Discuss Detroit » Archives - Beginning January 2007 » Northeast Detroit Custom "calling out" « Previous Next »
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Jokerman
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Post Number: 82
Registered: 07-2005
Posted on Monday, May 14, 2007 - 11:53 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Back when I was a kid (fifties and early sixties) we had a custom in my Northeast Detroit neighborhood. When we went to a friend's house, we would not knock on the door. We would stand by the side door and yell "Pat, come on out," or "David, come on out!" Was this unique to my neighborhood or my block, or was this a common practice throughout Detroit?
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Wally2times
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Post Number: 120
Registered: 03-2007
Posted on Monday, May 14, 2007 - 11:55 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

nope we all did it, well into the early 90's
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Ptpelee
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Post Number: 14
Registered: 09-2005
Posted on Monday, May 14, 2007 - 12:15 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

in Northwest Detroit we would call at the side door: "Daviiiid, Daviiid" or whoever's name. Funny, it seemed natural at the time.
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Ray1936
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Post Number: 1445
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Posted on Monday, May 14, 2007 - 12:38 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Ptpelee calls it the way I remembered it.
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Gibran
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Post Number: 352
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Monday, May 14, 2007 - 12:43 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

We would always add "Y" to the names... Dave"Y"
Bill"Y".... hell my Aunt still calls me "Y" at the end of my name...

Also the dads would whistle to come home...each had a distinct call...

And finally, on certain days you can walk down a street in summer and smell the suppers/cooking coming from the windows...
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Larryinflorida
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Post Number: 114
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Posted on Monday, May 14, 2007 - 2:27 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Them> "Larrry Larrry"
Me> (from basement, of course) : "Not comin out!"

Thanks for the laugh. Glad it made it to the 90's hehe..

Remember how everyone's house smelled funny except yours? =)

(Message edited by Larryinflorida on May 14, 2007)
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Spacemonkey
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Post Number: 196
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Posted on Monday, May 14, 2007 - 3:02 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Ptpelee calls it the way I remembered it, too.
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Ramcharger
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Post Number: 252
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Posted on Monday, May 14, 2007 - 3:31 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

As I recall, the point was not to make the adults have to answer the door. That was fine with me since I didn’t want to have to deal with my friend’s parents anyway. I suppose these days’ kids just use their cell phones.
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Jokerman
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Post Number: 83
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Posted on Monday, May 14, 2007 - 6:55 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thanks for the responses.

Now my next question: Was this unique to Detroit, or was it common in other parts of the country? Nobody that I've talked to in California has ever heard of this.
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Ray1936
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Post Number: 1448
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Posted on Monday, May 14, 2007 - 9:39 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

When visiting my Uncle and cousins in suburban Chicago in the 40s and 50s, I never heard anyone calling my cousins. The neighborhood kids there all knocked on the door to the best of my recollection, so maybe this was a Detroit area phenomena. Interesting...I never thought about it until you brought it up, Jokerman.
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Ragtoplover59
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Post Number: 94
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Posted on Monday, May 14, 2007 - 9:50 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"Calling out" also worked well in the Springwells area ! We would stretch out the name almost like making it a song. Short names worked well that way, Ronnnnnnnie and Joeeeeeeeey were a couple I hollered often! ah,Good times.

Funny though, If my kids friends tried that around here, I'm not sure if I would of liked it much? I think Air-conditioning changed all that for us, Windows closed up keeping the outside noises out.
Now if only their cell phones didnt ring all day.

(Message edited by Ragtoplover59 on May 14, 2007)
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Yaktown
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Post Number: 162
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Posted on Monday, May 14, 2007 - 10:35 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I lived in Dearborn Heights until I was 7 and we did the same exact thing! My real first name is Patrick and for some reason, all my friends would call me out as Packy. Never lived that one down! When we moved out to the sticks (Commerce Twp) in 1978, we never did this. I suppose it's more common to the urban areas of SE Mich.
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Lilpup
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Post Number: 2155
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Posted on Monday, May 14, 2007 - 11:07 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

our callouts were sing-songy (Fre-DI-ee, Fre-DI-ee) - were yours?

(Message edited by lilpup on May 14, 2007)
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Kathinozarks
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Post Number: 475
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Posted on Monday, May 14, 2007 - 11:58 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yup! Same in GPPark. Donna was Daaahh-naahhhh. One note for Daaah, same note for the first part of naaahh, then down a few notes for the end aahh. I bet just the same as everyone's!

Sometimes if I went to Donna's house during dinner, her dad would yell from the kitchen, "she's eating!". Man, I hated that.

The back or side doors were always open in our neighborhood from early summer to late fall. and I guess in the winter we would just yell louder!

This was a fun question to ask everyone.

Gibran, an old friend recently emailed me and said every time she smells bacon cooking she thinks of our house. My family loved our bacon!
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Gsgeorge
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Post Number: 139
Registered: 08-2006
Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - 2:50 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

never experienced this out in the burbs in the mid-80s. however:

quote:

Remember how everyone's house smelled funny except yours? =)


that is totally true, regardless of the generation.

also, jokerman, where in california are you? I sometimes hear kids yelling up to their friend's balconies in my Santa Monica neighborhood.
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Eastsidedame
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Post Number: 139
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Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - 6:16 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I think that sing-songy thing was pretty east side, though I could be wrong about that:

FRIENDS: Maaarrry MAR-graaaat!
DAD: She's GROUUUUUNded!
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Pamequus
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Post Number: 107
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Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - 8:08 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Nah, we did the sing-songy thing on the NW side too!!
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Mikeg
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Post Number: 850
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Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - 8:24 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The sing-song "callout" at the side door was also used by us suburban kids in the 50's and 60's in the 10 Mile and Van Dyke area.

During the summertime "school vacation" months, it was usually heard either early in the morning or at around supper time because the rest of the time, we were all outside playing! If it wasn't raining and you weren't already outside by 10AM, mom would "suggest" to all of her school-aged children that they "go outside and play, it's too nice to stay inside". You had to be home by the time the streetlights came on and after a full day of physical play, you were asleep in front of the TV long before eleven o'clock.

Today, the summer break for kids is totally different: mom is at work, there is the isolating comfort of AC and the multiple indoor distractions of cable TV, video games and the Internet. The net effect of all this seems to be that during the summer, our kids time-shift themselves into a nation of indoor zombies who want to sleep in late and stay up all night.
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Jokerman
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Post Number: 84
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Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - 11:42 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Gsgeorge, I'm in San Diego.

In my NE Detroit neighborhood, it was also sing-songy,
"Maaaaaark come on out," or "Riiiiiickyyyyy come on out."

On another note: On Halloween we wouldn't say, "Trick or Treat!" We would say, "Help the Poor!" Sometimes we would elaborate it to, "Help the poor, my pants are tore. Give me some money, I'll buy some more."

We would stay out until about ten or eleven. We'd fill up a pillowcase, then come home, empty it out, then go out again.
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Gannon
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Post Number: 9223
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Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - 11:55 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Great memories, Aviation Subdivision represented here...we were the same.

Good catch on the air conditioning alteration of this tradition.

Double pane windows and closed doors...and cellphones...all conspiring to kill this communication!
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Lilpup
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Post Number: 2159
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Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - 12:07 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

quote:

You had to be home by the time the streetlights came on and after a full day of physical play, you were asleep in front of the TV long before eleven o'clock.



with George & Al on tv or Ernie on the radio if we were sleeping out on the porch that night
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Kathinozarks
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Post Number: 480
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Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - 12:44 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Awww, Lilpup, I never slept on the porch, but we did, of course, 'camp-out' in the backyard with the awesome, saved-our-allowance-for-a-long-time Sears PUP TENT!!!

(Message edited by kathinozarks on May 15, 2007)
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Lilpup
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Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - 12:53 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

My Grandma lived next door and she had a huge screened in porch with wood slat roll-up blinds - we had a heavy metal folding cot and a glider out there all the time so it was easy to grab another camp cot, pillows and sheets, and crash out there on really hot nights.
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The_rock
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Post Number: 1745
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Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - 1:10 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

We did the "come out" routine in B'ham in the 40's. The exception was when we hiked over to Charlie Bingham's house ( big name now with Bingham Farms, building, estate, etc.--they owned a ton of property)
They lived in a lovely ranch house with a railroad train bell positioned in a cupola on the roof. We would climb up from the back of the house, climb to the cupola and then ring the bell bigtime. Not appreciated by Charlie's father at 7 in the morning but it sure got Charlie's attention.
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Ramcharger
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Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - 1:11 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

When I was a kid we had a huge (and I mean heavy) canvas tent. Every year, shortly after school let out, my dad would set it up in the backyard for a few days to air it out. My friends and I would just about live in that tent for those few days, even though the sun beating down on it would make it about 120F inside. This thread is bringing back lots of old memories.
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Xd_brklyn
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Post Number: 231
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Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - 1:30 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Great stories. The "calling out" in the late 60s/early 70s in the suburb of Madison Heights was always the long vowel, "Daaaavid, Daaaaavid".

The only odd call we had was from neighbor who had six boys. To get everyone together for dinner, they used a triangle bell like they would use on a ranch. When we heard that bell ring, we would respond "Come and get it!"
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Jokerman
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Post Number: 85
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Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - 2:20 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

After we called each other out we would play baseball or go swimming at Heilman Park. We would play until it got dark. If we didn't have enough players, right field would be an automatic out. If the batter was left handed, left field was out.

Baseballs were valued and hard to find. We would use the same one until the hide came off. Then we would cover it with black electrical tape and keep on playing. When we ran out of tape, we would play until all the yarn was gone. Then we would play with the little black rubber ball at the core. Some very cheap balls were filled with sawdust rather than yarn. A few good hits would knock these balls out of whack.

After it got dark, we would play "kick the can," "team tag," or "ditch it" for hours on our block. In "team tag" or "ditch it" one team would be "it" and would have to hide until they were captured by the other team. Certain backyards, with mean owners or mean dogs were considered "out of bounds." We often cheated and hid there anyway. There was a difference between "team tag" and "ditch it", but I can't remember what the difference was.

When we were about 13 or 14 we would play "ditch it" inside the Hudson's at Eastland shopping center. We knew all the secret stairways and elevators. We would play until we were kicked out by security guards. Running away from them was another game in itself.

It's no wonder that we did not see very many obese kids back then. We did not spend much time just sitting around the house.
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Michmeister
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Post Number: 180
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Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - 3:03 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Damn straight! We were out practically at sunrise and in at dark, having played Baseball, football, basketball or whatever we could think of at the time. Even if it was playing with the cardboard box when someone got a new fridge, making a house out of it or a tank where we would all lay down in it and start rolling in the same direction. On Whitcomb, we had unusually large front lawns, so we could get pretty god mileage out of a new frigidaire. Just not to be duplicated in a pc game!!!!!! In NW Detroit in the seventies, we were calling our buddies out in the sing-song fashion, as well. What a wonderful childhood we had (sniff).
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Kathinozarks
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 12:28 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Ram, that's the one thing I forgot to post and thought of it immediately after - that green canvas pup tent was hot as hades! You're right, we still played in it. I remember like it was yesterday.

Mich, Cardboard box tanks; now that was fun!

Jokerman, we played the same games in GP Park. Tag and different variations of Tag. Always so exciting, I'd be hiding and always thought my breathing and heartbeat was soooo loud - and didn't it make you just want to pee your pants when the 'seeker' was close to you and you were about to be found?!

If there is a heaven I want it to be where I get to live the best parts of my childhood over and over!
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Gistok
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Post Number: 4322
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 1:00 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Was I the only one who's grandmother (and her bedroom) smelled of mothballs....
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Larryinflorida
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Post Number: 135
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 1:04 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

no
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14509glenfield
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Post Number: 896
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 2:18 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Jokerman
RE: ditch it and left /right field out.. Yup!
As a carrier/paper boy then awaiting 8:30pm papers the troup of us did that too. Best one I can remember was climbing a "pole" (when they had the pegs)....Never seen..never caught..papers came ...game over...

Just a "Y" to any name..the day started "in the hood"....then.
Pitcher's mound out also.
Any "forts" in your friends garage? Same as camping out in the backyard tents.
Sawdust baseballs did suck.
"let's play pickle"! Great memory thread!!!!
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Ray1936
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 2:39 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

This thread has evolved into a trip down memory lane all right, and it's turned into a good 'un.

Ah, yes! Sleeping on the porch in the summertime! We had this huge, three-seat swing ("Glider", we called it) on the front porch, and it was super as a bed. I'd haul out my pillow and a light quilt and slept like a log out there. On hot August nights (with no a/c) it was the only place to be. The sound of crickets chirping was better than any sleeping pill ever invented.

Couple of baseball variants I recall. Three or four of us would play in the street, one hitting, three fielding. After you caught three fly balls or six grounders, it was your turn up. Had to be a clean catch, though.

Then we'd go over to the schoolyard (Monnier school) with a bat and tennis ball. One would pitch (a square scraped into the brickwork of the school was the strike zone) and the batter would try to put it over the fence. You kept track of how many "home runs" you had during the summer. I suppose our tally became grossly inflated by the time September rolled around. (Oh...and tennis balls were white, back then.)

Yup, outside from dawn to dusk. And if it was a really good day, you had a nickle in your pocket to buy a dixie cup from the Good Humor man when he came around.
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Gibran
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 2:52 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Rossiter park and when we didn't have enough for a first baseman we used to have pitchers mound out for first...we graduated to St. Brendan's for softball in summers and Detroit Parks and rec after that (Sasser Stoners)...

Foot ball was played on the street with the "big Kids" and curb ball (each cement block in the street was a base.

No Ghost in the Grave yard and hide en seek, statue when younger and door bell ringing when older ")....

Tennis at Heilman's in the summers, swimming at Denby and Diving off the side of the mountain at Heilman's pool.

Fishing at Alter and then in GP at the clubs.

Riding bikes to eastland and city airport.

Summers in Detroit,,, i wish I could go back for a week to that time.

Oh yes... looking out for each other....
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Gistok
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 3:02 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Ah yes, the Good Humor man.... on the far east side in the 1960's we had a guy by the name of "Uncle George" who sold ice cream from a truck. Anyone recall him?

And then there was the vegetable man Tom Lappicola (who lived on our block on Marseilles), who sold vegetables and fruit from a truck. I can still recall him calling thru his loudspeaker "Strawberries... Strawberries... 3 quarts for a dollar".

(Message edited by Gistok on May 16, 2007)
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Gron
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 3:10 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

We called out in Oak Park in the 50's and 60's. Always at the back/side door.

Used to play in each others' yards even when the friend wasn't home.

Used to freeze our backyard into an ice rink.

Used to throw snowballs at the trucks on ten mile.

Used to lay up on the roof and watch the July 4th fireworks.

Used to ride our bikes EVERYWHERE.

Didn't have any money, but still had a lot of fun.
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Gibran
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 3:31 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I remember the vegetable truck, would save me from walking to Whittier to get vegies at the market...and yes those strawberries....

The meat market on Morang was the opposite direction,,, as well as the shoe repair guy.

Derone's(spelling) Hardware...where many a hockey stick was purchased (oops not a summer memory)...
also gliders.

Playing spin the bottle in the woods at Balduck park...well thats too much information....
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1st_sgt
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 4:14 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

This is a great thread, we did it all, slept on the porch, camped in a pup tent in the back yard, and we called out our friends also.

We would throw apples that fell from the trees on the ground over the wall into the coal yard. (to get rid of them).

The vegetable peddler calling out “apples, peaches, potatoes, onions”.

I remember the junk man with a horse drawn wagon going down the alley on Butternut Street at my Grandmas house. Anyone remember that?

We played outside all day long coming in for lunch (tomato soup and PBJ sandwiches) going right back out till the street lights came on.

Played: Army, running bases, pickle, two squares and rode our bikes everywhere.

Great memories.
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Detroitnerd
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 4:26 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

In Dearborn, we knocked on doors and asked for people by name. And their parents weren't all that pleased to see us (sorry, no blond moms rushing out with trays of Sunny D), so I wish I had known you could just yell and stay out of swatting distance.
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Larryinflorida
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 4:29 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

It's accurate to say that mayor Orville Hubbard had a closed door policy, at the time. =)
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Detroitnerd
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 4:48 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Heh. Thirty-three years of bigotry, but an endless future of Hubbard humor. When does that "Orvie: The Musical" come out?
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Mikeg
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 4:52 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

When there were just two of us kids and we wanted to play some baseball, we played "curb ball". The street curbs in our neighborhood were a quarter-round shape and perfect for throwing a sponge-rubber ball against it to produce "hits" of varying arcs. Your opponent had catch three of them "on the fly" to put your side out and come to the "plate". Lateral expansion joints in the street marked fair territory and longitudinal joints or cracks were used to mark off singles, doubles, etc., with a homer being an uncaught ball that landed past the curb on the opposite side of the street.
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Detroitnerd
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 5:04 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Other street stuff:

Flip over your bicycle or Big Wheel and spin the wheel. You're selling ice cream! Ice cream! Ice cream! (Of course, we never got why you did it: To imitate shaved ice men.)

The refrigerator box as a boat/house/clubhouse/bus, etc.

Garbage-picking as competitive group activity.

Selling lemonade to thirsty passers-by.
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Larryinflorida
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Post Number: 145
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 5:04 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"When does that "Orville: The Musical" come out?"

I believe the folks doing "Delorian, a Modern Macbeth" are in talks on that.
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Larryinflorida
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Post Number: 146
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 5:06 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Oh here's another...did anyone use walkie talkies to talk to your friends on the block?

CB at the time, but I guess the kids still use FRS walkies to do the same thing.
Later I got a real CB. =)
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Jokerman
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 5:10 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

We played a similar game using the bottom step on the front porch. We even had a solitaire variation that anyone could play alone.

We would ride our bikes from our NE Detroit neighborhood to Jefferson Ave. to see the lake. A huge trip was the time that we drove our bikes all the way to Metropolitan Beach.

We would take the bus, by ourselves, with no adults, to Ladies Day games at Tiger Stadium. Can 11 years old kids do that today? All women and kids under 14 got in for 50 cents. I still have some ticket stubs from those games. One time, while we were running around the stadium, Rocky Colavito hit a foul ball that bounced off my seat while I was gone. The girl sitting behind me caught it. Forty six years later, I still haven't ever caught a ball at an MLB game!

(Message edited by Jokerman on May 16, 2007)
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Jimaz
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 5:24 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yeah, we used CB radios too. The biggest thrill was when we contacted some guy driving on Van Dyke. He described his car to us and we waved as he passed by. The simplest pleasures are long remembered.

We also played "spy." We would all spread out and get lost in the neighborhood and then try to find each other without being found. It was great fun to watch your opponents to learn their methods. I even bought a toy periscope (from Woolworth's?) for the game.
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Mtm
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 5:25 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Just outside of Hamtramck, we did the call-out, too. We added the Y at the end so it went into rhyming a singsong Joey, Joey, Come out and play.

We, too, had to be in at "first (street) light" and kids would call it to each other because we ALL had to be home. Dad also had a very piercing and loud whistle that I could hear a block away when he wanted me home.

So, does anyone remember Frozen Lindies or was that just a Hamtramck thing? It was just a Dixie cup of frozen Kool-Aid for $.02 from Boss's on Conant on the walk home from school. I still make them sometimes though I now scoop them out with a spoon instead of slurping from the cup.
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Cub
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 6:55 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Most of my memories of "calling out" was my grandmother calling us in: Miiiikkeeey, Maaaaarrrk, Maaarrrcus, come heeeeeerrrrre.LOL
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Kathinozarks
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Post Number: 494
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 7:30 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

1st_sgt, my mom told me a few weeks ago that there was a junk man with a horse drawn wagon who would go down the alley between Wayburn and Maryland in GP Park. That was about 1960 or so.

Pickle was just the best game ever. CAR!!!!
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Kathinozarks
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Post Number: 495
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 7:43 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Detroitnerd says:
Flip over your bicycle or Big Wheel and spin the wheel. You're selling ice cream! Ice cream! Ice cream! (Of course, we never got why you did it: To imitate shaved ice men.)

Garbage-picking as competitive group activity.
--------------------------

OMG, that's so funny! Our red tricycle made perfect ice cream! Where did we come up with these things!! Amazing. Who taught us? Our parents? There wasn't so much tv back in the 1960's, but could we have seen someone do it on a cartoon? Interesting.

You could get some great stuff garbage picking. No shame in that, eh?! My brother brought home a tv/stereo/turntable console once. He fixed it and it worked for years.

Have any of you been able to pass down these games/activities to your children? I would love to hear about which games they still play (thanks to mom or dad).
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Ray1936
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 7:47 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

We called the old junkman with the horse-drawn cart going down the alley the "sheeney man". I have no blooming idea where the term comes from, or what it is supposed to mean, other than what I just said. But that's what we called him.
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Larryinflorida
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 8:22 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

That alley full of s**t is why I'm in Electronics now 40 years later.

Much to mom's chagrin then though.

Her" You're a Schmata!"
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Jimaz
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 8:25 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

From The Word Detective:
quote:

"Sheeny" is a very old and extremely derogatory term for a Jewish person. It first appeared in the 19th century and its origin is uncertain, but it may be based on the German word "schon," meaning "beautiful." The theory is that Yiddish-speaking Jewish merchants pronounced "schon" as "sheen" when advertising their wares, and the word was then picked up as slang for Jews in general. While "sheeny" was at first not especially negative in connotation (and was used by Jews themselves in a joking sense in the mid-19th century), in the 20th century it has become an unambiguously anti-Semitic slur, on a par with "kike."

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56packman
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 8:32 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The term "Sheeny" also came to denote anyone involved in the scrap trade--metal, rags, etc.
Most people in that business were Jewish
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56packman
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 8:41 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

OK--getting back to the topic of calling out your friends, I've been thinking about this since this thread began, and have prepared this illustration (which may be taking this WAY too seriously), but this is musically how it was done in my NW Detroit (7 mile/Evergreen) neighborhood in the sixties. This is what you would sing--song if you went over to Billy's house:


Bil-ly
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Kathinozarks
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Post Number: 496
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 11:25 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

56, now that's dedication to communication! Now anyone who looks at this thread can sing-song a name :-)
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Lilpup
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 11:43 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

56, sometimes that, sometimes with an eighth note on the second syllable before dropping down
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Ray1936
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 11:53 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

In waltz time? I dunno........ :-) :-) :-)

(Thanks to all for enlightening me on "sheeny man".)
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Jimaz
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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 11:54 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

You're welcome. I learned something too. :-)
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Kathinozarks
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Post Number: 498
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Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 12:03 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Lilpup, I think 56 is working on the eighth note version now! I personally liked to use that one most.

Yes, Ray
.... one two three, one two three
Daahhhhhhhhhhh naa aaaaaaahh!
This was the eighth note version that lilpup spoke of.
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Larryinflorida
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Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 12:27 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yeah C, C slur A that's the Conley Street way.
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Kellyroad
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Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 1:20 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Jokerman,
Being from the northeast side I often wonder if singing or yelling out a friend's name instead of ringing the doorbell or knocking was more of a local eastside tradition. I've asked some folks downriver if they did that as a kid in the 60s...some did. But as you pointed out it seemed that was the standard on the eastside. I can remember if my buddies or I couldn't come to the door (usually the side door by the milk chute) the singing (yelling) would go up an octave. On a related note, CURB BALL use to be extremEly popular in the 60's on the eastside. Only certain streets with the curved curbs and sections marked off by tar lines were good for curb ball. ANY CURB BALL STORIES OUT THERE?
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Kellyroad
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Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 1:45 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Jokerman,
It seems like our childhood hangouts were similar. Get a bunch of kids together, go to Heilmann Park (and yes right field was out. Only had one or two beat up baseballs or maybe a rubber ball too. St. Jude's parking lot between the fences where the basketball rims were located was another hangout (over the fence with a rubber ball was a homerun). Did the same thing at Eastland when it was outdoors....ride bikes like crazy thru the mall!! Yeah, and when we were off our bikes we know every nook and cranny there from the concourse level, to Hudson's, to Kresges and of course Sander's basement
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Jokerman
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Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 1:53 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Kellyroad:
Check out my other post about Danny the Ice Cream Man. Do you have anything to add to that post?
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Kathleen
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Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 6:59 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Here are some of my childhood memories from Three Mile Drive:

Calling out friends by name.
Getting called home by name, or sometimes by the bos'n whistle or a bell.
Staying out until the street lights came on.

Playing hide 'n seek where nobody's property was off-limits; we hid in people's bushes and on their porches and behind their garages--and nobody seemed to mind!

Playing "tag" and "kick the can" and "capture the flag" with large numbers of kids. Playing whiffle ball using the fire hydrant as the tee. Playing marbles along the curb. Lots of kickball and dodgeball. Also "Red Rover"!! And when we finally got a basketball net put up on the garage, many games of "H-O-R-S-E"!

Playing a game we called "Olympics" (this must have been following the 1968 Mexico City Olympics). Each kid picked a country to represent. Using a kickball, you kicked the ball as high into the air as you could. Somebody called their country name to catch it; if they did, the kicker was "out"; if they missed it, they were "out". Repeat until only one country is left standing; they are declared the winner.

Playing baseball with my brother and his friends at the Clark School playground; I was the only girl they allowed on the team because I could play as well or better than them, even hitting a home run or two over the Waveney fence (was that 2 stories or taller?)!

Setting up a haunted garage one year and a basement "Teepee Town" another year and charging admission to the other kids. Making candles from paraffin wax, crayons, and string to sell to the neighbors. Finding nicely shaped clean rocks and spray painting them gold to sell to the neighbors.

Earl the mailman with his mail bags on wheels!

Sam the fruit & vegetable guy who came by in his canopied truck most afternoons!

Those were the days!!! I'm sorry that my boys never got that experience.
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14509glenfield
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Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 7:48 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Kathleen & others
Sam the vegetable man....Cusamano?

Did boys let girls "play" and vice-versa unless they were "good" in whatever game?
"Hoods" were definitely different then. Does your kid today "exit the computer" when the street lights come on? Then again we all learn from our environment.....it's habit forming..like why am I doing this?

(Message edited by 14509glenfield on May 17, 2007)

(Message edited by 14509glenfield on May 17, 2007)
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Dlb
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Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 10:12 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

We lived on Dalby in Reford Twp and played "guns" or "army". Back in the old days when toy plastic gun replicas could be bought at KMart or dime stores. I had a replica machine gun. But the best was yet to come. My parents bought me the Man From Uncle replica pistol set with attachable stock and silencer, plus it came with a triangular security badge. So cool!
Funny thing is now I dont own any real or fake guns nor do I have any desire to. Whats up with that?

I just remembered the machine gun was a copy of the gun Vic Morrow used in th tv show Combat. The packaging was done up in camo with a head shot of Vic Morrow on it. I can only imagine walking down the street now with that.

(Message edited by dlb on May 17, 2007)

(Message edited by dlb on May 17, 2007)

(Message edited by dlb on May 17, 2007)
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Gibran
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Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 10:48 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

This is really strange ...we thought the kids on wayburn invented all those activities...what a parallel universe happening all over the east-side.


My front tooth was chipped by a neighborhood girl as we collided running to home (elm tree) playing hide n seek... yes they were there with us...became more interesting the older we got :}

but football on the cement was a testosterone thing... we all thought we were budding Wolverines at the time...As soon as the leaves started changing birthdays that were in the fall was a good time to bring out the new football...

Listening to Michigan Football on the transistor and playing out the game n the front yard.

Garbage picking was a fine art...you had to sense the treasures...but the Matchbox(car) city on Wayburn, where we converted Jimmi Bobco's garden into a city was very prestigious...you had to be invited to that gated community.
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Ray1936
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Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 12:52 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Another factor worth mentioning is that in the 40s and 50s, hardly anyone played basketball. Probably the only time they did was in gym class during the winter. There was absolutely no interest in the sport when I was a young'un.

In fact, I still think it's a dumb game, but for those who enjoy it, go for it.
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Kathleen
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Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 1:14 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I forgot to mention raking the leaves from the back fences all the way to the street....we came up with many different ways to make it a game while transporting the piles rather than just plain ol' raking. At the curb in the street, they were piled high between each driveway.

Then for the rest of the afternoon, we ran our bicycles (mostly the midsize bikes with banana seats and high handlebars) through and through them. After so many bikes went through the piles, we'd have to rake them back into the high piles we started with.

Then when it was dark, we'd light them on fire. Yes, we burned the leaves...back in the day when it was allowed. And sometimes there'd be leaf fires burning up and down the block.

An autumn day and evening memory to cherish as this was a family and group of friends and neighbors event in our neighborhood.
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14509glenfield
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Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 1:43 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Dribbling a puck is difficult. Along with the posted memories. After the "thing" with the bat, you got to "pick first". "Claws" counted. Ya didn't have to Dannnnnnyyyy off the computer because, like you, he/she...soaped windows, valued ideals, enjoyed the friendship of the neighborhood, eventually got a transiter radio, read comics, played "senseless" games, camped out, etc. and followed parental guidance or lack there of. I'll bet Gordie Howe could still.........kick anyones ass. Stellar example then an now.
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Rotation_slim
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Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 2:55 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I grew up in the slums of Grosse Point Woods (8 Mile & Mack)and calling out was certainly a tradition in our hood. I had actually forgotten about it, recalling it is quite pleasant. I am going to tell my kids about it.. maybe they will start.
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Mtm
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Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 3:21 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Larryinflorida,

Szmata translates from Polish to a good bit of rag.
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Kellyroad
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Post Number: 25
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Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 3:32 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yeah, the towering elm trees provided enough leaves for many fires. I was jealous of the neighbor kids who simply raked the leaves into the street for a fire. I had to cart the leaves behind the garage for my dad's compost pile and miss all the pyrotechnic fun.
Far eastsiders: Are there any stories of the allies closing in the 60's. I recall that was a big deal. We had to petition the neighbors on the block. put up new fencing, and place our trash out in front instead of in the alley for pickup. Some neighbors resisted, but overall everyone gained more space for gardening, etc. But it also reduced our routes when playing army or bike tag.
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Gistok
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Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 3:37 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I still remember the smell of burning Elm leaves along the curb... In the fall the whole neighborhood smelled of smoke. When burning them, if you got too close to the smoke, it would sting your eyes.
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Larryinflorida
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Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 4:14 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thanks Mtm. cause I was an alley-crawling rag picking urchin to her. But it was buried treasure to me.
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Kellyroad
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Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 9:03 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Ray 1936,
It seemed like the basketball craze happened overnight in the mid 60's at least in our neighborhood near Kelly and Moross. Driveways were often widened by the garage and wires were moved to accomodate driveway bball courts. HORSE, PIG(the shortened version of HORSE), 21 (thirteen was poison..had to go back to zero) one on one,and of course, around the world (if you missed your second shot you went back to the beginning)
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Winstin_o_boogie_iii
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Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 9:21 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Someone mentioned the Good Humor Man. In NW D, we had the Jumbo guy with the tunes that'd drive anyone NOT a kid crazy. We'd follow and harass him on our bikes, circling around him like Brando and Lee Marvin from the Wild One. He'd throw us a few Bomb Pops to get us off his trail.
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Larryinflorida
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Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 10:00 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Orange creamsicles and Strawberry shortcake. And the occasional small piece of dry ice to burn our flesh.

The "menu" on the rounded back corners of the truck.

(Message edited by Larryinflorida on May 17, 2007)
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Quozl
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Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 10:07 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Over on Southfield & Schoolcraft we had the Jumbo guy too. We always hated if he came before the old Good Humor truck came as we considered them to be inferior in quality.

My dad put up the first basketball hoop in the neighborhood in '66 in the front of out garage. We played "kick-the-can" all the time, played ball at O'Shea and played war or rode our bikes at "Devil's Hills".

The best thing we did that my cousin and me "invented" was taking the removing the outer skin of a golf ball and getting down to the rubber band guts inside. I would tie the end to the Elm tree in front of our house and she would stand across the street and wrap it around the Elm tree at the "Dirk's" house. We would throw it as many times as we could until either a car was coming or ran out of the long rubber band inside. It was great to watch cars break though it, though the one time we did it and a guy on a motorcycle tried to drive through it and nearly decapitated himself put an end to that game.

We also loved stuffing automobile exhaust pipes with dandelions, old potatoes or bananas and watching them shoot the wad out or refuse to not start.

(Message edited by quozl on May 17, 2007)
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Ray1936
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Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 10:51 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"Ba-na-na in the tailpipe! Ba-na-na in the tailpipe!" -- Eddie Murphy in "Beverly Hills Cop".

So that's where he learned that trick, Quozl!
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Quozl
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Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 11:16 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I don't know if Eddie learned it that way or not Ray. We did it loads all over Grandmont...
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Gibran
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Posted on Friday, May 18, 2007 - 10:24 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Kellyroad, they closed some alleys, mine was one but that was in the early sixties...our garden grew in proportion...some of the neighbors hated the idea of garbage cans in the front yards, and that cut down on the alley picking, unless the treasure was to enticing.

The basketball goal my dad put on the garage in the seventies was still on my house until a year ago..he always built things to last...

If a tornado came and blew the garage down that goal would still be standing with a piece of the garage...

I almost killed my cousin with the clothes line, as he ran across the yard I tugged on one end and caught him by the neck...Summers in the backyards meant clothes on the line and gardens to weed....
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Tammypio
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Posted on Friday, May 18, 2007 - 7:51 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Growing up in Hamtramck we too "called out" for the friends to come to play. I agree with the quarter note, eighth note, half note version.
Stayed out till the street lights came on and sometimes later since most of our families were sitting on the porch anyway.
We played kickball (bases were the fire hydrant, the light pole and a tree stump...home was pretty much right in front of our steps), played "Mother May I?" and "Redlight, Greenlight" and rode bikes. My brother and I would throw a baseball back and forth into mitts, as hard as we possibly could, hoping the other would miss (thus giving the other a "point"). We'd play till 25 or 30. I had quite the pitching arm back then!
Once in a great while we'd have money for ice cream from the ice cream truck...it was a special treat.
We played in the alley sometimes...and I learned to ride my bike in the alley.
My younger brother saved his money and ordered a PALS clubhouse (from the vitamin company of the same name). It was basically a big decorated cardboard box that looked like the Pals clubhouse in the vitamin commercial. OMG....we played in that thing forever!
It's unfortunate that kids today spend very little time outside and don't have the imaginations we had....we were forced to!
There's a song that Bucky Covington (new country artist) has right now called A Different World. It talks about how life is different now.
He discusses:getting Daddy's belt when we misbehaved, having three tv channels we got up to change, no video games, no satellite, no bottled water...we drank from the garden hose, our friends were outside and we played outside). It's a good song and really reminds me of how things have changed so much.
I treasure those childhood memories. Great thread...looking forward to hearing more!
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Lilpup
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Posted on Friday, May 18, 2007 - 8:41 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

hmm...garden hose...that reminds me...water balloon and squirt gun fights on hot days

barefoot on the sidewalk - watch out for junebugs and sharp, pointy acorns

hearing insects fly into the screens after dark, sometimes staying and walking around on it, buzzing every now and then

thinking that the buzzing up by the treetops and power lines had something to do with electricity - don't care to admit how old I was when I realized it was cicadas (never used to see them)
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Ray1936
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Posted on Friday, May 18, 2007 - 9:03 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hey, talk about bugs....anyone remember that kind of black dragonfly with a long, thin tail that we called "sewing bugs", and told everyone that if it landed on you it would sew you up? And then there was catching honeybees inside of hollyhocks, which were usually in the alley. To this day, I call them "alley flowers".
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56packman
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Posted on Friday, May 18, 2007 - 11:22 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Here's the "eighth note version" which I find to be in 6/8


NW call out six-eight


My brother's name is Bobby, I often heard one of his friends standing outside our side door singing

"Baaaaaa-Be-eeeeeeeeeeeee" to this same notation
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Kathinozarks
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Post Number: 500
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Posted on Friday, May 18, 2007 - 11:43 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

LOL 56! Wait til I show my friend Donna that you used her name in your future Musical, "Calling Out In The 'D'(and Other Childhood Memories)". Or it could be called "Daaaaahhh-naa-aaaahhhh, Baaaa-Be-eeeeeeeeee!"

Could be fun to write and something that a large demographic could relate to!
Larryinflorida - now that is an interesting memory of the 'menu' wrapping around the rounded corner of the back of the Good Humor truck! Yes, I remember that too and love it! Thanks.

As a child I loved the Chocolate Eclair the best (candy in the middle, so that when everyone else was chewing wood, you still had CHOCOLATE!! What could be better!)

We all
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Larryinflorida
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Posted on Friday, May 18, 2007 - 11:51 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)



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Larryinflorida
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Post Number: 181
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Posted on Friday, May 18, 2007 - 11:55 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I was just looking at the name "Good Humor" and it's clear it was aimed at the parents and not the kids, lol.

Buy this and your kids will shut up and act happy for 15 mins! =)
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Kathinozarks
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Posted on Friday, May 18, 2007 - 11:55 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

SOOO COOL!! Where have all the Good Humor Trucks Gone?
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Larryinflorida
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Post Number: 182
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Posted on Friday, May 18, 2007 - 11:57 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Mo'
http://goodhumortrucks.com/pho to.html
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Kathinozarks
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Username: Kathinozarks

Post Number: 504
Registered: 11-2006
Posted on Saturday, May 19, 2007 - 12:00 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

thanks, that's real nice of you to post the link. I'm going there now.
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Kathinozarks
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Username: Kathinozarks

Post Number: 506
Registered: 11-2006
Posted on Saturday, May 19, 2007 - 12:21 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

It's a good idea for a fun business. I still want The Good Humor Man(or woman, but, really I don't remember there ever being a Good Humor woman during my childhood) to come down our street ringing those great bells.

Then maybe the hideous, big electric blue truck ice cream guy with the ONE annoying computer generated song blaring throughout our little city will find another business to get into. :-)

I can dream, can't I?
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Eastsidedame
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Username: Eastsidedame

Post Number: 142
Registered: 12-2006
Posted on Sunday, May 20, 2007 - 6:40 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

No, never "Good Humor" women. At least, not until the 70s for sure. And it was always Strawberry Shortcake bars for me.

And thanks to Jokerman for the "Help the poor.." bit. I forgot about that! LOL and woke everybody up!

Of course, I wasn't too embarrassed to go trick or treating right up to my senior year at high school! And nobody thought too much of it, either. I was always a "hippie" or a "bum".

Did anyone else extend their "trick or treat" years way beyond reason?
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Histog
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Username: Histog

Post Number: 1
Registered: 05-2007
Posted on Sunday, May 20, 2007 - 12:48 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Growing up on the NW side of Detroit in the 50s and 60s (7725 Stout) the custom of "calling out" was widely practiced. I recall that it was done because disturbing adults was not cool. We played in the "Little Park" behind Kosciusko and of course Rouge Park where we hung at the "White House" and the "Sunkin Bridge" behind it. We bought penny candy after cashing in pop bottles at Lenords Store on Warren and Stout. We had Good Hummer Ice Cream trucks and Uncle Gus. If you saved 10 Uncle Gus tickets you got a free ice cream. Uncle Gus would split double popcycles and sell them for a nickel. We played a lot of hockey and baseball in the street. A neighbors 52 Chevy was third base. We played sports on Mic Mac and sold boxes of candy every year to raise money. I remember Mr. Tangetti was in charge of Mic Mac when I played. Mr. Radley was my coach. We hitch-hiked all over the city. Sometimes we hitch-hiked to Fortune Records on the east side where we bought records from Devora Brown for ten cents each. There was a little store across from Dixon Junior High were we would buy pop and candy before and after school. Sometimes there would yo-yo contests there. Most days in the summer we would walk to Rouge Pools. I think it cost a dime to get in. I also lived on Dolphin St. and went to Hubert Elementary. I remember the "Basement Store" on Outer Drive, Clells Gas Station at Dolphin and Fenkel, and Smiths Grocery Store. I remember there were always panel trucks speeding down the streets driven by women who I think were delivering for a beverage distributer on Fenkle. I went to the Brightmor Community Center in the summer. Great memories!
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Terridarlin
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Username: Terridarlin

Post Number: 14
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Sunday, May 20, 2007 - 7:59 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I "called out" on the eastside on Chandler Park Dr. between Kensington & Yorkshire in the 1960's. My mother remembers calling out in the 1940's.

I've really enjoyed reading all the memories that everyone has shared.
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Larryinflorida
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Username: Larryinflorida

Post Number: 217
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Sunday, May 20, 2007 - 8:27 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yeah, where else are you gonna get the musical notes transcribed to it?
We are a full-service gas station!
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Kathinozarks
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Username: Kathinozarks

Post Number: 510
Registered: 11-2006
Posted on Sunday, May 20, 2007 - 11:41 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Histog, welcome to DY! This is the perfect thread for you to begin with. Thanks for your memories. Even though you grew up in NW Detroit and I in GP Park, (I always think of it as being the Far Eastside of Detroit), we all did the same thing. Our lives are intertwined more than we know.

Terridarlin, did you ask your mom about 'calling-out' after you read this thread? And, welcome to you also, (you've probably already been welcomed, but I just want to say hi.)
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56packman
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Username: 56packman

Post Number: 1322
Registered: 12-2005
Posted on Sunday, May 20, 2007 - 11:43 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

If the Detroit call out was written down by one of the many Detroit baby-boomers to become big in rock and roll it would look like this:

This one goes to eleven
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Kathinozarks
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Username: Kathinozarks

Post Number: 512
Registered: 11-2006
Posted on Sunday, May 20, 2007 - 11:56 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

That is so great!

Or, we are way too bored right now, and trying hard not to go to bed!
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Larryinflorida
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Username: Larryinflorida

Post Number: 221
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Monday, May 21, 2007 - 12:04 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)





2007 Modern Version =)
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Kathinozarks
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Username: Kathinozarks

Post Number: 515
Registered: 11-2006
Posted on Monday, May 21, 2007 - 12:06 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

lol
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Jokerman
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Username: Jokerman

Post Number: 95
Registered: 07-2005
Posted on Monday, May 21, 2007 - 12:52 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I'm glad that I started this thread. Thanks to everyone that has participated so far. It's been fun. As a teacher for over thirty year (4 in Detroit Public Schools and 29 in San Diego Unified School District) I know that kids today do not have as much fun as we did, unfortunately. They want to be entertained all the time. We knew how to entertain ourselves.
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Larryinflorida
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Username: Larryinflorida

Post Number: 223
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Monday, May 21, 2007 - 1:03 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

It could be more accurate to say that computers took the place of a lot of that stuff, which as we know is a mixed bag.

But the cardboard tubes I glued into rockets stimulated a lot of imagination that has come in handy later. Anything that was done from scratch is what I mean. Not some thing you buy already complete.

On the other hand, these computers open up a whole different area of creativity I wish we had that they do.

But ya can't have both it seems.
So I'm damn glad the computers came later.
You're right. We entertained ourselves better.

*shakes cane angrily* =)

Yeah, thanks for the thread!
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56packman
Member
Username: 56packman

Post Number: 1324
Registered: 12-2005
Posted on Monday, May 21, 2007 - 7:38 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Larryinfla--My brother and his friends used to make their own crude (but functional) rockets by taking the paper tube from a pants hanger (the kind you get pants back from the dry cleaners on), cutting the tube into 6" sections then taking a box of match books and cutting the heads off of about three books worth of matches with my dad's tin snips. They would stuff a wad of paper in one end then stuff the match heads into the tube using a piece of the wire portion of the hanger as a ram rod, until they couldn't stuff any more in. They would fashion fins on the back out of shirt cardboard and my brother made a launch ramp out of a scrap of plywood. They would light the mass of matches in the open end of the tube and their makeshift rockets would fly.
When we weren't doing things like that we built model cars and airplanes. I see very few kids doing activities that involve using your hands today.
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Terridarlin
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Username: Terridarlin

Post Number: 15
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Monday, May 21, 2007 - 2:26 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Kathinozarks, Thanks for the hi and hello back.

" did you ask your mom about 'calling-out' after you read this thread?"

No, we had talked about "calling out" a month or so ago, so I was really surprised to see it discussed here. I didn't have a name for the "calling out" so I'm glad to know what to call it.

(Message edited by terridarlin on May 21, 2007)

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