 
Switchmanjim
Member
Username: Switchmanjim
Post Number: 21
Registered: 10-2008
| | Posted on Saturday, January 31, 2009 - 9:26 pm: |    |
They tore it down last week from what I heard. I drove by today to see a pile of bricks covered with snow. The houses accross the street were also gone except for one burned out shell of a house. Unbelievable. Sad. Detroit. |
Vas
Member
Username: Vas
Post Number: 458
Registered: 01-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, January 31, 2009 - 9:51 pm: | |
Everyone moved away but your memories did not. |
Cub
Member
Username: Cub
Post Number: 1086
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, January 31, 2009 - 9:51 pm: | |
Where was the house located? |
Jonesy
Member
Username: Jonesy
Post Number: 530
Registered: 07-2005
| | Posted on Saturday, January 31, 2009 - 9:54 pm: | |
Truly sad |
Lmichigan
Member
Username: Lmichigan
Post Number: 4063
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, January 31, 2009 - 10:22 pm: | |
I wonder how many of us here have gone through the same experience? The house where I spent the first few years of my life (where my dad's family grew up) was demolished back in the 90's after my grandmother had sold it off in the 80's. It's really something to see rubble in a basement, and even more so when your former neighbor's houses are still standing. |
Kathleen
Member
Username: Kathleen
Post Number: 2158
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, January 31, 2009 - 11:23 pm: | |
I went back to the old neighborhood a couple weeks ago to attend a funeral for a grade school classmate of mine. The first thing I did was drive down the street I grew up on near Warren and Outer Drive...only to find it looking like a war zone! Many burned out and boarded up houses. The house I grew up in has several boarded up windows. A couple houses are burned out and totally open to the elements and the scrappers. Along the 7 blocks between Warren and Mack, there are a few spots where houses previously stood.
It had been maybe 3 years since my last drive-by...and everything seemed OK and lived in at that time. I don't know if or how often I will be able to go back now, since it will only be getting worse, and right now it is just so sad. |
Terridarlin
Member
Username: Terridarlin
Post Number: 104
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, January 31, 2009 - 11:34 pm: | |
I spent my first 6 years on Chandler Park Drive between Kensington and Yorkshire. I haven't driven by since 2003, but maybe it's gone, I hope not. Kathleen, by grandparents lived across from the library at Warren and Outer
Drive, perhaps they knew you? |
Dtowncitylover
Member
Username: Dtowncitylover
Post Number: 474
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Saturday, January 31, 2009 - 11:46 pm: | |
My mom's house on Goldengate, just east of the Chrysler, is gone. Hers and what she calls the "nicest" house on the block are both gone. You can always tell where Goldengate is because what used to be that "nice" house, is now a lot that usually has a truck and a semi parked on it.
My grandma's house in Highland Park on Florence is also gone...but no big surprise there. |
Ragtoplover59
Member
Username: Ragtoplover59
Post Number: 502
Registered: 09-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, January 31, 2009 - 11:50 pm: | |
Two of my Childhood homes have been gone for 40 yrs now, I have fond memories of these two places because right up to the end, they were fantastic houses, and I remember them as such!
Other houses we lived in are still up, But not a one of them is in good shape! I'd rather have them all gone as opposed to watching them just fall apart due to neglect over the years.
I would like to get into the last one we lived at, just to try and find some sign that I had lived there before. It would be cool to see something like a nail in the rafters and remember why I put it there to begin with!
Dad was faithful about taking the storm windows off each spring and clean them and store them in the basement, I'm sure the windows have never been off again, it would be something to see a window still sealed up , and know that Dad was the last person to touch the inside glass. if any are left unbroken after 35 yrs! |
Hamtragedy
Member
Username: Hamtragedy
Post Number: 368
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, February 01, 2009 - 12:01 am: | |
My childhood home has boards over a few windows, although the kitchen window has been breached. The Pewabic tile fireplace is still in tact, as are the four french doors. The showerstall appears to have caused some damage to the living room ceiling but the 4 ft diameter medallion is unharmed.
$27,000 according to the listing agent, 2 weeks ago, exactly the same price in 1976 when we moved in. |
Detroitjim
Member
Username: Detroitjim
Post Number: 59
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Sunday, February 01, 2009 - 12:48 am: | |
Hey Nelson what do you think?
HA HA!
Mine has been gone since 1980.
The last of the best years for this city were the mid 70's. Anyone thinking that there is any possibility of a "return to greatness" for it is just fooling themselves . False hope is allowable if it keeps you happy and out of the sanitarium! |
Reddog289
Member
Username: Reddog289
Post Number: 882
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, February 01, 2009 - 1:47 am: | |
All 3 of the houses my Mom grew up in are gone,The house that my Grandparents moved into after she moved out is still there. That is the house where I spent much time at. Last year I drove by it, Maybe next time I,ll bring a scraper and paint brush. |
Erikd
Member
Username: Erikd
Post Number: 614
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, February 01, 2009 - 3:38 am: | |
quote:They tore it down last week from what I heard. I drove by today to see a pile of bricks covered with snow. The houses accross the street were also gone except for one burned out shell of a house. Unbelievable. Sad. Detroit.
This is the inevitable result of a culture that treats everything as disposable. It may be sad, but it certainly isn't unbelievable, nor is it unique to the city of Detroit. My grandparent's house in Detroit is gone, but so is their house in Warren.
30 years from now, many people will be telling a similar sad tale about their old house in the inner suburbs... |
Lombaowski
Member
Username: Lombaowski
Post Number: 133
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, February 01, 2009 - 4:08 am: | |
The house I grew up in is still standing but with bars on the windows and a steal front door. I guess it is just the natural progression to eventually being gone. My grandparents house is still there also but I know two of my uncles' houses are long gone on the near east side. |
Kathleen
Member
Username: Kathleen
Post Number: 2160
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, February 01, 2009 - 8:53 am: | |
Sure is a natural progression! We watched as our parents' neighborhoods along East Jefferson between Water Works and St. Jean slowly deteriorated for 40 years (1960s to 2000s) until all the houses were demolished for the new development there now.
Our own 1928 house on Three Mile Drive (between Warren and Mack) was still in decent shape when we moved in 1978. Over the years we watched the neighborhood decline, with security bars installed on doors and windows, etc., but no vacant or burned out homes. And as I noted, up until the last 2 or 3 years, the neighborhood seemed to be OK. But now it is just a sad and neglected street. I didn't check out the neighboring streets to see if/how they have suffered.
But this is just the start of the decline and demolish cycle that I saw 40 years ago in my parents' old neighborhood.
Seems like this is a Detroit fact of life. Not sure I've seen this type of situation in other big cities that we've visited. |
Eriedearie
Member
Username: Eriedearie
Post Number: 3554
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, February 01, 2009 - 9:15 am: | |
My childhood home that my parents rented for 11 years has been gone a long time. There's still part of the old fence standing that my dad would paint faithfully every couple of years. We lived on such a pretty street too. There are only 2 homes left standing where our block had about 10 homes on each side of the street. Sad.
The brick home my parents bought on the Detroit side of 8 Mile and Van Dyke in 1966 is still looking good.
But you know, in my nighttime dreams, it's always the rented house on Ruth Street that plays a major part. We had more fun in that little house and had the best neighbors. |
Realitycheck
Member
Username: Realitycheck
Post Number: 313
Registered: 08-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, February 01, 2009 - 9:39 am: | |
Saturday night poetry from Vasquote:Everyone moved away but your memories did not. Elegant, that. |
Detroitrise
Member
Username: Detroitrise
Post Number: 3765
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, February 01, 2009 - 9:42 am: | |
Crying over spilled milk is Detroit's #1 problem. I can't begin to describe what went wrong and why is it wrong. |
Thejesus
Member
Username: Thejesus
Post Number: 3656
Registered: 06-2008
| | Posted on Sunday, February 01, 2009 - 9:50 am: | |
at least they didn't turn your living room into a 7/11 :D |
Scooter2k7
Member
Username: Scooter2k7
Post Number: 202
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, February 01, 2009 - 9:51 am: | |
ErikD, you do not have to wait 30 years to see this. Just take a drive through South Warren. From 8 Mile to 10 Mile, Warren looks like Detroit. Really, really sad because that used to be a nice area. I guess we do not learn from history. With white migration moving north, at this rate my grandkids will have suburbanized the Upper Peninsula! |
Detroitrise
Member
Username: Detroitrise
Post Number: 3766
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, February 01, 2009 - 9:57 am: | |
quote:From 8 Mile to 10 Mile, Warren looks like Detroit.
Actually (with the exception of a small 48205 void), much of NE & NW Detroit looks better than all the inner ring suburbs (IMO). |
Gene
Member
Username: Gene
Post Number: 181
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, February 01, 2009 - 10:07 am: | |
Quote:
"ErikD, you do not have to wait 30 years to see this. Just take a drive through South Warren. From 8 Mile to 10 Mile, Warren looks like Detroit. Really, really sad because that used to be a nice area. I guess we do not learn from history. With white migration moving north, at this rate my grandkids will have suburbanized the Upper Peninsula!"
You don't know if your in South Warren or Detroit, same social ills that killed Detroit have infested the South End.
My son, a soon to be MSU grad is looking at other options like Australia.
The house across the street from me just went on the market for $97,000, two years ago it sold for $178,000
Obama and Jenny will only make matters worse.
Who do you think will be left for this re-vitalization into this "World Class City"
How 'bout a Cool City anyone? |
Laveo44
Member
Username: Laveo44
Post Number: 9
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, February 01, 2009 - 10:35 am: | |
It is sad to see an area that was vibrant and strong destroyed and left to decay and ruin. My old neighborhoods have become the urban prairies that are sometimes talked about on the board. I lived on Eastlawn between Vernor and Charlevoix in the seventies. The house that I grew up in was torn down in the 80's. I also lived in the 48205 zip code area, and that house is gone too. When I come back and visit Detroit (I moved in 82), it looks like a war zone. I was reading the book Between Two Worlds by Zainab Salabi and she described the Baghdad of her childhood and the shock and horror she feels when she goes back and sees how much the of the city has been destroyed. I could imagine what Baghdad was like in the 60's abd 70's by reading her memories. I am glad that the posters share their memories of Detroit, because the young people do not know what a splendid city Detroit was in the past.
Judy |
Gralr
Member
Username: Gralr
Post Number: 65
Registered: 12-2008
| | Posted on Sunday, February 01, 2009 - 11:05 am: | |
the thing that sticks in my craw is how much are the taxes on these burned out homes, and damaged homes, and ones that are needing repair. My goodness who would want to take on everything, city, taxes, crime, utilities, rehab, etc. Then watch as your investment in a neighborhood just crumbled away.
In another thread there was links to civil unrest in other countries, realize it could happen here, even the US Army times reported they were deploying and building up brigades in this country for controlling potential civil unrest.
Then what is Detroit in for or any other city ? |
Pffft
Member
Username: Pffft
Post Number: 1226
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, February 01, 2009 - 11:11 am: | |
I did see this in Philadelphia, a lot of middle class neighborhoods went downhill and now it's no man's land...it isn't just Detroit.
It was happening in Philly in the early '60s, a lot of white flight then to the suburbs. Now most of the children of the middle class who lived in Philly, live in New Jersey and commute in... |
6nois
Member
Username: 6nois
Post Number: 795
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, February 01, 2009 - 11:32 am: | |
There is a certain psychological effect of the loss of your childhood home. But it is important to remove ones memories from the physical space in which the memories took place. Also keep in mind it is very rare that anyones childhood home remains the way that the remember it, and thats not just a Detroit thing, that is a life thing. It happens everywhere. Also just to throw this out there imagine the effect the loss of homes around you has on the people who live there now.
Gralr- if the home is in a NEZ area the taxes can be really low, like 500-600 a year. There are lots of positives and negatives to any area that one chooses to live in, and many of the things you mentioned (utilities, rehab, taxes, etc) will be a factor in ownership anywhere. Its not cheap or easy, anywhere in this economy. |
Eastsideal
Member
Username: Eastsideal
Post Number: 254
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, February 01, 2009 - 12:50 pm: | |
Laveo lived on the same block as my family's disappeared home. My great-grandmother's house, the house my father was born in (literally, in the front bedroom), the house that my great aunt and uncle lived in for over 50 years was on Eastlawn between Vernor and Charlevoix. It was empty within a couple of years of my aunt and uncle moving out and torn down a while thereafter.
My grandparents' house on Chalmers. where I spent a lot of my childhood has been gone since the late '70s. My grandmother was inconsolable for days after she drove by and saw it gone.
While it is a normal process of the world for things to change, for old structures to be torn down, what is different I think for most of us in Detroit is that our family's former homes were not replaced with something new. Instead there's only a void, a field, prairie, where our memories were. And far too often surrounded by more decay, and other voids-to-be.
When I lived in NYC and San Francisco I knew several people whose childhood homes were gone, and they usually felt bad about it, but they had almost always been replaced by something newer. Even in neighborhoods in those cities that had decayed, their homes had usually been replaced in a redevelopment or restoration of the neighborhood.
Even in Philadelphia, area of which have definitely suffered, there has also been significant neighborhood restoration. The area my sister lived in was easily better, and far more populated, than anyplace in the City of Detroit. But in our poor city, with little or no economy to drive any restoration of the urban fabric, there has been very little lasting neighborhood improvement. Instead, the disappearance of our homes is just part of an overall pattern of seemingly endless and unstoppable decay and destruction. |
Switchmanjim
Member
Username: Switchmanjim
Post Number: 22
Registered: 10-2008
| | Posted on Sunday, February 01, 2009 - 1:04 pm: | |
Very good responses I must say. Yes, it happens everywhere. I wouldn't want to live in an area where a substantial amount of homes are a burned out shell. I guess that's why, if given the chance, people leave.
As I was driving on (Wendell) and looking at all the homes that had fire damage, I recalled the kid who use to gallop up the block to the fire-box pull the allarm and gallop back home...he had mental issues...The firetrucks were there in under five minutes. It's funny the things that come to mind. Yep, a lot of great memories, from parades down Vernor and the fireworks at Patton on the 4th. to walking to Stans market or Mels for some soda's and candy. It was as you say, a great place to grow up.
Laveo44's last sentence says it all. |
Bobl
Member
Username: Bobl
Post Number: 440
Registered: 07-2008
| | Posted on Sunday, February 01, 2009 - 1:06 pm: | |
Gene: Please explain your quote:
"The house across the street from me just went on the market for $97,000, two years ago it sold for $178,000
Obama and Jenny will only make matters worse."
Are you arguing for a return to Bush/Engler? |
Focusonthed
Member
Username: Focusonthed
Post Number: 2064
Registered: 02-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, February 01, 2009 - 1:10 pm: | |
They still have police and fire call boxes here in Brooklyn. That surprised me. |