4163 Commonwealth

[Pushtina]

Supposedly this old Victorian home in Woodbridge use to be fairly infamous as a speak-easy, gambling hall, brothel and whatever else one could possibly fathom. I heard that it was raided in the 70's and the guy running the operation was brought down. Does anyone have any stories or information on this house?

[socks_mahoney]

dont know anything about the 70's. but no matter who lives in it there's been great parties in it for all the 2000's

[JStone]

That's my favorite house in Woodbridge - Somebody invite me to those parties.

[5speedz34]

I looked at this house when I first moved to Detroit in the fall of 2008. It's basically your typical college place on the inside. It's not trashed just dirty. I was told the same story by the tenants there at the time. Then I heard from a neighbor of my parents that her friend stayed in a house that was a prohibition era brothel/speak easy and had numbers on the doors when she was at Wayne in the '90s. This place has numbers on the door also, but they look like address numbers someone can pick up from anywhere.

What's really cool is the house 2 down from this one is identical except its completely inverted with the door on the opposite side of the house. Here is a streetview pic link

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...55.24,,0,10.47

[Melocoton]

People say of every old house in Detroit that either a) it used to be a brothel or b) Ty Cobb lived there.

[JStone]

Speedz - Was it for sale or were you just looking to rent?

[5speedz34]

Hahaha, I know about the Ty Cobb thing ad nauseum! Glad someone else recognizes it!

Jstone, I was just looking to rent a room as it was my first semester at Wayne. The room was a back sun room, horribly small like 10'x8' or something like that. Didn't look very winterized either. There was two other 20-somethings living there. The guy told me if I ever see him around to say what up. He went by the name 'Blank Man.' LOL I think his last name was Blank.

[buildingsofdetroit]

I have four dear, dear friends who live in that house. They've told me of the brothel stories, too, so I think they're true. Two of the residents are on DY.

[golden_otter]

I heard a major low-pressure chillwave was going to take up residency at that house this weekend.

[RedeemerKid]

I heard a major low-pressure chillwave was going to take up residency at that house this weekend.

What day, what time, and what should I bring? Half barrel of Molson?

[chitaku]

a few of my good friends lived in that house from about 2005-2009. That is pretty much where I stayed before I got my own residence in the city proper. it is a sweet house with a really creepy attic, there are also numbers on each of the doors i'm assuming from the brothel days. Rumor has it that during a party there once a guy with a balloon tied to his finger died on the porch and when he died the balloon deflated. Also I believe the basement has a separate address. i have seen some people come and go in that house where they would come in normal and then flake out and have to move out. we blamed it on the crazy spirits that haunt the place.

[markd]

Ty Cobb lived at 800 Atkinson [[just south of Boston-Edison).

[Pam]

Why do numbers on the doors have to mean brothel? Could have just been a boarding house.

[chitaku]

that's what the folks who lived there told me

[golden_otter]

The story of the brothel and gambling den comes straight from the man who bought the house from the guy who ran the place. It's pretty certain to be true. I believe Push_tina is looking for anyone with stories about the place, not to argue the details.

[Pushtina]

What I've heard is that there was this guy named Johnny Paymaker or Johnny Partyman that ran the place. All the walls were painted black and the windows were covered in black sheets. There was a roulette table in the main parlor room and the dinning room was used more or less as a bar. There are numbers on the bedroom doors, and according to someone that recently did some dry wall work at the house this was once one of the largest blind pigs in the area.

But things went south and supposedly the FBI raided the place. This Johnny guy ended up in jail and his girlfriend sold all the stained glass in the house [[see the mirrored house two doors south, as previously mentioned) and eventually sold the entire house to pay for Johnny's fines.

I know the whole thing sounds dubious and of course I'm skeptical too. That's why I was wondering if anyone had any personal stories from that time [[I'm guessing late 60's/early 70's) that could add any substance.