This building had an office on the second story that was used for toy storage. My grandpa used to have to go to a lot of auctions for his business, and he made a habit of buying toys and filling his toy room upstairs with them. As kids we weren't supposed to see this room or know about it, probably because that's where Santa Claus stored his toys for us! But I knew about the room, and saw for myself all the toys there. This room was my conception of heaven! I found out later that my grandpa used to give the parents of kids on the block some toys for thier kids for Christmas. How is that for Corporate Social Responsibility? Well, it turns out that the store was looted during the 1967 riots. Soon after the riots, he saw the cardboard cores of linoleum rolls in the trash in the alleys of many of the houses of the families to whom he previosuly gave Christmas toys. Obviously, the same families that he helped out at Christmas also looted his store during the riot. That broke his heart.
My great-grandfather on my Dad's side of the family (Franz Joseph Goeddeke) built a house on Crane street a block or two from Gratiot in 1910 or so. Several relatives, including my Dad, have lived at this house at one time or another. Last time I drove by there I noticed a barber shop that is open in a building with all the other stores vacant. I made a resolution that next Tuesday, I am going there for a haircut on my lunch hour. I'll let you know how it goes.
Your story about Grandpa pulling you aside for saying the "N Word" was rather interesting. If I remember correctly he used the word himself from time to time.
ReplyDeleteYou were his first grandchild so maybe he didn't want to see the next generation's perception of others ruined at such a young age.
It was fun reading your post. My father has similar stories. Let us know how the haircut goes.
ReplyDeleteQuite an impressive gathering of information, Frank. Thanks for recording our history and giving us a point of reference. Very cool!
ReplyDeleteQuite an impressive gathering of information, Frank. Thanks for recording our family history, and for giving a great point of reference. Very Cool! Kudos to you!
ReplyDeleteFrank I grew up on promenade. My dad belonged to St Davids booster club. All my brothers and sisters went to school there.I went to goodale then denby. Im sure your dad would remember the Japowiczs
ReplyDeleteI was at the funeral for the mother of Sylvia's first grade teacher (her name is Eleanor Caroselli) recently, and ran into Dave Goeddeke. We all got to talking, and realized the Caroselli family grew up on Rosemary (my paternal grandparents, Josephine and Bernard Young, lived on Rosemary), and graduated from St. David's. They even had a rendering of the Rosemary home on display at the funeral parlor and, consequently, there was a good bit of discussion about the old neighborhood. Small world, huh? I hope everyone is doing well. Ciao.
ReplyDeleteGrew up around the block from you at 12323 Promenade. Knew your family from St. David. My parents built their home about 1926/27 when Promenade was just cut through and Outer Drive was a dirt road. They moved in 1956. Visited the stores often, Steinway Meat Market, Grocery store-think it was once an A.&P., barber, Candy Store (we called it Rummy's as that was what Ray was called then). Remember when he moved into the store next to him and re did it into his home. His parents lived on Promenade as well as his sisters. Petes meat market was on Ansbury and Chelsea. Think our home burned down asseveral on the block. I graduated from St, David in 1946. Anne Waldmann Murphy
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ReplyDeleteAnne Waldmann Murphy is the elder sister of Bill, a guy I used to be in the Boy Scouts with, in Troop 42, at St. David's.
I remember going to patrol meetings at their house, probably between 1949 & 1951. Bill's older brother had a big drum set down the basement, but I don't know if he ever amounted to anything with it.
On a summer weekend during one of those years, I was invited up to their cottage in Oscoda. Mr. Waldmann had a big blue 4-door Caddy in which Bill, his parents and I rode up in. I recall us stopping in Pinconning for lunch, where I ordered a limburger cheese sandwich on toasted rye with fried onions and pickles, along with a chocolate malt which was so thick you could eat it with a fork. It stood out in my memory for years as the best damned meal I ever had!! I can't remember the name of the restaurant, however.
Apparently bill's parents stayed up there for at least part of the next week, because I remember Anne driving us back home (at what seemed like breakneck speed) in her '49 (or '50?) Ford.
Grandma & Grandpa Goeddeke ran into Bill years later, where he was a Deacon at St. Clement church, in Centerline, behind which they lived, in the retirement home.
Ah, the good old days as a 13 year-old in Northeast Detroit!
-Dad
Yes, Clement (Clem) plays the drums and very well. He still plays today. He is a Judge in Oakland county. His son Clement 11 also plays the drums and is with the "Blue Men" in NYC. My Dad was a Lawyer as was my sister Mary Helen Buckley (she lived on Promenade for a while also) and also Clem. Bill is now retired and is a Decon in Chapel Hill, NC in the winter, in Oscoda during the summer and Novi between the two seasons. Bill did optical work after he was discharged from the service. Have a sister Nadine Anderson who lives in Charlotte, NC. We now live in the Irish Hills near Adrian, Mi.Moved here after my husband and I retired (he from Chrysler Engineering and I was a Dental Hygienist. Someone told me the Promenade house burned along with several others. By the way my husband Gene Murphy lived on Promenade between Connor and Gunston and went to De La Salle. Don't remember being a "fast" driver! Now perhaps the lunch you had was at Wheelers in Standish as we loved eating there. We spent most of our summers in Oscoda and the cottage is still in the family.
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