover59 Member Username: Ragtoplover59 Post Number: 5 Registered: 09-2006 |
thanks Ray, I also have the "dentist's office in the David Whitney" story ? if it wasn't that one it was one close by. I could sit in the chair and see the streets below spread out to the burbs, No AC, window was open for air and it was several floors up. Very Different from todays Highrises, No one has access to the out side anymore! I remember staying one night at my Birth Hospital, Detroit Memorial on St Antoine.I was having my tonsils taken out and having a view from a corner room looking toward the Freeway, the nurse held me at the open window to wave Bye to my parents when they left | ||
Ragtoplover59 Member Username: Ragtoplover59 Post Number: 6 Registered: 09-2006 |
Thought I would try some pics, hope thats ok? This was from our yard on the playground when the house was still there (corner of Rademacher and Lafayette). Google earth shows some port. classrooms there now, this was from my "Rule the Block" days. Kids my age were to young to cross the street to come play!  | ||
Ragtoplover59 Member Username: Ragtoplover59 Post Number: 7 Registered: 09-2006 |
And this was Dinner with our Downstairs Landlord  I'm the little guy standing on my landlords lap  Dad is Sitting with the white shirt and tie  Mom is standing in the Black Blouse I seen in another thread, Talk about people looking so formal, these pics have everyone dressed for dinner as well. But I put them here for more of my Fav things about Detroit, Look close and besides a wonderful spread for dinner- Our Fav drinks from Detroit, Vernors for the Ladys and Strohs for the Men! | ||
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 819 Registered: 01-2005 |
Those scenes were duplicated in our house many times. I think the beer of choice was Altes Golden Lager, though. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 4373 Registered: 11-2003 |
Mogen David Concord Grape wine for me. We owned our two-flat on Northlawn near Schoolcraft, Detroit 04. We rented the larger flat for $52.50/mo. and dad tried hard to make that $55/mo. payment. In 7 yrs., he burned the mortgage in the big-ass coal furnace in the basement. Funny, then the tenants continued to pay for the next 25 yrs. jjaba, Westside Bar Mitzvah Bukkor. | ||
Ericdfan Member Username: Ericdfan Post Number: 144 Registered: 08-2005 |
Growing up in warrendale in the late 80's and through the 90's was something I will never forget. It was a prosperous and growing neighboorhood. I never considered living in Detroit a bad thing cause I didn't see a corrupt and crumbling city. I did go downtown many times and did see th blight between here and there, but it just motovated to want to help. From 4-7 grade I went to George Washington Carver; which was right down the street from my house.We ate many times at Dog House and L Georges Coney Islands.... ACB thrift store was a favorite store of mine..I had so much fun living in the D...there was some bad stuff tho..We got robbed in the early morning in like 1994, but my mom knew the ppl that did it. Gangs loved to tag garages during the mid 90's, but they never touched mine, my uncle and I knew just about everyone who was doing that and they respected us...I also had a stock wheel stole off my Escort and all the windows out of my moms custom 86 Thunderbird. The things that happened twords the turn of the century influenced us to decide to move. My sister and I were getting older and my mom wanted to live somewhere where so felt safer. I still love the city so much even more than I have before I love every oppurtunity I can to be there and photograph the city...It does have its problems, but I could go on for hours abou that and that not what this thread is about...so to sum up...I loved the city when I lived there and I still do. | ||
Erikd Member Username: Erikd Post Number: 731 Registered: 10-2003 |
My parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and great-grandparents had all moved out of the city before I was born in 1975. Outside of the occasional trips to Tiger Stadium, Cobo Hall, or the DIA, Detroit was just a place of memories for my family. I grew up with stories of the old eastside neighborhood, streetcars, the wonderful shopping district on Woodward, but all these things were either gone, or just a run-down shell of what they once were, before I had the chance to experience them for myself. ------------------- This may sound stupid, but I am sort of glad that I have no memory of the Detroit that my parents and grandparents lived in. Life in this city can sometimes be heartbreaking for even the most optimistic young Detroiter, but it must be unbearable for the people who remember what the city was like 50 or 60 years ago. ------------------------ Back to the main question:
From my perspective, the difference between Detroit when I was growing up, and Detroit now, can be summed up with one word: HOPE. I can't remember any hope for Detroit when I was growing up. There were a few positive developments, such as Trappers Alley and the Millender Center, but they were overshadowed by the recent closures of Hudsons and the Book Cadillac, along with dozens of other abandoned downtown buildings. From the day I was born, until the late 90's, every positive development in Detroit was matched with a dozen losses. ---------------------- My move to downtown Detroit in 1997 was heavily influenced by the plans for new downtown stadia, casinos, and the spin-off development that would follow. For the first time in my life, it seemed that there was some hope for Detroit, and I wanted to be part of it. After nine years of dealing with the constant problems from never-ending construction, daily life in downtown Detroit is pretty good, and there is even more hope for the future. Things are still far from perfect in downtown Detroit, but we are finally seeing more good than bad, and it is great to be a part of it. | ||
Oldredfordette Member Username: Oldredfordette Post Number: 531 Registered: 02-2004 |
I want to point out that my neighborhood remains very beautiful. My street is almost eerily unchanged. Except no more mobs of kids. | ||
Danny Member Username: Danny Post Number: 5006 Registered: 02-2004 |
I used to live at Lawton St. between McNichols and Puritan. From Livernois to Hamilton at the Highland Park Border in the sub-divisions of Pilgrim Village, Palmer Park, University Homes and the Avenue of Fashion in the 1980s. My sub-division was called Martin Park. Back then it was a quite diverse ghettohood filled with Middle income Blacks, Whites and Orthodox Jews who lived near the Temple Israel Synagogue located on 17400 Manderson St. East of Pontchartrain St. My Dad worked at the Highland Park Public School District as a Middle School Football Coach and Janitor and my mom was a housewife. The everyone black and white get along just fine. Nice brick colonials, tuders and family flats and no crackhouses in sight. Eveyone in the Lawton block played until the streetlights came on. The Ghettoman told me that he used to at the Rosedale Park area in Detroit's NW Side. His Mother was a DPS teacher for Cook Elementary School and his Dad owned a barbershop somewhere in the Warrendale District. The Ghettoman had 2 brothers and 2 sisters all married and now living the suburbs except for The Ghettoman where decided to live a life of plain poverty for he claimed that Capitalism is the Devil's gift to Mankind. When he was a little kid, he used to join a all white gang met to keep black-folks from reaching their community, that did'nt work when one of the white friends beat up a black kid, he was new to the area. All of his friends sent time in juvie for assault the rest of 10 years in Wayne County Jail. The Ghettoman wasn't in that fight because he went on the family vacation And later he became friends with the black kid.In mid 1990s his parents sold the house to black middle class family cheap by co-option and they moved to the ex-urbs. When the Ghettoman stayed in Detroit to commit himself to poverty and started the Street Prophets, He never see his parents and his loved ones ever again. | ||
Douglasm Member Username: Douglasm Post Number: 674 Registered: 10-2003 |
D2dyeah.... ......that was the preception I had gotten from my friend. Could have been a boyfriend breakup, or some other reason, but at the time I got the impression that she and other people in her department thought it was hopeless..... | ||
Rhymeswithrawk Member Username: Rhymeswithrawk Post Number: 52 Registered: 11-2005 |
I'm 26, so for me, growing up, Detroit was a wasteland. I was not allowed to go to Tigers games with friends until I was in high school. I had to hold my dad's hand when I was a kid, even walking from the parking lot to the Corner. I guess my parents, like many, really sheltered me when it came to the city. Now, Detroit, for me, is a city of hope. I love Detroit. I love its history. I love how it refuses to die, no matter how hard people try. I love its people. I love its architecture. I love loving a city everyone hates or is afraid of - it's like my little secret in some sort of lame, sappy way. It's a tough love, but it's pretty serious. I consider me and Detroit going steady. | ||
D2dyeah Member Username: D2dyeah Post Number: 21 Registered: 09-2005 |
Douglasm / That department had a terrific staff, and I'm sure your friend was part of it. They did a terrific job of promotion and always kept to the high level of professionalism that Hudsons demanded. | ||
Imperfectly Member Username: Imperfectly Post Number: 132 Registered: 06-2004 |
Gistok- I remember that fruit truck guy too. The house I grew up in on Mckinney is still standing but its looking a little sad. Its a wood frame mostly which is odd because most were brick colonials in that neighborhood. | ||
Ha_asfan Member Username: Ha_asfan Post Number: 25 Registered: 06-2006 |
Growing up in the Vasser/Outer Drive area, we had miniature golf on the Northwest corner of Seven Mile and Outer Drive, the Royal Theater, Rockys Pizza, Dairy Queen, Zukin's Ribs, Robin Hood Drug Store, Star Bakery, Brickley's Mill Depot, Borensteins Jewish Bookstore, United Hebrew Schools, The Furniture Club, House of Foods grocery, the Bagel Facotry, Miller Brothers Hardware where Sommy Elliot was a frequent fixture [bad pun] and Leon and Lefokoskys Deli where you could get a schtickle for a nickle". The Hamilton line would take you downtown and it was OK to ride the bus without fear. There was no fear in the 50's and 60's running all around Detroit although I remember neighborhoods which I don't understand as they were rundown. My uncle owned a pawnshop on Woodward near Temple and spent many Saturday mornings seated on the counter watching transactions and learned at 5 or 6 years old about drag queens. Many guys who did drag would come in Saturday morning and get gowns, furs and jewellery out of hock and Uncle Max said they came back every Monday mornning to hock them again, used the store as safe storage. Another uncle had a wholesale tobacco and candy operation at Western Market which seemed like a farm to me. Grandpa's office in the DIme Building was other worldly..modern and all business. I have a single recollection of an electric trolly on the streets of the city...and on the Northeast corner of Greenfield and Eight Mile was a place called the Crystal Pool, a large public pool, I believe closed in the early 60's due to fighting over integration. One of the nicest memories of Detroit was diversity, which I didn't understand at the time. All I knew was that different neighborhoods had the same stores, yet, different. There was always a bakery, drug store, milk store, book store, per shop et al but the food stores and bookstores had "different" food and books...Italian, Polish, German, Jewish and what my parents called "plain white people". My first real crush was on a guy that worked at Hudsons in the display department. He lived on Boston or Chicago in a great huge house, had a Beetle and opened my eyes to the world. Thar was in the last days of the real Hudsons...Yeah, we had a great city, a really great city. | ||
D2dyeah Member Username: D2dyeah Post Number: 22 Registered: 09-2005 |
Ha_asfan/ You really brought back a memory to me. Crystal Pool was terrific ,but I believe you are right about the reason it closed. My Mom regularly took me there, late 50's, and people literally got out of the pool one time when a few black patrons entered. I remember the situation got heated, but they were allowed to stay. The management watched them, until it became uncomfortable for the family and they left. Alot of the bathers complained, including my mother, about the treatment they received, but the managers were not tolerant of ANY minorities, and we stopped going there. | ||
Ha_asfan Member Username: Ha_asfan Post Number: 26 Registered: 06-2006 |
I was never at Crystal Pool but I do remember my parents having a discussion with neighbors about the "trouble" at Crystal Pool. I'm sure my mom was saying something like "let's steal a bus, fill it full of poor kids and take them to Crystal Pool...." In my parent's house, there was no toleration for bigotry, of any type. | ||
Neilr Member Username: Neilr Post Number: 349 Registered: 06-2005 |
That's the best thing I've read on the forum in several days now. Thank you. | ||
Mkhopper Member Username: Mkhopper Post Number: 1 Registered: 02-2006 |
Born in Livonia, technically lived in Redford, but spent most of my childhood during the 70s at my grandparent's house in Detroit.. Grand River and Lahser area. "Old Redford", to be exact. I remember days spent riding bikes all over the neighborhood, walking through the alley that ran behind the houses on our block, always finding something new even though it was most likely trash. My sister and I would be gone for hours at a time and no one would even blink. So long as we were back for lunch and then again later for dinner, life was good. One of our favorite "chores" would be walking up GR to the Chatham grocery store to pick up a few things. Imagine, two kids, barely 10 years old, walking alone along Grand River, then taking a shortcut by walking the alley behind Sanders to "sneak" through a missing section of fence that bordered the parking lot. Strolling through the car dealership on the way home like we owned the place, just to get a quick blast of air conditioning in the summer and a cool drink of water from the fountain. If anyone was ever bothered by this, they never said anything. From time to time I drive through the old neighborhood now. Not too much has really changed as far as how everything looks, but it's still very different. You never see any people, let alone kids, out just doing those things we used to do. No one siting around on porches, stopping friends as they walk by for a quick chat about the ball game or who has racoons in their attic again. It's just like the whole area is one big ghost town. I love this city but am sad when I see what it's become. | ||
Treelock Member Username: Treelock Post Number: 153 Registered: 03-2005 |
Born in 1971 and grew up in Ann Arbor but visited fairly regularly for auto show, the Science Center, Tigers games or trips to eat at Joe Muer's, Pontchartrain Wine Cellars or Greektown. I also recall a tour of the Stroh's brewery and drinking Signature in the beer gardens area with my dad. My mother grew up on the northwest side and graduated from Redford Union High; her parents put off a move to the 'burbs because Detroit schools were better even though white flight was well underway. I confess I never had any kind of real love for the city; that came later. I remember mostly images: the mountains of trash bags visible from the freeways during the garbage workers strike; a biblical phrase (still there) painted on some forlorn buildings near the exit for Tiger Stadium; the way the terminally gray winter skies made the neighborhoods look even more foreboding; the pedestrian overpass bridges that spanned the broad freeways; the sense I had that all of the buildings here were brick, windowless fortresses, especially compared to those in A2; and, later, riding around the new People Mover and surveying a lifeless streetscape. During the '80s the city took on an especially ominous tone for me, thanks to steady news about crack cocaine, kids dropping cinderblocks from expressway overpasses, children being killed over hightop sneakers, construction of the trash incinerator and more. Then again, I have fond memories of listening to WABX and the Electrifying Mojo. Now, the same ride around the People Mover shows a vastly different, if hardly perfect, scene. I moved to the Detroit area for the first time on a lark in 2000 and quickly fell spellbound by the city. It's got problems that often depress me fundamentally. But while the same cannot be said for many of the neighborhoods, I've never seen downtown look better in my lifetime. | ||
Pamequus Member Username: Pamequus Post Number: 83 Registered: 07-2005 |
Not in Detroit, but remember the Rotunda at Christmas?? Was pretty magical as I recall. | ||
D2dyeah Member Username: D2dyeah Post Number: 24 Registered: 09-2005 |
The Ford Rotunda at Christmas was like going into another world!! The christmas trees outside the building were just as beautiful as the ones indoors. | ||
Lombaowski Member Username: Lombaowski Post Number: 16 Registered: 11-2004 |
This is a really great thread. I spent my formative years on the West side eating Mike's Coney’s and riding my bike past the train tracks and crossing Greenfield looking to get into trouble (train tracks were my boundary). Loved to go from house to house looking for baseball cards, trading stories and those basketball games with the kids down on Tireman. Always loved going to my Grandparents house up Evergreen because I liked Kelly the girl who lived next store. Baseball games at Stein Field, walks with the dog and my grandpa at Rouge Park and an ice cream at the Dairy Queen. I swear that we went to every double header played at Tiger stadium in the 80s. None of this day/night crap it was back to back in the stadium for 8 hours eating dogs, looking for a new batting helmet of a team I didn't have, and enjoying the game with a friend and my Dad. I loved Detroit. But 8th grade came and things were getting a little sticky in our neighborhood. I was going to Cody and my Mom said we were moving to Bay City. She had had enough of Detroit. My Dad and mom still live in Bay City some twenty years later and my mom rarely goes back to Detroit. She more than anyone I know never forgave the city for what she thought it had become. I have been gone a long time now and have lived overseas for most of the past 15 years. I returned to Michigan for two years living in Flint and Livonia but I told myself if I ever moved back I'd live in the city. I left again and I only get back once or twice a year. I spend a lot of time in my old neighborhood and just driving around looking at some of the places I frequented as a child. I had an uncle on the Eastside off Chalmers, family friends up on McNichols on the eastside, an aunt in Inkster. I go there and everywhere else in Detroit seeing things and trying to picture how they once were. It's sad at times no doubt, but there is still something about the city that is in me that makes me see things in a different light. I see old churches barely alive, abandoned houses, empty lots, and people who are just lost. I also see a good BBQ place, superb and unique architecture, people walking to the store, and kids playing in a park. I see the history, the glory, and the heart that made and still make Detroit great. I love it. I love it more and more every time I come back. Maybe one day I'll stay for good. | ||
Philm Member Username: Philm Post Number: 26 Registered: 03-2005 |
Ha_asfan, Do you have any memories of Karp's Drugs at Meyers and 7 Mile? That was my uncle that owned that store, and though I grew up around Puritan annd Wyoming, I spent a lot of time in that neighborhood and in that store. I had forgotten all about Crystal Pool. I had been there only once or twice, and remember knowing well the racial issues surrounding it, from my bigoted family. I grew up in the 50's and early 60's in a wonderful neighborhood teeming with kids my age. I was utterly obsessed and fascinated with the construction of the Lodge extension up James Couzens, just a couple of blocks away. We hung out at Al's Trading Post at Washburn and Puritan....Al and Dot treated us like family. We'd have lunch at the Basket Burger on Puritan, a few blocks from Fitzgerald Elementary. and stop on the way home from school for a Pop at the Banner Market (later became Puritan Community Market). We played baseball and flew kites on the weekend on the Aurora Gasoline Co. parking lot at Puritan and Washburn (later became Marathon Oil). The there are my memories of ice skating in the winter....in the street in front of my house, on Ilene. Darn....you got me started.... Phil |
