Gratiot and Van Dyke.

[mikefmich]

I remember that Sears store there was a small J.C. Penney across the street from there. It was where all those new stores adjacent to St. John's Hospital.

Actually kitty corner across the street. Right across the street from 7-Mack Sears was my barber until I was out of HS.

[313WX]

There are other commerical districts that are still up and running:

1 Grand River and Greenfield

1. Livernois and W. 7 Mile Rd. [[Avenue of Fashion)

2. Woodward and the Grand Boulevard [[New Center Area)

3. E. 7 Mile and Gratiot Ave.

4 W. 7 Mile and Evergreen Rd.

5. W. Vernor HWY and Central Rd.

6. Six Mile and Schaefer Rd. [[Hubbard/King area)

Commercial districts in Detroit are long dead!

1. Michigan Ave. and Junction St.

2. Livernois and Fenkell Ave.

3. Joy Rd. and Grand River Ave.

4 .Grand River and McGraw St.

5. Harper Rd. and Van Dyke St.

6. Fort St .between Junction St. and Livernois

7. W. Jefferson Ave. and West End [[ formally Downtown Del-Rey)

8. Chene Rd. and E. Warren Ave. to the Hamtramck Border [[ Poletown)

Commercial districts on the verge of dying!

1. Grand River Ave. and Oakman St.

2. E. Jefferson Ave. and Chalmers St. [[ Hopefully it could be saved!)


WORD FROM THE STREET PROPHET

Did everbody miss that old Montgomery Wards and Federals Dept. Store buildings on e 7 Mile Rd and Gratiot Ave?

You missed a few...

*Mack & Chalmers [[long dead)
*Warren & Outer Drive [[still up and running)
*6 Mile & Gratiot [[on the verge of dying)
*Houston-Whittier & Hayes/Kelly [[still up and running)

[EastsideQT]

The only thing left on the corner of Mack and Chalmers is Parking in Rear Sign. I think there was a Cunningham's and Good Housekeeping Shop and maybe a few other stores on that corner.

[kellyroad]

We used to go to the Mack/7 Sears for tools and hardware items. I don't remember them carrying a line of clothing and stuff like the big one on Gratiot. Did they?

You're right. The 7 Mack store was limited to hardware, a garden center [[remember the side door from the garden center led to the side entrance of Hughes, Hatcher, and Suffrin?), automotive [[Sears premium oil on sale for 49 cents/quart), hunting&fishing/camping [[remember the hugh array of rifles on 7and Mack corner of the store?), Kenmore appliances, and of course, a seemingly endless selection of Craftsman tools [[insert a Tim Allen grunt a this point). The only clothes, if I recall correctly, were related to hunting or a mechanics outfit. The Gratiot/VanDyke store [[yes on the northeast corner) was indeed a full department store.

I know this is in response to an older post but does anyone remember when the Sears on Gratiot/VanDyke closed AND when the one on 7/Mack closed?

[CLAUDE G]

Yea, I remember the old Plaza at 7 and Mack. I remember the Sanders ice Cream Shop especially.

I always liked going to Sears at 7 and Mack, but for some stupid reason the Hospital or City of GP Farms was hell bent on tearing the place down.

[stasu1213]

There was an A&P on Gratiot and Crane. A "Bing T.V" repair shop on Gratiot and Seneca. A boat shop on Gratioit and Fischer. Houston Grille which is still on Gratiot and Fischer. The one area I think have great potentials is the stretch of Gratiot between Chene and MacDougall. Gardella Furniture and Zeidman's anchors the area. Great place for boutiques, health foods stores, a small mom and pop grocery store selling just the basics. The is a Tatooe shop that had opened in that location. Getting back to Gratiot Vandyke area; An elderly gentleman had told me that there were little cafes in the area of Gratiot and Burns where customers used to sit outside and drink there coffee.

[dtrrman]

How could anyone forget the Sears Roebuck & Co. on Gratiot & Van Dyke. My father absolutely loved that store. He used to say "if it ain't at Sears then it ain't worth buying." Every time I pass that corner which is often I think about my father. We had a Saturday ritual which started at the Eastern Market at about 7:00 in the morning and ended at Sears on Gratiot & Van Dyke. The one memory I have every time I smell popcorn or peanuts is of the alcove you went through from the parking lot to get into the main store. In that alcove was all kinds of goodies. Popcorn, nuts, candy, chips, pop, hot dogs, polish sausages, you name it. There was also a Sears in Highland Park but we never went there because we were Eastsiders. I don't shop that much at Sears now because they're all in malls and I am not a mall shopper. So when I think of Sears the only one I think about is the Sears Roebuck & Co. on Van Dyke. Does anybody remember the Top Hat Hamburgers which was across the street?

Oh yeah, I remember the smell of the roasting peanuts and cashews of the stand right inside the door. The neon Sears sign on the roof you could see for miles going down Gratiot. We shopped there for years while living near Gratiot and 7 mile. I do remember a top hat in that area. The top hat that was at 8 mile and Gratiot was moved down gratiot to near I-94 and Gratiot. that was quite a store.
Pillars throughout the store and the place was built like a fortress. Sweet memories of what once was.

[EastsideAl]

I know this is in response to an older post but does anyone remember when the Sears on Gratiot/VanDyke closed AND when the one on 7/Mack closed?

The Gratiot/Van Dyke Sears closed at the beginning of 1976. I remember practicing my driving and learning to use a stick shift in their empty parking lot during the following spring.

[George Cassidy]

In the early 1960s, I recall a gas station on the southeast corner of the intersection, Penney's across Mack on the northeast corner. I'm drawing a blank on Sears. Also, somebody said Moross Road is in Detroit; it's in Grosse Pointe Farms. The Detroit city line was right about at Ted Ewald Chevrolet on Jefferson, a couple of miles west of Moross.

[Corn.Bot]

That are of Gratiot and Van Dyke commercial distric was part of Italian community called CALCALUPA, just a step away from Detroit's Little Italy.

...or however that word might be spelled! I've seen it online as "Cagalupo." It surely doesn't have a correct spelling, as the word is the Italian ruination of the phrase "car loop." There was a trolley car barn at Harper & Gratiot that I think was torn down in the middle 1950s. By the time I was old enough to pay attention, there was a grocery store on that land, but the neighborhood still carried the tag.

My mother worked at that Sears in the 1940s; she lived on Maxwell St. I am fuzzy on this story, but it seems she was friends with a girl who worked at Neisner's and would go to the lunch counter there. There was a young butcher who worked around the corner at the Harper Farmer's Market and also occasionally popped into Neisner's for a bite. My mom mentioned to her friend that she thought he was cute. As fate would have it, the cute guy was my mom's friend's cousin. Long story short, my mom married the cute guy in 1949 and quit her Sears job to bear and raise his children. One of them being yours truly.

[Dave70]

... Also, somebody said Moross Road is in Detroit; it's in Grosse Pointe Farms.

Moross is in both Detroit and GPF.

[BRAZZMAN]

I lived near this corner for about 13 years. !996 - 2009. The building was actually SW one block from V. Dyke on Gratiot at Seyburn. Across Gratiot is an O'Rielly Auto Parts and a Safeway Market.

[Oldertimer]

gratiot and van dyke has a sears and ajacent to it there was a western auto store. across the street [[gratiot) was a cunninghams, a kresge, a woolworth's and a neisner dime store. also there was a jewelry store and a few other stores i can't remember. going up gratiot you would see a library and the dawn movie theatre. i grew up there in the 50's.

[Oldertimer]

gratiot and 7 mile had a montgomery wards store not a sears store. also at 7 and gratiot was a federal's dept store , a cunningham's drug store the usual kresge, woolworth, neisner dime stores. also was a hot n cold shop which sold appliances. several other stores were also there.

[stasu1213]

These stories is the reason why I feel that Detroit was a much more exciting and pratical place to live back in the 40's and 50s compared to New York and Chicago

[EastsideQT]

[QUOTE=Dave70;215016]Moross is in both Detroit and GPF.[/QU

Isn't the side of Moross where St. John Hospital is Detroit?

[mikefmich]

[QUOTE=EastsideQT;215228]

Moross is in both Detroit and GPF.[/QU

Isn't the side of Moross where St. John Hospital is Detroit?

That corner is GPW if memory serves. Starts just east of hospital at Leslie,dividing line from HW, then east to Mack

[DorothyD]

Oldertimer, I also grew up in the area in the 50's. I remember a Banner Supermarket on Gratiot across from Sears; also, the original Morley's candy store a block or so down. We always walked down Maxwell and cut through Sears parking lot, then through Sears to go out the front doors to go across to Cunningham's. We neighborhood kids spent every Saturday and Sunday at the Dawn Theater - went with a quarter in our hand, 15 cents to get in and had 10 cents to spend and most of the candy was five cents. I also spent many a time in the beautiful Mark Twain Library. It is so sad to drive past it now and see it. I haven't been by there in about a month, but the last time it looked ready for demolition.

We would walk up to Harper and Van Dyke for shopping a lot or the movies during the week to see a movie that wasn't showing at the Dawn.

[stasu1213]

Oldertimer, I also grew up in the area in the 50's. I remember a Banner Supermarket on Gratiot across from Sears; also, the original Morley's candy store a block or so down. We always walked down Maxwell and cut through Sears parking lot, then through Sears to go out the front doors to go across to Cunningham's. We neighborhood kids spent every Saturday and Sunday at the Dawn Theater - went with a quarter in our hand, 15 cents to get in and had 10 cents to spend and most of the candy was five cents. I also spent many a time in the beautiful Mark Twain Library. It is so sad to drive past it now and see it. I haven't been by there in about a month, but the last time it looked ready for demolition.

We would walk up to Harper and Van Dyke for shopping a lot or the movies during the week to see a movie that wasn't showing at the Dawn.

I grew up on Van Dyke and Gratiot. Where was Morley Candies located. Did Banner Market become Lauris Brothers? What corner was Cunningham's on? My friend parent's had purchased him a Sears three speed bicycle from that Sears. I too used to cut through Sears parking lot from Moffatt. I had once went to that Dentist office that had sat next to Michigan Bell

[craze1]

I worked there for one day 9a-9p late 60's. Cut linoleam, loaded refrigerators, tv's and quit! Worked for the City of Detroit till early 80's and moved to Florida. Store was on the NE corner of Gratiot and Van Dyke.

[kathy2trips]

Yep, Eastside, I remember that Top Hat...or was it a knockoff...another red/white shack selling sliders? I also remember that smell of those roasted peanuts knocking you over the moment you hit that Sears store. There was a Cunninghams on one corner, and a Standard Auto Supply a couple doors down from my dad's shoe store. Also, I remember a Goodwill or something like that on the same block. Lauri Bros. supermarket just down the street.

There was a Top Hat on Harper very near to the East-Side Drive-In...red & white tile late-deco looking place....car-hops, too.

[scbaker]

The only thing left on the corner of Mack and Chalmers is Parking in Rear Sign. I think there was a Cunningham's and Good Housekeeping Shop and maybe a few other stores on that corner.

The picture below was taken in 1938 at Mack & Chalmers. The corner looked much the same in the 1950's & early 60's, minus the streetcar wires and 1930's cars. The Uptown theatre was located on the NE corner. Mack & Chalmers was my old stomping ground.

Mack at Chalmers stretching a little west & east to Alter Rd. was teeming with all types of businesses, including a Chevrolet dealer and A&P grocery store. A very virbrant shopping district in it's day. I worked at the Kresge store when I was a teenager.

My dad worked nights when I was a child. My mother did not drive, so we would take a bus every Fri. night to shop at either 7 mile & Gratiot or 7 mile & Mack. I remember all of those stores very well. My dad thought Sears had the best tools in the world. Craftsman tools were of superior quality and guaranteed for life.

I will always cherish the memories of growing up on the Eastside of Detroit in the 1950's. It's so very sad that everything is gone.

[George Cassidy]

Hunchy Hoernschemeyer's bar, "The Lion's Den," was around this area somewhere. Does anyone remember exactly where? I remember meeting Alex Karras in there in 1961.

[Gistok]

This is an interesting thread... as has been mentioned the 7 Mile/8 Mile area is where east-west street continue the ribbon farm pattern of the 1700s and start pointing north-south. Harper and Mack are 2 of these streets.

So both Moross and Mack are east-west streets that due to the old ribbon farm configuration... start becoming perpendicular to each other. The best way to describe this is using the letter "X".... which kind of accurately shows the Mack/Moross interchange. Pointe Plaza is on the north side... Sears/Hughes Hatcher/Kroger was on the south side, and Kinko's is on he west side.

This unusual directional nuance was shown about 5 years ago when MDOT rebuilt the Moross bridge over I-94. The detour signs mentioned EASTbound and WESTbound I-94... and also [[oddly to anyone living there)... NORTHbound and SOUTHbound Moross.

Also... FYI... Moross is Detroit's widest boulevard.

[Honeyman]

Bump.

Love this thread.