metro » @]pflXi\efkn\Xi`e^`k¿j\cc`k%%% fi9FIIFNfe`k continued from page 15 Pfl can’t enjoy jewelry if it’s sitting in your safe deposit box. Sell or borrow on it for immediate cash. We deal in jewelry, watches, diamonds and coins. Douglas Bloom recalls how his uncle Stanley Imerman’s business, Imerman Industries, was guarded by paratroopers because they had a government contract to make bomb fuse adaptors. The company chose to remain in Detroit, moving operations to another of its buildings at Mack and Connor. A Service to Private Owners, Banks & Estates Coins & Jewelry Contact Larry Allan **.''Nff[nXi[8m\%›9\kn\\e(+D`c\8[Xdj›9`id`e^_Xd#D@ 248-644-8565 2053640 GET READY FOR SUMMER! For The Best Service Go To… MUFFLERS and MORE is now Kenny’s Lakes Area Auto Experts! We’ve evolved: more training, more services, everything you need! We’re changing our name to refl ect the direction we’ve been moving in for years. The name is changing, but our hearts and commitment are the same. Kenny “the Car Guy” Walters, owns the award-winning auto shop and is a member of Temple Israel Lakes Area Auto Experts at 490 N. Pontiac Trail in Walled Lake 248.668.1200 SEEN MONTHLY ON FOX 2 NEWS DETROIT For years, Lakes Area Auto Experts has provided neighbors with HONEST, DEPENDABLE, QUALITY information, repair and service! They live here and it shows! Email Kenny the Car Guy at kenny@lakesareaauto.com SERVICE DISCOUNT (labor only) $10 OFF $50 $20 OFF $100 $30 OFF $250 or more Feature your business with OyWhataDeal to acquire quality and eager new customers via risk-free and highly-targeted marketing. By running an offer with OyWhataDeal, your promotion will be e-mailed to thousands of loyal subscribers who will read about your offer, visit your website, share your business with their friends and follow you on social networks like Twitter and Facebook. 16 June 23 • 2016 2082690 www.lakesareaauto.com DODGING BULLETS Douglas Bloom of Birmingham, immediate past president of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, tells a riveting story of his own. Bloom’s uncle, Stanley Imerman, owned a business called Imerman Industries that manufactured auto parts, brake products and more. They also had a government contract to make bomb fuse adaptors. As a result, paratroopers guarded the factory dur- ing the riot, preventing any damage. “We were Up North and, as we flew in, I saw through the window that the city was on fire, everything was burn- ing,” Bloom says. “When I got to work in the morning, I had to call up the Chrysler missile plant and tell them we needed protection. This big Army truck showed up and they dropped off these paratroopers and we cooked food for them. They didn’t have ammunition in their guns, but nobody knew that.” The 100,000-square-foot, two-story building at Lafayette and Mount Elliot was not damaged. But, Bloom, a gradu- ate of Mumford High School, had his own brush with danger one evening while driving home from work. “I got shot at,” he says. “I was driv- ing home on Jefferson and they were shooting from a building on the right side of the street. A bullet went right above my car — I heard it zing by — and I was in traffic. The police said, ‘Get out of your car and get behind it,’ which I did. They used rifles to take out the shooter. They just shot into the window [where the gunfire was coming from] and there was no more shooting in the street. I got back in my car and went home.” Within a few short days, the fam- ily had decided to move their entire operation to Mack and Conner, where they had another building. But, they made a conscious decision to remain in Detroit. “A lot of our employees took a bus to work,” Bloom says. “[Making it easier for them to get to work] was impor- tant to us. We already had a factory on Mack and Connor, so that’s why we chose to stay in Detroit.” The company went out of busi- ness in the 1980s, but Bloom took all of the same employees and formed another manufacturing company, Bar Processing, which he sold in 1999. During the tumultuous time, the Jewish community was involved in efforts to repair the damage and help people put their lives back together. Jewish Vocational Service (JVS), which will celebrate its 75th anniversary in the coming year, “provided services to those who lost jobs or businesses during Detroit’s civil disturbances,” according to the nonprofit organiza- tion’s historical timeline. Specifics were not available at press time. A 1997 Detroit Jewish News article on the 30th anniversary of the riot mentions the role Jewish business lead- ers played in trying to find solutions and ease tensions. The late Stanley Winkelman, whose women’s clothing business suffered losses during the riot, was one of them. “Shortly after the riots, Winkelman became a charter member of New Detroit, a coalition of business and community leaders [including labor leaders and political radicals], founded at the request of then-Gov. George Romney and Mayor Jerome Cavanagh,” the article says. “New Detroit was assigned to identify and address the root cause of the disturbance. According to Winkelman, New Detroit enjoyed substantial progress early on, but its effectiveness dissipated over the years as business involvement declined, and its mission was diluted.” Today, led by the efforts of Dan Gilbert, founder and chairman of mortgage giant Quicken Loans (whose family of companies employs 15,000 team members Downtown), Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and others, busi- nesses, jobs, shops, services and a sense of optimism are returning to the city. Since 2014, several Fortune 500 companies, including Ally Financial and Fifth Third Bank, have estab- lished their headquarters Downtown and retail stores like Nike and John Varvatos have opened on Woodward Avenue, along with dozens of res- taurants and other businesses. Five decades later, while the scars of the riot remain, there is new hope Detroit will finally see the comeback so many have been waiting for. * Historical data was taken from Violence in the Model City by Sidney Fine (Michigan State University Press; 1989).