J.L. Hudsons - Downtown

[9606 Prest]

Does anyone have any interesting stories about visiting the J.L. Hudson store on Woodward? What are your favorite memories of shopping at Hudsons or having lunch there? Any photos of the store?

[Johnnny5]

Does anyone have any interesting stories about visiting the J.L. Hudson store on Woodward? What are your favorite memories of shopping at Hudsons or having lunch there? Any photos of the store?

My only memory of the Hudson's building is watching it blow up and fall to the ground. Still one of the coolest things I have ever witnessed!

[wolverine]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rcctmcxGwM

[R8RBOB]

My only memory of the Hudson's building is watching it blow up and fall to the ground. Still one of the coolest things I have ever witnessed!

October 1998....I remember I doing some IT work at the Detroit Municipal Parking Dept on Lafayette and on the radio was Michigan vs Indiana. [[first time I heard of Antwaan Randle-El) I left the building sometime after 4PM and I parked by my aunt's place on Washington Boulevard. There was a huge crowd on Woodward over by the future Campus Martius and I thought those folks were nuts.

Sometime after 6:30 the building fell and the dust went in all directions and the folks on Woodward were scattering like rats on a sinking ship. I was on the corner of Woodward and Congress and I proceeded west to get back to Washington Blvd. [[the brown cloud moved south) I returned to downtown later that night and all you saw was dirty brown decorating the buildings, the windows, the streets everything.

[Johnnny5]

.
Sometime after 6:30 the building fell and the dust went in all directions and the folks on Woodward were scattering like rats on a sinking ship. I was on the corner of Woodward and Congress and I proceeded west to get back to Washington Blvd. [[the brown cloud moved south) I returned to downtown later that night and all you saw was dirty brown decorating the buildings, the windows, the streets everything.

I was one of the scattering rats... Myself and a few friends made the trip from the burbs and stood about 400-500 feet up Woodward. The dust cloud dissipated rather quickly when it caught the breeze on Jefferson, so we managed to get out of there relatively dust free. Many of the people further back were not so lucky. The scene was very similar to the videos showing people walking away from the World Trade Center attacks.

[highhat]

The x-mas parade`s last stop was in front of it`s sponsor store...Hudson`s [[they and Dayton merged to form Target).
At Christmas they partitioned off an area and only kids short enuff to go through the door were allowed...You could buy gifts for parents or siblings without spying eyes...way cool.

[Hermod]

The x-mas parade`s last stop was in front of it`s sponsor store...Hudson`s [[they and Dayton merged to form Target).
At Christmas they partitioned off an area and only kids short enuff to go through the door were allowed...You could buy gifts for parents or siblings without spying eyes...way cool.

Yes, the "Christmas Season" didn't begin anywhere in Detroit until the Thanksgiving Parade and Santa Claus getting down off his float and walking into Hudson's. You went through a few tunnels and up a flight of stairs to go across a balcony stage and sit on Santa's lap.

[DetroitPlanner]

Taking the bus downtown to see my dentist at the David Whitney Building.
Vernors floats and hot dogs at the snack bar on the Mezzanine.
School shopping in the Rainbow Store.
Being drug to 200 other stores by mom bored out of my mind.

Now many of you youngings may think that this was the 1950's, but this was the mid-70's!

[R8RBOB]

I was one of the scattering rats... Myself and a few friends made the trip from the burbs and stood about 400-500 feet up Woodward. The dust cloud dissipated rather quickly when it caught the breeze on Jefferson, so we managed to get out of there relatively dust free. Many of the people further back were not so lucky. The scene was very similar to the videos showing people walking away from the World Trade Center attacks.

That is exactly what the scene looked like. I remember watching the non-stop news coverage of 9/11 and thought to myself that the scene of people attempting to flee the dust cloud was the same scene from the Hudson implosion.

[Corn.Bot]

We took our 9-mo-old daughter to Hudson's Downtown to see Santa. It was December 8, 1981; and I clearly remember what Santa said to us when our visit was done: "remember John Lennon." It had not occurred to me until then that it was the one-year anniversary of his death. Funny what stands out in one's mind after so many years.

What I mean is, I can remember that, but my father-in-law worked at the downtown Hudson's for multiple decades, but I can't for the life of me tell you what floor he was on.

[EastsideAl]

My grandmother worked right there on the first floor in the "aisles of beauty" selling cosmetics for many many years. As Hudson's was winding down operations downtown they offered her a transfer to another store at some place called Lakeside that she'd never been to and sure as hell couldn't ride the bus to. She took a retirement package instead, but missed her job there and the people she met and interacted with everyday for the rest of her life.

When they blew the place up I thought of all of the hundreds of times I'd been in that store and I just couldn't bear to go watch such a thing. It is still in my mind a monumentally idiotic thing they did, blowing up a big solid building and creating a giant hole in the middle of downtown with nothing at all scheduled to replace it [[didn't we learn anything at all from the Kern Block and Monroe Block debacles?). And I sure as hell didn't understand at all the celebratory air that seemed to surround its implosion. To me it was like going out to have fun watching the execution of an old friend. So, instead I sat in my living room and, as ridiculously melodramatic as it sounds, shed a tear when I heard the multiple explosions echoing out from downtown.

My grandmother, who loved that place like a second home and always talked about her days there, had thankfully passed away earlier that year and didn't live to see it go.

[Meddle]

http://detroityes.com/mb/showthread....hlight=hudsons

http://detroityes.com/mb/showthread....hlight=hudsons

http://detroityes.com/mb/showthread....hlight=hudsons

http://detroityes.com/mb/showthread....hlight=hudsons

http://detroityes.com/mb/showthread....hlight=hudsons

[kryptonite]

I loved Hudson's. To me the downtown store defined Hudson's chain.

My best memory was taking the bus downtown from Trenton [[ loved riding through Wyandotte, Delray, etc.). Shopping all over Downtown at different stores then having lunch at the restaurant on top of Hudson's. I was only 18 and had never been shopping in the downtown area of a big city and loved exploring Hudson's. It seemed like a whole new world to me.

I will miss downtown Hudson's forever, it was a special place.

[EASTSIDE CAT 67-83]

My folks took us there to see Santa and get our picture taken with Jolly old St Nick, my Mom still has the photos from '68-'69. We would then be given a few bucks and go in to the kids section and buy a gift for Mom and Dad as Santa apparently didn't get them anything. I was living in Hawaii when they imploded it but my parents sent a video tape of the big bang and subsequent dust cloud, it's a shame but it seems all good things come to an end.

[Packman41]

In the late 1960's my twin brother had an after school job [[went to Highland Park Community College) at the downtown Hudson's store in the Ladies Shoe Salon where he helped women try on expensive shoes. He told me the motto of the sales staff was, "Business is looking up."

[5thSFGP]

My favorite memories about Hudson's was the Christmas season. Taking the bus from Harper and 6 mile, all of the Christmas decorations, the elevators - each operated by an employee who announced the main items on each floor, shot up and down between floors so fast that my stomach would tickle - finially lunch at the 17th fllor cafateria. To me, JL Hudson's defined downtown Detroit.

[warsaw7]

My parents met at the J.L. Hudsons

[Hermod]

My favorite memories about Hudson's was the Christmas season. Taking the bus from Harper and 6 mile, all of the Christmas decorations, the elevators - each operated by an employee who announced the main items on each floor, shot up and down between floors so fast that my stomach would tickle - finially lunch at the 17th fllor cafateria. To me, JL Hudson's defined downtown Detroit.

Yes, one bank of elevators went "express" to the tenth floor and local above it. That shot from one to ten and vice versa was pretty fast.

[jjw]

As a child, I wandered and got lost in the fabric department which was huge. Crying, they took me to security and called my mom to get me. I still remember how traumatic it was.
A week before it closed for good, I went into the restaurant and stole a fork with "Hudsons" written on the handle-my souvenier.

[Ray1936]

Ah, yes, a few memories come to mind.

I remember the elevators. All of them had an elevator operator, and it seems like all of them were young black women. They were perfectly fitted in uniforms and always looked so professional. They called out every floor. "Tenth Floor, sporting goods." and so on. If you asked one of them where such-and-such an item was located, they'd tell you the floor and how to get to the proper aisle. Well trained, they were. There were many elevators and there never seemed to be a wait for one.

Next to the elevators there was always a brass and ceramic drinking fountain. They were beautiful. Flared at the top and bottom, they only offered tap water, not refrigerated, but a cool drink was always a pleasure. I would have loved to have obtained one of those water fountains when the place was gutted.

The mezzanine, as noted earlier, had their lunch restaurant, and the food was pretty good and reasonably priced, as best as I can recall. But before reaching the restaurant, you had to pass their stamp and coin department. As a young philatelist, I figuratively drooled over the many fine collectors' items on display. I remember once seeing the black five-dollar Columbian issue [[1893) that at that time had about a $100 price tag [[worth well over a thousand today). I wasn't in to coins in those years, but it seemed as though the display cases were well stocked.

But Hudson's annual highlight, to me, was their Lionel train display during the Christmas season. It was on, oh, maybe the 12th floor. And it was magnificent. Switches and crossovers and main lines and every item Lionel had in their current catalogue. If I drooled for the five buck Columbian stamp, I about crapped my pants for that display. I'm talking the late forties and the fifties. I still envy the guy that got to set up the display every year.

The main floor of Hudson's seemed to be dedicated to ladies' stuff....perfume, jewelry, cosmetics, scarves, hankies....that kind of thing. I always though it was a waste of good space....why not put the train display down here, and put that junk up on twelve???

Makes sense to me, even today.

[EMG]

The main floor of Hudson's seemed to be dedicated to ladies' stuff....perfume, jewelry, cosmetics, scarves, hankies....that kind of thing. I always though it was a waste of good space....why not put the train display down here, and put that junk up on twelve???

Makes sense to me, even today.

From a marketing standpoint, they needed to put the ladies' stuff on the main floor to drag them into the store. And the train display up on the Twelfth floor so that their sons would drag their moms all the way through the other floors on the way up there!!!!!

I seem to remember a lot more than the FIRST floor being dedicated to 'ladies' stuff.' I only went down to that store twice in my life, but I seem to remember floors FIVE THROUGH SEVEN [[especially seven) being reserved for women's clothes. Maybe Seven was where the Woodward Shops were. All I know is it was the one that took the longest to get my mother off of!!!! The Twelfth Floor was indeed the toy department. And if I remember correctly they sold Pianos and Organs on the Eleventh Floor. That was a floor that interested me almost as much as the Twelfth!

[douglasm]

It was like walking into many, many different stores all in one building. An appliance store, a mens store, a stereo shop, etc, each on their own separate floor, in their own part of the building. It was like a high rise shopping center.

[Neilr]

It was like walking into many, many different stores all in one building. An appliance store, a mens store, a stereo shop, etc, each on their own separate floor, in their own part of the building. It was like a high rise shopping center.

Exactly, and each shop/store was staffed with long-term knowledgeable professional salespeople who knew the merchandise.

[EMG]

It was like walking into many, many different stores all in one building. An appliance store, a mens store, a stereo shop, etc, each on their own separate floor, in their own part of the building. It was like a high rise shopping center.

I also felt the same way even in the EASTLAND Hudson's, where I spent much more time than just the lifetime total of two visits I ever made to the downtown store. And only FOUR levels there. [[It doesn't take much to impress when you're 8 years old!!!)

[agirlintheD]

My aunt worked in Gift Wrap and each present she "presented" us was an absolute work of art. There was a true sense of customer service then....things we seldom, if ever, witness today. Sad, really. Hudson's was a treasure....