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1968

Posted by Alan Kovan on July 29, 2018 (0 Comments)

This was our home until September 1968. 21001 Gardner in Oak Park, Michigan. I decided to take a detour as construction had me take 9 Mile Road today. It seemed so big when I was 9 years old. Not so much today. 

So many memories. Walking down the street to watch Batman in color. Only a few neighbors had color TV's back then. Dirtbomb fights. Playing baseball every single day in the summer only to be interrupted when our Moms called us in for lunch and then again at dinner time. Waiting for Morrie The Ice Cream man. He was an independent ice cream man in a whitewashed old Good Humor truck. Those watermelon and blueberry popsicles tasted the best. Also the Mr. Softee van with all the best candy and trading cards and that soft serve ice cream. 

I remember blizzards in the winter that seemed insane compared to todays snowstorms.

This street had such an impact that some of our oldest friends came from this street. The old adage you cant make new old friends comes to mind. 

Watching the Beatles on Ed Sullivan at this house. Going to Hammerstein's Drugs after taking the garbage out with my Dad on Sundays and him buying me a few packs of Beatle cards.

Watching the Monkees TV show every week at this house and then going with my Dad to pick up Sunday brunch and him buying me a pack of Monkees cards with the banana gum..

Some memories etched into my memory were Spring/Summer nights in 1968. Falling asleep to Ernie Harwell calling Detroit Tigers baseball games on a transistor radio under my pillow. Magically my brothers and I would wake up in the morning with a few packs of 1968 Topps Baseball cards under our pillows where the transistor radios were when we went to sleep. Optimistically I thought the Tigers would win the World Series every year.

This summed up my Dad. He was a huge sports fan and I realize now how happy he was that we followed his lead. I can only imagine the  pleasure he had in this ritual.

I also vividly remember the 1967 riots. My Mom and a few of the other Moms on the street would bake for the National Guard and take the baked goods over to the Armory on 8 Mile Road.

These are just some of the memories unleashed by this detour this morning.

Thanks Mom & Dad.

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