July 18 • 2019 27
jn

FAMILIAR AMENITIES
Today, returning tourists are accustomed 
to things unique to this particular north-
ern Michigan town. A longtime favorite 
includes watching the drawbridge on the 
north end of the downtown open every 
half hour so that larger boats can travel 
between Lake Charlevoix on the east side 
and Lake Michigan on the west side. 
Visitors also looked forward to seeing 
the Dexter Bus, a 43-foot boat consis-
tently parked for the summer at the 
Charlevoix City Marina. This year marks 
the first time in 44 years the boat won’
t 
be there. Its owners, Michael and Margo 
Goldman of West Bloomfield, sold it 
last year when it became too difficult for 
Margo to get on and off the vessel. 
Other regulars, including Berman of 
West Bloomfield and Carol Hooberman 

of Franklin, have never missed a sum-
mer there. 
“I’
ve been up to Charlevoix 65 years in 
a row. I think it’
s paradise on Earth. It’
s 
is just an amazing place,
” said Berman, 
who has more postcards in his collection 
than the town’
s historical society. The 
oldest dates back to 1896. 
Berman’
s father, Jimmy, started vis-
iting the area in the early 1940s with 
his father. He fell in love with the city 
and eventually built a house there. That 
home is still owned by members of the 
Berman family (there are five brothers). 
Berman himself bought a home there 21 
years ago, and one of his brothers owns 
one as well.
In 1943, the same year Hooberman 
was born, her parents, along with an 
aunt and uncle, had a house on Dixon 
Street. She recalls spending many of her 
childhood summer days at one of the 
local beaches while evening activities 
consisted of shuffleboard, biking or 
catching a movie at the one local theater 
in town. 
Although Hooberman’
s family sold 
the house in 1964, she continued the 
tradition of heading Up North in the 
summer. For many years, she and her 
husband, Paul, along with with their 
children, spent a week or more at either 
the Lodge or the Weathervane, two long-
standing hotels on Bridge Street. The 
Lodge was sold and renovated, and it is 
expected to open in coming months as 
the Hotel Earl. 

In 1986, the Hoobermans purchased 
a condo a few blocks down the street 
from her childhood home. Now their 
Charlevoix summers include visits 
from the grandchildren with trips to 
the beach, taffy store and walks up and 
down Bridge Street. 
Hooberman said her parents, like 
so many other families, chose to buy a 
house in Charlevoix because her older 
brothers suffered from hay fever and 
the cleaner northern air made it easier 
for them to breathe during the summer 
when homes were not air conditioned. 
Alan Hayman, first cousin to 
Hooberman, said his parents went north 
for the summer to avoid exposing them 
to polio when there wasn’
t a vaccine for 
the debilitating disease and because of 
his brother’
s hay fever. 
“My parents literally picked me up 
on the last day of school in June and 
went right Up North. We came home in 
September, the day before school started. 
The thinking was, ‘
You got your kids out 
of Detroit in the summer months when 
the incidence of polio seemed to be 
higher.
’
 If they could, parents took their 

kids away from the more densely popu-
lated areas to avoid polio,
” said Hayman, 
a West Bloomfield resident who would 
later continue the tradition of vacation-
ing there with his own family. 

NOSTALGIA AND NATURAL BEAUTY
It’
s not completely clear why Charlevoix 
became such a favorite place to visit or 
own property except to say that its nat-
ural beauty, relaxed pace and the desire 
to create or continue family traditions 
appeal to many. 
“Everything here feels like it did 
when I was a child,
” reminisced Glenn 
Wachler. “There has always been a little 
downtown area with a bridge. There is 
still the same number of traffic lights in 
town (two), and the bell on the bridge 
makes the same sound as it did when I 
was 5. I don’
t feel any older living here 
because so much about Charlevoix hasn’
t 
changed except now I’
m the dad and not 
the kid.
” 
Brian Freund, also a Charlevoix 
transplant from West Bloomfield, 
added: “There aren’
t many places that 
are more beautiful than what you see 

JENNIFER LOVY

continued on page 28

FA
FAMI
MILI
LIAR
AR AME
MENI
NITI
TIES

Brian and Emily Freund, owners 

of That French Place restaurant

BETH EL SHABBAT IN CHARLEVOIX + CHABAD PROGRAMMING
Temple Beth El’
s Shabbat in Charlevoix will begin at 6:15 Friday, Aug. 16, with a “nosh 
and schmooze.” Services start at 7 p.m. A Havdalah service takes place the following 
evening at 7 p.m. Both free events will be at the park in downtown Charlevoix. New 
this year is a kid’
s fun zone. To register, email Lindsay at lfoxwagner@tbeonline.org or 
call (248) 851-1100. Chabad of Charlevoix will be planning progams as well; contact 
Chabad at (248) 489-6376 or email mendel@chabadcharlevoix.com. 

Round Lake seen 

from Edgewater Inn.

JENNIFER LOVY

