Grand River & Greenfield (Detroit, Southfield: living, stores, car)

[us66]

Originally Posted by 313Weather

7 Mile & Gratiot was basically its identical twin.

Cunninghams was where the McDonalds is now,
Fretter Appliances was at the corner of Maddelein & Gratiot (a pharmacy is there now)
Montgomery Wards was at the SW corner of Lappin & Gratiot (became a Shoppers World for some time after Montgomery Wards closed)
Woolworth's I believe was closer to 7 Mile and Gratiot on the westside
Sanders Ice Cream was at the corner of Gratiot and Pfent (building still stands vacant)

There was also a Federals, Winklemans, Hughes, & Hatcher, etc. in there too.

Whoever decided to destroy it (including the absolutely gorgeous Montgomery Wards building) for that suburban cluster**** there now needs to be thrown under the jail IMO.

There was, until a few years ago, still a sign painted on a brick wall for Wrigley's at 7/Gratiot. I have a picture of it from probably 2002. The Fretter still had Fretter signage until at least then, probably later.

[doctorofenglish]

I was in Detroit last night for the baseball game and before we went to Comerica Park, I drove through Rosedale Park and found my cousin's (actually my late uncle's) house. It stilll looks good but has been for sale for at least the past year (my cousin who was in Detroit last June for business told me it was for sale. He went by it while here and called the realtor who had the listing). While the homes still look nice, there were many vacant ones for sale, foreclosures I suppose. Redford and Cooley High Schools are now closed and the neighborhood around Cooley looks very rough. This is so sad to see because I remember when it was so very nice.

[paulmcall]

As much as we old neighbors feel the tug of nostalgia, you can't ignor the fact that the reasons why most of left are still there or worse. Crime, poor schools (or no schools) and declining city services make Detroit a unenviable place to live.

[CP3Plan]

I am currently doing a documentary on the transformation of the city. I grew up in this area between the 1970's and 1980's and was wondering if you had any other photos.

[paulmcall]

I've been looking for the last 4 or 5 years. They are hard to come by.
My email is paulmcall@comcast.net if you want to talk further.

[paulmcall]

Federals building still sits abandoned and boarded up. I hope to have a new source of
photos of the area (from back in the day) soon.
Let me know if you have any ok?

[usroute10]

Originally Posted by paulmcall

Federals building still sits abandoned and boarded up. I hope to have a new source of
photos of the area (from back in the day) soon.
Let me know if you have any ok?

Do you have any photos of the northwest and southwest quadrant of that commercial district that shows the original storefronts before they were demolished by developer Herb Strather to put up those garbage stripmalls?

[paulmcall]

Yes, I have a few.
Contact me at Paulmcall@comcast.net

[paulmcall]

My book Detroit's Grand River and Greenfield Neighborhood is now listed on Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com.
You can get a discount on Barnes and Noble if you pre-order it.
Joseph McCauley

[paulmcall]

There are 161 photos (many of them in color) in this book.
You see fellow neighbors from the 50's, 60's and 70's in
their everyday life enjoying all the area would provide.