Down Memory Lane

A Jewish Historical Society tour
takes two busloads back to the old neighborhood.

\- •

JULIE WIENER

Staff Writer

Pentecostal churches, congregants
dressed in their Sunday finest waved
to the tour bus slowly winding down
their street.
Reminders of the neighborhoods'
former residents are still abundant,
with churches still retaining the
Jewish symbols carved on their walls
and faded kosher delicatessen signs
still visible on abandoned storefronts.
For the many senior citizens on
the tour — the Jewish Historical
Society's first public tour in two years
— it was a cathartic afternoon, stir-
ring up decades of memories. And for
those who had grown up in the sub-

he large vehicles waiting in
the Agency for Jewish
Education parking lot on
Sunday, Sept. 14, may have
• just looked like standard charter
ri • buses.
,±1
In actuality, they were time
machines, filled to capacity and
transporting their passengers to a lost
a time when there was a vibrant
Jewish community within Detroit's
city limits.
Led by Jewish Historical Society of
Michigan volunteers, the
five-hour tour spanned
• more than five genera-
tions and covered a lot of
turf: 19th century Jewish
settlements near down-
,_town, early 20th century
communities east of
Woodward, Detroit's first
Jewish cemetery (now
surrounded by a General
Motors plant), the
Dexter-Davison area and
the University of Detroit
neighborhood.
Stops included former
_synagogues, Jewish insti-
tutions and formerly
Jewish homes, as well as
secular institutions —
\--like Mumford and
• Central high schools —
that contributed to the
community's collective
memory.
The sights weren't all
scenic. Many homes were
gutted and boarded up,
their paint faded, wood
rotted and porches crum-
bling. Weeds and broken
bottles dotted some
lawns, poorly maintained
playgrounds and side-
walks.
But not all the neigh-
,--Dorhoods were in ruins,
(Top): Most Detroit synagogues, like Ahavas Achim on
and some are now home
Schaefer, became churches.
to vibrant communities.
Outside synagogues
(Above): Fading reminders of Yiddishkeit linger, as
turned into Baptist or
with this kosher luncheonette on Wyoming and Curtis.

urbs or out of town, it was a chance
to see the places they knew only from
stories.
Martin Gurwin grew up above his
father's grocery store on Fenkell and
wears a sweatshirt that says, "I'm not
78. I'm 28 with 50 years of experi-
ence."
Now a retired manufacturers' rep-
resentative and a resident of
Farmington Hills, the recently wid-
owed Gurwin hadn't been back to the
old neighborhood in decades. He said
the trip brought back memories of
going to shul with his grandfather,
and of synagogue-hopping with his
friends as a teen-ager. "We used to
sneak into the different shuls and
make the rounds on the High
Holidays," he recalled.
Denny Brown is originally from
Montreal, but since moving to met-
ropolitan Detroit she has become
interested in the history. "The tour
brings a lot together," she said. "I'm a
member of Temple Beth El, so it's
interesting to see its history."
A volunteer tour guide for eight
years, Adele Staller says the tours are
meaningful for all generations, of
Detroit Jews. "It's a chance to get
back and reminisce without worrying
about how or how not to get there,"
she said.
And as the buses made tight turns
and bumped over potholes, the remi-
niscences occasionally drowned out
Staller: "My old house is still there!"
and "Here's where I delivered
papers," and "That used to be Nagel's
grocery store where we bought the
five-penny candy!"
But Jewish Historical Society of
Michigan President Judy Cantor
wants participants to know that
Detroit is not just an archive, and
added a new segment to the tour: a
visit with someone from the Greater
Detroit Partnership, which is working
to revitalize the city by developing
the riverfront, parks and a historic
district.

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