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Paul Goodman and Eve Kommel are pleased with their club.
Has a Jewish bastion
on Lake St. Clair
been too successful
in fighting discrimination?
BY LARRY PALADINO
Special to The Jewish News
14
Friday, June 20, 1986
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
he popular Ivanhoe Cafe in
Hamtramck is known by
many as the "Polish Yacht
Club." There is a popular
place on Lake St. Clair, just north of
Nine Mile Road in St. Clair Shores,
that is known as the "Jewish Yacht
Club."
In fact, discounting the tongue-
in-cheek PYC, the Great Lakes Yacht
Club is the only one of more than two
dozen Detroit-area boat and yacht
clubs that can be considered "ethnic."
A restaurant guide once jokingly
said the Polish Yacht Club discrimi-
nates against anyone who owns a
boat. The GLYC exists because of dis-
crimination against Jews. Its found-
ers were barred from joining other
area clubs well into the 1960s.
Things have changed, though.
Jews have been accepted into other
yacht clubs, and the GLYC has ac-
cepted Gentiles for two decades. In
fact, there is some concern now that
the Jewish nature of the club may
fade.
That's the paradox. The GLYC
wouldn't think of discriminating
against non-Jewish applicants. Yet it
Would like to maintain its Jewish
heritage.
"There is an ethnic herding in-
stinct" said member Chuck Sachse, "I
may be able to get into the Grosse
Pointe Yacht Club but I wouldn't even
consider it."
Camaraderie among those of
similar beliefs is a prime benefit. But
the overall appeal of the club is sim-
ply good, family fun — principally for
those who love boating and the exhil-
aration of sailing.
The sport is terrific," said Com-
modore Paul Goodman, a medical doc-
tor from Huntington Woods. The
wind blowing and the boats going
along at seven miles an hour — it
feels like you're flying at 100 miles an
hour or more. The sun and the out-
of-doors and the getting-away-from-
it-all . . . the ambiance is very pleas-
ant."
The club has picnic areas, swings,
a swimming pool and 125 boat wells
with a hoist. The club house includes