 
Detroitwriter
Member
Username: Detroitwriter
Post Number: 1
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 02, 2007 - 4:48 pm: |    |
Dear Fellow Detroiters:
I was wondering if anyone had any information on what Detroit was like during the late 1970's-early 1980's, particularly '84. I am most especially interested in what downtown Detroit, particularly near the Eastern Market and St. Aubin and Antietam Ave./St. Aubin and Orleans St./Orleans and Joy St. area were like during the early 80's.
Topics I'm interested in:
Crime (i.e. Murders, Robberies, etc.)
Housing
Gangs
Thanks! |
Rjk
Member
Username: Rjk
Post Number: 890
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 02, 2007 - 5:19 pm: | |
I believe there was a gang style killing at a drug house on St. Aubin that left 5 people dead in the 80's, maybe early 90's. When I saw your title that's the first thing I thought of. |
Waz
Member
Username: Waz
Post Number: 205
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 03, 2007 - 10:13 am: | |
I recall a story from about about '85 about a couple of elderly sisters who were found murdered. I can't recall the street they lived on, but it may have been St. Aubin. They lived in a house that their father built and had refused to leave after the neighborhood went downhill.
The story became front page news, I assume, because it was about two white people killed in what was generally believed to be a black neighborhood. Turns out it was one of the women's sons who committed the crime. |
Dialh4hipster
Member
Username: Dialh4hipster
Post Number: 2206
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 03, 2007 - 10:26 am: | |
St. Aubin & Antietam? That's right next to St. Joseph's church and corner of the Hyde Park co-op in the Lafayette Park area. Joe Muer's was right about there too.
St. Aubin & Orleans run parallel, so there is no intersection.
Do you mean Jay Street? There's no Joy Street in that area. Jay Street is a tiny street that runs on the north side of St. Joseph's.
That's a pretty specific area, Lafayette Park, the northern part. For everyone who "remembers a killing" on St. Aubin (or what "may have been" St. Aubin - how is that helpful information?), take a look at a map - it probably wasn't there.
Could have been further north, which is where St. Aubin takes a turn for the worse. But that stretch of St. Aubin south of Gratiot wasn't really gang or crime central. It was pretty solid co-op communities, Friends school, churches. I remember it around '84 because my school bus would pick up some guys who lived in the area. |
Deputy
Member
Username: Deputy
Post Number: 98
Registered: 02-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 03, 2007 - 10:41 am: | |
Try researching the name Tamara Marie Marshall....there are some legal papers on the net regarding the "St. Aubin Street Massacre" of 1990.....not to be confused with the "St. Aubin Street Massacre" of 1929.
(Message edited by deputy on October 03, 2007) |
Mackinaw
Member
Username: Mackinaw
Post Number: 3734
Registered: 02-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 03, 2007 - 11:46 am: | |
Dialh characterizes the area correctly.
However, the Dequindre Cut is right there, and it always seemed to me to be a hotbed for shadiness.
It is currently being torn up, right there by St. Joe's, as the Greenway comes along. |
Dialh4hipster
Member
Username: Dialh4hipster
Post Number: 2207
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 03, 2007 - 3:09 pm: | |
This thread seems like a hotbed for baseless speculation.
The Dequindre Cut mostly housed homeless people, and while there may have been shady dealings there, they tend to stay down there and not spill over into the neighborhood. My recollections and understanding from neighborhood old-timers is that it was not a significant source of crime.
The area in question is possibly not the best for the type of crime you are looking for, Detroitwriter. |
Islandman
Member
Username: Islandman
Post Number: 966
Registered: 08-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 03, 2007 - 3:52 pm: | |
I lived on Chene and Vernor in the very early 80's (McDonald Square). Never had a problem with crime back then (as much as I can remember), and it was a nice walk to school (Duffield).
It was a lot greener back then since all of the developments were not there at that point. You had fields, trees and pheasants all the way to Duffield, except for the Coleman Young Center. We actually had a tree house for a few years.
This area has always seemed relatively safe until you went north of Vernor, down to Jefferson (by King), or east past the cemetary. Remember this was from a then 11 year old POV. |
Daf
Member
Username: Daf
Post Number: 29
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, October 04, 2007 - 12:39 pm: | |
A guy was standing on a (dead end?) street east of Gratiot near St. Aubin last evening during rush hour, with a mirror in his hand, about 18" - 24" square.
Looked like he has trying to blind oncoming traffic coming off of I-75? I was going east on Gratiot, got a quick eyeful of the mirror, and had a large green hole in my vision for the next 30 seconds or so.
Why would someone do that? Angry at the world? Drumming up business for a lawyer? A body shop? The mind boggles...
I see him again, I'm calling the cops. |