Lakewood Lore

Depression memories are anything but depressing

For many oldsters reared in Lakewood, liking the city came easy, even during the depression of the 1930s.

"Lakewood was a wonderful spot to grow up in," recalls Dorothy Hudson, who has lived here for the past 79 of her 84 years.

Dorothy's parents bought a home on Carabel Avenue in 1918 and brought her from Cleveland when she was 5.

"The place had a small-town quality," she remembers. "People were friendly and nice. I always felt I could go anywhere hereabouts and feel safe."

"Stores were mostly little separate operations -- butcher shops, hardwares, drugstores, groceries, no supermarkets. We got to know the owners personally."

She recollects Dennis's Grocery and a dry goods store in the corner building at Madison and Carabel. Wagar Park was just a field then, and Grace Presbyterian, next to it, a tiny white church.

"Only the north half of Madison Avenue was paved," she said. The south half was dirt. "The Madison streetcar was what we called a `dinky.' The line had a single track, with turnarounds at Spring Garden Avenue and West 117th Street.

"The car had a fare box in the center, a pot-bellied coal-burning stove, and wickerwork seats. Adults paid three cents and children rode free."

As a young girl, Dorothy liked to go to Lincoln Theater, a long-gone cinema that was located on the north side of Madison at Arthur Avenue.

"There was a big fuss made the week it opened, in 1923 -- a parade with a band and a string of automobiles," she mused.

The Lincoln, which cost $100,000 to build and had 1,000 seats, was her nearest movie house at the time. The Hilliard Square Theater did not open until 1927.

Dorothy shopped at two former department stores in Lakewood -- Shermer Bros. on Madison at Magee, which burned down in 1962, and Bailey's branch outlet at Detroit and Warren, which closed not long afterward.

She attended Madison and Harding Schools, and on winter afternoons would walk to Lakewood Park to ice skate on a frozen, flooded lawn area there until after dark.

"I also wore out a lot of roller skates in the neighborhood," she remembers, pointing out that sidewalks then were made of stone, which was much nicer to skate on than today's cement.

"Some years ago, when some city workers came to replace my old walk, I wouldn't let them. I liked the stone from my early roller skating memories. Besides, the walk was still in good condition, and more in keeping with the history of the house."

During the depths of the depression, when it seemed everybody had to skimp, Dorothy quit Lakewood High School in her junior year and went to work as a soda jerk for Woolworth's Five and Ten on Detroit and Cook.

"But it wasn't there long," she confesses. "I was fired for giving a girl friend who worked in the office of the store an extra scoop of ice cream.

"Then, because I showed an interest in hair dressing, an aunt paid my way through the Cleveland Academy of Cosmetology, which was in the Ulmer Building on Public Square."

After becoming a cosmetologist, Dorothy worked at Higbee's beauty parlor downtown and at several Lakewood salons.

"Prices were low in the Depression -- 75 cents for a shampoo and set," she reveals. "And, if you got a tip, it was only a dime, and you felt lucky."

In the evenings, Dorothy often danced at Gilbert's, a popular second-floor public ballroom at Detroit and St. Charles.

"One didn't have to have a date to go, and it was a fine place to meet a prospective sweetheart," she explains.

Fifty-five years ago, Dorothy moved from Carabel to Arthur, where today she is the oldest homeowner on that segment of the street between Athens and Delaware.

"Fortunately I have good neighbors who keep tabs on me," Dorothy comments. "Of course, because I still drive, I can get around pretty well on my own."

Dorothy loved automobiles all her life, from the time as a child when she used to help her father, Neal Hansen, a Lakewood butcher, change the tires on his 1918 Model T.

Today, she pilot a 1984 Chrysler. It's her third convertible, and sporty enough that neighbors tease her about owning it.

What television programs does Dorothy like?

"Those with good-looking men," she joshes. "Also, mystery shows, like Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.

"Cookies are my favorite food. I love making them, and I'm kidded about that, too, because I give them to the mailman, the boys who cut my lawn, and the neighbor's dogs on each side of me."

Dorothy likes to do anything with her hands, and especially enjoys puttering around the house. She gets lonesome sometimes, but never dwells on it.

She believes in keeping a positive attitude, and in expressing love wherever she can. Her hope, she says, is to remain independent, and to avoid ever having to go to a nursing home.

This article by Dan Chabek appeared in the Lakewood Sun Post October 2, 1997. Reprinted with permission.

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