You 're An Old Detroiter If.......

e-mail | 06 Sep 2003 | tiamat

[tiamat]

Forgive me, but You're an Old Detroiter if:

You took a "moonlight cruise" to Bob-lo with Captain Bob-lo or went to Edgewater amusement Park.

You remember the big stove that was on Jefferson Ave. at the entrance to Belle Isle.

You shopped at Hughes and Hatcher, B. Siegel, Peck and Peck, Himelhoch's,Robert Halls, Crowley's, Shoppers Fair, EJ Korvettes or Federals.

You rode the elevator at J. L. Hudson, which was "run" by an elevator operator with her white gloves on.

You remember a Winkleman's and Sanders store in your neighborhood.

You remember the "Big Snow", Buffalo Bob, Howdy Doody, Clarabell, PhineasT. Bluster, and Princess Summer-Fall-Winter-Spring.

You remember Twin Pines Dairy delivered milk and juice to the chute on the side of your house and Milky the Clown performed magic with the magic Words, "Twin Pines".

You remember the Good Humor man in a white uniform, ringing the bells and driving down your street.

You remember the Olympia Stadium.

You remember when Vernor's  was made  on Woodward Ave.  and a bearded troll was on the bottle.

Your mom got groceries at Great Scott, Food Fair, Wrigley's or Chatham.

Your mom saved Holden Red Stamps, S&H Green Stamps, or Gold Bell Gift Stamps and you licked the stamps and put them in those little books.

Kresge's and Woolworth's were "DIME STORES".

You had an Uncle in the furniture business (Joshua Doore).

You know who Bill Kennedy is.

You remember this telephone number:  Tyler 8-7100 (Belvedere Construction) and the slogan "We do good work".

Your phone number may have started with Tyler, Vermont, Broadway,Kenwood,Diamond, Webster, Dunkirk, Warwick, Vinwood, Townsend, University orTrinity.

You saw the Detroit Lions play football in Tiger Stadium.

You remember Black Bart and the Faygo pop song.  Or how  about "Which way did they go?  Which way did he go?  He went for Faygo, old fashion root beer".

You watched Rita Bell's Prize Movie in the mornings.

You know who Sonny Elliot is.  Do you remember Sonny using chalk on a map of Michigan?

You remember Jack LeGoff and Van Patrick.

You remember Milky the Clown, Soupy Sales, Johnny Ginger, Poopdeck Paul and Captain Jolly, Fred Wolf from the whacky wiggloo.

You visited the Wonder Bread Bakery and got to take home a mini loaf of bread.

Your address had a two-digit "zone" before there were zip codes. Detroit19, Michigan.

You remember "Get on the right track at 9 Mile and Mack, to get the best deal in town.  Roy O'Brian...it's the best deal in town".

Your house had a laundry chute and a milk chute and a coal chute.

You remember going to Detroit Edison with your mom to exchange burned out light bulbs for new ones.

[Wondervixen]

Vernors is still around...It's not a bridal or baby shower without punch made with Vernors!

[boxerblues]

Whew!!! I thought I getting senile there for a moment lol

[Springman]

I think Bill Bonds was always a drunk. Back in the late 70's I had a High Shcool radio/tv teacher, (Osborn class of 81)
tell our class that Billy boy had to driven around cause he was drunk all the time.

BTW the best way to listen to the Tigers was on Grandpa's front porch, while he was smoking his pipe and the rest of the family was watching it on channel 4 in the house.

[FlyVet]

Detroit was always rough. I have an uncle who grew up there during the Depression. He said they used to have gang wars over paper boxes. You could get a penny or two for them. That's how bad it was. Of course, they weren't shooting each other back then, just beating the living tar out of each other.

[tiamat]

Ouch.

You're right.

Tia

[tiamat]

That DOES sound like a good way to listen to the Tigers.....I had to make due with my dad in the yard because my grandpas both died when i was little.

It's all still good, though!

Tia

[tiamat]

When I think now of the places I used to go as a kid, I shudder. I do believe I would enter my daughte into a convent if I found out she went some of the places *I* used to!

Got off at the wrong bus-stop once and got lost in the Cass Corridor after dark....wonder I made it out unscathed!

Tia

[FlyVet]

BTW the best way to listen to the Tigers was on Grandpa's front porch, while he was smoking his pipe and the rest of the family was watching it on channel 4 in the house.

That's not a bad choice. In the back yard while barbequeing wasn't bad either. Except for the skeeters.

[TheEditor]

McLain went 31-6 in '68, and 24-9 in '69. That year he shared the Cy Young with a very young Mike Cuellar from the Orioles.

[FlyVet]

A lot of that was due directly to Coleman Young, one of the worst poverty-pimps and race-baiters ever, and unfortunately, Mayor of Detroit for the better part of a generation.

I remember a time during the 70's, when your car had better not break down on I-94 going through Detroit at night. Gangs would come over the fences and get you. I hope it's better now. Haven't been back there in ten years.

[Springman]

Doc did you write "New Africa High"?

BTW your right about parts of Detroit looking like Dresden, when my wife and I were first dating, I took her to see where my old church was, (6 mile and Van Dyke).
That was the first time I had been down there in years. Thank you Mayor Young!!!!

[TheEditor]

"You know you never should have set foot in Detroit when you were forced to breath Oxygen in the high seats at Cobo Hall, had blacks attack you with knives after a Piston's game, and thought you were driving through downtown Dresden after the War."

That's pure BS. Nobody had to sit in the high seats at Cobo, because the Pistons never drew very many fans. The older sportswriters like Joe Falls can still tell stories of how intimate games at Cobo were because the crowds were so small. It wasn't uncommon for courtside hecklers to carry on "conversations" with opposing players all game long because it wasn't hard to be heard.

When the Silverdome's roof caved in during the early spring of 1982 the Pistons had to stage home games in the playoffs against the Knicks downtown at the Joe. I managed to grab the very last ticket in the Ticketmaster system for historic Game 5, which even today is regularly shown on ESPN Classic. If I ever meet Kelly Tripucka I'll ask him if he still has nightmares of Bernard King.

[FlyVet]

Billy Sims

Ah, yes, that wascally Ford family. Buy just enough good players to keep butts in the seats, don't worry about a championship. Lions fans are either the most loyal, or the dumbest, fans in the world. (I'm one of them)

[tiamat]

Detroit is not a place I go casually any more. I quit in the mid-70's when it just got TOO bad, ignored it except for occaisonal trips to the DIA or over the bridge to Windsor, and after that I had my daughter and have been nailed down.

I wuld LOVE to show her some of the old thngs downtown, but I would need to do a good re-con before I dared risk taking her!

Tia

[FlyVet]

"New Africa High"?

Dang. I read that. It started out funny, but by the time you finished it, it wasn't funny any more.

[Springman]

I was just starting High School when my brother got that book.
Thank God Osborn wasn't that bad!!
I did have a few good teachers, others well...

[gracex7]

Appreciate the help, even though it appears I'm wrong....arrrrggh! At least the Tigers unloaded him before his arm ( and everything else) went south on him!

He was one major jerk of a prima madonna. He flew his own jet (not too common back then) and had promised Mickey Lolich a ride back from some road trip, but 'forgot' him. He could give lessons to some of these current sports zeroes. Guess he was just ahead of his time!

[FlyVet]

Detroit: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly. It's Americana, man!

[Springman]

Yes it is!!!

[New Horizon]

How about Sir Graves Ghastly?

Meeeeeaaahhhhhhhahahahhahaha!!!