What are your memories of Greektown

[Meddle]

Pretty much the same as everybody else. Bumper to bumper line of cars barely moving, jockeying for what litle on street parking there was. Find a spot somewhere. Walk from end to end stopping in every little shop or bakery. Wall to wall people. Baklava. I don't know what the other cakes and pastries were called, but you could spend $10 and be FULL. I'd eat at the International or one of the other dives. Went to the Pegasus a few times. Trapper's Alley was a blast when it first opened. Some really weird stuff in there. T-shirt shops, gift shops, arcades. Wasn't there a movie theatre there at one time?

I asked on another thread if anybody remembered Emily's. Owned at least in part by Lily Tomlin I think.

Greektown was a destination. You went downtown to go to Greektown and you spent the evening there.

A block or two west, you couldn't even get in to the Old Sheleighle on some nights.




I haven't been there since the mid 90s when I used to go to Fishbones for lunch [[great GatorBits). From what some of you had posted on other threads, I don't think I'd like it now.

[smogboy]

Greektown was the place to take a date and try to impress her. The street vendors there knew it. I'll always have fond memories of and a solid disdain for the flower vendors that would try to hit us guys up, trying to make us look cheap in front of our ladies.

I still remember when Trapper's Alley went up; they had that cool logo painted on the water tower. They had a great art gallery on the top floor as well as some pretty cool trinket shops inside. And I think it was the summer of 1987 that the People Mover had opened up a Greektown station. The neon underneath that pedestrian walkway from within Trapper's Alley was always pretty cool.

And some of the best free parking was right across from Niki's. I used to park there all the time when going to Flood's, Wings games or to shows at St. Andrew's.

Greektown is still ever evolving. Sure some of the old haunts are gone and part of the charm of the locals is no longer there, but it's still a destination to take out-of-towners, it still has some fine dining, a cold drink can still be found nearby, and the streets are still covered with people [[something you don't see on too many other downtown Detroit streets).

[mikeinmotown]

Emily's was owned by Emily Gail. Her father owned Gail office supply. Her brother is Max Gail of the Barney Miller TV Show. Emily does look a little like Lily Tomlin. A lot of people don't know but Emily is the one who started the first runs downtown. It was called Emily's Fun Run years before the Free Press Marathon. Emily lives in Hawaii now.