Christmas Back In The Day

[Dfd]

Does anyone have pictures of the cardboard fireplaces?

[p69rrh51]

I think that was George P Johnson, owner of Geo. P Johnson Displays?

I remember my parents saying Johnstone but it could be Johnson.

[Honky Tonk]

Does anyone have pictures of the cardboard fireplaces?

No, Those didn't last.......

[jackie5275]

Does anyone have pictures of the cardboard fireplaces?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sct7zhnBGdc

Something like this?

[GPCharles]

The house on Three Mile was between St. Paul and Kercheval and was owned by the owner of a liquor sales company.

The house on Whittier was owned by George P. Johnson.

The other people on both blocks pretty much hated the displays due to all the traffic.

[Rochelle St.]

The best Christmas light display in Grosse Pointe now is the house at Moross and Lakeshore.
Up until a few years ago, the house owned by Sregie Federovs former agent had the nicest display on Lakeshore.

[MidTownMs]

The best Christmas light display in Grosse Pointe now is the house at Moross and Lakeshore.
Up until a few years ago, the house owned by Sregie Federovs former agent had the nicest display on Lakeshore.

There's a house on Lakeshore Blvd. & Vernier that is so spectacular that when I drove pass it last Christmas therewere police officers directing traffic. The first time I saw it I couldn't believe my eyes. Check it out if you can.

[Rochelle St.]

There's a house on Lakeshore Blvd. & Vernier that is so spectacular that when I drove pass it last Christmas therewere police officers directing traffic. The first time I saw it I couldn't believe my eyes. Check it out if you can.

I think you are refering to the city hall.

[jcole]

Don't Van Elslander's live on Lakeshore near Vernier on the lake side of the road and put up a huge display every year?

[jcole]

The house on Three Mile was between St. Paul and Kercheval and was owned by the owner of a liquor sales company.

The house on Whittier was owned by George P. Johnson.

The other people on both blocks pretty much hated the displays due to all the traffic.

Thank you, GP; it's good to know my memory hasn't completely gone.

[river rat]

One of the great Christmas memories of the 50's was Matty Maroun's building, Michigan Central Station. Thousands of travelers meeting loved ones, Christmas trees, choirs from churches and schools serenading the masses. The building concourses were beautiful and the excitment of taking the Twilight Limited to see relatives was exciting. People 'dressed up' to travel then and the civility among the crowds would never be imagined today.

It was very different.

[MidTownMs]

One of the great Christmas memories of the 50's was Matty Maroun's building, Michigan Central Station. Thousands of travelers meeting loved ones, Christmas trees, choirs from churches and schools serenading the masses. The building concourses were beautiful and the excitment of taking the Twilight Limited to see relatives was exciting. People 'dressed up' to travel then and the civility among the crowds would never be imagined today.

It was very different.

Thanks for the reminder...

[Dfd]

Just a few days left. Any more stories?

[Gistok]

I've got Christmas Mail Order Catalog Scans [[1961-75) of LEGO sets from FAO Schwarz, Sears, J.C. Penney, Jordan Marsh, Eaton's, and a dozen other catalogs.

But my favorite is this one... J. L. Hudson's 1962 Christmas Window Display...

[old guy]

Not way back in the day, but I remember drinking wine, and shooting pool with Johnny Winters, Edgar Winters & Rick Derringer at our house on Christmas Eve of 71. Good times. East Side.

[mikefmich]

Not way back in the day, but I remember drinking wine, and shooting pool with Johnny Winters, Edgar Winters & Rick Derringer at our house on Christmas Eve of 71. Good times. East Side.

Were you in GPW by any chance?

[agirlintheD]

Christmas in Detroit was magical....just magical.

[old guy]

Were you in GPW by any chance?

Nope, Greyhaven Island. Across the canal from Lenox.

[Gistok]

Thanks for the reminder...

MidTownMs.... I think you are referring to the 2 houses just south of Vernier not far from the City Hall that used to have so many Christmas lights, that the 2 super tall pine tress with so many red lights... almost seemed to burn your retina...

Sadly those 2 houses [[that required a generator or two) no longer do the light show that they once did. Ditto for the Art Van Elslander House a few blocks north of Vernier. Sadly, that leaves the house at the corner of Moross and Lakeshore to be the sole "beacon" of Christmas....

[illwill]

I'd say visit Chicago today and that's how Detroit was when I was a kid. Very bustling at Christmas time, window displays, every restaurant was packed and you had towait to get inside to eat.

Very few vibrant big city downtowns left these days. I definitely see this coming back to Detroit in the next five years. We have the infrastructure and streetscape to put it back together again. Dan Gilbert is committed to downtown and the residents want it too. The S.E. region will also appreciate it once Detroiters have rebuilt the city again.

[Jimbo]

I remember going to Muirheads Dept. Store in the mid-50's, going down a rail system in a sleigh on wheels with my parents and sister. It would take you to "the Man" where you would tell him your wish list and that you've been good all year. They took your photo and you could purchase it for a nominal charge. I think I still have an 8 x 10 or 5 x 7 somewhere.

[p69rrh51]

MidTownMs.... I think you are referring to the 2 houses just south of Vernier not far from the City Hall that used to have so many Christmas lights, that the 2 super tall pine tress with so many red lights... almost seemed to burn your retina...

Sadly those 2 houses [[that required a generator or two) no longer do the light show that they once did. Ditto for the Art Van Elslander House a few blocks north of Vernier. Sadly, that leaves the house at the corner of Moross and Lakeshore to be the sole "beacon" of Christmas....

Gistok there is the big display on Mack Avenue near Caribou Coffee also.

[MidTownMs]

MidTownMs.... I think you are referring to the 2 houses just south of Vernier not far from the City Hall that used to have so many Christmas lights, that the 2 super tall pine tress with so many red lights... almost seemed to burn your retina...

Sadly those 2 houses [[that required a generator or two) no longer do the light show that they once did. Ditto for the Art Van Elslander House a few blocks north of Vernier. Sadly, that leaves the house at the corner of Moross and Lakeshore to be the sole "beacon" of Christmas....

Yes those are the houses. I used to purposely drive down Vernier from Eastland just so I could drive down Lakeshore Blvd. just to see those lights. I'm sorry to hear that it's no longer there.

[MidTownMs]

Christmas in Detroit was magical....just magical.

I could not have said it better!!!

[Hermod]

The truly OFFICIAL SANTA was at JL Hudsons on the 12th floor. The others were all fakes. The 12th floor of Hudsons had to be seen to be believed. It was a true monument to juvenile greed and acquisitiveness. Santa arrived during the Thanksgiving parade. Unitl he showed up and went into Hudsons, Christmas just wasn't there.

Yuop, one night after supper there was an automotive pilgrimage out to Grosse Point [[land of the Richie Richs) to see some obscene electric light display which my mother would dutiflly oooooh and aahh about.

Since my grandparents were Scandinavian immigrants, we had our Christmas dinner on Christmas eve at sundown [[Teutonic tradition was that the new day began at sundown not at midnight). We had the jul grot [[rice porrige), the guba men, the kurv [[ pork sausage), the bonar, the lingen, and the many different herrings and cheeses [[oost).

Grandpa and Grandma, I call across 50 years for you to be with me in spirit this Christmas eve. I still remember their little house on St Clair just south of Warren. The young boys got booster seats on regular chairs from the thick Detroit phone books and the little girls in their high chairs and junior chairs. By tradition, the men washed the many, many dishes and we could not get our presents till the dish washing was done.