One of my uncle Henry Cleage’s photographs from the porch of our house at 5397 Oregon in Detroit. Below is a photo of the house and porch from which he took the photos. They were developed at Cleage printers, where Henry and Hugh had a full dark room.
I do not know who the little girls are. I have memories of riding bikes when I lived here, but no photographs. I remember going bike riding all around the neighborhood with my cousins, Dee Dee and Barbara. We rode in the street, which I wasn’t supposed to do. My sister and I used to go bike riding too but we usually had a destination – the library or my grandmother’s house. I lost that bike when I left it unchained outside of a store on W. Grand Blvd. We were on the way home from the Main Library.
You can read more of my memories of my bicycles in this post – “Biking at Old Plank Road, 1962”
Oh how I remember the days of my childhood riding freely through neighborhoods. Every day was another adventure. Summer days seemed to last forever. Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed this.
Yes, summers were very different back then. No homework to get done before September! Freedom to roam around and do stuff. I’m glad you enjoyed and let me know. 🙂
When you lived on Oregon street, was the Victory theatre(Grand River near Spokane street) still in operation?
I don’t think so. There wasn’t much going on on Grand River. I don’t remember a nearby theatre.
This post has perfect timing! I saw a group of little 7-10 year old kids riding bikes and scooters in the street yesterday… They came careening around a corner and there was no visible adult. Looked like a blast from the past.
Maybe they were time travelers! Your comment is a postcard poem!
That is a truly wonderful photo. Really captures the freedom of a kid on a bike. And that’s sad your bike was stolen. That was always one of my fears. Heck, I even get worried my car is going to get stolen.
I shouldn’t have left it outside without locking it to something. What was I thinking?
How much fun we had wheeling around, though my limit was just going around our block in suburbia near St. Louis. And yes, I got to ride in the street, though there may have been sidewalks that went nowhere. I did make friends with other kids that way at least. And the wind in my hair was certainly cooling!
I wish I could bike ride now. Where I live is too hilly and drivers are nuts so, no biking for me.
There is something very poignant about strangers who pass our home. where from? & where too…….?
and where are they now with their 60 year old selves?
Riding bicycles – Great fun! In mid-July 1951 I was 10 going on 11. Five cronies and I were talking around 10AM on the corner of Tireman Ave. and Stanford concerning what we were going to do that day. Someone recommended that we ride to the Packard Car plant on East Grand Blvd. All of us being crazy boys thought that was a great idea. So, off we went!! Crossed Grand River at Northwestern high school moving fast on West Grand Blvd. Eventually we crossed 14th street, 12th street, then Woodard Ave – and it was East Grand Blvd. We rode, …and we rode, …and we rode. Finally, we reached Valhalla – the Packard Car plant! The Packard Car – “Ask the man who owns one.” Then, we turned around and rode home. It was raining then – not hard, but it was wet. When I got home I told my father what we had done. He just said – Don’t do that again! Your bicycle gave you mobility to explore, and to escape.
Yes it did. That was a long way for a bunch of ten year olds to ride! I remember when my cousins, sister and I walked along the train tracks by my Graham grandparents house and then came back and told them where we had been. We were forbidden to do that any more. Later my mother told me that she’d walked along the railroad tracks when she was a kid, but she had enough sense not to tell her parents. Who knew?
For Tomorrow – August 30: Happy Birthday! Enjoy more.