Discuss Detroit » Archives - January 2008 » Lasky Park/Hamtramck area « Previous Next »
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Kville
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Username: Kville

Post Number: 103
Registered: 04-2007
Posted on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 - 5:51 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I'm trying to find out about the neighborhood(s) north and northeast of Hamtramck, along with general boundaries. I'm looking at the area generally from the Hamtramck city limit north to about Nevada and from I75 to the railroad tracks east of Mt. Elliott. In checking out various maps and websites, I have seen names like: Davison neighborhood, Hamtramck Heights, Lasky Park and other variations of the Hamtramck name. Can anyone help me define those neighborhoods better?
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Stinger4me
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Username: Stinger4me

Post Number: 184
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 - 7:33 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I'm not sure what you need, I grew up in the area you described. Be more specific and I will try to assist.
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Frumoasa
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Username: Frumoasa

Post Number: 118
Registered: 03-2007
Posted on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 - 1:02 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Well, I live east of JC and the first street north of Carpenter. My sub name is Newmans R A Of Vallier Farm. I assume Vallier may have been an original ribbon farmer hence the name of the sub. The neighborhood is still really nice, we have a great mix of all cultures, Polish, Bengali, Ukrainian, Sudanese, Albanian currently. The neighborhood was traditionally all Polish though and many older residents bought their homes in the 1950's and have stayed until today. There are also younger immigrant Polish families too as well as the rest of the cultures here that are also new immigrants. The neighborhood and street I live on is well maintained. I cannot think of a burned out house within several streets of mine east of JC. Most kids attend the Hamtramck Academy charter school on Conant (used to be Queen of Apostles school) or are schools of choice students in Hamtramck. The local elementary school mostly services the neighborhoods north of the Davison although there are quite a few kids that walk to school at Cleveland, which is near Lasky Park. It's a great area to live in except we have Detroit city services which are not always efficient. The homes are reasonable, the proximity to downtown Hamtramck is amazing and people take good care of their places.
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Mtm
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Username: Mtm

Post Number: 270
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 - 3:35 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

My Dad still lives in the area which he always called Hamtramck Heights. He explained it as Detroit with a Hamtramck zip code - 48212.
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1953
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Username: 1953

Post Number: 1539
Registered: 12-2004
Posted on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 - 4:10 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I live in Hamtramck and have been told repeatedly that Hamtramck Heights in the area of Hamtramck between Campau, Caniff, Conant, and Carpenter. It is so called this, I was told, because it is a little fancier and more well kept than the rest of town.
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Frumoasa
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Username: Frumoasa

Post Number: 119
Registered: 03-2007
Posted on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 - 4:22 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I have also heard the area 1953 is referring to as Hamtramck Heights, not my area. When I describe my area, I always say "It's a stone's throw from Hamtramck, literally."
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Mtm
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Username: Mtm

Post Number: 271
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 - 5:33 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Wow! Frumoasa, I went to "QofA" and "graduated" in '73. I was actually kind of shocked by its conversion. We were at the parish for my sister's funeral - arrived a bit early and were just waiting outside the "Fr. Ted Blasczyk Center" (Why they ever named that for him when he wasted so much money on Bahama trips, tanning salons, Mercedes, gold-embroidered vestments, etc. I'll never know!) when a woman in a birkah came up and asked us if registration had started. From my old days, I was far more used to a babusczka than birkah around the head.

Dad's neighborhood, just of Kathryn B. White school, is still great with a wide ethnic mix and, mostly, older people looking out for each other. Dad's house was broken into about a year ago but it was the neighbors who called the cops and looked out for Dad.
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Stinger4me
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Username: Stinger4me

Post Number: 185
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 - 7:11 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I am going to take a shot at what you might want. The neighborhood back in the late 40's, 50's and 60's was pretty nice. Most of the residents were blue collar folks who owned their homes and believed in taking good care of them. On Sundays it was quiet. A majority of the folks were Catholic and Sunday was a day of rest. White School was the elementary school for the area. It also dealt with children who had special needs. cleveland Intermediate at Charles and Conant was the next step up in education. The high school was Pershing and later Osborne was an option. The Lasky Center and Jayne playfield provided many recreational opportunities throughout the year. The playgrounds were loaded with baseball diamonds, tennis courts and a wading pool. Jayne field had diamonds with lights for the softball leagues. There were football and soccer fields. Several of the ball diamonds were used for high school baseball. There was the Knapp Branch library next door to the Detroit Police 11th precinct. If you lived in the area and had no car public transportation was available. Shopping in local markets and bakeries was available as well. Most of the folks didn't have much but I think they knew how to live. At the corner of Charles and Buffalo was a housing project. These were brick buildings built after WWII. This was low cost housing of the era. On Buffalo, Bloom and Moenart there were cheap houses which may have served as housing for those working in defense plants during the war. That housing was torn down in the early 50's and brick ranch style homes were built. The area was surrounded by industrial operations. Railroad yards, car plants, scrap dealers etc. At night we could hear the trains switching cars in the yards. It was a unique place to grow up. I last saw the area about 2002 and could not believe the decay, burned out buildings and boarded up structures. A nice place to be from but I would not choose to live anywhere near there today. Hope this helps.
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Frumoasa
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Username: Frumoasa

Post Number: 121
Registered: 03-2007
Posted on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 - 8:01 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The area behind and north of Lasky park is pretty bombed out, but south of Cleveland is still well maintained in general...lots of Yemenis and Bangladeshis. And the area between Conant and JC is decent as well...Most of the streets bordering the shopping areas are still respectable, but I am sure it was an incredible place back in its heyday. And ethnic diversity is one of our strengths here. My 2 best neighbors are from completely different countries but we all watch out for each other. It helps keep our little neighborhood stronger. It's good to hear that your dad's area is doing well also, I am not as familiar with that little enclave, but I will check it out soon. It makes me so happy to see seniors still active and in our community. I wish your dad many more happy years as a homeowner around here.

(Message edited by frumoasa on February 12, 2008)
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Stinger4me
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Username: Stinger4me

Post Number: 186
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 - 8:19 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Back then the neighborhoods were a mix of nationalities. We had Italians, Croatians, Polish, Russian and mixes of all of those. One of the things which made it unique was that everything was there within walking distance. There were folks who didn't drive or own cars and did fine without them. One of the things mentioned is about people looking out for each other, it happened then and it is good the same thing is happening now. That will build and strengthen an area
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Dbc
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Username: Dbc

Post Number: 100
Registered: 09-2006
Posted on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - 3:07 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

My Dad is from the area (between Davison, Campau, Carpenter, and Conant), and my grandparents, aunts, and great aunt lived in their house on Gallagher at Lawley until 1990. I also had a cousin who lived on Meade west of Klinger and whose mother grew up above the her family's funeral home on McDougall (now an Islamic Center) across from Our Lady Help of Christians, which closed in October 2006 and became a mosque. We still have a family friend who lives on McDougall and another who lived on Charest until recently.

From what I understand and remember, the neighborhood was predominantly Polish up until the late 1980's/early 1990's. My Dad, for example, was an altar boy at OLHC and I believe he said it used to have five Masses on Sunday. Driving through it now, it appears the neighborhood is mostly Bangladeshi/Bengali.

I have great memories of the neighborhood, as we visited my grandparents almost every other weekend from Canton. I remember playing at Jayne Field, going to the Polish market that used to be at Klinger and Halleck (Stans?), attending Mass at OLHC on a hot summer day, and enjoying the parish's annual Apple festival (plenty of polkas, games, beer, pierogi, and czarnina, i.e., duck blood soup.)

That said, my family always just called it Detroit. Although I think the Old Mill restaurant, which was at Conant and Carpenter, advertised itself as being in Hamtramck Heights. I always assumed it was tongue-in-cheek.

Anyway, I drive through the neighborhood whenever I am back in Michigan, and, in my opinion, it is still decent, but goes from worse to better as you head south from Davison. For example, Charest, McDougall, and Mitchell between Davison and Lawley have a lot of vacant lots where the city has torn down derelict homes. To me, it seems the area closest to Carpenter has fared the best, but the old North Detroit Hospital where my aunt worked is definitely an eyesore. I now notice graffiti, garbage in the lots, and bars on the windows and doors that were not there even ten years ago. The neighborhood has seen better days, but what can you expect when the jobs and people - my family included - move to the suburbs?

Nevertheless, the neighborhood east of Campau and north of Carpenter has fared much, much worse, while the neighborhood north of Q of A (and east of Conant, south of Charles, and west of Buffalo) seems to have fared better, as I don't recall much blight there. Just my opinion.

Anyway, I love that neighborhood no matter what it's called.
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Kville
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Username: Kville

Post Number: 104
Registered: 04-2007
Posted on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - 5:35 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Stinger4me - you asked me to be more specific about what kind of info I was looking for. I want to know about the area in Detroit just north & northeast of Hamtramck. Are there neighborhood NAMES for that area besides just saying "near Hamtramck." Many parts of the city are identified by street names or street corners (like 7-Gratiot), so I was not surprised that some sites refer to that area as "Davison." Mtm said he heard that Hamtramck Heights incorporated most of that area (with the same zip code as Hamtramck). However, some of you here indicated that Hamtramck Hts was actually a corner of Hamtramck itself. Maybe there was no actual NAME for that area in Detroit except to call it the Hamtramck area, but that's what I want to find out.

Thanks for the input so far everyone.
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Frumoasa
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Username: Frumoasa

Post Number: 122
Registered: 03-2007
Posted on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - 9:55 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yeah, my sub name seems to have noting to do with a name for the neighborhood. About Greater Detroit Hospital. It is a disgrace and an eyesore and needs to be demolished. I hate having to look at it when I come home. If it were even a partially functioning building, i would be satisfied, but I have heard that it and all of its accessory buildings have been stripped. It's not much use to anyone in its condition and needs to be demolished. It is a midcentury building with no architectural valor but I think the fact that it straddles 2 cities will make it hard to get rid of. It would make me so happy to see something done with it though. If it were brought back to utility, it would be a boon, not an eyesore to us. And DBC: The area north of Carpenter west of JC makes my area look like a country club.
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Fury13
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Username: Fury13

Post Number: 3932
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - 10:02 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The area north of Carpenter west of JC makes my area look like a country club.

That was a Russian-Ukrainian area in the early 20th century. The original Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church at Goddard and Meade (built 1915) was the center of that neighborhood.

Admittedly, it's a little scary in there now.
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Frumoasa
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Username: Frumoasa

Post Number: 124
Registered: 03-2007
Posted on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - 10:18 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

There's still a semi large (admittedly illegally immigrated) faction of Ukrainians around Gallagher just south of the Davison. It's a nearly invisible community but there is a Ukrainian Pentecostal or Baptist church inside a house and I know a Romanian/Ukrainian that hires lots of young men for extra help snow plowing from that area.
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Danny
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Username: Danny

Post Number: 7122
Registered: 02-2004
Posted on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - 10:23 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Not so Fury13 Lasky Park/Conant Gardens has a slow but growing Begali/East Indian and Yemeni Arab Muslim community, Detroit's little Begali Town. Most of them lived in the full line wood frame bugalows. The ghettohood is well preserved and kept up. And I hope they would play an important role of making the Detroit/ Hamtramck community grow.
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Mtm
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Username: Mtm

Post Number: 272
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - 3:35 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Dbc,

Unfortunately I believe the Old Mill Bar (grat burgers!) is now a Mosque also. And the area you mentioned, "neighborhood north of Q of A (and east of Conant, south of Charles, and west of Buffalo) seems to have fared better" is exactly where my family moved in 1962. They had been living in a flat on Charles upstairs from my grandparents so they didn't move far. (Imagine living in a tiny 3-bedroom flat with 5 kids! As said, Dad is STILL there and wouldn't want to leave despite the break-in.
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Mtm
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Username: Mtm

Post Number: 273
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - 3:41 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

... and I'm probably dating myself because I think it was demolished in the '60's, but does anyone else remember the enclosed clown slide at Jayne Field? I LOVED it!!
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Frumoasa
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Username: Frumoasa

Post Number: 125
Registered: 03-2007
Posted on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - 4:24 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Danny: As far as I know and I live in the area, the Yemenis and Bengalis are on the east side of JC in general stretching all the way to the Davison. There are very few on the west side of JC according to the property ownership data. There are also Yemenis in what's left of the Poletown neighborhood near the south east end of Hamtramck. and MTM: I wish I could have seen the area in its heyday including Jayne Field as a thriving area for kids to play. I'm 22, so for as far as I can remember this has been the neighborhood.
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Paczki
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Username: Paczki

Post Number: 51
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - 4:44 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I spent a lot of time at Laskey and Jayne Field in my teens and early 20's. We played rec basketball and volleyball at Laskey. Jayne Field was always the place to be in the spring and summer if you played softball. Playing on diamond one under the lights was always the favorite game of the season. Guys were there watching their girl friends games and girls were there watching their guys play. After the games everyone went what ever bar was sponsoring the team. My teams were sponsored by Six Bar, Happy Sam's, Little Bills, White Star and Congor Bar. I really thought I was in the in crowd because my boyfriend(husband) played in the Lutomski League. When we weren't playing softball at Jayne Field we were playing at Hamtramck Park, Softball City and Oak Park.
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Mtm
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Username: Mtm

Post Number: 274
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - 5:17 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Have to admit that, as a kid, we really didn't differentiate between Lasky and Jayne Field; they were JUST Jayne Field because we almost never went inside Lasky Center.

The clown slide: It was HUGE, a couple of stories tall - at least to a little kid. It was a circular slide fully enclosed in a concrete form that looked like a clown on the outside. It was kind of scary the first few times because you were in total darkness but it was great fun. If I remember correctly, it was removed for safety reasons but, nowadays, I couldn't see any parent letting a child go down it without serious head gear.

Watching ballgames at Jayne Field with Dad and eating Good Humors was almost better [and MUCH cheaper] than a Tiger game and we indulged often in the summer. Dad was VERY thrilled one time when the DFD team was playing there and were short a player so they asked him to join in because he was a member.

Okay, more trivia of the area: the height of the bleachers was reduced in the '50's or very early '60's because a guy hung himself from the top. Mom mentioned looking out the front window and seeing the guy hanging there.
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Stinger4me
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Username: Stinger4me

Post Number: 187
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - 7:43 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Mtm; I don't think you are dating yourself, this guy remembers when they were building the clown. At the same time they had a merry-go-round and a wooden train. My late mother lived on Charles and told me stories of when they were filling the property in prior to it being a playground. When I was a kid the DFD teams always played on the diamond closest to the west side of White school. Back in the late 40's and early 50's the P&R Dept. had classes in the Lasky Center. In the basement there was a boxing ring and they had boxing lessons for a couple of years. There was also a wood shop in the basement. You probably remember the wading pool, that was closed during the polio scare, afterwards it reopened with a large elevated sprinkler head. It was filled with water and frozen in the winter for ice-skating and they would turn on the lights in the evening so we could skate. Across Fenelon the staff flooded an area just north of the lighted ball diamonds and that was used for skating as well. No lights there though.

Sometimes the area was referred to as Northeast Detroit. My uncle attended Northeastern HS on Grandy and Warren. That may have been prior to Pershing HS opening. The area was not fancy but it was a safe place to raise a family.
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Melody
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Username: Melody

Post Number: 126
Registered: 11-2007
Posted on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - 9:56 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Frumoasa I agree, that hospital is an eyesore!
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Hamtragedy
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Username: Hamtragedy

Post Number: 88
Registered: 10-2007
Posted on Thursday, February 14, 2008 - 12:40 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Melody, new windows and sandblasted brick on the East Hospital. Never knew the brick looked that nice. We call it Eminem General, cuz it was in the movie.
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Mtm
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Username: Mtm

Post Number: 275
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Thursday, February 14, 2008 - 6:51 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Stinger4me,

Ok, you predate me. I don't really remember the pool but I DO remember them flooding the fields for skating though I never went or used them - folks were too busy. The main baseball diamond was the one right on the corner of Fenelon and Charles and, yes, that's where DFD played.

We had a pleasant surprise a few years back when someone bought the old 2-flat house on Charles that my folks and grandparents lived in when I was born and TOTALLY refurbished it. I get disappointed when I see burned-out houses on Charles so it was VERY nice to know that someone still cares enough to invest in the area.

Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day, All!
valentine

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