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I went to Palmer Park in the 1980s with my father and sister and it's was a paradise at the time. People playing and running about and the pond was beautiful. That's until the DEAD [[C)KRAK HEADS, pofolks and mutants came along and ruin everything. Palmer Park and its apts. have never been the same after the left in 1990s I haven't been there in 20 years.
What neat old memories! I lived on Merton in the 80's and volunteered for one of the art fairs. I think i still have the old t-shirt.
Very cool photos. I was a wee lad in the mid-'80s, but the pictures help me imagine I could have been there.
The park looks great in these pics, and the comfortable scenes and diverse mix of folks is really nice.
Were the Palmer Park apartments still well-maintained and occupied in the 80's, or had folks generally left by that point? I knew those apartments had a big concentration of gay and creative types until relatively recently.
The apartments were VERY WELL maintained. I think the Gay community helped keep it clean. And there was one young guy who was buying up and referbing aprtments. Mine had beautiful wood floors throughout, a leaded glass door between the LARGE living room and the rest of the apartment, a living room closet tht could probably have fit a small bed, full tile bathroom with a stand-alone shower. It was on the 4th floor of a u-shaped building and had what i assume was meant to be a flower ledge right outsde the living room windows. We'd sometimes climb out the window and sit with our feet in the well to enjoy the evening.
MTM - I volunteered for 1984 and 1985 fairs, so maybe you were working there one of those times? I remember trying to sell ads in the program to occasionally skeptical merchants up and down Woodward but did make a few sales. I lived in the Eldorado on Manderson. Great bldg. Recently drove through the neighborhood and some of the buildings fronting on McNichols have been abandoned. Lots of solid places still. The owner of my and several other buildings at that time was David Dewald [[if I spelled his name correctly).
The PPCAC - Palmer Park Citizens Action Council - had a little storefront on McNichols and had Sunday morning coffee, bagels, read the paper get-togethers.
Orthophonic,
I lived in the Park from about '82 to about '85. My assignment was to help artists pack and unpack their wares. One potter even gave me one of the pots tht didnt sell - not surprisng because it was pretty ugly and I likely pitched it eventually.
The Eldorado was a classic! SO Sad to hear that several of the buildings were abandoned. I think that David Dewald was the young man that I was thinking who was buying and refurbing buildings. I beleve he bought our building also.
I had forgotten about the PPCAC but what what I most vividly rememeber was the Backstage Deli. My sister lived in a building across the street and we would often walk across McNichols for dinner in the evening and stay until late at night [[!!) and walk back across. Never a problem. Backstage did the BEST Sunday brunches with eggs benedict and mimosa. One day after breakfast, we actually walked all the way down to the DIA. Again, no problems.
These pics bring back happy memories of my PP days in the early '80s. I lived in the Trocedero and 980 Whitmore. Not sure I have have the same memories that 'mtm' has, of walking safely around the neighborhood and especially across Woodward. Even in those days it was a little risky. [[I used to drive to Menjo's) But it was a fun place to live if you wanted a lot of gay neighbors. I drive through there sometimes on my visits back home. Definitely not the same... but the parking looks better :)