CLOSE-UP
ASIO
*ttUt4V.,.
Norm Wexler helps a customer in his San Francisco book shop.
now San Francisco compatriot, Norm
Wexler, hasn't been back at all since
he moved out, even with his daughter
living in Royal Oak. "I can't figure
anyone I'd visit. Don't really have any
close friends there. I'm a Detroiter,
but I don't have any strong feelings
about it."
Liz Smith still does, and it bothers
her at times that she's so far away. "I
have so many fond memories. I miss
the people. I can't duplicate that. It's
very touching." She's been back a cou-
ple of times since she moved out two
years ago, admitting that "it's
devastating to be that far away from
the heart of me!'
Berg feels a void around Jewish
holidays. "I wasn't that religious;' he
says, "but I liked the tradition of be-
ing together. The family aspect was
always real and warm!' Perhaps
that's why he frequently goes back for
family gatherings. "If there's no
event, I'll see friends once a year."
Yet there's a gnawing am-
bivalence about his relationship with
his hometown, and the connection
diminishes every year. More friends
used to visit- him, but now he feels,
"It's too much of an ordeal, people are
more into their families!"
He also believes that the Detroit
he used to know has changed.
"Values, money and materialism is
out of hand back there," he laments,
all the while living in an area whose
26
FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 1988
freeways are glutted with arrogantly-
driven Mercedes, Porsches and
BMW's. "It might be bad here in
California, but it's worse in Detroit.
The common goal is to acquire money
there!'
Maybe some of the blame. falls on
the good weather, allowing Califor-
nians to "do things" all year around
while Detroiters are labeled by some
as more into "acquiring things!'
Lew Weinstein, who has just
about severed his Michigan ties,
defends the city of his younger years.
"The Detroit I grew up in was not on-
ly a beautiful place, but a nice com-
munity. There was a lot of spirit in
those days. As a lad growing up, I was
proud to be in Detroit." Stillman, a
fellow 1950s Central High allum of
Weinstein's, endorses that thought.
"Most people I know who grew up
there had a certain fondness for it. In
a certain sense, it's an easy city!"
Lenny Salle has no doubt about
what Detroit meant to him and still
means to him today. "It formed my
whole philosophical base," says the
environmentally-conscious engineer.
"My commitment to society came
from Detroit. It still influences my
thoughts today, probably more than
what I've encountered in California."
After living 26 years in the same
Northern California house, Salle just
moved to Southern California and
feels a bit disoriented. When he lived Sally Harvey discovered that California is not so laid back.