Ever wonder what #Ypsilanti looked like in the summer of #1970? Well, thanks to my friend Barry LaRue, now we know. Here's the recently unearthed 8mm footage shot by LarRue when he was 14. Note the old Michigan Ave porn shop, and the "Art" theater. https://t.co/FYgRSroVDx
— Mark Maynard (@MarkAMaynard) October 19, 2018
I’ve now watched the film a few times, and I’m struck by a few things. First, I didn’t realize that there was, for a time, a grocery store in the building right behind the old Kresge department store on North Washington Street. And, second, I wasn’t aware that the old Martha Washington Theater was already showing porn in the summer of 1970. I thought that didn’t happen until about ’72… So, what are you struck by?
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It’s fleeting, but here’s the image of the Food Mart that stood on the first block of Washington Street, just north of Michigan Avenue.
And here’s the marquee of the old Art 1&2.
A little earlier in the film you can also see the crazy alpine canopy over the entrance to the old Michigan Ave. porn shop, which, according to Barry, was added by Ray Dupuis while he was renting the space out to his son Larry to run his pet store.
I am struck by how much the town was in good shape compared to the 70’s Detroit where I grew up.
Well, we didn’t have riots in ’68, Lynne.
I’m struck by the number of shoe stores.
Mark, that’s not the Kresge building – the second floor windows are not correct.
The cheese grater!!! AKA City Hall! And Grinnell’s (was that a piano shop? I know Grinnell was a Detroit made piano). I’m also struck by the Wig Shop where John Normal Collins last victim was abducted. What were Shamfers and McAllans?
That was a different wig shop, Lisa. His last victim was taken outside Wigs By Joan on North Washington.
Food Mart was on North Washington behind Bona Sera. The Pub 13 building. They had groceries and a long lunch counter. I bought comic books there as a kid and would get a treat at the soda fountain after a visit to the orthodontist nearby.
Thanks for the corrections, folks. I’ve edited accordingly.
Here’s the wig shop you’re thinking of, Lisa. It’s where they YES space is now, right behind Mix, on North Washington.
http://markmaynard.com/2016/10/wigs-by-joan/
Seeing as you asked: I was struck by the Beneficial sign. I don’t think I’ve ever been to Michegan (though I have a few MI family connections) but remember Beneficial’s radio jingle. I don’t think I would ever have thought of it again.
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Of course, I’d be fascinated by Radiotronics. I’d love to see this again at a much slower pace and with a group of friends sipping the beer of the ’70s, Stroh’s.
HW makes a good point.
I’d love to see it slowed down as well. My first employer was Morrie Green of Green Jewelers. You can see his big sign. I was just 14 when he hired me to be his janitor 3 days a week.
Also a good picture of the Masonic Temple on Huron (76). It was next to Edison where you could take burned out bulbs and get them replaced for free. There’s an alley between the two buildings, and below the alley there was a coal tunnel. I was in DeMolay at the Masonic Temple, and we cleaned the tunnel out and made a rifle range for our team.