I found my old house in Detroit today... (Grand Rapids, Warren: real estate, lenders)

[keithwand]

Originally Posted by MaryleeII

My wife grew up in GP and mentioned to me about the sheeney man too. I had never heard of it. Think he sharpened knives or something

Now I remember the Chieny Man---vaguely. He'd come by and sharpen tools, housewives would take their kitchen knifes, garden tools, etc to him for sharpening. He just disappeared one day, like so much of the old neighborhood.

My wife told the same story. Just disappeared 1 day.
She was in the Class of 1965 at the High; me I went to Seaholm in Birmingham and found her years later.

[MaryleeII]

Originally Posted by MaryleeII

Can we get back to the OT and continue to post pictures & sotries of old homes in Detroit? That's what attracted me to this thread. I'm particularyl interested in pictures of the East Side. Does anyone have any picutres or stories of businesses along Mack Avenue? Does anyone remember

uptown theater
Cunningham's Drugstore
A&P on Mack between Newport * Eastlawn
Walker Cheverlot
Chalmers Lunch
Bank of the Commonwealth
Johnnie's Mobil Station
Lillian's Cards and Gifts
Wimpy's Burgers (aka Sarah's)

Also, how about Carstens, Jackson, and Southeastern?

I googled Carstens the other day, its still there, still a school, and Carstens' Rock is still there! Someone painted it white. Funny, it looks smaller than I remembered

lets get back to this!

I still would like to know if anyone out there has picutres of these places or any memories/sotires to share?

[Richard in Shelby]

i see this link is still going sweet !Iremember middle 70's the band the rockets praticing down the street from my aunt's. house think it was outer drive? hmmm? just like detroit change, my brain can't remember. Just remembering some day i was going to buy their records. now Ihave most on cd specially the double live one thank you detroit bands !still,looking for the look to put something out hey maybe to ebay Igo ,still the best thread in the world hmmm? can imagine hearing bruce springsteen's " my old town" aint that the truth now !!?? Richard in Shelby Township

[alcapone]

Originally Posted by SCBaker

Remisc, I feel your pain. My childhood home was destroyed by arsonists back in the 80's. In 2003, I looked at a vacant lot where my house once stood. I think looking at a vacant lot was a lot easier than seeing just a stub of a house remaining.

Most of us have got on with our lives. We may have wonderful families, nice homes and a financially comfortable existence, but the destuction of our City and our first or childhood homes remain with us even if we have placed it far out of our minds. We still feel the loss, knowing we can never go back home.

Thank you so much for starting this thread. I wish more people would find it and post their stories. Only those who have lived it can completely understand what we are feeling.

Yes, many people had no choice but to leave. People have been killed, mugged, attacked or witnessed unspeakable horrors by trying to remain in their homes. Still, only to lose them to criminals and thugs in the end.

I started reading earlier posts, as I just found this forum last month. This last paragraph of your post is ever so true. One would not care what color someone was as long as they let you live in peace without fear of your children being accosted, wives being accosted, and finally being able to walk your neighborhood and live in your home without fear of the criminal element.
In the late 1970's early 1980's I was in the bar business. I saw the business rapidly decline as the neighborhood got worse and got crime infested. My good customers stopped coming in after work, as every time they parked, something or another was stolen from their car. (batteries, windows broken, tires etc.)
Sadly everthing I worked for went by the wayside. I had lived in the city in many homes, one being in the historical Brush Park District to Mack and St. Jean and lastly on Lakewood below Jefferson between Avondale and Korte. Both my grandparents lived on the same block between the two mentioned streets. One lived closer to Avondale, the other 1 house off crner of Korte.
What a beautiful tree lined street that was. The city came by on schedule to treat the trees for disease etc. I remember the bus going down the street picking up passengers. (that should give one an idea of how many people populated these areas). The sound of kids riding their Mo Peds down the street at night.
We used to walk to the park at the end of the street at night to watch the large ships go by and be deafened by their horns. We always walked in the alleys in those days. They were clean, with many backs of garages having flower gardens. That is one memory that will never be recreated, not unless one has a land rover and has a death wish. Many yards had cherry and plum trees (I think they were plums, memory fades) that you could pick and eat.
When one traveled up Lakewood and turned south on Essex street the little drug stores, food markets etc. started. I remember the drugstores almost all had a soda fountain. I used to walk to Newport and Essex to a drug store to buy comic books and enjoy a nice choc. or cherry coke.
The little shops were on almost every corner.
My favorite place to go was on Drexel and Essex. A small confectionary called Prices. They sold cheap toys, food, candy and had a wonderful soda fountain. One could always find Mr. Price behind the soda fountain. If you had a quarter in your possesion you were King of the world. I was very surprized to see how many people responded to this thread. Some realists some dreamers and some re writing history to suit their own out take on the matter. One can read between the lines and see a lot of genuine sorrow from the people who once lived and from what I see still love the neighborhood they grew up in. If you have a partner that all of a sudden starts giving you pain and sorrow you eventually are forced to leave them. One can speak of the leaving without critisism (not sure of spelling) from others. To me, leaving your old neighborhood due to impossible situations parralels this. I applaud everyone who has shared their sorrow, memories good and bad that have responded to thid thread, you certainly brought back some warm memories.

[MaryleeII]

Just came across this thread, its not been active for awhile, lets get the "old gang" together again!

Anyone have pictures of the old neighborhoods to post? Stories, etc.

What about the shopping center they built at Mack & Alter Rd? I can't find anything recent about it. It was built in early 2000's. I understood it did ok for ahwile, then, it became overtaken by crime.

Meanwhile, where I currently live reminds me more and more each day of my old neighborhood. Retro type houses, Craftsman style, quiet, clean neighborhood, lots of stores, etc, within almost walking distance---perhaps that style of living is popular again?

Well, Old Detroit will never again be the same, good wishes to those who come in the future.

[313 TUxedo]

That strip center at Mack and Alter is still functional. Current tenants include a supermarket, Family Dollar, and a MI Secretary of State (DMV) office that can be miserably crowded (I speak first hand).

Where I grew up, the Cinderella and the Harper theaters were in another neighborhood. Though I saw some movies at the Alger and the Civic, and many movies at the Vogue (torn down in 1978 to make room for a McDonalds that is still in operation).

[detwahDJ]

Since a lot of the posts here are from the east side here's some trivia about my old neighborhood.
*I played touch football with self-help guru Dr. Wayne Dyer at Balduck park.
*A jazz band used to rehearse on my street. Its leader, now in L.A. does the saxophone parts for "The Simpsons" among other things.
*Soupy Sales lived on Hillcrest in G.P. off of Mack Av.
*The sheeny man (crying sheeeeeny) came down our streets in a horse-drawn wagon. I don't remember all he did (I was an embryo).
*Our furnace was coal-fired and homes needed a coal bin. Coal was "chuted" into basements through a window.
*Balduck park was a forest, as were other parts of that area. Fox Creek ran parallel and between Gateshead and Lannoo (which were unpaved).
*A friend of Bob Seger had a record store on Mack near Warren.
*Gilda Radner was from the G.P. area and attended G.P. High if I'm not mistaken.
*Lily Tomlin lived on Taylor Street in the midtown area.

[MaryleeII]

Anyone know anything about Carstens School? I understand they plan to tear it down. a little history on it----both my mother and I went to it. It was a private girls school (don't know if a boarding school or not) prior to becoming a public shcool. It had a long history.

The way its built, its very difficult to accomodate handicapped students, I think that's part of the reason its slated to close. although from the website, it looks still open.

Also, anyone know anything about the Reformation Lutheran Church, on Vernor and Lakewood? I understood it turned into some sort of drug rehab place. Does anyone remember George's Meat market on Newport and Charlevoix? I think "George" lived above it, like on Happy Days.

[313 TUxedo]

Originally Posted by detwahDJ

Since a lot of the posts here are from the east side here's some trivia about my old neighborhood.
<snip>
*Our furnace was coal-fired and homes needed a coal bin. Coal was "chuted" into basements through a window.

You must be a man of many years!
The houses I grew up in had a coal chute, as did all the others in the neighborhood, but the furnaces had long since been converted (in my case, one had a gravity coal furnace with a gas burner slipped in place - the other a circa 1950 gas forced-air furnace).
I had been looking though old Yellow Pages editions at the Burton room in the main DPL years ago. The 1939 Yellow pages had 10 pages of ads for residential coal. The 1952 edition had 1/4 page!

Originally Posted by detwahDJ

*Balduck park was a forest, as were other parts of that area

The northern 1/3 is still a forest to this day, with another 1/6 (also on the north side of Chandler Park Drive) "semi-forested". South of CPD was open land as far back as I can remember. Balduck Hill was perfect for sledding in the winter (the soil has subsided and I think it is about 1/2 the heights it was), the rest of the park for kites and model rockets.

Originally Posted by detwahDJ

*Gilda Radner was from the G.P. area and attended G.P. High if I'm not mistaken.

Don't know about GP High, but the fact that Gilda was a Detroiter was no secret. I read she had bought a radio station in Mt. Clemens, then later tried to sue the former owners for not telling her that the station could not be heard in about 90% of the Detroit area.

[MaryleeII]

Oh, yes, my Grandpa's house had a coal furnace and coal chute. I remember it well. I also remember the coal bin, kids would ask for pieces of coal for their snowmen, just like the real frosty, with coal buttons!

About 1960, Grandpa had the furnace replaced with a gas furnace, figured Grandma couldn't shovel coal if he went first. I remember my Grandpa, in his 70s, down there shoveling coal! he was a man from another era, obviously! After he installed the gas furnace, he sealed the coal chute over to keep burglars from gaining access. I remember as a little girl, the coal truck coming up, then sending coal down the chute....what a sight!