Your Detroit Memories! (Wyoming, Royal Oak: apartments, insurance, limousine)

[Guardian]

Detroit memories? Probably one of the greatest was the first time I walked into the Guardian Building lobby:



Absolutely stunning!

I also remember my first ride of my favorite train to nowhere, the People Mover.

[carmac]

Originally Posted by grammy164

I do, Blue Grass, but my memories are very old. Detroit was a great city when I was growing up. My Dad is from MI, worked for Ford and I spent a few of my younger years living in Livonia and Dearborn. My grandparents lived in Pontiac. My grandmother used to take us shopping at the Hudson's in Detroit. It was one of her favorite stores. I remember watching the Hudson's Thanksgiving parade every year on tv. When we lived in MI we, of course, always went into the city for the car shows. Went to Greenfield Village many times. One of my favorite memories as a kid visiting MI--getting to drink Vernors. Couldn't get it anywhere else until we moved to OH. My Dad is very proud of his MI roots (his family is from Bay City) and I love my MI memories. I know it would break my heart to see all of these places now. I've heard I wouldn't recognize them.

The things you mention in your post jogs my memory...things I thought I'd forgotten. My memories are also very old! My grandparents lived in Dearborn...on Drexel. My grandma used to take me to Hudson's also, and we'd shop and have lunch. She always drank Vernors and I remember sharing the bottle with her and having Beer Nuts! My dad also worked for Ford...I guess in the early '50's. My parents moved us out to Farmington...where I remember going to 1st grade. I don't remember much about living there though. I do remember going to downtown Detroit to visit my great-grandparents, and thinking the buildings were so tall! What a different time...when things were safe and a kid could ride their bike around the block without a lot of worry. I guess it would break one's heart to see whats become of the city.

[M TYPE X]

Originally Posted by carmac

I guess it would break one's heart to see whats become of the city.

But we still have the People Mover in all of its 1980s glory. Hey, I see RoboCop! oh wait, that's just some bum in a stolen first-gen Taurus.

[grammy164]

Originally Posted by carmac

The things you mention in your post jogs my memory...things I thought I'd forgotten. My memories are also very old! My grandparents lived in Dearborn...on Drexel. My grandma used to take me to Hudson's also, and we'd shop and have lunch. She always drank Vernors and I remember sharing the bottle with her and having Beer Nuts! My dad also worked for Ford...I guess in the early '50's. My parents moved us out to Farmington...where I remember going to 1st grade. I don't remember much about living there though. I do remember going to downtown Detroit to visit my great-grandparents, and thinking the buildings were so tall! What a different time...when things were safe and a kid could ride their bike around the block without a lot of worry. I guess it would break one's heart to see whats become of the city.

Thanks for sharing your memories, carmac.
I also remember watching "Soupy Sales" whenever we would visit my grandmother. Anyone else remember watching him on tv?

[carmac]

Originally Posted by grammy164

Thanks for sharing your memories, carmac.
I also remember watching "Soupy Sales" whenever we would visit my grandmother. Anyone else remember watching him on tv?

Yes, I remember him...but my family had moved to California by that time.
What I remember watching at my grandmother's house was "Howdy Doody", (or however you spell it!), so that probably REALLY dates me, huh?

[belbell777]

Originally Posted by Blue Grass Fever

Nobody has anything to share about Detroit, good or bad?

Yes very good memorys of Detroit, I lived in Oakwood also.Iwent to Hunter school,had the same teachers as my mom.lived on Bayside and on Norway across from Hunter. My dad and uncles all worked at the salt mine. My 7th grade class took a tour of the mine, it was awsome. I remember when Gonellas was on Bayside next to the fire station. I worked at the Oakwood Blue Jackets in 1961.

[Blue Grass Fever]

Originally Posted by belbell777

Yes very good memorys of Detroit, I lived in Oakwood also.Iwent to Hunter school,had the same teachers as my mom.lived on Bayside and on Norway across from Hunter. My dad and uncles all worked at the salt mine. My 7th grade class took a tour of the mine, it was awsome. I remember when Gonellas was on Bayside next to the fire station. I worked at the Oakwood Blue Jackets in 1961.

Wow! I never knew Gonella's was actually on Bayside at one time! I know of the school you're talking about, but only seen it past its heyday. (condemned)

Yeah, that entire Oakwood section was an italian immigrant neighborhood at one time. (i take it you're italian?)

I wouldn't be suprised if you knew my family in that area for they have lived there for quite some time. I remember my ma tellin' me about my great-grandmother coming straight from Italy and settling in that neighborhood while trying to find ways to make money via the "Prohibition".

Do you remember the Kitty Kat's Lounge?

[belbell777]

Yes Blue Grass Fever,I lived there from 1947-1964. I am not italian but i knew a lot of them.What was your family,s last name? I probably know them.I still have family in Oakwood, on Bayside st. I remember when Johnnie Aloe built tht Kitty Cat. My sister worked there for a while.

[brikag]

OMG!
It's been years since I've been back to D-town! Here are some of my memories of Detroit....

- Living on the corner of 10 mile and Grover, East Pointe (E. Detroit when we lived there). There was a bakery across the street that baked the most delicious baked goods every am.

- Moving to the 'burbs of Mt.Clemens and going to Lakeside mall every weekend.

- Getting my licence @ 16 and cruised Gratiot w/ my friend in my '81 Pontiac Grand Prix.

- Shopping in Royal Oak for the interesting clothes!

- Taking the school trip to Cedar Pointe at the end of the school year.

- Buying pizza and subs at Buschemi's.

- Dining in Greek Town.

- Going to the auto show every Jan.

- The summer festivals in Hart Plaza.

- Seeing my Best Friend carrying the gifts to Pope John Paul II in the Pontiac Silverdome. He get a Blessed Rosary from Him.

- Jacques Demers turning the Red Wings around and naming Stevie Yzerman as Capt. They came from last place to first place that year, 86-87 season.

- Going to the drive-in at 13 mile and Van D&ke.

- Eating at Bonanza on Sundays.

- Everytime the family traveled to Fla. for the winter (who hasn't), seeing the big Uniroyal tire along the freeway.

- Snow mobiling at Metro Park.

- The Fish Fly festival in Algonac.

- Hanging out w/ friends at CJ Barrymores.

- Eating hotdogs at the old Tiger Stadium.

- Going skiing at Mt. Holly.

I could go on for days on end.....

[and the]

I remember when there was a bar on every corner in some neighborhoods and they were actually open and operating as bars. I remember the first time I went to Tom's Tavern and Tom was asleep leaning against the furnace.

I remember the first time my garage was burglarized....and the second time, and the third time, and the first time someone tried to break into my house...while I was home....and the second time...and the third time....

I remember getting a run to a crack house where a 10 year old took a shotgun and blew his 2 year-old brother's head all over the wall. I remember going to juvenile court for the kid and the mother giving me dagger eyes like it was my fault she was raising a couple kids in a crack house.

I remember Coleman Young saying that as soon as they took care of the downtown area, the neighborhoods would follow. And I remember Kwami saying the same thing 30 years later.

I remember driving around on the night before Halloween and seeing 12 Japanese guys in suits step out of a minivan in the middle of the ghetto to start taking pictures and video of a burning house. Turns out they were firemen who came all the way from JAPAN to watch Detroit burn!!

I remember all the cool corner bars that all had their own character. I remember when the European-American ladies from the suburbs got the crap kicked out of them during a street robbery at the downtown fireworks, and Coleman Young paid for the lawyers for the perpetrators, Cosandra, and Casandra Rutherford. Naturally he made it a racial issue. It was on the national news....

I remember when a certain relative of a certain mayor was dating White Boy Rick Wersche, the dopeman....

I remember when Malice Green met Larry Nevers and Walter Budzyn.

I remember when Coleman Young called the cops "murderers" the next day on TV. I remember when the jurors were allowed to watch the movie "Malcolm X" while deliberating.

I remember realizing that there was no future for me in the City of Detroit and getting the hell out before my neighborhood was so bad I couldn't sell my house.

I remember wishing that I could have seen the Detroit of the 1930's. I remember hanging out at Abick's on Dennis and Gilbert and being amazed that there was at least one place in Detroit that was the same as it was in the 30's.