Detroit: Coleman Young's Triumph Of Self-Destruction

Toogood Reports ^ | 4/8/02 | Patrick Mallon

[Dan from Michigan]

City of Detroit
Bush - 15531
Gore - 279290
Nader - 1932

Highland Park
Bush 150
Gore 4911
NAder 22

Southfield
Bush 5809
Gore 30769
NAder 427

Oak Park
Bush 1837
Gore 10912
NAder 157

Royal Oak Township(Not city of Royal Oak)
Bush 67
Gore 1840
Nader 9

Pontiac
Bush 3360
Gore 15182
NAder 186

Ann Arbor
Bush 13473
Gore 36597
Nader 2441

[Dan from Michigan]

Half of my family left Michigan for awhile. All came back.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

I don't remember Keener 13. I remember on WDRQ that they would play ' Nights in White Satin' every night at midnight. I felt so sophisticated.

Remember channel 9 with The Green Giant in the morning? Rita Bell At The Movies and then the Channel 7 movie that always seemed to play Godzilla movies? And every Sunday before church my brother and I would watch the Abbott and Costello movies on Channel 7. Lunch time was Kimba the White Lion and then Speed Racer until the channel 50 movie show came on.

I was in Michigan until I was 12. Those were 12 great years.

[bourbon]

A friend once recommended a book to me about Coleman Young and his disastrous "reign" over Detroit. None of you all, by any chance, remember the name of this book? If you do, I'd be grateful if you'd tell me. I've been looking for it on and off for some time, but it's pretty hard to find a book when you don't know the name of the author or the title. Thanks. I've always wanted to read it because my friend described it as "the best textbook available for learning how NOT to run a city."

[Boxsford]

WKNR or something like that maybe and they'd yell over the radio waves KEENER 13 in a sing-song way to help us tikes remember their station (which obviously I have not) Recently Carol Duvall was here in Maine. She did those 5 minute crafts at the end of some of the television programs. I told her that I grew up on her in Detroit and she laughed and said she felt old talking to me.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

Oh my gosh. Carol Duvall for Franks Nursery and Crafts. More memories. The things that woman could do with styrofoam was amazing.

Is Alan Almond's Night Flight still around? I remember listening to him at night on our boat. ( That was when my parents had total control of the radio).

[The Energizer]

Well, I remember Coleman Young being furious at a book that likened Detroit to Beirut, basically making the case it, more than any other North American city, was run like a third-world country.

A quick Internet search, however, did not yield anything useful.

[The Energizer]

OK, here are some more names for you:

Bill Kennedy

George Pierot (sp?)

Sonny Elliot

Sir Graves Ghastly

Marilyn Turner and John Kelly

Jack LeGoff

Milky the Clown (Twin Pines)

J.P. McCarthey (of course!)

Awry Bakery (which I just heard still exists)

Can you think of any others?

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

Coleman should have been flattered by the Beruit comparison. It's actually a step up from Detroit.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

Bill Kennedy at the Movies!! That was it!!

And Rita Bell's Dialing for Dollars.

Do you remember The Ghoul on friday nights? I was the president of the Ghoul Haters Club in the 6th grade.

[The Energizer]

I remember driving from the Detroit-Hamtramck plant in the mid-80s into the "downtown" Hamtramck area and thinking that every building I passed looked like it had been bombed!

I whispered a prayer for protection under my breath the whole time I was there!

[The Energizer]

Oh, yes, I remember the Ghoul.

I did not watch him, but my cousin was a fan and still talks about him from time to time.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

Your cousin should seek help. :)

[Diva Betsy Ross]

I was there this weekend visiting parents ( in the burbs) we went to the "new" science museum. It was a patethic. We waited over an hour and half to get in. The staff there was so overwhelmed with the few extra people on spring break that some were just wandering around in circles, mumbling to themselves. Another fine example of customer service in the Detriot area.

If you want an example of a modern ghost town go down JohnR St. I know they are re- building, but what a shame to see what were once beautiful old buildings covered with grafitti and turned into crack houses.

The name Coleman Young came to my mind as I thought back even to the "new" Rennisance center. Remember the excitment then? Detriot should take some lessons from Indianapolis. If you are familiar with Indy and haven't been for awhile you are in for a surprise.

[The Energizer]

While vacationing in Florida near West Palm Beach, I looked Bill Kennedy up in the local phone book. He was listed. I did not call him, though. I should have.

I always remember the time that the Detroit media mentioned that Bill Kennedy was in the hospital in Florida with some ailment. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Detroiters sent him get well cards.

Staying at the same hospital at the same time was Ethel Kennedy.

The nurses could not figure out why "Bill" Kennedy got more cards than a member of America's "Royal Family."

What a hoot!

[Ditto]

Young , ever the communist, was not interested in giving Detroit to the blacks, only destroying it for the whites.

I suppose he may have been a commie, but what I understand about Young was that he was a gangster and interested mostly in money in his own pocket.

[CharacterCounts]

Commie, gangster - six of one half dozen with the other.

[Ax]

How about Soupy Sales? He had a noontime show for kids and a comedy show about 2315 for adults.

I do remember George Perrault and his Sunday afternoon show for the Detroit Institute of Arts - a travelogue. And of course Milky the Twin Pines Clown. I remember my Cub Scout den getting a tour of the dairy.

"Preacher" Jones and his floor-length fur coat?

[gohabsgo]

You guys are great! How about Soupy Sales, White Fang, and Pookie? Or "The Blob" on Sir Graves Ghastly? I remember very vividly while at a Detroit Red Wings game at Olympia, Bill Bonds being so bombed, he had one guy on each arm holding him up as they stumbled through the Arena section. "Hey Bill, one too many huh", yeh screw you!