 
Tponetom
Member
Username: Tponetom
Post Number: 370
Registered: 06-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2009 - 6:40 pm: |    |
A DATE? In Detroit!
In recent years I have been mystified, or maybe stupefied, by the modern day interpretation of the word, DATE . Like in, “I am going on a DATE.” Or, “I am going to ask that girl if she would like to go on a DATE with me.” Or, is she/he DATING anyone?
In this present day of ‘any thing goes,’ the simple word, date, grabs the immediate attention of any and all bystanders, be they friends, relation, or absolute strangers.
Their brows furrow. Their eyes begin to dance in a variety of charades, ranging from the inquisitive and suspicious to the smirking understanding that something epic is about to take place. A DATE is being planned,,,,,,or suggested,,,,,or being denied,,,,,or being refused. The principals always seem to make contrary declarations until they agree to compromise on certain conditions that will dilute the status of the DATE, to something less than a real date. Now that is where I get lost. (Just think of the old man in “Moonstruck.” “ I just don’t understand.” he said.)
In the backward days of Old Detroit, let’s say, in the late Forties, dates were not that complicated. Asking a girl to go with you to see a movie, or maybe taking her to a party or a dance or even one of those big Italian Weddings that seem to take place quite often, was just a natural thing to do. No commitments, no ulterior motives. Just, “Let’s go and have some fun.”
So, was there such a thing as SERIOUS dating back then and what was it like?
Absolutely! To wit:
Once upon a time, there were two teenagers named Peggy and Tom. They lived on the same block. They went on a lot of “walking dates” and coffee dates and when the coffers were overflowing, a Banana Split date.
That reverie became somewhat jaded when Peggy and her family moved out of the old neighborhood. They moved to the morning side of the mountain and Tom remained on the twilight side of the hill.
But every Jack must have his Jill, just like in the song. Sooooo, Tom plotted a plan in which Detroit’s DSR was employed.
Tom still had his 1931 Hupmobile. The one with the mechanical brakes and the vacuum fuel pump and the spark retarder and the split rim wheels. The last one would start a rapid heart beat when a tire went flat. Verrry hazardous to your hands and feet when repairing it.
The worst quirk of that car, was this. I would work on the car in the evenings from Monday to Friday and Saturday morning and get it running and hoping that it would last through the weekend. It just barely did. Then, something else would go wrong. I resigned myself to the simple truth that it was, indeed, a weekend car only. It demanded five days of rest.
Now here is the part about serious dating. While we tried to spend most of the weekend together, we decided to go out (date) on Wednesday night, only because we both were working full time jobs.
A typical Wednesday went like this. My daily quitting time was 5:00 p.m. Then, run like hell to catch the Cadillac-Harper Bus on E. Jefferson. That would take me to Cadillac and E. Warren. Then, run like hell, three blocks, to our home on McClellan and Warren.
Ma always had dinner ready and I would slosh down, in six or seven minutes, two full plates of whatever was being served. A lot of potatoes, I remember.
(Digression: I had to pay my mother, SEVEN DOLLARS a week for those seven dinners,,,,and seven breakfasts,,,, and seven packed lunches, and doing my laundry,,,and mending my clothes, and, well, it included room rent as well. I guess it was not as bad as it seemed at the time.)
Anyway, I sprang from the supper table (it was never referred to as ‘dinner’) ran to the bathroom, waved a wet wash cloth on my face, combed my hair, chewed some tooth paste and then, thoughtfully, made whatever discharges that seemed to be of an urgent nature instead of enduring a retention of those functions while on the bus or bus stop. No bushes on that route.
So I ran like hell out of the house and over to the eastbound, E. Warren bus stop. That would take me down to Conners where I could transfer to the northbound Conners bus. Most of the time, that would be a tedious wait. Once on the Conners bus, a few minutes to Gratiot, then down Gratiot for a couple of blocks, turn left on Gunston and then Gunston died and Hoover took over. Two blocks north of E. Seven Mile road, we stop and I get off and then I’m walking two blocks on Manning and then a half a block down Annott. There she is. Sitting on the porch, waiting, for me. I was breathing a little hard from my exertions of walking, not to mention the three packs of Old Golds Cigarettes I smoked daily.
She smiled at me and said, “You seem to be breathing rather hard.”
I replied, “Every time I look at you, you take my breath away!” She blushed.
So we walked back to E. Seven Mile to await the westbound bus that would take us to Van Dyke and the Movie Theater. (Was it the Nortown?)
After the movies were over we reversed our tracks. Eastbound Seven Mile bus to Annott and a short walk to her house. Then I scampered back to Conners to await the southbound bus. More times than not, a NORTHbound bus would stop and the driver would wave me in to his empty bus. He would then drive on to 8 Mile road and then turn around and head south. Picking me up as he did, saved me the boredom of waiting for him to come back.
Waiting for the westbound E. Warren bus was very dicey. In those wee small hours of the morning, bus service was greatly reduced. Many times I opted to run, the mile and a half or so, and nary a bus ever passed me.
That, dear members, was SERIOUS dating.
And to think that I had to spend 60 cents for all that transportation!
In 1953, I stopped smoking. No vows or promises, no struggling. I just stopped and never looked back.
Recently, I had asked Peggy how she could stand to kiss my ‘garbage pail’ mouth in those old days.
In her simplistic and tender way, she replied, “Well, I guess it was because you were MY garbage pail.
For the last 20 years or so, she has become physically intolerant of cigarette smoke. We had to stop going to most of our entertainment venues because of the smoke. She loses her voice and becomes extremely nauseated.
Everything that goes around,,,,,,,,,,, |
Eriedearie
Member
Username: Eriedearie
Post Number: 3704
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2009 - 7:08 pm: | |
Tp - you've done it again! In reading your rememory, I feel like I just tagged along on that Wednesday night date!
My best to you and Peggy |
Jams
Member
Username: Jams
Post Number: 7775
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2009 - 7:44 pm: | |
Thank you for that, as always, Tponetom.
You've made a very crappy day in this world a bit better for someone caught between. |
Jams
Member
Username: Jams
Post Number: 7776
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2009 - 7:54 pm: | |
Dammit Lowell,
Where is that superthread we need of Tponetom's musings? |
East_detroit
Member
Username: East_detroit
Post Number: 1962
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2009 - 8:39 pm: | |
"Choose a date who would make a good mate."
Good work, Tom. |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 3927
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2009 - 9:10 pm: | |
Marge and I were always smokers from the time we got married. Over the years, one or the other would try to quit, but with the other still smoking it was pretty much a futile effort.
Then in 2000 we both quit at the same time, and son of a gun, that did the trick. Both of us did it cold turkey with no real problems.
And today, much like Peggy, cigarette smoke annoys both of us quite severely. I suppose it's our payback for those we annoyed in the past.
C'est la vie. |
Lowell
Moderator
Username: Lowell
Post Number: 2218
Registered: 09-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2009 - 11:52 pm: | |
Tpone, I don't know about the dating, but the your bus dash to her place was like a great chase scene every good movie has. Like one where the girl gives up waiting and turns away silently sobbing to walk home only to have her beau magically appear. [Cue the orchestra crescendo] |
Kathleen
Member
Username: Kathleen
Post Number: 2187
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, February 21, 2009 - 1:01 pm: | |
Tom: Loved this piece about dating Peggy!! Being an eastsider, I was able to visualize your route by bus and on foot pretty readily. Thanks for sharing!
(Message edited by Kathleen on February 21, 2009) |
Tponetom
Member
Username: Tponetom
Post Number: 371
Registered: 06-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, February 21, 2009 - 1:44 pm: | |
Ray:
You and I are the only hybrids I know of, personally, who did not suffer withdrawal pains. |
Kathinozarks
Member
Username: Kathinozarks
Post Number: 1878
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, February 21, 2009 - 2:26 pm: | |
Another lovely story. |
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