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?
Close. I went to St. Mary of Redford, between Redford and Cooley, graduated in 1959. My dad graduated from McKenzie back in the 30s. My boys and I played hockey wherever there was the slightest bit of ice. Somehow winter never seemed so bad because as teenage boys, there was always something fun to do, e.g. Tobogganing at Rouge Park. Every time I get together with the guys from the hood or my classmates, we all agree that growing up in Detroit in that era was a very good thing. I’m now living in Palm Beach County, FL.