  Summertime1 Member Username: Summertime1 Post Number: 7 Registered: 01-2008 |
It was July 1972, it was horrible | ||
Yooper Member Username: Yooper Post Number: 113 Registered: 12-2006 |
That was a long time ago! | ||
Chris_rohn Member Username: Chris_rohn Post Number: 396 Registered: 04-2005 |
No, I do not. | ||
Flanders_field Member Username: Flanders_field Post Number: 106 Registered: 01-2008 |
I spent the summer in northwest Michigan in '72 as a young teenager, and also had my personal version of the movie "Summer Of 42" that year. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 6229 Registered: 08-2004 |
Well I was living 4 blocks from the park at the time, and didn't hear a thing. It must have been contained to the park. Or the sound of teens getting thwapped up side the head with a billy club must not have made that much noise. Soon afterwards the city closed off the park driveway from Chandler Park Drive to the skating pavilion behind the sledding hill to discourage cruising. I suppose the folks living on Radnor with their back yards to the park heard the most commotion. | ||
Lafontaine Member Username: Lafontaine Post Number: 9 Registered: 06-2006 |
I lived on Lafontaine at the corner of Canyon in the 60s. Balduck was directly across the street from my house. The problems with the hippies started around 1969. There were loud parties all summer long. I remember my friends and I would walk around where the hippies hung out at the park during the day (I would never think about going there at night!). Saw lots of drug use and other activities right out in the open. The city was repaving the parking lot at Balduck that summer. One night, some hippies somehow got a bulldozer started and were driving it around the park. My mom was screaming that they were going to bulldoze our house down. We moved to Algonac shortly after that. | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 3570 Registered: 10-2003 |
Are you sure it wasn't July, 1970? | ||
Harsensis Member Username: Harsensis Post Number: 316 Registered: 07-2005 |
Bulletmagnet should know about this...he might even have pics since he always has a camera with him? | ||
Dhugger Member Username: Dhugger Post Number: 399 Registered: 03-2005 |
I lived with in a few blocks from Balduck park during that time period. Of course I was 10 years old and my parents kept me locked in the basement to save me from drugs, sex, rock and roll. I always missed the interesting stuff. | ||
Terryh Member Username: Terryh Post Number: 675 Registered: 11-2006 |
For some reason it is hard for me to imagine true hippies rioting. Are you sure they werent yippies? | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 1477 Registered: 09-2007 |
Wow, people in this city just can't seem to get along. Then instead of trying to re-unite, we just run in fear. | ||
Lefty2 Member Username: Lefty2 Post Number: 1058 Registered: 07-2007 |
Lafontaine, did you live on the triangle corner or on the other side of the street with the front porch looking towards Balduck? | ||
Lafontaine Member Username: Lafontaine Post Number: 11 Registered: 06-2006 |
Lefty I lived on the other side of the street. The triangle corner house was across the street. | ||
Gibran Member Username: Gibran Post Number: 1661 Registered: 02-2007 |
we used to to the nature trails...by th emid 70's looked a little ragged...we heard that the "hippies" hung out in the woods... funny after that grew small we found woods off Jefferson before Stclair shores....n of 8 mile...we were always on quests to explore woods... | ||
Tponetom Member Username: Tponetom Post Number: 210 Registered: 06-2007 |
Gisto: You just rang my bell. We lived on Lanoo, 3 doors north/west ? of Mack from 1967 through1973. I do not remember, per se, a RIOT in Balduck Park. I do remember a continuing crowd/mob or what ever, especially on week-ends. One Friday evening. after finishing our supper, I told my two children, (Bishop Gallagher High School students,) that I was going to drive over to the Park and see what was going on. Our son, Mike, cautioned me to "be careful." That was the cryptic message he gave to me. I was driving my brand new '69 Chevy Station Wagon. I drove over to the parking area and observed a crowd that was growing by the minutes. The kids were parking their vehicles here, there, and anywhere. In one of the most sagacious moments I have ever experienced, I decided to get the hell out of there before I would be hemmed in by a tide of automobiles. I got home without incident and told Mike what I had done. He smiled and said, "I told you so." He was not warning me about any physical danger, but rather, just getting trapped in a mob of humanity. There may have been a riot of sorts there at one time or other but I do not recall any particular incident. | ||
Lefty2 Member Username: Lefty2 Post Number: 1060 Registered: 07-2007 |
It was a great place for school kids from Austin, Finney etc to settle petty matters. Lafontaine- the house is in terrible condition I got it and am going to fix it up. (Message edited by lefty2 on January 31, 2008) | ||
Maxcarey Member Username: Maxcarey Post Number: 202 Registered: 07-2006 |
It was indeed in July 1970. It was referenced on the WKNR News album from that year. I also found reference to 400 young people at Balduck on July 31, 1970 here: http://digitize.gp.lib.mi.us/d igitize/newspapers/gpnews/1970 -74/70/1970-08-06.pdf#xml=http ://digitize.gp.lib.mi.us/dtsea rch2.asp?cmd=pdfhits&DocId=176 5&Index=C%3a%5cProgram%20Files %5cdtSearch%20Developer%5cUser Data%5cGPNEWS&HitCount=1&hits= 407+&hc=566&req=balduck | ||
Goblue Member Username: Goblue Post Number: 1049 Registered: 03-2007 |
Tponetom: I was in a similar situation in Caracas, Venezuela one time in the 90's...students burning tires and chanting slogans...coming off of a university campus our car was surrounded by humanity...it scared the hell out of me...but...we got through it without damage. The Balduck I remember from the 50's was a great place to ice skate in the winter...make out with a girlfriend in the summer...and run for a workout year 'round. I doubt the "riot" was cause by "hippies"...more likely just a crowd of assholes with nothing else to do but get drunk...or stoned. | ||
Lafontaine Member Username: Lafontaine Post Number: 12 Registered: 06-2006 |
Lefty What is the house number of your place? I was at 5266 Lafontaine. I drove by it a few years ago and it did look bad. | ||
Lefty2 Member Username: Lefty2 Post Number: 1063 Registered: 07-2007 |
nope sorry wrong one that one still has older people in it, its good, it's the white vinyl house farther down (Message edited by lefty2 on February 01, 2008) | ||
Jokerman Member Username: Jokerman Post Number: 119 Registered: 07-2005 |
The hippies didn't riot. The cops did! See the other post on this board with the same title for more information. | ||
Swingline Member Username: Swingline Post Number: 1017 Registered: 11-2003 |
Threadjack alert. A fascinating public service announcement is found on page 5 of Maxcarey's link to the Grosse Pointe News. quote: The GPHRC was a civil rights organization perhaps most well-known for sponsoring Dr. Martin Luther King's speech at Grosse Pointe South High School in 1968 only a couple of weeks before his assassination. Anybody on DYES ever involved with the group? | ||
Alley Member Username: Alley Post Number: 16 Registered: 02-2008 |
the only hippies I remember at Balduck were the 'hippies' that were there for the vigil when Jerry Garcia died* lolol* Then again, I'm only 29 |
