I was born and raised on the west side. I lived near Southfield and Schoolcraft, back in the day when you could play pick-up football on the island on Southfield. Many a Conestoga wagon passed us by, heading west.
Another interesting juxtaposition. That is near a major interchange...and the neighborhoods look nice on 3 sides, all the way up to the highway fence.
But the southeast quadrant has a 20 block area that has more vacant lots than occupied...and closer inspection with Google street viewer shows a very run down area. Its almost being ‘taken back’ by nature, as trees overtake the old structures. But 500 feet away, on the other side of the highway, its a fairly nice neighborhood.
I grew up on the west side too but you must have been a few years before me because I don’t recall the Conestoga wagons. I grew up on Robson St. between W. Chicago and Plymouth and graduated Mackenzie H.S. in 1957. We used to play hockey on the rain/snow packed street, sometimes it was packed so hard we could skate on it, otherwise we’d skate in our galoshes. Ted Lindsay lived just up the street from me. Detroit was a great place to grow up in those years. You must have been a Redford H.S. grad, or Cooley maybe?