7-Mack shopping center at Mack and Moross...

[MikeM]

Sadly, Arthur Koenel [[sp?) was killed about 10 years ago crossing Vernier by Grosse Pointe North. He was struck by a car.

Thanks Milt, sorry to hear that.

[mikefmich]

Page 14 of this issue of the Grosse Pointe News has a full page article about the opening of the 7-Mack Shopping Center:

http://digitize.gp.lib.mi.us/digitiz...124&req=7+Mack

Nice find!

[stasu1213]

I had always wondered about the plight of the former Atlanta Bread Company's site. I think that a Tim Hortons would be a good fit for that spot. Had anyone heard of any developement that is in the making for that spot?

[lafontaine]

Page 14 of this issue of the Grosse Pointe News has a full page article about the opening of the 7-Mack Shopping Center:

http://digitize.gp.lib.mi.us/digitiz...124&req=7+Mack

On page 9 of that paper is an ad for Davey Crockett items at the new Kresge's at the 7-Mack Center, including Davey Crockett panties for 39 cnts

[Maof]

On page 9 of that paper is an ad for Davey Crockett items at the new Kresge's at the 7-Mack Center, including Davey Crockett panties for 39 cnts

they also have a tukey dinner with all the trimmings for 52 cents!

[Taurog]

Diamond Lil's was at the corner of Kerby and Mack. The bar on Seven Mile across from the shopping center was the 'Golden Lion'. originally owned by some Detroit Lions players. This would be in the 60's.

[Danny]

This is no E.7 Mile Rd and Mack, only Mack and Moross area. E. 7 Mile Rd ends at Kelly Rd.

[GPCharles]

I thought the bar owned by the Lions' players was the Lions Den, on Mack further west towards Cadieux.

[alkiwat]

I sure do remember Michaelangelos,, and hearing a lot about it - I drove by many times and finally stopped in - From what I remember, it was excellent!

[EMG]

Diamond Lil's was at the corner of Kerby and Mack. The bar on Seven Mile across from the shopping center was the 'Golden Lion'. originally owned by some Detroit Lions players. This would be in the 60's.

I remember the Golden Lion being a full restaurant, not just a "bar." My mom took me to lunch there once.

[jcole]

I remember the Golden Lion being a full restaurant, not just a "bar." My mom took me to lunch there once.

It was a rather fancy restaurant at that; may have had a bar in it, but it was by no means just your average bar

[Gistok]

... and today it's the site of just another cookie-cutter Walgreens!

[Danny]

[QUOTE=MikeM;238838]
Most of the stores along Mack were there before the center opened in the mid-1950s. So was most of the surrounding housing. I'd guess that the opening of St John Hospital in the late 1940s is was what spurred the development of the shopping center.



By looking at the photo, the advertisers put the image of "Little Black Sambo" into the promo as in spreading the word all over. What kind of message did it send to the audience? Middle class white folks while racially instituting black folks.

[tarkus]

Does anyone remember the blind gentleman that used to lean and rock selling pencils outside of Kresges?

[Al Publican]

Diamond Lil's was on the Grosse Pointe Farms side of Mack four or five blocks from the Sears store that was on Mack at Moross. In the early '70s, a buddy of mine was cornered by two guys in Diamond Lil's that were about to attack him. He turned as if he wanted to flee, he said, and smashed a beer bottle over one guy's head. The other guy backed off and a bartender told the two guys that were bothering my buddy to get out.

Pretty cool for a Grosse Pointe bar, aye?

[fiebi]

I worked at the A&P from 1956-1961, who was your brother?

[oladub]

We've talked a lot about the old buildings at 7 and Mack. How about a person who hung out at the corner: Does anyone remember Frankie, a little guy with beady eyes and black, curly hair? He was kind of a legend among under-aged kids because he would come to parties with a clipboard, take orders, leave and return with beer...for a small service fee.

Frank grew up on Farmbrook Street. I had more fistfights with him than anyone else in my life. He was 2-3 years older. In the mid 60's Frank hung out in front of the Woods Theater and the restaurant next door on Saturday nights. I know that because I sold papers in front of the Woods Theater then and bought the 'franchise' from him. Frank had two older brothers Ed and Tony. Their father was an injured tile setter or brick layer. He had mistakenly dipped his hands into a bucket of acid. Their mother was a teacher. Frank's father raised hundreds of parakeets in the basement to sell to dime stores. The last I heard of Frank, he was warming up horses at a race track.

Once, Frank's picture wound up on the front page of the Detroit News sledding at Balduck Park. When we were kids, the Detroit Band would perform on a platform at Balduck to an outdoor audience of a couple of hundred people at night. Frank went around the back of the platform and underneath it where he lit smoke bombs. Smoke came up through the platform near the tubas. The music came to a temporary halt.

Not related but the land St. Johns Hospital and the 7 Mack shopping center were on was purchased from a Belgian immigrant. When the hospital and Sears' sites were being being excavated, the contractors hit quicksand. That's why St. Johns is built up on sort of a mound.

[Gistok]

Thanks for the nice anecdotes Oladub.... I had always wondered where the dirt came from to build Balduck Hill, anyone know? As a kid we used to have a lot of fun on the back side of Balduck Hill where all the huge rocks were located. Sort of hide and seek, where all the boulders were. I had always wondered how they got there?

I grew up 2 streets over on Marseilles St. 5th house south of Burden, and went to Marquette as a child... and always loved the Nature Center there. Idyllic memories about the teachers and fellow studends in the early 60s.... we still had air raid drills in the dark [[but clean) basement of Marquette... and I remembered buy Savings Bonds stamps.

My older brother used to work at Wrigley Super Market at 7/Mack, and he would hang out here at night [[where the AAA Offices are today)... anybody remember this place before it burned down?

[Maof]

Thanks for the nice anecdotes Oladub.... I had always wondered where the dirt came from to build Balduck Hill, anyone know? As a kid we used to have a lot of fun on the back side of Balduck Hill where all the huge rocks were located. Sort of hide and seek, where all the boulders were. I had always wondered how they got there?

I grew up 2 streets over on Marseilles St. 5th house south of Burden, and went to Marquette as a child... and always loved the Nature Center there. Idyllic memories about the teachers and fellow studends in the early 60s.... we still had air raid drills in the dark [[but clean) basement of Marquette... and I remembered buy Savings Bonds stamps.

My older brother used to work at Wrigley Super Market at 7/Mack, and he would hang out here at night [[where the AAA Offices are today)... anybody remember this place before it burned down?

You betcha I remember Blazo's. Would ride our bikes from Harper Woods to the lake and have lunch there on the way back home. Many good memories.

Also, I recently read somewhere [[could have been on this forum) that when they started to build St. John Hospital, they trucked the dirt over to Balduck creating that hill.

[EastsideAl]

I believe Balduck Park was built on land that had been set aside for a reservoir for the City [[then Village) of Grosse Pointe's water. After most of the land was sold or given to the City of Detroit, GP kept some parts of the park area for their own purposes for several years. They had a landfill/dump and Public Works yard where Austin High was eventually built, and a rather large reservoir/cistern was dug out near Warren and Canyon [[now run by Detroit Water & Sewerage). Maybe that was a source of dirt for the hill?

[jcole]

I worked at the A&P from 1956-1961, who was your brother?

My brother was Jim Cole and his wife was Judy Folmer. Jim worked in meat and Judy was a cashier

[oladub]

I heard that Balduck Park's hill was from the excavation of the Ford expressway although the Ford was still being excavated near Connor in the early 60's and the hill was there from the 50's or earlier. Whether that is true or not, it leads to another question. Where did all the fill dirt go from those expressways?

Gistok - a couple of more Frankie C. anecdotes. About five of us were pelting passing cars with snowball from Frank's driveway. When we nailed a Cadillac, its driver stopped and charged up the driveway after us. Most of us made it over Frank's backyard fence but the driver caught Frank by the neck, and released him to his father. Next door to Frank lived an old lady we called "Buffalo Emma". We were experimenting with gluing bb's to M-80s to see what would happen. Buffalo Emma came out with her arms crossed to keep an eye on things. She jerked like maybe a bb hit her in the rear and went back into her house. I don't know if a bb hit her but if so it was more stupid of us then intentional.

[EastsideAl]

This is no E.7 Mile Rd and Mack, only Mack and Moross area. E. 7 Mile Rd ends at Kelly Rd.

This wasn't always true. The Detroit portion of what's now Moross was signed as E. 7 Mile until the late 1950s. You can see it referred to repeatedly as "7 Mile Rd." in the 1955 GP News article about the opening of the shopping center linked by MikeM.

In fact, some old-timers who spent time growing up in the area, like my father [[Denby class of 1944), continued to refer to it as "7 Mile" for many years after the name change.

[bust]

Anyone know what happened to the 7-Mack center sign? That was an awesome sign.

[kathy2trips]

On part of the strip going north along Mack, near the Woods was the first Vic Tanny's I ever remember seeing. That place did burn down around 1961-62-ish.....I heard about it and rode my bike down to watch.

Here's the report from the February 13, 1962 Detroit Free Press on the Vic Tanny fire.

Side Notes: The Woods Lounge was famous [[so I'm told) for being the "incubator" for fathers-to-be, waiting for good news from St. John's Hospital. [[No dads allowed in delivery rooms then). My dad and his friends partied here waiting for my sister to arrive, circa 1960. I understand they sold boxes of cigars there with "It's A Boy" and "It's A Girl" wrappers.

QUESTION: Wasn't Kinsel's/Cunningham's on the opposite corner of Moross & Mack? I could have sworn it was. If not, what was there? There was a gas station on the NE corner and Sears on the SE as I recall.

Blazos was a great place to eat when I moved [[back) to the neighborhood in the late 70s to attend WSU. Many good times there and nice architecture. I couldn't find anything on a fire at Blazos; perhaps an estimated year it happened would help..