Downtown, streets of Detroit.
Bad azz Detroit.
Well, kinda.
I was born in Detroit, but in the 50's. Hardly bad azz at that time. Sure, no one was rich where I lived, but it wasn't ghetto. When my parents just had my older sister and brother, they lived in the "projects" on Conner Street. Yeah, bad azz projects. Kinda.
The ones my parents lived in, on Conner, were brand new. My mom told me they even had fancy-schmancy , state-of-the-art (at that time) underground garbage cans. She and my step-father drove by there a few years ago and it was pure ghetto ... like what the heck were they even doing there?
I Googled a map of the street and address ... looks kinda bleak.
Diana Ross of The Supremes talks about growing up poor in the projects. She did, but they were the Brewster-Douglas projects. Other side of the tracks I suppose.By the time I was born, my folks had moved. Just a mile or so over. On Beniteau Street. These were older duplexes. We lived in the bottom unit, my aunt and uncle and cousins lived above us. The house behind us was rented by another aunt and uncle and cousins. I Googled Beniteau also. Yikes, nasty!
I do recall us cousins playing in the upper unit while the parents
Here I am, being all street smart, bro.
Check it out, only one strap holding up my overalls. Yeah, that's how I rolled. (probably because of the baby fat rolls)
When I was four, it was time to get out of the city. So they moved to the extreme opposite. The country. They moved to Troy, Michigan. Not a thing happening out there, except fields. Today, Troy is home to many major corporate headquarters.One thing about Troy ... the development of this city in part, is proof that engineers really can have a sense of humor. One of the major main roads running through the city is called Big Beaver. If you are on I-75 and need to get off (ahem) on Big Beaver, it's exit 69.
