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.

[tiamat]

" Long , long time ago
I can still remember
When the music used to make me smile.... "

tia

[viaveritasvita]

Good question! All I remember is that it was down the street from a building I worked in -- which I think was located on the corner of Fort...walking towards the river...I think Michigan??? This is lame, but it's in the same general area on the block as the Buehl Bldg, but on the street east of Buehl. Or if you walked towards the river from the old Hudson's, it was a couple of blocks on the left. Am I babbling here??

I can see it plain as day. I remember taking a bum (sidebar: my PC days are O-V-E-R) into Gus's, slapping a couple dollars on the counter and saying, "Gus, this guy says he hasn't eaten in days. Feed 'im." The bums actually knew my name!! LOL.

[tiamat]

Oh my..... this was the 70 ? Near the cop-shop? You know Nikkos at the grill?

If so SMALL world!

LOL! Tia

[tiamat]

Oh my..... this was the 70 ? Near the cop-shop? 12 th precinct ? ( I think?)

You know Nikkos at the grill?

If so SMALL world!

LOL! Tia

[FlyVet]

Also, my first boyfriend's father was killed because his company refused to go Teamster and his truck blew up one morning when he started the engine.

That is awful, sorry to hear that. My Uncle started a trucking business from scratch, and was very successful. But, he is a very tough man. Even though he's 80 or so, I'm not so sure I'd want to mess with him. We didn't call him The Godfather for nothing. :) He told me once that the underworld came after him to get a piece of his business. Since he grew up in Detroit, he had a lot of friends of his own. He told them, "If I die, you die." He's retired in Florida now. He bought a lot of "swampland" there in the 50's. They laughed at him for doing that then, but they ain't laughing now.

[GrandMoM]

I hope people were kind to you!....from what I could remember, I think they were pretty mad! Quiet, but, mad!

[GrandMoM]

GrandMom, my mom tells a similar story. She, her mother and grandmother drove to Hudson's to buy her school clothes. When they got downtown (from Pontiac) my mom threw up all over herself. Apparently, they stopped at Himelhoch's, bought a new dress, then went on to Hudson's. ....I think we just hailed a taxi and went back home!

[Alouette]

My friends and I got summer jobs at the DIA, building sets and sewing costumes for their Theater program. Then the season got cancelled in the middle due to the riots. I remember taking the Hamilton Street bus to the DIA the week after the riots. It was like going through a war zone. The Michigan National Guard had tanks in the streets.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

I was just 6 when we had the riots. I remember being evacuated from our home because they thought that rioters would come to our area in boats.

I remember driving down I-94 to my grandparents in Ann Arbor and seeing all the tanks and National Guard rolling up the highway. The sky was full of smoke.

It deeply effected me for years.

[tiamat]

I never saw the tanks, but I know people who did....

Tia

[lennydetroit]

Do you remember the "Tribute to the Americans" that one of their newsanchors did...

I haven't read all the messages because there were just too many, but if you haven't gotten a reply, the anchor was Byron MacGregor. He didn't write it himself -- it came from a speech made by a former premier whose name escapes me. You can actually download it from Kazaa. It's still both impressive and relevant.

Regards, Lenny

[Springman]

I was only 4 during the Roits. All I can remeber was my Mom and cousin were scared. I Learned later that my little brother and I had Chicken Pox's and my Dad and older brother had went to a wedding in PA. I'll have to ask my Dad how long it took him to get back.

BTW the one story I have heard over the years was my Dad's buddy and him went to St. Clair County
to get beer. No beer sales in the tri-county area.

BTW#2 a lady down the street from us lived some where else at the time, don't know where, but she did have a tank in front of her Apt. building.

[Alouette]

The Detroit Leland Hotel. I lived there for a while when I was going to Wayne State. It was knocked down in the early 80's I believe, and the MGM Grand Casino stands there now.

Somebody mentioned the "Mariners Sailors Cathedral" from the Gordon Lightfoot song. You're a Detroiter if you know that it's not a cathedral but a Methodist church.

The Wonder Bread Bakery!

I remember when the Lodge Freeway ended at Wyoming. And Metro Airport had only one terminal.

[Alouette]

This is a very spooky "Old Detroit" story about my family.

When my youngest son was born, we couldn't think of a name for him. He was our 6th son, and all the "boy names" of deceased relatives in our family had been all used up. My husband and I pored over baby-naming books and I made a list of names going through the alphabet, A, B, C, etc.

The day came when we HAD to choose a name, so I just took the first name on my list, Aryeh. That was the name we gave our son.

About five years later, I was working at the GM Cadillac facility, and frequently visited the Cadillac assembly line in Hamtramck ("Poletown"). When GM purchased the land for the Poletown plant, they acquired two Catholic churches and an old Jewish cemetery. The churches they pulled down, but since they couldn't relocate the cemetery, they built a 10-foot high brick wall around it.

My mother had given me a clipping of my great-great-grandfather obituary in the Detroit News, 1910, according to which he was brought to rest at the "Chene Street cemetery." Since Chene Street dead-ends at the Poletown plant, I concluded that he must be buried within the GM grounds.

A co-worker and I found out when the cemetery was open for maintenance, and we drove out to Poletown. After walking up and down the rows and looking at all the headstones, we found my g-g-grandfather's stone. His name was Louis, but his Hebrew name was (spooky music) ARYEH!!!

[AnimalLover]

Do you remember when the Rouge River caught fire?

I don't remember that - when did it happen?

Remembered the park up the St. Clair River on Harson's Island. Tashmo - not sure of the spelling. I think a ship/boat would sail from Detroit to the park and drop off passengers for the day. Then pick them up later. I believe it was called the "City of Cleveland". Not sure but there might have been another boat.

Does anyone remember the Grand River - Wyoming area in NW Detroit? There was a residential street in the area that you had to drive at night. There was a "knocking" on the car at a certain area. Story was that a girl was killed there and she was looking for the one that hit her.

One last thing, there was a very popular Drive-In Restaurant in the same general area. I think it was on McNichols - it was surely a great place to gather.

I love this, haven't thought about these things for more years than I care to admit.

[chuckwalla]

I lived in Algonac, Ferndale, Warren, Detroit, Pontiac, Birmingham, Lake Orion, two areas of Bloomfield. Used to dirt bike where the silver dome now sits. Went through the coldest winter there. At a gas station off M59 and Opdyke it got to 50 below. Scary cold. I've lived in LA since 72 and can't believe I went through those cold cold winters.
Have fun.
I will say there are some absolutely beautiful areas there.
Nothing like the falls and some of the beautiful winter scenes. Still so cold. The summers are so short.
Have fun.

[chuckwalla]

Lafayette coney island.

[chuckwalla]

Also Little Wonder hamburger stand at Gratiot and Livernois.
Great chili cheese burgers.
Remember Barry's surplus on Gratiot where they had a Sherman tank across the street. I got into the tank through the escape hatch under the tank between the treads. I read a WWII story about Shermans and got the idea to go through the hatch. It worked. They never knew. Cool. Remember Silverstiens surplus on Mcnichols rd. Mid fifties and for any kid then it was paradise.

[gracex7]

You held out on me with that info...maybe he took after his mother. Or he couldn't compete with Thunder for his dad's attention. (Personally, I'd pick Thunder or any other horse over most people!)
I keep forgetting that you lived in that "rich" area!
Are there any other 'celebs' kids you went to school with? Bruce Grant, Buck Matthews, or maybe Mort Neff's spawn? The only claim to fame the kids I went to school with had was their potential future on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List! Sometimes looking at the posters we get is like taking a trip down memory lane through the Aurora (Union's yearbook).

By the way, Barb and I are going to try to get to the restaurant on Columbus Day.
ATTENTION ANY WEST MICHIGAN FREEPERS: If you like Thai food, contact ASA VET. He and his wife own a Thai restaurant in Jenison...and she is an EXCELLENT cook! And he washes dishes very well!!! Hahaha

[justaguy]

DREAD
Detroit
Rockers
Engaged in the
Abolition of
Disco