Where did the Greeks in Greektown live?

**nain rouge** · November-26-13, 04:10 PM

The Greektown area has been so "urban renewed" over the decades that's it's quite impossible to guess where any Greek person could've actually lived. From what I can see, it looks like they demolished everything except the core of the business district, and a few churches.

What kind of homes did Greeks live in? Was it like Corktown? Or was it more urban, with apartment buildings and the like?

I find it more and more amazing as I travel to other big cities how Detroit managed to demolish practically any urban ethnic neighborhood within spitting distance of downtown. It seems like once the city decided that single-family residences were the way to go, an extreme amount of bulldozing was undertaken to get rid of anything that didn't fit.

The '50s and '60s must've been rough on preservationists, even worse than the '90s.

**Detroitnerd** · November-26-13, 04:22 PM

I don't think "preservationism" existed as a word until the 1960s, and the public battle to save Grand Central Terminal in New York. But there were glimmerings of it. I know there was at least a small protest against the demolition of Detroit City Hall. Enough to where the crews went to work on the demolition in the middle of the night, literally under cover of darkness, in 1961. Commuters arrived downtown to see the magnificent building being ripped apart and must have wondered "... what the heck?"

**nain rouge** · November-26-13, 04:26 PM

Well, if you wanna bring that up, I can't be the only one that suspects the Wayne County Building on Randolph will be gone in 5-10 years.

**Detroitnerd** · November-26-13, 04:37 PM

Take away that OLD wine.

Bring me that fresh, NEW wine!

**Danny** · November-26-13, 05:58 PM

Since most parts of Greektown had been destroyed into surface parking lots, most Greek owners live where else THE SUBURBS! a few of them live in Detroit ghettohoods like Indian Village, East Village Palmer Woods.

**MikeyinBrooklyn** · November-26-13, 08:23 PM

The Greeks stayed at the Atheneum, where they got a discount.

**CleveBill** · November-26-13, 09:07 PM

Monsieur Dwarf, I wish I could answer your [[apparently sincere) question, since it's one that I have wondered myself. But at least I don't mask my ignorance with off-topic digressions or, worse, snarky sarcastic comments.

**rb336** · November-26-13, 09:17 PM

The Greek population started moving to Detroit in the late 1800s, and they lived in the area around Greektown. Generally, the bakery, shop and restaurant owners lived above their businesses

**nain rouge** · November-26-13, 10:29 PM

While searching for images of Greektown, I found a cool collection of photos that shows some interesting glimpses of urban life in old Detroit: https://www.reuther.wayne.edu/image/tid/1032

To see how far we've fallen, contrast:
https://www.reuther.wayne.edu/node/8975

With this:
http://goo.gl/maps/VgtXM

If you continue heading east, you'll see a few remnants from the old days. And that was pretty far from Downtown and Midtown!

**nain rouge** · November-26-13, 10:49 PM

I think that photo at 12th & Collingwood also highlights an interesting but overlooked fact about Detroit - the city actually had its highest population density in the 1910s [[about 16,000 at its peak). After that, the city nearly doubled in size, and never got close to its peak density level.

Areas like 12th and Collingwood were common in early Detroit, but by the 1920s the automobile was already at war with the city's historic urban character. From that point on, there was a steady migration to the annexed suburbs, and that pattern still hasn't stopped. Denser areas were generally viewed as poorer, and hence even by the early '60s the Cass Corridor was quite rough and gap-toothed. We essentially lost before we'd thought we were even losing.

Detroit just boomed too late in the game and was tied too close to the auto industry to ever compete with a city like Chicago.

All of which is a bit off topic, but I think indirectly explains the fate of Greektown and similar areas.

**Hermod** · November-26-13, 11:31 PM

Originally Posted by rb336

The Greek population started moving to Detroit in the late 1800s, and they lived in the area around Greektown. Generally, the bakery, shop and restaurant owners lived above their businesses

Bingo, the standard construction was two apartments over each ground floor store. The store owner lived in one and rented out the other. When he made enough money, he bought a house in a nice neighborhood and rented out both apartments.

**nain rouge** · November-26-13, 11:37 PM

Well, yes, that certainly explains part of it. But it's not like everyone in Mexicantown is living above the Mexican shops. I'm curious about where the average person lived.

**Huggybear** · November-27-13, 12:29 AM

They lived in what was [[or became) Black Bottom, now Lafayette Park. That neighborhood was Italian, then Greek, then African-American, then wiped out.

HB

**Hermod** · November-27-13, 12:43 AM

They ate their food cooked Acropolis style [[fried in ancient Greece).

**rb336** · November-27-13, 11:36 AM

Originally Posted by Huggybear

They lived in what was [[or became) Black Bottom, now Lafayette Park. That neighborhood was Italian, then Greek, then African-American, then wiped out.

HB

I thought it was German, then Greek.

I am confused with the descriptions I see of Black Bottom's location as "bounded by Gratiot Avenue, Brush Street, Vernor Highway, and the Grand Trunk railroad track." I know where brush is, the Grand Trunk is the Dequinder Cut, isn't it? Vernor Hwy and Gratiot intersect far to the east of Brush