  Clarie Member Username: Clarie Post Number: 39 Registered: 11-2007 |
Does anyone remember the Himelhoch store on Woodward ave. I worked there during summers while attending MSU. I was a Human Ecology major and the sister of one of my professor was the HR person. Does anyone remember the store? | ||
Lowell Board Administrator Username: Lowell Post Number: 4806 Registered: 10-2003 |
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Sean_of_detroit Member Username: Sean_of_detroit Post Number: 396 Registered: 03-2008 |
The sign is still there. I guess the retail arcade on the first floor is vacant. The rest of the building is senior apartments I believe. The entrance is on Washington for the Apartments. Unfortunately, Woodward is the location of the "back door". No one ever seems to use it. This building is the one adjoined to the one behind it on Washington correct? | ||
Eriedearie Member Username: Eriedearie Post Number: 1660 Registered: 08-2007 |
Yes I remember the store very well. A friend of mine worked there. Sometimes I'd go pick her up in my 1967 Chevy and we'd go cruising Woodward up to Ted's Drive Inn - that was back in the day of the classic cars and gas was 25 cents a gallon! Seems like a million years ago now. | ||
Paulmcall Member Username: Paulmcall Post Number: 1044 Registered: 05-2004 |
They also had one in Dearborn too. | ||
Crew Member Username: Crew Post Number: 1433 Registered: 02-2004 |
I don't remember the store but my mother still have a dress and purse she bought there in the 1960's. It's retro cool now! She also has some x-mas angels which she's had for years that still have Himelhoch price tags on them. Damn, she's old! | ||
Gazhekwe Member Username: Gazhekwe Post Number: 2123 Registered: 08-2007 |
I remember the store. I couldn't afford to shop there, Miracle Mart and Korvette's were more in my budget. When I worked downtown, sometimes I would go in and browse through but I was afraid of the very professionally helpful clerks. | ||
Carolcb Member Username: Carolcb Post Number: 4280 Registered: 11-2006 |
I can remember buying dresses at the Dearborn store. My mom and I liked to shop there. | ||
9936sussex Member Username: 9936sussex Post Number: 118 Registered: 10-2007 |
I remember shopping there when I worked downtown and when my mom and I would shop. They used to have a nice selection of winter coats. | ||
Pkbroch Member Username: Pkbroch Post Number: 27 Registered: 02-2008 |
My mother shopped at Himelhoch's. I believe they also had one at Northland. The one at Washington Blvd had high end clothes. Here is a Little about the founder this was taken from the Boston Edison web site. Several store founders lived in that area. people like B. Siegel, Kerns, check out there great website, at historic boston edison. WOLF HIMELHOGH In 1907, Wolf Himelhoch opened a clothing store, Himelhoch's, on Washington Boulevard. The store was successful, and eventually opened multiple branches in Detroit and its suburbs, and had offices in Paris, New York and Los Angeles. Wolf Himelhoch lived at 929 West Boston. | ||
Craig Member Username: Craig Post Number: 803 Registered: 02-2007 |
At least a part of the family remains in Michigan: our kids are friends. | ||
Karenk Member Username: Karenk Post Number: 69 Registered: 07-2006 |
My Mom shopped at Himelhoch's for a special brand of something, which I don't remember. I used to work part-time at Korvette's in 1967 when I was in my first year of college. I think I worked there for 2 yrs. Never bought anything thing while I worked there. It was worse than Kmart for crap! | ||
Blueidone Member Username: Blueidone Post Number: 231 Registered: 03-2007 |
My mother was a Himelhoch's regular. She worked at the GM Building downtown for a while, then at the "new" Warren Tech Center. Back then the women had to "dress" for work. She had matching dresses, purses, shoes and hats. Shoes and hats in neatly marked boxes on the shelf in her closet. And outfits changed with the seasons. I remember the process of changing out the closet from summer clothes to winter, and back again. She was a very classy lady always. Love ya, Mom..hope there is a golf course in heaven for you. (She was a GM Ladies League champion!) | ||
Westsiiiide Member Username: Westsiiiide Post Number: 9 Registered: 05-2008 |
That was one of the most elegant stores on Washington. They had a small section on the first floor that sold home accessories - like vases and crystel stemware. I still have some champagne flutes I purchased there. Everything, expensive. Do you also remember Peck & Peck, which was next door? They sold trench coats. Also around the corner was Chandlers Shoes. I used to work at Bank of the Commonwealth around that time. I was like 19. | ||
Rax Member Username: Rax Post Number: 284 Registered: 11-2007 |
It's still pretty elegant on the Woodward side. There's a shitty cell phone store and a day care center that hasn't fixed it's broken windows in over 10 months. You should come by and take a look, the bum urine smells great once the weather warms up. | ||
Quinn Member Username: Quinn Post Number: 1586 Registered: 01-2005 |
How do you pronounce that name? Is it him-el-hos? | ||
Oldredfordette Member Username: Oldredfordette Post Number: 4664 Registered: 02-2004 |
Yes. Washington Boulevard had the most beautiful stores. When my oldest sister got married, my mother bought my dress at Himelhochs downtown. It was so beautiful and special. I was 8 but I'll always remember how it made me feel. The rest of the time, it was Federals for me! | ||
Bob Member Username: Bob Post Number: 1806 Registered: 11-2003 |
When did that store close? | ||
Jrvass Member Username: Jrvass Post Number: 698 Registered: 01-2007 |
The GM Ladies Club... my aunt was a member. My mom recently told me a story about her and her girlfriend "tagging along" on a trip to Lake Placid NY in the 1940's. The hotel was full and she and her girlfriend had to stay in a rooming house for the weekend. The women that owned the house also had about 40 cats, and the place stunk to high-hell of cat pee. Mom & Doris were too young to know they could bitch about the stench. So they went to the late night movies to avoid the place. | ||
Taj920 Member Username: Taj920 Post Number: 312 Registered: 01-2004 |
My grandma was a seamstress there until her death in 1968. | ||
Reddog289 Member Username: Reddog289 Post Number: 304 Registered: 08-2007 |
wasn,t Himelhochs at Mich&Schafer across from Monkey Ward? | ||
Jgavrile Member Username: Jgavrile Post Number: 97 Registered: 09-2005 |
Does anyone have a list of where all the stores were?? I can't remember if there was one in Highland Park??Maybe? I remember the one downtown for sure. | ||
D2dyeah Member Username: D2dyeah Post Number: 111 Registered: 09-2005 |
The one in Dearborn was across from Jacobson's on Michigan Ave. My dad would take my brother and me over to Meyer"s Seafood for something to eat while our mother shopped at Himelhoch's. We'd wait forever for her. She'd cut through Jacobson's Men's dept and buy my dad a golf shirt or a tie, and he wouldn't get mad about all the money she spent at Himelhoch's. | ||
Sean_of_detroit Member Username: Sean_of_detroit Post Number: 430 Registered: 03-2008 |
Seems like downtown could really use (and support) a place like this again. We need more clothing stores selling everyday items. So all these places closed because of Hudson's closing, correct? They couldn't compete with the suburban malls? Sorry, there is probably a thread on this somewhere already. I'll have to do a search when I have a chance. | ||
Taj920 Member Username: Taj920 Post Number: 313 Registered: 01-2004 |
Here is some background: http://dlxs.lib.wayne.edu/d/dh hcc/retailers/himelhoch.html | ||
Pgn421 Member Username: Pgn421 Post Number: 593 Registered: 02-2005 |
Larry and Diane, that own Cafe D`Mongos on Griswold, own the Himelhoch building now. They said they have owned it for 30 years. | ||
Pffft Member Username: Pffft Post Number: 1524 Registered: 12-2003 |
Downtown Himelhoch's closed before Hudson's did... There was a Himelhoch's in Birmingham, too. And yeah, it's pronounced "Him-el-ho's" ... | ||
Swiburn Member Username: Swiburn Post Number: 251 Registered: 07-2006 |
Some national womens' dept. stores that had branches in Detroit (and Northland): 1. Franklin Simon 2. Peck and Peck 3. Best and Co. | ||
Carolcb Member Username: Carolcb Post Number: 4296 Registered: 11-2006 |
Jeez, thanks for mentioning Peck and Peck - I have a big hat box full of old pictures that my mom gave me - but I do not remember Peck and Peck. | ||
Westsiiiide Member Username: Westsiiiide Post Number: 10 Registered: 05-2008 |
Peck & Beck was sort of like Burberry. It used to be next door to Himelhochs. The store had a classic plaid trench coat (I purchased one) and it was about $150.00.That was expensive then. In today's price it would probably be around the price of Burberry ($900. or more) I purchased my coat in 1968, but I think the store was there from around the 1940's. Does anyone remember the "Quickee" donut shops? If you are not around baby boomer age, you probably don't. | ||
Westsiiiide Member Username: Westsiiiide Post Number: 11 Registered: 05-2008 |
I found this Wikipedia. re: Peck & Peck http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P eck_&_Peck | ||
Ocmobilexec Member Username: Ocmobilexec Post Number: 24 Registered: 12-2007 |
Wow, I remember as a little kid being taken to Himelhoch's at Eastland. As I recall, it was very 60's 'modern'. It had one of those free-standing, floating stairways going to a second floor of apparel. Under the suspended staircase was a tiled pool with a small fountain and I think even fish. As a little kid, I was SO fascinated by that. It was beautiful. | ||
Taj920 Member Username: Taj920 Post Number: 314 Registered: 01-2004 |
Ocmobilexec -- Where was the Himeloch's at Eastland? | ||
9936sussex Member Username: 9936sussex Post Number: 122 Registered: 10-2007 |
I remember the Quickie's!••••• When I took the bus downtown, I would get off at Washington Blvd right by St. Aloysious (sp?). I could smell the doughnuts from Quickie as I got off the bus. I used to think it would be SO neat to work downtown and stop to get a doughnut at Quickie before going to work. By the time I worked downtown, I don't think they were around. | ||
Detsfb Member Username: Detsfb Post Number: 12 Registered: 03-2008 |
I ran into Larry and Diane out in front a couple weeks ago and they gave me a tour of the place. I was surprised that there seemed to be a number of businesses in there. Larry might be opening up a sidewalk cafe to sell hotdogs and chips for the summer. Those Mongos are the best! | ||
Onthe405 Member Username: Onthe405 Post Number: 51 Registered: 11-2007 |
Taj920, I don't specifically recall Himelhoch's at Eastland. If it was there, it was most likely in the east wing of the center (near Robinson's Furniture, B. Siegel, and Stouffer's). ocmobilexec's description of the store sounds like B. Siegel, which was the only other store I know of with more than one story (not counting a basement) outside of the anchor--Hudson's. Perhaps Himelhoch's moved into that space at some point. Someone else may have a better recollection. The east wing consistently had the lowest foot traffic, and those were the first stores to close & change hands once Eastland started to hit some bumps. |
