Redford High Site sold

[56packman]

That's true. Grand River-Greenfield was a shopper's paradise forty years ago.
Now, there are only a few stores in a strip mall.
The old Montgomery Wards and Federal's buildings sit there like tombstones for the neighborhood.
The Lahser and Grand River intersection [[nearby) doesn't offer much. The Redford Theater offers some entertainment on weekends but that isn't much.
There used to be a Morley candy store nearby.
Cunninghams on the corner is long gone and the office buildings on the southwest side burnt down. Not a pretty sight.
.

Daddeo--I am part of the group that bought, restored and operates the Redford theatre. To your assertion that we "offer entertainment on weekends but that isn't much" all I can say is that as an all-volunteer organization we are doing what we set out to do, preserve the theatre--the last nieghborhood movie theatre still open in the city of Detroit. We do not have the staff to operate 7 days/nights a week. Our bi-weekly showings of classic films and rentals bring in a lot of people into the neighborhood, which is how we pay our bills. I personally feel that our operation of the theatre has benefitted the surrounding business district. Had we not taken the bold move in 1974 to begin operating, then purchase the theatre after Community theatres announced their intentions to cease operation of the theatre, and their very generous treatment to our group in the rental then purchase of the complex it would either be abandoned today, or demolished, and the neighborhood would be that much more desolate.

[econ expat]

Something confuses me. I keep hearing that the population is increasing and the birthrate is up. OK, not like the boomers of the 40s and 50s, but up from past years. Yet schools are being closed at increasing rates. Not just in big cities, but in the suburbs and rural areas also. Either consolidated or closed outright.

So, where are the kids going to go to school? Bussed farther away to larger classes? How does that make sense?

At one time, there were no 'yellow busses'. City planners were wise enough to INSIST if an area was developed that there be nearby schools and parks. Before Junior High Schools/Middle Schools were opened, only the High School students needed to take busses, with a DSR pass.

Many of the old schools were obsolete and hard to maintain. After they closed, of course they become more neglected, and stripped/vandalized.

BUT if there is any hope of future growth and stopping the population decline, how will DPS ever assemble enough land to build new schools if a neighborhood becomes a magnet for families with children? Not very easy if the land is sold! And likely the vacant lots in the area will have absentee owners to tie up the eminent domain.

[oldredfordette]

Really, packman? You were part of that?

THANK YOU. Seriously, from my heart. Some of my fondest memories were of the Redford Theater. It's such a wonderful thing to have it thrive.

God, I loved that neighborhood. Blight Busters is working around there this weekend, doing murals, clean up and a demolition. I wish I could go but I didn't hear about it in time.

[barnesfoto]

I second that. The Redford is one of the last Old Redford institutions from my childhood that is still intact, and those folks have been at it for almost 40 years.
John George and the folks at the Artist's Village get kudos too, and they're frequently in need of a few volunteers at the Artist's Village.

[56packman]

Barnes, Old Red--thanks. The Redford was my neighborhood "show" when we loved in Braile. I became active with the Motor City Theatre Organ Society in 1973, my family had moved to Livonia, I used to ride my bike to the Redford to help with maintenance of the instrument and to occasionally play it, before the first show of the day. What began as an experement 36 years ago has grown and become the only neighborhood movie house in Detroit still open and operating.
Having just toured my former elementary school, nearby Holcomb elementary I was delighted to find that it was in such excellent condition, basically the same as when I last saw it on the last day of school, 1969. Very little had changed, and the building is in excellent repair. That was the good news. Tha bad news is that the school is now closed forever and I can expect that the same fate lays ahead for it as the other sickening sights seen in other DPS buildings left to rot.
It occured to me the other day that the Redford theatre will be, in short order, the last remaining piece of the old neighborhood that I can go back and visit. So much is gone, Millers Feed, Master's candy, the entire commercial strip at 7 mile and Evergreen our lives revolved around, and now Redford HS and Holcomb. I felt good that the efforts that my group has put into the Redford have secured the future of that building. I have been a part of it, along with many other hard working people.

[R8RBOB]

Daddeo--I am part of the group that bought, restored and operates the Redford theatre. To your assertion that we "offer entertainment on weekends but that isn't much" all I can say is that as an all-volunteer organization we are doing what we set out to do, preserve the theatre--the last nieghborhood movie theatre still open in the city of Detroit. We do not have the staff to operate 7 days/nights a week. Our bi-weekly showings of classic films and rentals bring in a lot of people into the neighborhood, which is how we pay our bills. I personally feel that our operation of the theatre has benefitted the surrounding business district. Had we not taken the bold move in 1974 to begin operating, then purchase the theatre after Community theatres announced their intentions to cease operation of the theatre, and their very generous treatment to our group in the rental then purchase of the complex it would either be abandoned today, or demolished, and the neighborhood would be that much more desolate.

I admit that I have a bad habit to stall. I have lived on the northwest side nearly all my life other than my California adventure. For all the times I drove pass the Redford Theatre on Lasher [[ha ha, I know its Lahser but what the hell...Lasher) I never once visited the theatre. I grew up going to the Norwest and the Mercury and the Americana. However, the Norwest was my choice of venue. For a dollar, you could see the movies after they left theaters like the Americana. I miss those old theaters because the metro-plex setup reminds me of a mall.

I did walk past the Redford a few months ago and it had the old theater charm that we don't have no more. I also visited the Redford years ago when I drove pass one day and saw on the marquee one of favorite movies was going to be playing on Saturday: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

[R8RBOB]

the entire commercial strip at 7 mile and Evergreen our lives revolved around

The memories!!!! I remember 7 and Evergreen. I can still remember the Farmer Jacks and the Apollo supermarket. I remember that there was a thrift shore in the between the two markets.

[oldredfordette]

My sister went to the Holcomb event and she said it was eerie how little it had changed. Very sad.

[reddog289]

Packman is right,I think the Redford Theatre is one of the only things around there that was there some 30 years ago.I don't really go exploring around that area anymore cause there are not alot of places left that I remember going to.

[vetalalumni]

Study hall??!! More like detention hall! ;-)

Study was indeed detention hall. But I would not know from experience, just what the misbehaving kids reported. The study hall monitor[[s) rarely got names properly written down on the attendance logs . The old wooden window sills and large plate glass windows were a bit dangerous.

[1KielsonDrive]

[quote=Huggybear;170113]To call Redford High an architectural gem makes me think of homeless people pushing around their carts full of "valuable" possessions. Its front end is a mediocre, fascist-WPA building from the 1930s that was compromised by an heinous addition from the 1960s-1970s. Ha, ha, ha. Can't make a decent argument without including some right-wing, nutso, faux news, inflammatory drivel. What about history do you know other than anything you don't like about history is facist?

[Huggybear]

Ha, ha, ha, yourself. That's funny coming from you, the person here who fancies himself a rabble-rousing man of the people.

But I wasn't making your point. The architectural point is simple - we have a lot of stuff around here, built around the 1930s, that followed the style of the day [[a style, btw, whose patrons in Europe were, in fact, fascists). The more notable examples are things like the federal courthouse [[which actually features a fasces) and Rackham Hall by the DIA. Redford High is built in a cheaper version of that style: heavy and oppressive, yet largely unadorned and architecturally unimpressive. And has someone stepped up to defend the addition?

Now, what's your "decent" argument?

[quote=1KielsonDrive;170827]

To call Redford High an architectural gem makes me think of homeless people pushing around their carts full of "valuable" possessions. Its front end is a mediocre, fascist-WPA building from the 1930s that was compromised by an heinous addition from the 1960s-1970s. Ha, ha, ha. Can't make a decent argument without including some right-wing, nutso, faux news, inflammatory drivel. What about history do you know other than anything you don't like about history is facist?

[barnesfoto]

Study hall and detention hall were as I recall the same room, [[or maybe SH was 206 and Detention was 306) I don't mind the 1936 wing, be it fascist or socialist, the library was certainly nice, and nobodys gonna defend the 1972 or 1981 additions, they are little different than prison architecture, it would be nice to see the site live on as a charter, but I think Cooley is a more beautiful building, at least from the outside.

[1KielsonDrive]

[quote=Huggybear;170890]Ha, ha, ha, yourself. That's funny coming from you, the person here who fancies himself a rabble-rousing man of the people.

But I wasn't making your point. The architectural point is simple - we have a lot of stuff around here, built around the 1930s, that followed the style of the day [[a style, btw, whose patrons in Europe were, in fact, fascists). The more notable examples are things like the federal courthouse [[which actually features a fasces) and Rackham Hall by the DIA. Redford High is built in a cheaper version of that style: heavy and oppressive, yet largely unadorned and architecturally unimpressive. And has someone stepped up to defend the addition?

Now, what's your "decent" argument?
I don't have a decent argument. I never intended to express one about your larger point. I was laughing, and still am, at your imposition of fascist into your argument. I may even agree with you on your basic point. But fascist? Ha, ha, ha. Maybe even socialist.

[56packman]

R8RBOB--The memories!!!! I remember 7 and Evergreen. I can still remember the Farmer Jacks and the Apollo supermarket. I remember that there was a thrift shore in the between the two markets.

I am so ancient I can remember when the super market [[Farmer Jacks) was "Shopper's fair" then became a Farmer Jacks. Starting at the east [[NW corner of evergreen and 7 mile) there was Cunninghams Drugs, my eye doctor, Dr. Sheldon Powell, First and Last clothings stores, A toy store, Epps sporting goods, Shopper's Fair supermarket, the Bagel place--after that I'm not sure. I just found out that a friend of mine from the Redford theatre group with whom I serve on the board of directors worked at O'Brien's drugs on 7 mile and Braile, at the end of my street. The other nighht he related that in that one mile of 7 mile there were 5 drug stores!

[Meddle]

The other nighht he related that in that one mile of 7 mile there were 5 drug stores!

There's probably at least that many now. Just don't have electric and signs and have a limited clientele buying the same product nightly.

[R8RBOB]

I am so ancient I can remember when the super market [[Farmer Jacks) was "Shopper's fair" then became a Farmer Jacks. Starting at the east [[NW corner of evergreen and 7 mile) there was Cunninghams Drugs, my eye doctor, Dr. Sheldon Powell, First and Last clothings stores, A toy store, Epps sporting goods, Shopper's Fair supermarket, the Bagel place--after that I'm not sure. I just found out that a friend of mine from the Redford theatre group with whom I serve on the board of directors worked at O'Brien's drugs on 7 mile and Braile, at the end of my street. The other nighht he related that in that one mile of 7 mile there were 5 drug stores!

All that is before my time. As for the five drugstores you already named two. The other three would be: Heyden Drugs, Barton Drugs and Lindsay Drugs. Today, they are drugstores in name only though Lindsay Drugs is trying once again to go back to its roots. I know Barton don't have prescriptions and not sure about Heyden Drugs.

[reddog289]

I remember Cunninghams and Heyden Drugs, But mainly I remember Kressges and Sanders in that strip.I forgot about G and R Bike Shop on Grand River made alot of trips there to get spokes for my bike.Last time I was at the Redford I belive they were still open.
As for Redford High I remember thinking that the school itself just looked weird with all the different buildings, additions.But I could have said the same thing with Wayne High too.

[M CD M]

A strip mall / Market Place? What a Joke!
Would be neat to see the school as is, but the interior turned into a movie multiplex
I was around that school several times when it was still being used. I guess I missed my chance to see inside.

[barnesfoto]

A bit of trivia for you Old Redfordites.
The original Redford HS was on the site of the current ugly ass library [[that replaced the beautiful old one on Mc Nichols at Chapel) on Grand River near Trinity. Some of you might remember it as the old Redford Hospital, but prior to 1920, it was Redford HS.
It was one of the first buildings that I ever did "urban exploration" in. Demoed sometime around 1976 or 77.

http://dlxs.lib.wayne.edu/cgi/i/imag...start=;resnum=

[Pickford-Bentler]

I had my split lip stitched at that old hospital.

[English]

OMG, Heyden Drugs!!! Very, very faint memories of going there when I was a wee little thing...

What's happening to NW Detroit is sad. That was where all the middle class kids lived when I was growing up. Grand River and Greenfield, and Grand River and Lahser, had viable retail as recently as my teen years... it wasn't even 20 years ago when my dad took me to the Foot Locker up there to get a pair of gym shoes when I made a 4.0 during my first semester at Renaissance.

I went to GR/Greenfield to run an errand for my sister's wedding last month and almost cried. It looks like MY neighborhood did when I was a child... everything is gone. Not even sure what's still open in the strip malls. Very sad.

As for Redford, it would be nice if there were some federal grant that would allow some of the many nonprofits and social service agencies we have in the city to rent renovated space in the school buildings. This would allow people in rough neighborhoods to have access to services. The property could serve a number of uses, and house more than one org.

[vetalalumni]

It would be very odd to walk the halls of RHS today if it were converted into one of those multipurpose facilities housing diverse organizations. What would the auditorium or gym be turned into?

[MaxDetroit]

So where's all the big f'ing news about the RHS site being sold and redeveloped??? Still waiting for the Big Announcement from the mayor's office. How can they contain their excitement??? Could this possibly be pie in the sky??? Naw....

[Pickford-Bentler]

OMG, Heyden Drugs!!! Very, very faint memories of going there when I was a wee little thing...

What's happening to NW Detroit is sad. That was where all the middle class kids lived when I was growing up. Grand River and Greenfield, and Grand River and Lahser, had viable retail as recently as my teen years... it wasn't even 20 years ago when my dad took me to the Foot Locker up there to get a pair of gym shoes when I made a 4.0 during my first semester at Renaissance.

I went to GR/Greenfield to run an errand for my sister's wedding last month and almost cried. It looks like MY neighborhood did when I was a child... everything is gone. Not even sure what's still open in the strip malls. Very sad.

As for Redford, it would be nice if there were some federal grant that would allow some of the many nonprofits and social service agencies we have in the city to rent renovated space in the school buildings. This would allow people in rough neighborhoods to have access to services. The property could serve a number of uses, and house more than one org.

All is not lost at Lahser and Grand River. Visit this joint:

http://www.sweetpotatosensations.com/sps.html


The building used to house a German Bakery that had some of the best birthday cakes I have ever eaten. The sweet potato pie sold in this new establishment is very fine.