Whats going on here?...Davidson & Keystone St

[Wintersmommy]

I have driven by a diamond in the rough for the past 2 years on my way to work. It's an old gas/service station hidden behind piles of junk, a broke down fence, a big black pitt/mutt and an encroaching forest of weeds/trees/vines. When I first started going by there it appeared that someone was still using the place to repair cars, but the last year or so its been vacant

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ba...ed=0CCAQ8gEwAA

It appears to be a porcelain sided station similar to the one located in The Henry Ford [[only the one on the davidson is all white) http://blog.thehenryford.org/2012/01...iving-america/

Last week I noticed dumpsters in the lot and a crew cleaning the piles of junk

Today that lot is mostly clean and there was a crew cutting down the wild around the fence with chainsaws

The plywood was off the front door to the station today as well and people appeared to be moving in and out of it

Anyone know if they are saving this little spot..or tearing it down? Seems an odd thing to tear down given the fact there are houses in the area that are on thier last legs..though perhaps the two things are not related..I would just think they would tear the houses down before this place if this is a city run operation [[which i dont know if it is)

[Jimaz]

Here's a better Google link.

[Coplin]

I can't speak as to what is being done with it at the moment , but since you brought it up, I can remember maybe 20 years back it was something like Mopap auto sales & always had some type of vintage Mopar in the lot . I can recall more than a few Road Runners , 'Cudas & Chargers back in the day , I'm curious what that was all about ?? Anyone remember ??

[Hamtragedy]

Is Alinosi's still tucked away back over there? I remember reading within the last decade in the Metro Times they were still over there, and behind the boarded up and seemingly vacated structure was a completely, in-tact, original as-the-day-it-was-built soda shop.

[Wintersmommy]

today the trees and vines are completly gone and stacked in bundled piles surrounding the structrure [[its stacked up almost as high as the roofline). The fence line is fairly clean now.

i noticed today for the 1st time it says Coffee to Go.... across the facade

I dont see any vehicles parked around there but there is still alot of stuff in the yard so its hard to tell.

i hope someone is saving this place for some reason i really like it

[pgn421]

Coffee To Go was there in the late 80's to early 90's . I would drive by that location daily

[CassTechGrad]

That block of Keystone Street from the corner of Davison north to Schuster Park was the topic of a Fox 2 news story a few years ago. It was about the sad story of the last person living on Keystone Street. Heres the YouTube link with the title:Detroit: Entire Neighborhood Abandoned. White Lady Remains..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCT_g...layer_embedded

[Király]

CassTechGrad,

I was in that block of Keystone in August and that woman is gone, and her house has been burned.

[GUSHI]

Bulldoze it - knock it all down, good riddance, we use to get my birthday cakes at a bakery on mcnichols by keystone, until some stupid fucks decide to kill the little old macodenian couple who ran it, for 60 bucks in the registry.

[goirish1966]

Was that the Southeastern Bakery? It was located at the southeast corner of McNichols & Conley. The owner of this bakery was killed in a robbery.

One of my grandmothers lived on the 2nd block of Conley, between Jayne Field and McNichols, until her death in 1964. I drove past her house two weeks ago. That two blocks of Conley has less than 3 occupied residences and looks like Germany in 1945.

[GUSHI]

It was one street before keystone across the street from a coney island if I remember right, I was young , I think it was called north eastern but it was on thee south side, of mcnichols, across the street from a coney, UOTE=goirish1966;314600]Was that the Southeastern Bakery? It was located at the southeast corner of McNichols & Conley. The owner of this bakery was killed in a robbery.

One of my grandmothers lived on the 2nd block of Conley, between Jayne Field and McNichols, until her death in 1964. I drove past her house two weeks ago. That two blocks of Conley has less than 3 occupied residences and looks like Germany in 1945.[/QUOTE]

[lafontaine]

That block of Keystone Street from the corner of Davison north to Schuster Park was the topic of a Fox 2 news story a few years ago. It was about the sad story of the last person living on Keystone Street. Heres the YouTube link with the title:Detroit: Entire Neighborhood Abandoned. White Lady Remains..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCT_g...layer_embedded

Looks like her house is the last house on the street where it deadends into the park. Looking at the street view, there is another occupied house--a brick house next to the lot discussed by the OP. It appears to be in decent shape, too.

[Wintersmommy]

Looks like her house is the last house on the street where it deadends into the park. Looking at the street view, there is another occupied house--a brick house next to the lot discussed by the OP. It appears to be in decent shape, too.

i google toured that street and also noticed that house. seemed to be in good shape. cant see if from davidson for all the over growth so i dont know if its still in good shape.

[Wintersmommy]

It was one street before keystone across the street from a coney island if I remember right, I was young , I think it was called north eastern but it was on thee south side, of mcnichols, across the street from a coney, UOTE=goirish1966;314600]Was that the Southeastern Bakery? It was located at the southeast corner of McNichols & Conley. The owner of this bakery was killed in a robbery.

One of my grandmothers lived on the 2nd block of Conley, between Jayne Field and McNichols, until her death in 1964. I drove past her house two weeks ago. That two blocks of Conley has less than 3 occupied residences and looks like Germany in 1945.

[/QUOTE]

interesting..I know nothing about this area.

[IrishSpartan]

Alinosi's is on 6 Mile & Gouldburn, which is east of Gunston [[M-97). It is not in the area of Davison & Mound

Is Alinosi's still tucked away back over there? I remember reading within the last decade in the Metro Times they were still over there, and behind the boarded up and seemingly vacated structure was a completely, in-tact, original as-the-day-it-was-built soda shop.

[CassTechGrad]

On the south side of Davison and about one block west of the corner of Davison & Keystone St was the old Caravan bar, 5120 Davison, the wildest hillbilly bar in the city during the 1950's & 60's. When I was 18, a friend took me and some of my buddys in there and it was the first time I ever drank liquor in a bar, something I will never forget. The bar building ran from Davison across to McNichols [[6 Mile) and had a door on both sides. Metro Times talked about it in the December 14, 2011 edition:
Caravan Gardens
Six Mile Road at East Davison Street, Detroit
Whether they played bluegrass, Western swing, honky-tonk or a forward-looking amalgamation of those styles, an astounding number of country musicians found work in Detroit in the early '50s, following the same hillbilly highway that brought so many Appalachians here for work. Caravan Gardens catered to the best of them, including Roy Hall, Skeets McDonald, Eddie Jackson and the York Brothers. Guitarist Joyce Songer worked as a hostess here when she wasn't waxing strikingly original records for Imperial, Coral and Fortune with her husband Earl and their band the Rocky Road Ramblers.

[Király]

i google toured that street and also noticed that house. seemed to be in good shape. cant see if from davidson for all the over growth so i dont know if its still in good shape.

It isn't. Both it and the house beside it are vacant and burned, just like the whole rest of the block. I saw it last August.

[winstonst]

It isn't. Both it and the house beside it are vacant and burned, just like the whole rest of the block. I saw it last August.

Google street view images in that area and probably most of Detroit date to 2009. Look in the lower left hand corner.

[canoesdothewoo]

Google street view images in that area and probably most of Detroit date to 2009. Look in the lower left hand corner.

Does anyone know the history of Keystone and why it ended up the way it did. It looks so scary now

[Wintersmommy]

so upon inspection today I believe that someone cleared the area/lot and is going to open up another repair shop. There are now a few plastic lawn chairs out front along the building, lot is clear, and the plywood is off part of the building with people inside.

[PolishJohn]

That block of Keystone Street from the corner of Davison north to Schuster Park was the topic of a Fox 2 news story a few years ago. It was about the sad story of the last person living on Keystone Street. Heres the YouTube link with the title:Detroit: Entire Neighborhood Abandoned. White Lady Remains..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCT_g...layer_embedded

That area was once referred to as Hamtramck Heights. My Dad grew up on Keystone just north of Jayne Field. The house he once lived in is one of two homes that are still occupied on that block.
Back in the day that whole area thrived with many bars, stores, bakeries, tool and die shops, etc. I drive through there a few times a month and it is a rarity to see anyone walking let alone in the residential area. I clearly remember Keystone street being lined with well-kept houses and large trees. When we would visit my grandparents every Sunday, it was hard to find a parking place on the street. Now there are no cars or hardly any houses on that street. Other than the two occupied houses, most of them have been bulldozed or are burned out shells of their former glory. What a shame.

[GUSHI]

Had family that lived off moran, when we got older we would drink 40s and do 360 by jayne field, the good old days, use to hang on campau all the time, went to lads and florian. How the neighborhood has changed.