Remnants Of Ethnic Detroit

**terryh** · August-26-09, 07:00 PM

Over the years of my travels in the fair city of Detroit Ive taken note of specific areas that have rows of closed and open businesses with Polish [[Chene) Italian [[Gratiot) names painted on the front or side, or builders names engraved in the building. German names of Streets along Gratiot. As late as 96 there was an Italian family owned small market on Gratiot called Julians? that went back several generations, I think I recall the market being located several blocks south of 6 mile......

**terryh** · August-27-09, 03:38 PM

I would love to get up in the attic of some of them old abandoned houses to see if there are any old artifacts or periodicals...

**Maof** · August-27-09, 05:09 PM

Originally Posted by terryh

I would love to get up in the attic of some of them old abandoned houses to see if there are any old artifacts or periodicals...

Omg, i tell my hubby that all the time and get the same response..."whadya crazy".
Terryh, do you mean Giglio's market? They were on Gratiot and moved to S.C.S. many years ago.

**terryh** · August-27-09, 07:26 PM

Where on Gratiot was Giglios Mao? Lots of us DYESERS are urban explorers....

**Maof** · August-27-09, 07:38 PM

terry - it was near state fair and gratiot.

**terryh** · August-28-09, 04:56 PM

Yep thats the place...little Italian market with service meat counter...talked to the couple about the area.. back in 96...

Retroit · August-28-09, 06:07 PM

Was across from Saratoga Hospital, just south of the pink-bricked nursing home. Now a party store.

Current location: Harper, a few blocks north of 11 Mile road. Still has the best Italian lunch meat money can buy: Oldani salami, Mortadella, Marguerite Pepperoni, etc.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....

**Frumoasa** · August-28-09, 07:11 PM

There are still many vestiges of Hungarian Delray...including old storefronts and the up until recently open Kovacs Bar. My husband is Hungarian and the church he attends has all these great pictures of their old church in Delray from WWI era founding fathers, to Sunday school pictures. Unfortunately the old church is no longer standing and they moved the church to Allen Park in the 60's but they brought a lot of history with them. When I asked the pastor if any church members still lived in Delray...he didn't think so.

**dbc** · August-28-09, 09:42 PM

Frumoasa,

Isn't the Delray Cafe still open? Last I knew, they served Hungarian and Polish food.

Also, Holy Cross parish still does Mass in Hungarian on Sundays.

**jtf1972** · August-28-09, 09:55 PM

Originally Posted by terryh

I would love to get up in the attic of some of them old abandoned houses to see if there are any old artifacts or periodicals...

When I moved into my [[now former) house on the west side in '92 I did a little exploring and found tucked away in the rafters some text books from Wayne University with papers dated 1949.

**terryh** · August-29-09, 01:02 AM

Any names on the textbooks Jt? I would love to do some deep exploring in the old Jewish North End neighborhood and possibly find part of an old still or bullet-weapon-notepad from Purple gangster era

**jams** · August-29-09, 07:30 AM

Originally Posted by dbc

Frumoasa,

Isn't the Delray Cafe still open? Last I knew, they served Hungarian and Polish food.

Also, Holy Cross parish still does Mass in Hungarian on Sundays.

It's hit or miss. Usually open Friday nights but otherwise ????

**stromberg2** · August-29-09, 01:30 PM

Frumoasa, Did you say that Kovacs is closed?

Stromberg2

**Frumoasa** · August-29-09, 06:13 PM

Stromberg: My mistake...I'm not a bar person and someone told me that the Delray angels were only on unused buildings. Sorry 'bout that...but it looks like it is open and thankfully so...all those city water workers need a watering hole

http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeyharrison/100349176/

**Rosa** · August-29-09, 07:17 PM

Originally Posted by stromberg2

Frumoasa, Did you say that Kovacs is closed?

Stromberg2

I think I read that the site is in limbo due to the Bridge project. I keep meaning to go there because I've never been in there and I want to see it before it closes. Does anyone remember Al's Lounge? They had this cool waitress named Helga, who had red hair, and wore jade green eyeshadow and bright red lipstick. Good food too. My Mom remembers going to the Green Parrot with her family as a kid. Was that on that main strip in Delray? I wonder what happened to that amazing altar in St. John Cantius. I always thought that spot would be a good movie location. There's such a contrast between the church and the water treatment stuff.

**kryptonite** · August-31-09, 10:48 AM

Rosa, I remember Al's Lounge. I went there maybe twice after stopping in at Szabo's Market to pick up Hungarian groceries with a friend who was actually Hungarian. Al's food was very good.

It seems like Al's closed around 1994? Szabo's closed sometime after Al's. The Hungarian Club on Jefferson I heard was open until about 2004?

Kovacs had great simple lunches until the mid 90's. I heard the owner died at work one day while bringing in some bags of ice. Back then Kovacs was the cleanest pub I was ever in.

**Danny** · August-31-09, 11:07 AM

Today, what's left of ethnic Detroit are confined into 'ethnic oasis' small familyesque communities. Also little ethnic Detroit ghettohoods are near the suburban borders:

For example lots of Arab muslims in Detroit are setting up their communities near the Dearborn border, Hamtramck border.

The Chaldeans in Detroit has set up their communities near 8 Mile Rd.

The Mexican and Hispanic communities of Southwest Detroit had expanded their communties near Dearborn and Downriver suburbs.

The East Indians and Begladeshis set their Northeast Detroit communities near Hamtramck borders.

The rest of 'familyesque' communties like Greektown and Corktown are in the core of black ghettoes.

**Frumoasa** · September-05-09, 08:18 AM

Originally Posted by Danny

Today, what's left of ethnic Detroit are confined into 'ethnic oasis' small familyesque communities. Also little ethnic Detroit ghettohoods are near the suburban borders:

For example lots of Arab muslims in Detroit are setting up their communities near the Dearborn border, Hamtramck border.

The Chaldeans in Detroit has set up their communities near 8 Mile Rd.

The Mexican and Hispanic communities of Southwest Detroit had expanded their communties near Dearborn and Downriver suburbs.

The East Indians and Begladeshis set their Northeast Detroit communities near Hamtramck borders.

The rest of 'familyesque' communties like Greektown and Corktown are in the core of black ghettoes.

In order to further clarify...the Warrendale area is home to a large Iraqi Muslim population, many of them Shias who were severely persecuted in their homeland. You will find storefront mosques like the Karbala center in Warrendale that are gathering places for the community. Few of their children attend public schools and many of the children attend the American Muslim Academy on Ohio St. or the Tawheed Center School on Warren Av. If you are searching for Iraqi food [[IMHO even more delicious and flavorful than Lebanese food), try Kebab Arbeel or go to the Iraqi bakery that is very close by.

In reference to the "East Indian and Bangladeshi community north of Hamtramck, there is no significant East Indian population here. What you might be seeing is the Hindu Bangladeshis and the Muslim Bangladeshis. They both coexist rather peacefully. The Muslims have a mosque on Caniff and the Hindus have a temple [[Durga Temple) on McNichols that used to be an independent Romanian Orthodox church that I went to for parties and weddings many times as recently as 3 years ago. The funny thing about the Orthodox church there is that essentially no Romanians live in the area. Most Romanians live near Mich. Av. and Lonyo close to the Dearborn border. That is another interesting community in the city. DPS offers Romanian bilingual services at Priest Elem and at Chadsey to serve the community, although immigration has slowed to a trickle from its peak in the mid 90's.