Boyhood Memories of Detroit

Boyhood Memories of Detroit and its Environs
by Charles Ciechanowski-Chinoski-Chase
The Beginning
I was born 27 June 1939 in Herman Kiefer Hospital in Detroit Michigan, near
what is now Taylor Street and the John C. Lodge Expressway. My parents were
Joseph and Marion (nee Łukowiak) Chinoski (originally Ciechanowski), both of
Polish decent. I was the fourth child, preceded by Geraldine (Gerry-born in
1922), Joseph (Joe, Jr., born in 1925), Llewellyn (died at birth in 1933).
Growing up: Late 1939 to May 1947 (date of my First Holy Communion)
The 1940 census states that my father was a transmission assembler at an
automotive manufacturer. It also states that he had worked only 12 weeks during
1939 for a total income for the year of $280. It is easy to see that family money
was not plentiful when I was born.
Through the 6th grade my family lived at 8920 Fischer Street, between Georgia
Street and Marcus Street. Our home was located in what was considered the
“East Side” of Detroit, Michigan. We were located about a mile NE of the
intersection of Harper and Van Dyke (M-53). Georgia Street ran to (and past)
Van Dyke, about 1/3-mile to the west, and to Gratiot, about 3/4-mile to the east.
Map showing Chinoski Home (Blue Dot)
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Chinoski Home (1936 Chevy parked in front, sister Gerry on the porch)
During WW-II
The first event which I can fairly clearly remember occurred in February of 1943
(when I was 3-1/2 years old). At this time my brother, then 18-years old,
departed by train for the Marine Corps training camp in San Diego, CA. He
served the remainder of WW-II in the War of the Pacific, spending time on the
islands of Eniwetok (later used for atomic bomb testing), Saipan, Iwo Jima, and
Okinawa. Joe was honorably discharged from the Marines in January, 1946
(when I was 6-1/2 years old). My brother had a 22-cal rifle which was maintained
by my father while Joe was in the service. Joe left two cigar boxes full of 22-cal
bullets (shorts, longs and scatter-shots). By January 1946, those cigar boxes
were empty. We had a target in our basement and, for some reason which I do
not fully understand, my father allowed me to shoot the rifle. I thought it was
great fun emptying the cigar boxes by the time my brother returned home.
1943: (1) Joe, Jr. in Marine Dress, (2) Ben and Gerry getting ready for their
June wedding and (3) Christmas at home with mom, dad, Gerry, Puggy and
my new army tank
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Memories of the time during WW-II include several items indicative of life at that
time. I can remember having to save tin cans to contribute them to the war effort.
I can remember often hearing war planes flying overhead. I soon developed the
ability to identify B-25 bombers by the sound of their engines. My brother spent a
lot of time aboard B-25s in the War of the Pacific. A scary item was the blackouts
(air raid drills) we had, which allowed everyone to practice shutting off lights in
our homes in case there was an actual air raid by the enemy. Daily living items
(sugar, gasoline, tires, etc,) were rationed and very difficult to obtain. My dad
drove a somewhat beat-up 1936 Chevy. I can remember driving to see my grand
Uncle John Chinoski in Parisville, MI and having three flats in one day because
of the poor quality of our tires. Visiting Uncle John and Aunt Anna on their
Parisville farm was a special treat--playing in the hay loft of the barn with my
cousin Harvey was great fun, and we always had lots of great farm food. I
remember well the wonderful times we had at the Huron County Fair which was
held near Parisville in city of Bad Axe, the County Seat.
Harvey and I with Uncle John (about 1942)
Our Neighborhood
Our neighborhood was an interesting collection of Poles, Czechs, Italians and
others. My sister, Gerry, dated the Czech guy across the street, Ben Kopas. Ben
served in the US Army in the European part of WW-II. Ben had a furlough in
June of 1943 and married my sister on my birthday, June 27. I only had one
grandparent when growing up, my mother’s father who I found to be rather
scary—he lived in Mt. Clemens, MI. Being a creative young boy, I decided to
adopt Ben’s parents (across the street) as my grandparents. This was super cool
because grandma Kopas made fantastic kolache, which is a Czech pastry made
from several different recipes. Grandma Kopas’ approach involved making a
filling of nutmeats or poppy seed, rolling out some dough, smearing the filling
over the dough, rolling it up and baking it. When done, she would slice it and it
would expose its spiral interior. Great eating!!
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Grandma Kopas
Grandpa Kopas
Now, if you’re going to adopt someone as a grandparent, there may be other
perks associated with this relationship, and there was. The siblings of my
brother-in-law, Ben, had some cottages near Roscommon, MI on the west
branch of the AuSable River. My parents could not afford to take the family on
vacation trips, so I spent a few weeks during several summers swimming fishing
and chasing wild animals through the forest that surrounded the cabins near
Roscommon. There was no electricity and no running water, but it was great
“roughing it.” Ben’s sister, Marie, has a son, Danny Purdo, with whom I explored
these outdoors of Northern Michigan.
(1) Kopas Cabin, (2) Boating on the AuSable River and (3) Marie KopasPurdo at 103-years old with son Dan
Our home was heated by a coal furnace. Our supply of coal was delivered
curbside and then my dad had to wheelbarrow it to the coal shoot along the side
of the house. Our hot water heater was gas, which had to be lit each time you
wanted hot water for baths and laundry. When I got older, I was allowed to light
the burner in the water heater. The flame heated tubular coils above through
which the water flowed. I can remember one day when I let the gas flow too long
before striking the match. The flash singed my eyebrows and the hairs on my
arm. Fortunately, I was not burned.
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Moving the coal to the coal bin, my dad and his helper (me)
On the corner of Georgia and Crane (one street over from Fischer), there was a
small grocery store. The only thing I can remember buying at this store was
candy. With 5¢ you could buy a fairly large candy bar (Hershey’s, Babe Ruth, Oh
Henry, etc.). For 1¢, you could buy a small wax bottle filled with a fluid similar to
Cool Aid. Candy cigarettes were unfortunately popular, since smoking was cool
back then. You could buy candy cigarettes by the pack, just like the real ones. A
box of Cracker Jacks popcorn was always a special treat since they always had
some cool prize in the box. When in the 4th grade, I joined the Captain Marvel
Fan Club. You could send away for all sorts of special secret things with which
to have fun.
Life on Fischer Street was definitely part of another era. Our milk was delivered
by a gentleman who rode from street to street in a horse drawn covered cart.
When he stopped in front of our home, he would often put a feed bag over the
horse’s head to keep him entertained. Our garbage was also collected with a
horse drawn wagon—not very sanitary. This garbage collector was called “the
sheeny man” (this referred to anyone who patrolled the alleys looking for value in
the trash of the residents—a garbage picker).
Grandma Kopas actually had an “icebox” on her back porch and had ice
delivered each week to keep extra things cold. The Kopas family, as well as our
family, did have an electric refrigerator in our kitchen, albeit quite small. There
was also a large bakery truck which would make stops on our street. My favorite
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was the tasty cinnamon rolls he sold. During the hot summers, I would wait for
the Good Humor Man and his refreshing ice creams.
The lot, on which our home was located, was 40-ft X 100-ft in size. With a house
and garage there was very little room left for a garden. To solve this problem, my
parents (when I was in the 3rd or 4th grade) bought 3 acres on Phelps Drive,
about ¼ mile east of Gratiot Avenue and one block north of 16-Mile Road. Two
acres were planted in alfalfa and the other acre in garden. A 1-acre garden can
grow a lot of produce and we did. Our crops included strawberries, raspberries,
corn, cucumbers, potatoes, fruit trees, etc., etc. My parents kept me busy
cultivating the acre with a cultivator which had a single large wheel forward and
required a lot of pushing to complete the job. During picking season, our family
would meet that evening for a spectacular feast which included incredibly fresh
items. On 15-Mile road were a couple of deserted dairy farms which offered a
great supply of cow manure for the garden—it was very effective.
On Saturdays, I would often walk to a movie theatre on Van Dyke. With my 25¢ I
could pay for the movie and still have enough left over for a good box of popcorn.
My favorite movies usually starred Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. The theater
typically had a “serial” which continued each week. My favorite was “Flash
Gordon” and his space adventures.
Early Movie Heroes
My mother was a master of the kitchen. Her cooking and baking skills were
phenomenal. When she baked a 15-inch apple pie, it was not unusual to see
more than half disappear at one meal. And this was with only two people
partaking—dad and me. When mom made Polish Poonchskies (Pączki’s in
Polish), the men of the house got very excited. Mom would typically make these
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sweet rolls in the winter. She would put her dough mixture into a large container
and place it in a small linen closet next to the chimney coming up from the
basement. The heat from the chimney caused the dough to rise, filling the house
with a wonderful aroma. The final product was a delight to eat.
Polish Poonch
Poonchs
chskies (Pączki’s)
(
One of my favorite dishes for dinner was stuffed cabbage, or, as Poles call them
gołąbki (gaw-WOHMP-kee), which literally means "little pigeons." These stuffed
cabbage rolls were the epitome of comfort food. Pork and beef mixed with rice or
barley, nestled in a cabbage leaf and cooked in the oven. Chicken was another
favorite. You might buy a live chicken and have it meet its maker in your back
yard, clean it, stuff it into a large pot of boiling water, pluck the feathers and cook
it. Drumsticks are only two per chicken, so when the whole family was together,
this could be a problem since too many people wanted a drumstick. To get
around this, my mother would make “City Chicken”. City Chicken was made of
cubes of pork and veal, pierced by a wooden skewer, rolled in bread crumbs and
either fried or baked. We actually liked City Chicken more than a real drumstick.
Gołąbki (Stuffed Cabbage)
City Chicken
One day my mother brought home something called margarine. At that time, you
could not sell something which looked like butter, but could be used in place of
butter. Margarine came in a clear plastic bag and was white in color. Included in
the bag was a reddish-orange capsule which you could break and knead into the
white stuff, ultimately arriving at something similar in color to butter, but tasting
nothing like it. Another new item of that era was the ballpoint pen. I can
remember my sister showing how you could write under water with this new
invention. Up to that time, we all used fountain pens which frequently had to be
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refilled with ink, often a messy process. The other challenge with fountain pens
was keeping them from leaking into your shirt pocket.
Shopping for clothes was primarily done at the Federal Department Store, and
very infrequently at J. L. Hudson’s, in downtown Detroit. Hudson’s was cool
because you could ride escalators and the elevators had an “elevator operator”
run the thing. About once a year, my mother and I would cross the DetroitWindsor Bridge (The Ambassador Bridge) and do a little shopping in Canada,
where things were cheaper. When shopping in downtown Detroit my mother and
I would often visit Vernor’s for a Boston Cooler (Vernor’s Ginger Ale and vanilla
ice cream) or go to Sanders for some great chocolate candy. We often went to
Kresge’s or Woolworth’s “Five & Dime” stores where you could actually buy
something for 5¢ to 10¢. If I needed a suit, it was purchased at Robert Hall’s
store which was on Van Dyke near our home (Their jingle was: “Robert Hall this
season gives you the reason, low overhead”).
While living at our Fischer Street home, we did not have a TV. Evening
entertainment was primarily comprised of playing cards with my parents, putting
jigsaw puzzles together or listening to the radio. The normal card game was
pinochle. It was a cutthroat game from the get-go. We would bid in German (I
have no idea as to why this was done). Jigsaw puzzles were done on the dining
room table and usually involved puzzles with 1,000 pieces or more. With a little
practice, one could get pretty good at this project. Radio was always exciting
because the mystery stories were always interesting and your imagination ran
wild trying to envision what was being portrayed over the airwaves. My favorite
programs included: “Mr. Keen Tracer of Lost Persons”, “The FBI, in Peace and
War” and “The Shadow” (Who Knows? The Shadow Knows).
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Another form of entertainment was the home telephone. We started out with a
party line, so, when you lifted the phone’s receiver (handset) to make a call, you
might find that someone else was already on the line. If you lifted the receiver
clandestinely, you could snoop on someone else’s conversation. Originally our
phone number was 8191. It was later changed to Olive (OL)-8191 when we
finally had a private line.
There is a benefit in living in a lower-middle class neighborhood where the
houses are small and very close together. That benefit manifests itself on
Halloween night. My sister Gerry would make some great costumes for me (I
can remember a really cool clown outfit in black and orange). In those days you
could go out “begging” without having to be escorted by adults. I would make
several trips back to our house because my bag would fill up so quickly. The
candy would last for months.
Grammar School
I attended the A.L. Holmes grammar school which was located a block away. It
was a huge school which had several gymnasiums. After kindergarten, we
moved from class-to-class, instead of staying in a “homeroom” with one teacher.
I especially liked science class, art class and geography. During one of my first
days in science class we were handling some white mice. I had on a shortsleeved shirt. The mouse ran up my arm and inside my shirt. It started running
around my wasteline and the girls started screaming. The school had an area of
classrooms called the “ungraded” section. That is where they taught juvenile
delinquents. My grammar school had a huge playground on which were located
several baseball diamonds. When old enough, my summer days (from morning
till night) were spent playing baseball.
A. L. Holmes Grammar School at Crane Street and Georgia Street
The Catholic religion studies I needed were obtained from the Felician sisters at
Patronage of St Joseph Catholic Church on Georgia Street, near Gratiot. I really
loved the nuns—they were strict, but full of love. On Tuesday nights, my parents
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and I used to go to Novena devotions at St. Joseph’s. From the 4th grade on, I
would go up into the choir loft and lead the congregation with the singing.
On Sundays, we attended mass at the Church of the Immaculate Conception (a
Polish Church) which had a beautiful interior with marvelous murals painted on
the ceiling. The Immaculate Conception Church was located at 3414 Trombly
Avenue at Moran (Hamtramck). You had to pay a 10¢ “seat offering” besides
your normal contribution. In those days your were not allowed to have any food
since midnight, if you were going to receive Holy Communion. Many times I saw
people faint because of lack of strength, caused by this fasting. In 1981, this
church was demolished to make room for the General Motors Poletown factory.
The Polish Catholic Church of The Immaculate Conception
The Family Expands
As mentioned earlier, my sister married Ben Kopas who lived across the street.
They were married at U.S. Army Camp Shenango in western Pennsylvania. My
brother, Joe, grew up going to school with a wonderful young lady four doors
down from our home, Mary Palmeri. After being discharged from the Marines in
early 1946, Joe and Mary were married at the Patronage of St Joseph Catholic
Church on 1 June 1946. After the church ceremony, wedding photos were taken
on Belle Isle, an island located in the Detroit River.
Joe & Mary as teenagers
Wedding Day
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No family on Fischer Street had A/C to fight the excessive heat of the summers.
The Palmeri family put a second kitchen in their basement where they ate their
summer meals. Being a nice little boy down the street, I often took advantage of
this cooler spot to have dinner. This was my first exposure to some wonderful
Italian eating. Mrs. Palmeri was of Polish descent, so she could nicely relate to
the great cooking I had at home. I called Mary’s father uncle Tony—he called me
“Chuckie” until his death in 1997, at the age of 95.
My sister gave birth to James Bernard Kopas on 21 November 1946 and I
became an uncle for the first time. Jim was followed by Michael Joseph on 18
February 1948, Katherine Marie on 8 July 1949 and Karen Ann on 4 October
1951. My sister-in-law, Mary, gave birth to her first born, Susan Marie, on 22
February 1947 and her second daughter, Judith Ann, on 2 August 1952.
My nephews and nieces: (1) Jim with uncle Chuck, (2) Mike, (3) Kathy, (4)
Karen, (5) Suzy and (6) Judy
Moving out of Detroit
When I completed the 6th grade we moved to Redford Township, which is on the
side of Detroit. We moved to 11375 Columbia Avenue, between Beech Road
and Inskter Road, ½ blocks south of Plymouth Rd.
Redford Township Home and relative location to other landmarks
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At this house we had a gas furnace and a normal hot water heater—we were
now part of the modern society. The house was one story with a basement. We
had a living room, dining room, kitchen with a small eating area, one bath and
three bedrooms. One bedroom was very small and was behind the living room.
Eventually we knocked down the adjoining wall to make the living room larger.
The basement contained two large sinks where my mother did her soaking of
clothes before using her Maytag wash machine. The washer had a wringer for
squeezing excess water out of the clothes before hanging them on clothes lines
in the back yard. If it was raining outside, the clothes were hung in the basement.
Near our gas furnace, my dad installed a small potbelly stove which helped to
heat the area of the basement near the Maytag wash machine, but it also served
another important purpose. Inside the potbelly was a ledge on which one could
locate potatoes for baking. This feature was used quite often—the baked
potatoes came out great.
Maytag washer
Pot Belly Stove
The walls of the basement were cement block. This allowed us to cut a doorway
through the basement wall to get access under our cement front porch. The area
under the porch made a great root cellar where we could store potatoes, carrots
and other items since it was a cool area and refrigeration was limited. Also
located in the basement was what we called a cellar, which is where my mother
stored her canned goods. She would can all sorts of fruits, tomatoes, jams and
some great pickles. My mother would first put the pickles in large crocks to do
what pickles do. I would often sneak down to the basement to get samples of
these pickles. I especially liked the Gherkins.
The basement was also my den of activity. I used to have an electric jigsaw and
would cut and paint all sorts of things, especially some neat Christmas
decorations. I also used to make a lot of model airplanes and subscale models of
buildings (not from kits). Match sticks and popsicle sticks were often used to build
things.
The outside of our house was covered with clapboard siding which often needed
painting because of the fierce winters and hot humid summers. The paints were
not particularly good in those days, and would often blister. Many times I had to
get out our paint torch, fill it with “white gas” and torch/scrape the blistered areas
before repainting could occur. There were always many chores to be done.
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An important landmark was only a half block away: a Mc Donald’s restaurant.
Back in those days, McDonalds was fairly new. I would go to this McDonald’s
with my buddies for a snack and would look to see what the sign out front said as
to how many hamburgers had been sold to-date. It was a big deal when the sign
hit one million. Today, McDonald’s has sold a zillion million hamburgers.
At this time, my dad was working as a machinist for the Hydromatic Division of
General Motors, which had recently moved to Livonia, MI. My dad worked at this
Hydromatic facility until it burned down in August 1953. That particular day, I was
sitting on the steps of our front porch when I looked up to see an incredibly black
sky and immediately thought that GM must be on fire—it was. This was the
largest industrial fire in U.S. history with over $80 million in damage. GM reopened the Hydromatic Division at the Willow Run Airport where the old Kaiser
Plant used to operate. We did not move. My dad simply had a long commute.
Massive Fire Destroys
Destroys GM Hydro
Hydromatic Plant
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I entered the 7th grade at St. Michael’s school in Livonia, Michigan. Again, I was
taught by the Felician sisters. While in the 7th & 8th grades, I had a paper route
and made daily deliveries of the Detroit News. I had about 45 customers. Each
day I would go somewhere locally and pick up the papers, fold them and put
them in a large canvas bag which could fit over the back fender of my bicycle.
After 8th grade graduation, I started high school at Lee M. Thurston HS, which, at
the time, only had a 9th grade, since the school was under construction. An
additional grade was added each year. This was pretty cool for two reasons: (1)
our class never had upper classmen to taunt us and (2) my brother was one of
the electricians working on our school, so I got to see him everyday. Math and
Science were my favorite subjects in high school.
Lee M. Thurston High School
1957 Graduation Class
Next door to me lived a gentleman who was the president of the Michigan
Outdoors Club. He was a close friend of George Pierrot who did travel shows on
WWJ TV-4 involving interesting outdoors locations around the country. One of
his special guests each year was Dennis Glen Cooper who was a school teacher
during the school year. Each summer Dennis would travel to Isle Royale
National Park which is located near the Canadian Border in Lake Superior. My
next door neighbor got me invited to the WWJ TV studios to witness several
Pierrot/Cooper episodes. I got to be pretty good friends with these two
fascinating gentlemen. I was invited by Dennis Glen Cooper to be one of his
grunts on a future Isle Royale trip, but he, unfortunately, moved to the other side
of Detroit which precluded my ability of properly preparing for the trip, so I was
replaced with someone else—timing is everything.
On a very special day, George Pierrot hosted a series of speakers at the
Masonic Temple in downtown Detroit. One of those speakers was Rear Admiral
Donald Mac Millan who had accompanied Admiral Peary on his 1908-1909
expedition to the North Pole. Unfortunately, at the 85th Parallel, the then
neophyte, Mac Millan, nearly perished when he fell through the ice ("Peary held
my freezing feet against his warm body to save them") and had to forgo the final
stages of the trip, on which Peary insisted he had reached the Pole. Instead,
Admiral Mac Millan hobbled back along the trail to set up supply caches for
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Peary's return trip. It was a real treat for a young kid like me to talk to a world
renowned explorer.
Throughout high school I worked for Wrigley’s Super Market which was located
on Plymouth Road, near Telegraph Road (US-24). I started as a bag boy (or
packer as we called them back then) at a rate of 57¢ an hour. We had a great
group of guys working there and established a wonderful camaraderie. We had
football, baseball and bowling teams which competed with other stores. During
the summer, on Wednesdays, we would go to a lake near Pontiac to water ski. .
By the 12th grade I had worked my way up to position of cashier, making an
astounding $1 per hour.
After Thurston High School, I went on to the University of Michigan where I
graduated with degrees in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering and where
I met and married my wonderful wife, Carole Chaikin, but this is the beginning of
a whole new chapter in my life, with many other wonderful memories.
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