Growing up in Detroit

**eriedearie** · July-28-09, 06:39 AM

Originally Posted by Meddle

Anybody remember the Quickee Cafeterias that used to be all over downtown? There was also a hole in the wall Italian place called Luigi's I used to walk to for lunch when I worked at Himelhoch's.

I remember Quickee Cafeterias from when I worked downtown. Can't remember the street it was on.

**Meddle** · July-28-09, 07:03 AM

^^ There were several. You never had to walk more than a few blocks to get to one.

There were some kind of automat places too. All vending machines, but they had hot foods, fresh sandwiches, fruits, soups, etc. People in back that loaded the machines all day. These may have been owned by Quickee also.

**9936Sussex** · July-28-09, 10:32 AM

The Quickee places that I remember downtown were coffee/doughnut kinds of places. When I used to take the bus, it would drop me off on Washington Blvd. right in front of St. Aloysius church. There was a Quickee somewhere in the vicinity, because I could smell the coffee and donuts in the morning. Never stopped, but oh, it smelled divine!

**Danny** · July-29-09, 01:36 PM

9936Sussex

There were 4 Supermarkets aroung Plymouth Rd. between Greenfield Ave. and Southfield Ave. at the time Red Bull, Krogers, Wriggleys and Dixieland. Have you been shopping those markets?

**Thomcat52** · July-29-09, 04:55 PM

5868 Grandy ' 63 - ' 69

Ferry elementary

Greusel Jr. High [[anybody remember Ms Phelps, gym/ homeroom teacher)

**9936Sussex** · July-29-09, 09:19 PM

My parents and I always shopped at Wrigley on the Fridays that were paydays. We would have dinner at a little mom/pop restaurant right by there. We also used to go to a little 5 & 10 called Bluebirds that was near by. I used to get most of my school supplies at Bluebird.

**normvan** · August-06-09, 05:33 AM

I was born at Saratoga hospital on Gratiot near 8 Mi. Rd., a long time ago...

Ms. G · October-12-09, 02:18 PM

Born at Doctors's Hospial on Jefferson. Lived on Canton between Jefferson and Lafayette and attended Bellvue Elementary until 4th grade. [[1965). Moved to
Seneca between Gratiot and I-94. Attended Stephens Elementary, Burroughs Middle School and graduated from Kettering Senior High School in 1974.
Anybody from the old neighborhood on Canton [[near Belle Isle)?

**gazhekwe** · October-12-09, 09:20 PM

I don't think the automat was Qwikee. I remember the one on the southeast side of Grand Circus Park around the corner and next to the Flaming Embers. It was fun to spin the shelves looking for the perfect sandwich, then put in your coins and open the door to get the sandwich. You could see the people in back ready to fill the shelves as they emptied.

**oladub** · October-15-09, 08:33 PM

Turkeycall and I must have been tripping over each other.

Three Mile Drive>Peace Lutheran>Farmbrook>Finney HS>Roslyn near Mack [[GP Woods)>GPHS>Wayne State>W. Ferry

extreme East Sider

**EMG** · October-16-09, 11:00 PM

Originally Posted by oladub

Turkeycall and I must have been tripping over each other.

Three Mile Drive>Peace Lutheran>Farmbrook>Finney HS>Roslyn near Mack [[GP Woods)>GPHS>Wayne State>W. Ferry

extreme East Sider

If you were on "Roslyn near Mack" then you and I were tripping over each other too! From 1990 through 2002 I lived on Roslyn between Mack and Helen!

**oladub** · October-17-09, 02:00 PM

Originally Posted by EMG

If you were on "Roslyn near Mack" then you and I were tripping over each other too! From 1990 through 2002 I lived on Roslyn between Mack and Helen!

Small world. My father built a the tri-level house on the east side of Roslyn several houses from Mack toard Helen There is another newer house next to it - the reason being a creek used to flow through there. Our neighbors were a house painter, a carpenter, a factory foreman, and a retired brewery worker. Not what people think of when they think of Grosse Pointe. The house was built in 1963 and I lived there until 1968. There was only one GPHS at the time although I worked at North as a janitor when it opened while I attended Wayne State.

**EMG** · October-17-09, 04:36 PM

Originally Posted by oladub

Small world. My father built a the tri-level house on the east side of Roslyn several houses from Mack toard Helen

Hm, not sure I specifically remember one that was "tri-level" but I do remember some tall houses.

Was it one of these?
Attachment 3553

**turkeycall** · October-18-09, 04:40 PM

Oladub,
If you attended Peace and your Confirmation year was 1964, then you and I might have gone to Camp Pioneer together that summer.

**oladub** · October-19-09, 04:36 PM

Originally Posted by EMG

Hm, not sure I specifically remember one that was "tri-level" but I do remember some tall houses.

Was it one of these?
Attachment 3553

The world continues to get smaller.

EMG, No, but you might be on my lawn with your camera. Do a google maps satellite search for wherever you took the picture from. I'm guessing those new houses across the street might be there because of the same stream. I was in the seventh house from Mack on the other side of the street. Look for a T shaped roof line.

Turkeycall, I hate to age myself but my confirmation was 1962. I don't remember the name Pioneer but I was sent to camps in New York on Lake Erie and somewhere in lower Michigan. If you ever came to a Bethany-Peace basketball game, you would have seen me warming the bench. Bethany had good teams at the time. Its sad to see the demise of such once thriving institutions. Two boys next door, whom I used to walk to school with. when I lived on Three Mile Drive, grew up to me Missouri Synod ministers serving in Illinois and Indiana..

**EMG** · October-19-09, 05:59 PM

Originally Posted by oladub

The world continues to get smaller.

EMG, No, but you might be on my lawn with your camera. Do a google maps satellite search for wherever you took the picture from. I'm guessing those new houses across the street might be there because of the same stream. I was in the seventh house from Mack on the other side of the street. .....

And the world gets smaller yet!!! That being the case, if you had been [[or were) there at any time between 1990 and 2002, you would have been [[or were) my next door neighbor to the east!!! I took that picture from what was MY front lawn at the time! And thinking back, my neighbors to the east DID have a "tri-level" though I hadn't at first thought of it that way.

Edit: I see you weren't there during the time I lived there. But my house was a brick house built in 1961 so that may be the "newer house" to which you were referring. And I won't go public with complete names but one of the previous owners of that house had the initials J.S. and I believe he very well may have been a carpenter [[by the number of things he had done with that house he was obviously very skilled in that area, to say the least).

**oladub** · October-19-09, 09:50 PM

Originally Posted by EMG

And the world gets smaller yet!!! That being the case, if you had been [[or were) there at any time between 1990 and 2002, you would have been [[or were) my next door neighbor to the east!!! I took that picture from what was MY front lawn at the time! And thinking back, my neighbors to the east DID have a "tri-level" though I hadn't at first thought of it that way.

Edit: I see you weren't there during the time I lived there. But my house was a brick house built in 1961 so that may be the "newer house" to which you were referring. And I won't go public with complete names but one of the previous owners of that house had the initials J.S. and I believe he very well may have been a carpenter [[by the number of things he had done with that house he was obviously very skilled in that area, to say the least).

Howdy neighbor! We lived atop what had been Girard Creek.
http://atdetroit.net/forum/messages/89914/90917.html My family moved in in October, 1963. Your house was built after that. I have a June 1966 photo below showing tall grass on your lot indicating your house wasn't built yet. It must have been built soon after because I remember trying to neck on the back porch while in college when the neighbors in your house started arguing. It wasn't condusive. There used to be a large elm where the driveway of our former house is. The fellow that built your house was a carpenter as I previously mentioned. He and his wife had no kids. They had lived in in different places across the country.

Maybe the F------ family still lived next door to you while you lived there in my old house. Mrs. F was a widow, religious, and owned a beauty shop when I knew her. She tried to be nice. I'll leave it at that.

When I lived there, a Lakeshore Coach picked us up at Brys on Mack to take us to what is now South.

1. Looking towards Mack [[1966). Your lot has long grass and no drive.
2. Recognize the porch and garage in the background [[1969)?
3. Your vacant lot in 64 or 65.
Attachment 3579

**turkeycall** · October-20-09, 03:39 AM

Oladub,
Camp Pioneer was located in Angola, New York, right on the southern shore of Lake Erie. The confirmation classes from Behtany, Peace, and Mt. Calvary ended up there for a week or so. We took off from Detroit, crossed to Windsor, then on to Niagara Falls. rossed the border again and followed the shoreline to Angola. And, that was the short route!

I had a classmate who lived on Three Mile Drive - near St. Paul, I think. She lived in a big white house. Elizabeth Williamson. She had several brothers who attended Bethany, too.

**EMG** · October-20-09, 03:00 PM

Originally Posted by oladub

Howdy neighbor! We lived atop what had been Girard Creek.
http://atdetroit.net/forum/messages/89914/90917.html My family moved in in October, 1963. Your house was built after that. I have a June 1966 photo below showing tall grass on your lot indicating your house wasn't built yet. It must have been built soon after because I remember trying to neck on the back porch while in college when the neighbors in your house started arguing. It wasn't condusive. There used to be a large elm where the driveway of our former house is. The fellow that built your house was a carpenter as I previously mentioned. He and his wife had no kids. They had lived in in different places across the country.

Maybe the F------ family still lived next door to you while you lived there in my old house. Mrs. F was a widow, religious, and owned a beauty shop when I knew her. She tried to be nice. I'll leave it at that.

When I lived there, a Lakeshore Coach picked us up at Brys on Mack to take us to what is now South.

1. Looking towards Mack [[1966). Your lot has long grass and no drive.
2. Recognize the porch and garage in the background [[1969)?
3. Your vacant lot in 64 or 65.

I think one of us actually miscounted; if that picture #2 is you sitting on "your" back porch, we actually lived IN THE SAME HOUSE!!!!!

This was a brick house. Picture #2 was definitely my back porch, and the house in background was indeed the F's house, she had remarried [[to Mr. F), and yes, she did have a beauty shop and if I remember correctly that beauty shop was located on 9 mile in Eastpointe. They were indeed nice neighbors, and were still living there as of the time I moved out.

That back porch was enclosed by the time I bought the house; and then I later had that redone as a sunroom while I lived there.

Picture #3 was taken in front of the house I lived in - the brick one on the left hand side of the picture. I recognize my front window. It looks like the house had a pathyway instead of a driveway to the right of it. Incidentally, whenever the driveway finally was built, it wasn't built correctly. When I had it inspected at time of purchase the inspector noted the driveway sloped towards the house and recommended I have it re-done. Later, when I had to have the driveway redone anyway due to old crumbling concrete, I did have that condition corrected too.

But I am a little confused because records [[perhaps the actual building permit) we found in the house somewhere indicated that the house was built in late 1961. Perhaps that was just the permit date and it wasn't completed until a couple years later?

**oladub** · October-21-09, 12:49 AM

Turkeycall, The camp I went to was in Angola. I had forgotten the name of it. It had the cleanest beach and the warmest water of any beach I've ever been to on the Great lakes. I hope I'm not mixing this up with another camp but it had cabins named after Indian tribes like Seneca.

I was between Waveney and Munich in Detroit so I didn't know your friend. It was a mostly German neighborhood at that time which explains the proximity of Peace and Bethany.

EMG, This approaches amazing but I am confused. Straighten me out here. I lived in the red brick house and understood you to have lived in the yellow brick house. However, you are saying that you also lived in the tri-level brick house [[---2). Picture 2 was my father re-strapping a lawn chair. I am hiding behind the EMG sign in photo 3. Mrs. Fi----- was a widow when I knew her, but she lived in the red brick --2 house. Carpenters built and owned both houses which might be a point of confusion. I wanted to know if both houses had someone whose name started with 'F' which could further confuse this revelation. Another possiblity I wanted to clarify is the one floor house to the Helen side of the tri-level belonged to a Mr. Shepler, a retired brewery worker. I wanted to make sure you didn't mean that house.

The red house had a ribbon driveway with grass in the center. The drive might have sunk due to the rotting elm stump underneath it. If it is the red house of which you speak, did it still have a triple fleur de lis leaded glass window beside the front door? I made that when I lived in Santa Cruz.

I tried to contact you through the friends function of your profile. I don't know how that works. You might check it.

**turkeycall** · October-21-09, 03:43 AM

Oladub- I stayed in Cayahoga cabin. There were a couple of areas to the camp. One area was the horse shoe.

Had some fun for the time we were there.

**EMG** · October-21-09, 06:19 AM

Originally Posted by oladub

[COLOR=blue]This approaches amazing but I am confused. Straighten me out here. I lived in the red brick house and understood you to have lived in the yellow brick house. However, you are saying that you also lived in the tri-level brick house [[---2). Picture 2 was my father re-strapping a lawn chair. I am hiding behind the EMG sign in photo 3. Mrs. Fi----- was a widow when I knew her, but she lived in the red brick --2 house. Carpenters built and owned both houses which might be a point of confusion. I wanted to know if both houses had someone whose name started with 'F' which could further confuse this revelation. Another possiblity I wanted to clarify is the one floor house to the Helen side of the tri-level belonged to a Mr. Shepler,]

I lived in a one level red brick house. This one. Mrs. Fi----y lived in the white house to the right. One of the previous owners of my house was a Mr. Shep---k.

Attachment 3602

**Meddle** · October-21-09, 02:12 PM

Deos anybody remember having both a trash and rubbish pickup every week? Trash was hard goods, cans, bottles, plastics, papers, etc. Rubbish was food scraps, yard waste and so on. Early form of recycling? I think they took the rubbish out to Rouge Park somewhere and buried it.

**EMG** · October-21-09, 02:53 PM

I remember my family using the words "garbage" and "rubbish" interchangeably. I also remember having regular personally owned metal garbage cans, until sometime in the '70s Detroit switched to city-provided big black plastic dumpsters on wheels. [[And houses with alleyways in the back had even bigger, stationery dull goldish-metal square dumpster containers).

But as far as I remember there was only one weekly pickup and everything went into the same dumpster. My first experience with separate pickups was in the '90's when I moved to Grosse Pointe Woods which had/has a recycling program.

The funny thing though is that Grosse Pointe Woods was VERY RESTRICTIVE in what it would accept for recycling. [[Of course, Grosse Pointe Woods heavily regulates just about EVERYTHING - they'd regulate how often residents were allowed to use their own BATHROOMS if they could find a way to enforce it!!!)We got a little tiny green recycling bin and that easily lasted the week, given the restrictions on what could be put in it. Here in Scottsdale AZ where I live now, a lot more types of materials are acceptable for recycling and we actually have two separate dumpsters [[one for non recyclables and one for recyclables) which are of equal size and about the same size as the standard Detroit black plastic dumpster - and I now almost always fill the recyclable dumpster full in a week's time while I only have about a bag or two at the most of "garbage" that can't be recycled.

**Ray1936** · October-21-09, 03:51 PM

Going back to the 40s and early 50s, I can recall everyone having a 55-gallon oil drum in the alley behind their house where paper and combustables were burned regularly. The DPW would dump them regularly, or at least until the bottom of the drum rusted out. Garbage was in a sparate zinc-plated metal garbage can.

The Las Vegas communities are well into re-cycling. The local service, Republic Services, provides three plastic recycling bins free of charge. The white one is for paper [[newspapers, mostly), red for tin/aluminum cans and plastic containers, and blue for glass. I'd say that 75 - 80 percent of my neighborhood participates. The containers are emptied once every two weeks. Regular trash is picked up twice a week.