Going Home

Mike Happy's column about leaving Doebel struck a chord.....when I returned from Vietnam in Sept 1967 there were for sale signs all over the Harper and Van Dyke area....the riots were only two months earlier and things were still smoldering - literally......neighbors we had known for many years were moving, going, take any reasonable price for those homes for the mecca of St. Clair Shores and Warren.....my one neighbor Stan came over with the brochure for the house near 12 and Ryan, "Brand new Warren ranch, 3- BRS, family room, all brick, 140 ft. deep lot, $14,500.....wow that sounded like a lot of money to me at the time....the houses on Carrie, Strong, Helen, Maywood, Girardin, St. Cyril were selling for about 7-9 thousand and nearly double that for Warren!!!! Some were going to St. Clair Shores......that was the big mecca back then.....things deterioriated fast....Harper Furniture a mainstay on H and VD for years closed in early 1968....the appliance store two blocks down also padlocked in May 1968....Kowalski sausage closed by latter 1968, the Eastown Theatre where I saw all those marvelous sat afternoon matinees reopened up as an emporium for drunks, drug addicts and misfits for rock and roll and drug addict "concerts" if you
will.......you could stand outside the Eastown in late 68 and 69 and smell the drugs all in the air from the outside....yuk!!!! Then St. Thomas church who once had nearly 6000 families in 1960-61 was down to about 2000 families by 1968, 700 by 1970 and by about 72-74 down to a few hundred or so.....mentioning Fletcher Field that was also when Lodge Park on Georgia by Van dyke started to go all to hell....once Lodge playfield had the grass cut twice a week by Detroit Parks and Rec and then strangely they completely stopped cutting the grass at all....almost scary. Then rumors of break ins, car thefts, purse snatchings, arson started coming over the police radios....a downward spiral of death sooned engulfed my old neighborhood in and around Harper and Van Dyke....by 1975 there was hardly anyone left...only the diehards and maybe a few who would not open up that sock under their mattress......Then the real death knell happened when Coleman Young became mayor and terrorized the remaining old timers living in the area...that was the last straw......a few of my friends who became police officers told me a horrifying tale a couple of years ago- during the 1980s Harper and Van dyke according to FBI crime statistics was the most dangerous, deadly area in the United States...for all reportable crime of muggings, shootings, rapes, carjackings, car thefts, B&Es, assaults and arsons....so sad.....
Today, the area is a near ghostown....the Eastown theatre remains all rotted, boarded up and the rest of the area seems totally desolate....there cant be many people even living in the area anymore.....it is real hard to see your old area die...so many happy memories from your past......in another life maybe Harper and Van Dyke will be resurrected........later, Mike Brachakowski********

I have been reading with interest your account of life in Detroit with great interest and sadness as well. I too was born in Detroit, as were my parents. But my father saw what was coming and moved us to Roseville in the summer of 1965 when i was 6 years old. With most of my relatives remaining in the city for as long as humanly possible, Detroit was still a large part of our lives, what with going to visit grandparents, cousins, etc, and my father still working in the city until the day he retired.

Every summer we would take a ride to the "old neighborhood" where my parents grew up (walking distance to Belle Isle) to drive past the house where my mom grew up and of course each passing year showed the neighborhood in steady decline. Even as a child, I failed to understand why people would let trash pile out outside their houses and have junk lying around everywhere. Hmmm. Anyway, one summer upon taking the usual drive to see my mother's old house, we found that the house had burned down. Needless to say, she cried and we never took that drive again.

Not do be outdone by my parents, about 7 years ago i was in detroit for a wedding at the church where as a child i was Baptized (Guardian Angels) and decided to drive down the street i lived until age 6 (Rochelle). Now I have lived in northern michigan since 1980, so my trips to Detroit are few and far between, but still was quite aware of the sorry state of that city. So, I told my husband to turn down Rochelle so i could show my kids, then teenagers, the house where i was born. I'm sure you can guess how that turned out. What an idiot i was, as my poor kids, who grew up in a small town, were scared out of their minds as we passed house after house that was either borded up or burned out, trash, cars, junk etc, etc, everyone and of course, the house I was looking for burned to the ground years ago. Well, upon arriving at the wedding reception, I related this story to my cousin, a city of Detroit firefighter, who promptly and sternly gave me a "what the hell was i thinking" speech, quickly followed by the same speech given to me by relative after relative as the story made the rounds. The next day, my parents, who were in florida, called me and wanted to know why i was putting their grandchildren in mortal danger by driving down ANY side street in the city of Detroit. They were right.

It breaks my heart to read and see what the now-inhabitants of that once great City have done. None of my family that lived in detroit were rich; in fact, quite the opposite. All my grandparents were poor imigrants from Italy who came with nothing more than the clothes on their backs, but lived with dignity and took pride in their homes and neighborhoods. The current state of affairs in Detroit is the fault of its inhabitants... period.

Yeah, life as we knew it will never take on the heart beat of dobel. But that helped to make us the characters we are today, not bad I'd say.

Hello, this is Mike Brachakowski writing again....sad stories we have told about the decline of Detroit....problem is all the politicians from Coleman to Kwame, all they want is to build up the downtown with stadiums and gambling casinos....let me ask any native Detroiter a question - since the casinos opened up years ago and all this new money is pouring into the city, have your streets been cleaner, have the streetlights been replaced, is your bulk trash being picked up, is you police response time better, are more dilipadated houses being torn down in your neighborhood?? Somehow, I dont think many people could say none of the above has changed....why? Politicians have stole the damn money that is why!!! Or for lack of a better word, the money has been "reappropriated" in different areas...another word for stealing the money.
How many millions of tax money needed to pay off Kwame's lawsuit......every Detroit mayor since Jerome Cavanaugh has deserted the Detroit neighborhoods....the big spenders like the Ilitches and the casinos dont spend money in neighborhoods.....they want it downtown. Personally I want the area I live in to be nicer than any downtown......grass cut, parks kept up, garbage picked up, seeing more police patrols at all hours of the day......that is how a city thrives, it thrives on it's neighborhoods, seeing kids playing in the streets, seeing neighbors talking to each other, seeing nice cut lawns.....the people of Detroit should demand much more be done in their neighborhoods - all the casino and stadium tax money has poured millions into Detroit in the past 5-10 years....where is the benefit for the neighborhoods???? Ask the politicians....they probably wont have any answers.....so sad....Mike Brachakowski*******

This is an interesting blog. One quick comment. The posts here all seem to blame the city government for all the problems in Detroit. While I agree that the government leaves something to be desired, I think a little bit of the blame for the current situation the city finds itself in should rest with all the people who have left the city too. White flight helped destroy Detroit and it is still in the process of recovering. There is practically no tax base left in the city - its like trying to squeeze blood out of a turnip. Yes, lets turn our attention to the neighborhoods - we should have done that much earlier. Maybe that will help bring back some of the families that abandoned the city years ago.

In response to norm who thinks that; "a little bit of the blame for the current situation the city finds itself in should rest with all the people who have left the city too. White flight helped destroy Detroit...."


Read Michael Happys opening comments on this blog. "I just recall a scary night, a nearby gunshot, sounds of sirens, my father opening the front door to see what the ruckus was, me and my brother – frightened beyond belief – begging him to close the door, fearing the bad guys would find their way in. "The blame rests squarely on the shoulders of the criminals who caused chaos and disruption, not the hardworking people who just wanted to provide safety and security for their families. They were the ones with the strong work ethic and sense of values who maintained their homes and neighborhoods. Everyone can do the same if they are motivated to do so.

Norm - I would have to respectfully disagree with you on the point the the people who left should take part of the blame. Serious crime came onto our street, it was starting to affect our family personally too. We sold to a nice black family. What was my Dad and Mom supposed to do? Stay and risk more assaults on their kids? ....or worse? What were they supposed to do about the behaviour of the people that they sold their house to? That was not in their control, whatsoever!! The people that left should take zero blame IMHO. The people that replaced them made their own bed, they didnt have to keep voting for Coleman, but they did. Their children, did not have to ignore their schooling, my parents didnt let them, their own parents allowed it!
I am all for helping the people that need help now, but I feel no guilt and neither should our parents, on something totally out of their control.

Well, I see I'm not too popular here right now. Here's my point: what would the city of Detroit be like today if the majority of people that moved out had actually stayed? What would have happened if the hard working families had stayed and said "enough" to the criminals and the disruption they caused? What if they stayed and kept involved in their kids schools? There would probably be more people with good incomes, a greater tax base, better services, and so on. I have many friends who moved to the suburbs who all claim that they really don't feel a sense of community any more and they all talk about the good old days in the neighborhood. My friend just got married and had his reception in our neighborhood. At the mic following dinner he talked about how good it was to be back and how he missed seeing everybody and missed the neighborhood. Yes, there really isn't an excuse for piling up trash in front of your yard and letting your house go. But that tends to happen in communities where many people live under the poverty line, as many people do in Detroit. I just wish that instead of fleeing the city, more people had decided to stay, gotten more involved in their communities, run for political office, etc...Maybe things would be different today if they had.

Norm--

Your question as to what would have happened if the good, hardworking people stayed in Detroit? Let me answer that one: there would have been more mugged and/or dead hardworking people lying on the streets of the city of Detroit. Most of my relatives who stayed behind in Detroit did so with the hope of things improving. They stayed as long as the could but finally got sick and tired of being mugged and robbed in front of their own homes by the new inhabitants of their formally nice neighborhoods. We had to practically extracate my grandmother from her home on Evanston back in the early 1990s because in her heart she did not want to leave, but hearing the ever increasing gunshots at night was the last straw and her children finally forced her to move.

As far as blaming poverty for the piling up of trash and letting your house go, to that is say baloney! I live in a northern Michigan county that statistically is one of the lower income counties in the state and I am here to tell you that 95% of the people where I live keep their property up in a presentable fashion. And the ones that tend to "let things go" will feel the pressure from their neighbors to clean it up. You do not have to be rich or live in a big house before you take pride in your surroundings. It's called common decency, self respect and respect for ones neighbors. Question: if you took a tour past the houses where the people living in them have let them go, I wonder if you would see a satellite dish on the house, or cable TV, computers etc? My guess is yes, you would. So go to the local Dollar Store and spend a buck on trash bags and clean up your yard. Maybe then and only then will the hardworking people even consider the possibility of moving back.

I grew up around Nevada and Sherwood (6 1/2 mile east of Van Dyke). Most of my older relatives are buried in the Lutheran cemetery south of Six Mile on Van Dyke (it's been so long, I can't even remember the name). I left the city about thirty years ago and finally got my parents out in the late 80's. I have great memories of our area as a kid...Silverstein's...remember the tank at the entrance? My first job (hamburger flipper) was at the Snack Shack on Six and Sherwood. I walked the half-mile to work at 4:30 AM on Saturdays. Unthinkable nowadays (not only walking, but getting up that early as a teenager)!Riding bikes through Mt. Olivet on Sundays was great as we watched planes take-off and land. I had a transistor radio that could pick up the radio communications between the tower and aircraft. Remember the red and white DC-3s from Wright Airlines? Before GPS, the check-off point on approach to landing was a visual sighting of the Bel-Air drive-in on 8 Mile. When we heard the pilot radio in that he was over the drive-in, we would strain our necks to see who could see the plane first in the distant sky. I digress, but a flood of memories pour back from what was a great neighborhood. I live in Traverse City now and on my few trips back to Detroit since I moved here, I take my kids through the old hood....they sit in disbelief, eyes wide open. I do too! What a shame...it is a very sickening feeling. One last thing...remember the noon siren from the firehall on Mt. Elliot on the first Saturday of the month?

Dave

Hi Debras

You are my neighbor to the north, as I live in Lake City. We are most fortunate to live where we do. I especially love Traverse City and go there as much as possible, especially in the summer. Love the wineries, lakes and just the all around beauty of it, not to mention the great restaurants downtown. Whats not to love. We are indeed fortunate.

I was born in Detroit (7 mile and Kelly area) and lived there until age 6 when we moved to the suburbs, but most of my relatives stayed in Detroit for many years until it was impossible to remain for safety reasons. I learned to drive in Mt. Olivet! When I tell my friends up north that I learned to drive in a cemetary, they laugh. My parents both were born and raised in Detoit and it always pained them to watch the city they loved crumble before their eyes; especially my father, as he worked in the city until he retired, so he was a first-hand witness to its downfall. I had a cousin that lived near the airport (darn if i can remember the street), and I too have fond memories of watching the planes--that was quite a big deal back in the 60s and 70s. I also remember going downtown to Saunders for hot fudge sundaes and shopping at Hudson's, but those days became far and few between, as it was becoming more dangerous. If you read my first post up near the top, I too had the crazy idea to take my non street-smart kids for a trip down memory lane to see the house I was born in (well not really, I was born in a hospital--I'm not that old). Their reaction was similar to you children's. I think my daugther, who was 18 at the time, burst into tears as we slowly drove off Kelly road down the side roads. We tried to turn around several times and head back, but we were afraid to because of all the broken glass bottles on the street. Just kept praying we wouldn't end up with flat tire in front of a burned out house. Oh well.

Happy Holidays to you and enjoy our winter wonderland.

Hi,Denise Butki here,To: Kim Sieloff,you said you use to live on Leander,do you remember Alice Morris? And you mention the Needhams,do you mean Kathy Needham that use to live on Darwin? Marianne Peggie,did you live in the neighborhood? Y

Denise Butki, I don't remember Alice Morris - do you know which block she lived in? Or what year she graduated? And the Needhams, Alfred was my age and I'm pretty sure Kathy was his sister.

Kim Sieloff Tripp

To Kim Sieloff:

Did you play Hockey?

Nancy

To nancyg -

I didn't play but my sister Kathy and brother Paul did. She's a goalie. Her first goalie pads were a handmedown from Jeff Bottles (Montlieu) She still plays ocassionally.

Kim Sieloff Tripp

Kim:

I think we knew each other way back when at Fraser Hockeyland. My brother, Frank Ferritto, played, maybe even with your brother (memory not as sharp as it once was :) Did your sister play hockey with Sherry Miller, Janie Hudson, Debbie Nett, etc? If so, then I'm sure we knew each other.

Nancy