An ABANDONED Southwest Detroit Neighborhood: Delray, Detroit, Michigan 5K.

[@ChrisHarden]

Detroit Playlist: kzbin.info/www/bejne/haelZ4yIlKeWrq8 Michigan Playlist: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jmbXapScl6p6f8U American Hoods Playlist: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ep6bYqykjNuIqa8 Intro: 0:00 - 0:35 Delray's History: 0:35 - 15:23 Gordie Howe International Bridge: 15:23 - 19:30 Fort Street: 19:30 - 24:04 East Delray: 24:04 - 26:08 Southwest Detroit Highschool: 26:08 - 27:00 Old St. Johns Cantius Catholic Church: 27:00 - 29:42 Jefferson Avenue & Historic Fort Wayne: 29:42 - 33:45 ==================================================================== EVERYTHING THAT I USE IN THE FIELD: Main Camera: amzn.to/3iS4vvF Side Cameras: amzn.to/2WuCYIs Media Mod for Camera: amzn.to/3j7CMGF Lav Mic: amzn.to/3lsMkz9 Drone: amzn.to/3ITcKBV SD Cards: amzn.to/3C2co9O Camera Mounts: amzn.to/2UXVR6p Cables Required for Longer Recordings: amzn.to/3BYnr3Q Computer: amzn.to/3787b2j External Hard Drive: amzn.to/3lb23Tf WHAT I USE AT HOME: Computer: amzn.to/3rKIdiN Sound Mixer: amzn.to/3C15Ubx Microphone: amzn.to/2VaCjvo Microphone Accessories: amzn.to/3v7A35Z INTERACTIVE MAP that shows you all of the places that I've made videos on: (Doesn't always work on mobile devices. Will always work on PC.) www.google.com/maps/d/u/2/edit?hl=en&mid=1Lhzf04ocimPu-ROkg4cfXEYEvKMNnlI5&ll=43.06219876674538%2C-83.82163216337808&z=10 SOCIAL MEDIA & CONTACT INFO: Email: [e-mail] On Twitter: twitter.com/Chris_Harden55 On Instagram: instagram.com/c_harden7/?... On Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisHardenYT/ DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you. As an Amazon Associate I do earn a small commission on qualifying purchases. As always, thank you for supporting my channel!

[@DP-jt5kz]

😆I live right across fort street an I-75 and I remember the old Del Ray

[@julies1ify]

@@MichiganUSASingaporeSEAsia, hopefully but not sure of this area due to the smell from the incinerator & sewage plant

[@Marcd4DeathVideos]

You forgot to mention the fruit distribution depot where most of Southeastern Michigan gets the majority of their fruit for retail.

[@Sweetpjoe]

My uncle and aunt lived in Delray. Their house was torn down when the building the new sewerage plant. Many good memories of playing in the many overgrown areas which were like jungles to us. It was one of the few areas where people of all races lived together and got along with each other.

[@station08]

It was very much like that.

[@geesss8675]

You remember the funeral home on Jefferson? Was torn down for sewage plant

[@drock5108]

@@geesss8675I remember the ice cream shop on the corner of Thaddeus and Dearborn st and the soda company on Jefferson near Dearborn st. And I remember all the homes and big apartments on Dearborn!

[@julies1ify]

I love how all the people who lived in Delray back in the day still love it & say how nice it was and everybody (all races) got along. I think thats what separates the good people of Detroit from other cities. I lived in Brightmoor on the west side as a baby when it was also a "nice area". God Bless all the good people of Detroit❤

[@dwindlefoddl7225]

I grew up in Brightmoor.!!! Small world !!! LOVED growing up in that area..Living their was great until they starting building I-96..

[@jsboening]

The best part about your videos is that it brings back former residence who share their life stories in the comments. I could read them for hours. Thanks for you videos.

[@ChrisHarden]

Yup. There’s a lot of good comments amongst the trolls. Most comments are good.

[@MsBigBubba]

@@ChrisHarden HEY TROLL WHO ARE YO CALLING TROLLS???? Geesh! Oy Vey!!!! May the BIRD of Chicken-Paprikash FLY UP Yo YUGE Snot-locker????

[@mostlypeacefulmisterputin]

😈 👀

[@rosalindastourian3985]

At approximately 21:09, as you look down Waterman street, you can see a red brick building with a belfry. That’s the original Beard School building. I went to elementary school there and can remember watching work being done on I75.

[@dmbalsam]

My great grandfather laid the corner stone for Holy Cross Church. My parents were married there.

[@michaelnoble6027]

Hello Debra how are you doing today and your family wishing you a blessed week 🎉

[@robertchristie9434]

One of my aunts married a Hungarian guy in '50 and they had a house on South & West End. I still remember the red soot and ash from the Ford Rouge foundry and downriver Steel mills coating everything. She died from MS in '59 and was only 32 years old. I worked at a Kroger store on Fort & Junction in the early 60s. Fort Street was a thriving retail area with car dealers, furniture stores. ethnic cafes, a Sanders, auto parts, supermarkets, drug stores, etc. with quite an ethnic mix of well-kept homes. I-75 construction in the late 60s seemed to start the decline. You're right, the Howe bridge construction really cleared out the area. The video shows the cleanest sky I've ever seen in Delray.

[@MsBigBubba]

I NO remember the Kroger's? I recall the A&P and the *Wrigley's Supermarket near Livernois also remember one store kind of sat way back on Fort street near Junction was called BiLo Supermarket could that had been the *Kroger's? Remember *Rund-Oldsmobile and Seaway Motors a Volkswagen dealers on West Fort Street between Livernois and Junction? *Gardner-White Furniture used to be there corner of Fort & Junction?

[@robertkaspert4092]

Do you remember Al's Lounge on Westend

[@bigt1114]

Born and raised in Detroit. Osborne High class of 74'...never really ventured to the Delray area...the East .West... Dearborn ...(Ruddiman Jr. High).was where all my relatives lived..no one in Delray area....I moved in 87'...now live in Houston Texas. enjoyed your video.......

[@marywegrzyn506]

Hi, my Hungarian Grandfather n Grandmother came to Detroit when they were young and newly married and started their family. There were five kids in all. They bought a home on Pine Street that was very close to where the old Tiger Stadium was. The homes got demolished to make way for the I 75 Free way. It was sad to know her family home is forever gone now My mom has so, so, so many stories of growing up there. She loved it so much. People were so nice n their homes n properties were beautiful. When she met my Dad who happened to move in next door to her to live with his older sister who owned the home next door, they fell in love n got married n bought a home in South West Verner n Oliver neighborhood. They had me n my two sisters, then in the late 60's the race riots happened. Black people were going around destroying n burning Man homes on our street n thought the neighborhoods. Many white whites fled for their lives n move to the suburbs. My parents were so heart broken that they got robbed of their home. They loved Detroit. I remember seeing homes down my block that were engulfed in flames that night. It was horrific to see the evil people do that to so many innocent people who did nothing to deserve that. Today, it's well known the blacks don't want whites in Detroit. They all have guns n use them freely because the police are too afraid to go into the neighborhoods to answer 911 calls. They would get shot at as they drive down the residential streets. It's horrible.

[@tonywells7051]

You racists as hell

[@SU1C1D3xPR4D4]

What are you talking about?

[@monisue2793]

Thanks for the memories. I lived on (gone now) Bell St, near Forman and Barron for a couple of years. Taking the bus home from work in Downtown Detroit I always fell asleep but I knew exactly when I arrived close to my neighborhood because I could smell Zug Island.

[@lynndemartini9379]

GREAT video! I'm a landscaper from Detroit - sad to see what's happened to a beautiful city!! The soil there is the most amazing that I've ever seen, and hope they use that very valuable attribute to someday come back and thrive!! Was sad at first to see all the empty lots - but then realized that it was better that way. So sad - GREAT video - Thanks!!!

[@lynndemartini9379]

Watched your video again - very informative and very well made! THANK YOU!!

[@lynndemartini9379]

@birdsndog5932 LOVE your idea! It sure would help Detroit to use that awesome soil for some community gardens!! And it's sooo easy to freeze the extras, so people eat thru the winter!!!

[@Craftygirl56]

@birdsndog5932 Unfortunately vandalism is a huge problem in Detroit. That’s probably what would happen to any community gardens.

[@marypaquet3372]

This is a perfect example of industrial/chemical polluters destroying land and never being held accountable. It’s still going on. They may get a slap on the wrist but it never hurts their bottom line.

[@TheCarnivoreSoprano]

And nothing will ever change with that.

[@johnbernstein7887]

And you're why people can't stand liberals. SHUT UP!

[@fordenginebuildersv8power184]

@@wmw3629 that smell is not the refinery it’s from the rendering plant

[@fordenginebuildersv8power184]

Politicians got paid

[@davidmoullet6646]

We still pollute the ground air and water even more today for the products we use... because that's how they make it in China...

[@veronicav3048]

My mother's family is from Delray via Hungary. Originally on Barnes St. then South St near Holy Cross Hungarian Catholic Church. My sister and I attended school there up to the 3rd grade. My mother, Aunts and Uncle all attended Southwestern. It had the best schools in the Detroit area. Really is a shame that its all gone. East Jefferson was saved but West Jefferson was left to die.

[@kathywillsea4432]

My mother was Hungarian and grew up in DelRay, and went to Southwestern high school, too. Lots of Hungarians in that area, back in the 30s and 40s.

[@michaelnoble6027]

Hello Veronica how are you doing today and your family wishing you a blessed week.

[@aszilagyi100]

My Hungarian roots/ dads side of family. First landed in Toledo before most of the family relocated to Delray briefly. Just after arriving in the states when Hitler was moving through Europe. my father was the youngest child in family and first one born in the USA.

[@rosemaryschuette4819]

The East side of Jefferson connected to Grosse Point Cha-Ching!

[@EmpireStateExpress01]

Great point @12:36. Many people just focus on the decline of the auto industry and corrupt politicians when it comes to Detroit population decline. They also forgot the role of the 2008 housing crash in Detroit's population decline between 2000 and 2010. While housing prices went drown dramatically, mortgages and property tax rates increased. Homeowners were faced with an option to either stay put and pay higher costs (risking foreclosure) or move to a suburb they always desired to live in since the housing crash made housing more affordable in these areas. For example, if you lived on Detroit's Eastside, you moved to Eastpointe, Harper Woods, or Warren. Since property taxes fund schools here in Michigan, many school districts began to have deficits. Some school districts merged together (like Woodhaven-Brownstown), and other districts opened themselves up to outsiders via school choice (inner-ring suburbs). It's an open secret that Detroit students get more funding on average due to economic harships. The school choice districts began recruiting students from the city and poorer suburbs to their districts to fix their deficits, even promising to offer transportation. Naturally, this pissed off parents who lived in the school choice districts because they didn't want inner-city problems in their suburb (which actually did happen). As a result, many parents of inner-ring suburbs like Eastpointe, Harper Woods, and Warren moved out to places like Clinton Township, Utica, and New Baltimore. This also happened in Southfield as well among the wealthier black folks. In the early-2000s, you had to make $50,000 and up to live in Southfield. If you lived out in Southfield during that time, black folks in Detroit and the poorer suburbs (like Ecorse, River Rouge, and Highland Park) thought you made it. Before school choice and the 2008 Recession, you had Detroiters faking their address to send their kids to Southfield Public Schools (Fox 2 News story here in Detroit even made a story about it at the time). When the housing crash hit, many Detroiters moved across 8-Mile to Southfield. Some folks brought their ghetto ways out there pissing off long-time black residents south of 11-Mile. The wealthier black folks moved out to extreme boundaries of Southfield or out to the nearby suburbs like Orchard Lake, Royal Oak, or West Bloomfield. In essence, 11-Mile Road is slowly becoming the new 8-Mile now.

[@kennethsmith8344]

Delrays declined began long before the auto industry collapse and was pretty much gone by the time of the 2008 housing crisis it actually started in the 60’s and accelerated in 70’s and 80’s once the church’s move out there was nothing to hold the community up but there is so much history in that little space of Detroit 🤘

[@EmpireStateExpress01]

@Kenneth Smith My comment was in reference to the point Chris made at @12:36 when he talks about the population decline of the ENTIRE city compared to the Metro Area. Many people overlook why the housing crash's role in why Detroit lost 25-percent of its population in the 2010 census when compared to the 2000 and 2020 census.

[@packisbetter90]

It does seem like it was falling for years before 2008 but it really fell apart during the great recession

[@EmpireStateExpress01]

@@packisbetter90 It was slowly happening before 2008, but 2008 kicked it into overdrive.

[@dmbalsam]

My Hungarian relatives settled in Delray and moved to Lincoln Park and Allen Park ( where I grew up). My Dad went to the “Chicken Coop” elementary school.

[@craignovy2090]

Depth and breadth narration matched by depth and breadth multimedia video and mood matching sound. Detroit for most of my life was a vague place of an automobile industry/urban crash. Chris has really illustrated the feel and look in intricate detail. Growing up in Chicagoland my thoughts are..wow...the place is huge and there is so so much more to it than the auto industry. Thank you for the incredible amount of craftsmanship and scholarly pusuit you put into your work. An important and fascinating fact I have learned from this channel is growing up in an area of predominately single family homes I never until now realized how Detroit became the exemplar of this. This is one of many typical astute observations in his work.

[@kenny8351]

Amazing seeing how much has been leveled. My dad grew up, and lived on Thadeus st. And I worked in the area at Fort and Miller for many yrs. That area was heavily populated, and supported many households. Thanks for the video.

[@ChrisHarden]

It would be amazing to see a video of what the place was like back then.

[@edlee2336]

@@ChrisHarden I found a video that shows this area in the 70’s and I couldn’t believe that it actually was starting to go way downhill even then.

[@osiels.871]

@@edlee2336 is the video on KZbin? I’d love to see it

[@JoquanDaHooligan]

This video is great brother thanx for posting.

[@waltervantiem359]

My parents were married in the church you featured in your drone shot. Back in 1953 things were a lot different. My late mother was always upset that her old neighborhood went down hill. She was polish.

[@billpeirce852]

My favorite part of my old hometown. It's heartbreaking to see how it looks, but I still get this warm fuzzy feeling, watching these Delray videos, seeing so much that's hopelessly gone, kind of like my life. Derelicts make good company, eh?

[@rubyparchment5523]

Yes, the past is hopelessly gone; no going back, no reliving those innocent times. I’ll be 67 in two months. My health failed me, and those I counted on left me to fend for myself. I decided to use that moment to my advantage. I disowned the strong young men I’d helped raise (one stopped calling, other left with a big suitcase. Neither has my address nor #). Downsized to a condo, put the past in the dumpster, nice fresh start.

[@kathy2trips]

@@rubyparchment5523 - Good for you, Ruby. You will be rewarded for your kindness to those young men by a higher power. As for them, karma never forgets an address. 🤷‍♀️

[@FrankaiVideos-DetroitsComeback]

Thanks for the objective history! Today, the Gordie Howe Bridge Site has expanded to over a square mile from I-75 to the water front. There are 2 small sparse areas east and west of the Site remaining of Delray. We have been documenting the progress since 2018, Detroit is the comeback city and it's River Walk has been named the nation's finest! Great video!

[@Riverside-rl2wq]

Yes a couple areas remain especially Vanderbilt Street where I grew up

[@constructiveinterference]

The Renaissance will be mine. General Motors Buick Explosion burns my children alive! Exposing fraud against humanity! Birth certificate negative condition of state, can’t state claim. Law firms and judges bought! Working with post master generals to claim 25 million per document not syntaxed! The Rapture Begins in Detroit! Documentary on my page. I praise all those who share my story. Thank you 🙏

[@jonr6558]

Frankai is the best!!

[@Tangobutton]

It has been wonderful to see Detroit coming back especially after the Superbowl in 2005, the real start of the modern comeback.

[@FixItStupid]

Well Done Thank You

[@robertgoss4842]

Sad story, fine video. Well-written, pithy content, professionally presented---a combination seldom encountered on You Tube. Look forward to seeing more of your work.

[@oldbroad7672]

50 years ago I lived on Lyon Street in Delray. It was very clean because all the little, old ethnic ladies would sweep their porches, sidewalks, driveways and the street in front of their house every morning. They'd talk and visit and keep an eye on things. I'd walk down to the alley to a drugstore. There was an ice cream place not too far. Only thing lacking was a good grocery store. Fleetwood wasn't far. Couple of really good Hungarian restaurants. It was nice.

[@ChrisHarden]

It’d be nice to have a video like this showing what Delray was like back then.

[@sammyweed4771]

I worked at Fleetwood in the 80,s

[@janemeth]

My dad, Albert nemeth grew up on Lyons Street. My grandfather is Casey nemeth. Lock men’s hardware store is still open. I go in there once in a while for a blast from the past. We bought our first Mirro craft fishing boat from there.

[@RRK88]

My family lived on thaddeus Street, house is gone now,sad, every Sunday morning those bells at St. John’s would ring. What great memories but everything is gone, my aunt owned a bar on Jefferson called ‘007

[@kateospeaks9018]

I watch this video from the very beginning to the very end. I really enjoyed all the historical facts that you gave about the city of Delray, also the city of Detroit and Canada as well. I'm definitely going to continue to follow your channel. I also plan to keep watching more of your videos. I consider myself to be a big history of a buff. Thank you again for a great video.

[@delrayslim]

I grew up in Delray from the 60's to the 80's, I also went to Southwestern H.S., heart breaking to see this

[@ChrisHarden]

I bet.

[@WhitefolksT]

You know Joe Bruce?

[@delrayslim]

Did Joe have a sister named Suzanne?

[@stephennelson1687]

😞

[@Sweetpjoe]

Southwestern class of 76!

[@silvrliit]

Sadness, breaks my heart, but love your eye opening and informative vids!

[@ChrisHarden]

Thanks!

[@alfrednawrocki8061]

Enjoyed the tour of my birthplace, Delray in 1947 !!! I lived on Home St. until I was 5 yrs yrs old. The water treatment plant took most of the homes in that area including on Home st.

[@ChrisHarden]

Wow. Can’t help but wonder what the neighborhood was like back then.

[@waltershink6878]

I worked on Zug Island for a couple projects. I really miss the Del Ray Cafe!

[@gustavohernandemattei6645]

Y believe that at the last 4 years, Wayne County is advancing, there are a lot of investments in infraestructure !

[@MPH-kb4ep]

My Mom grew up on Home Street and I lived there for a few years with my Grandma and relatives during the 60s. They attended St. John Cantius and my Mom graduated from Southwestern.

[@sunlite9759]

I have seen urban blight in NYC. ( 102nd St West side) The area was leveled to make way for housing projects. The result MORE urban blight. We live in a throw away society.

[@dittohead7044]

These videos are heartbreaking. Anyone who was born in Detroit back in the 50’s and earlier loved living here. It was beautiful. They really screwed up the riverfront. You CANT fix stupid

[@dizzotizzo69]

......corrupt politicians as well, along with the stupid people continually re-electing Mayor Coleman Young.

[@jamesbowen8960]

Born and raised in Dearborn. My sis and bro-in-law lived on South St when they were 1st married. . I have and always will have a soft spot for the City of Detroit. Del Ray Bakery was an amazing place of business!

[@tomagig2568]

Del Ray bakery is in Taylor now. Still good. 😁

[@jamesbowen8960]

@@tomagig2568 Really? Where in Taylor?

[@tomagig2568]

14702 Allen Rd, Taylor, MI 48180

[@jamesbowen8960]

@@tomagig2568 Thank you very much! You made my day!

[@jbeutell]

I am watching this just to see if Delray Bakery is mentioned. I knew was in Taylor now.

[@reallyjustrandom1230]

Part of the decline is that the Big three at the time started building their plants out and away from the city making it easier for people to move out of the city so it wasn't so much of an auto decline as it was New plants and jobs being built away from the city. If you ask me its tragic, because city leaders are 90% responsible for Detroit's decline even to this day where it is a struggle to get people back into the city.

[@ChrisHarden]

The auto plants being built out further, then out of state, and then out of the country is part of it. The political aspect is a huge part of it. So many parts to it. The current mayor seems to be doing a better job than most of the previous mayors. It’ll take an extremely long time of doing things the right way to turn things around throughout the whole city.

[@reallyjustrandom1230]

@@ChrisHarden agreed

[@WhitefolksT]

Kwame Kilpatrick & Friends

[@janetyoung6097]

Not only did they start building their plants farther out into the suburbs. They also closed them and moved the entire auto production to Mexico because they did not want to have the expenses of making the plant more energy efficient and not having to pay pensions, medical coverage, higher wages.

[@debrakish9659]

It looks like you drove down Melville Street, as my grandparents had lived there long ago. Although many of the homes on it have long disappeared, I can still visualize my nagyapa's and nagymama's house standing there. It's sad to know what's happened to the old place, yet I'll always have warm memories of it and how my nagyapa would push me on the swing at the end of the street at the playground, and how he'd walk my brother and me to the other end at the corner of Melville and Dearborn streets to visit the candy store that was there.

[@Aleisha313]

Born and raised in Delray...I'm still living in Detroit. I love my city! I left many many times ...always ended up back in Detroit! If you can live here you can pretty much live anywhere in America 🇺🇸

[@freedomwon2004]

Great video. I just subscribed. I left the Detroit area in 1982. Interesting history I didn't know.

[@chriskell4019]

Okay, I'm going to watch ALL of your videos. This is impressive.

[@ChrisHarden]

Thanks for the kind words!

[@M81_WOODLAND]

20:07 Motz's Burgers off to the left across the street. Apparently been there since 1929.

[@B_M-gt5ze]

I live in this neighborhood, off of Thaddeus and Sloan. It’s very abandoned. It stinks bc of Zugg Island and all the industrial buildings. I looks very polluted.

[@samuelchambers5]

Thanks very much for a fine and very informative production on an area that is very familiar to me. Although I never lived in Delray, for nearly forty years I have visited there, essentially to spend weekends around CSX Railroads Delray Junction tower, which is famous among railroad enthusiasts such as my friends and I. I can't tell you the number of hours we spent at that location taking photographs of trains, while sharing stories about our various experiences taking train photos across the country. During those years, I watched the neighborhood be destroyed and then abandoned, which I always thought was unfortunate for the people who lived there. Crime also reportedly increased which also added to the burden for people living there. Thanks for the extensive effort that you made to research and document the history of the area, especially what has happened in the last decade. And, finally I would like to thank you for including the names of the streets that you were driving on, as that helps your viewers to know exactly where you are filming, especially for hose familiar with the area. I only know of one other KZbin presenter who does this. Great job.

[@ChrisHarden]

Thanks for the kind words! I only wish I had footage or photos of Delray from its glory days.

[@orionwarren4244]

I lived in Detroit from birth to age 28 and never even knew of this area, growing up on the northwest and northeast sides of the city during those years. By the time I left in 1985 Detroit was already in semi-serious decline. It saddens me to see my hometown in this state but...whaddaya gonna do?

[@ChrisHarden]

Not much any one person can do unless they’re a billionaire and have the ability to build entire new neighborhoods in a chunk of city blocks… but money won’t fix everything.

[@warriorprincessharmony]

@@ChrisHarden Rebuilding homes and buildings without a way to provide incomes for the residents won't solve anything.

[@PenelopePeppers]

My dad grew up in Melvindale and he was Hungarian......the neighborhood boys use to play ball in what would be Greenfield Village and the Museum. My Dad and his friends were playing baseball at the time Mr. Edison and Mr. Ford were talking and surveying the property for the museum and village.....And Mr. Ford tossed back the baseball to my Dad and said " Here yo go young lad" ..........So awesome when my dad told several times when I was older......My dad passed away in July 10,2020

[@sarahneaton4441]

I grew up in Delray in the forty and my family since the MD nineteen hundreds 1911 and on it was such a beautiful area and I have such memories I am of Lithuanian heritage so we fitted right in. Thank you for the trip.

[@RockandRoll0U812]

Nice video! I'm very familiar with the Delay area, I drove a truck to the local steel mills and to Zug island quite a few times. I witnessed them tearing down many of those houses to make room for the bridge. I remember one time driving down one of the back streets among piles of illegally dumped trash and seeing a pickup truck stopped unloading trash into one of the many piles, I stopped next to the truck and asked them if this looked like the city dump, they jumped into their truck and took off without a word. I don't know how safe it was for me to do that but it bothered me to see them doing this. Anyway keep up the good work!

[@ChrisHarden]

Thanks! And yeah it’s crazy to see the amount of trash at times. Wish I could’ve made a video before they tore up the blocks in the middle of the neighborhood for the new bridge.

[@phamilypharms9336]

Yea probably lucky they just moved on . Especially in Del Ray . Del Ray in the 90s is to blame for I.C.P lol

[@markrocovich830]

On Springwells, off of I-75 down from what used to be the Cadillac Fleetwood Plant, used to be one of the best places to get great Hungarian food, AL'S LOUNGE...My Grandfather and I used to eat there at least once a month...

[@wayneworley1293]

In the 70s and 80s it was called Hungarian Village

[@ari352004]

Very informative and professionally made, good commentaries too

[@marjowag8806]

My grandma & a couple of aunts & uncles had houses near Zug Island & the Rouge River in Del Ray. I think the street may have been Berdino? Not sure. I'm over 60 years old. Never thought I would see this place again. Thanks for the reminder of memories.

[@seanlinden7982]

The 40 foot mound was a native burial sight, and there's small ones all over anywhere there is woods. They'd pile bodies and bury them in a mound and lots of them are undiscovered

[@jlrthebassplayer]

I want to thank you for these videos you made. I'm born and raised in and around this city. I knew some the tid bits you mentioned but not all of them.

[@JJJJ-fg3qx]

Thank you for this great video. Great information. Well done. Great soundtracks too. 👌

[@landhorses]

Great video.......liked this, last week, and looking forward to the rest. I also viewed your older Detroit videos, and went back to watch your first Delray one again after finishing this one. It was interesting to compared to see if anything changed.......perhaps some of the streets you couldn't turn off this times were ones you drove last time. I hope you keep the older videos up for this, Brightmoor, City Airport etc. as you get to the new ones.

[@ChrisHarden]

More Detroit videos will be coming! Brightmoor and City Airport included.

[@lavapix]

It will be interesting to see if the new bridge brings that area back to life. You'll be able to see a long way from that bridge. I grew up in Warren in the 60s and 70s into the early 80s and when we got south winds the factory's pollution came with them. Most other wind directions brought clear skies.

[@jeramychunn9108]

You'd thing that between the bridge & the customs port, that certain parts of Del ray will be back forsure. Slowly but surely the D is making a come back. I'm 45 & would love to see it in another 40 years back to being bright, beautiful & bustling.

[@michiganborn8303]

I thought they were going to locate that bridge further in the downriver area near either Rouge or Wyandotte.

[@slotnickproductions6862]

@@michiganborn8303 if you’re referring to the Gordie Howe Bridge, then no. Who knows, maybe there’s another bridge being proposed tho, but the gordie Howe has started construction

[@michiganborn8303]

@@slotnickproductions6862 It was all talk when I first started hearing about it around 1998 or so.

[@davejones5745]

The bridge will make Delray" Drive-over country ".

[@maddisonmorris9126]

@Chris, Have you considered doing a video on Native American burial mounds / Native land around the Detroit area and what has become of those sites and remains? I was shocked to hear what happened to the ancient skeletons of the people that once occupied the Delray area, but even more disheartened to know that this is not taught or even talked about around here. I’ve lived in Metro Detroit / downriver my whole life and not one peep about it. I’d be willing to bet that the Delray sand mounds were not the only instance of Native human remain displacement in and around the Detroit area. I think it would be great, informational content.

[@Jbicebike]

Yes Chris Harden we can't get enough of you lolol....great stuff and love your sense of humor

[@lochinvar50]

Very educational. I am now familiar with "The King's Mill" as one of the neighborhood of Detroit.

[@ellieshortreed6420]

Thanks for doing this video. . .very interesting! I am disappointed, however, that you did not cover the McMillan School Building. I taught there a number of years prior to its closing; at the time, it was considered the oldest building of all DPS buildings. I know that it has since been torn down but would have loved to hear more about what is there now. Might you cover this in any of your other videos?

[@Sidetracked_in_Macau]

Great content seeing Detroit! Love it!

[@michiganborn8303]

I grew up in that area about 45 years ago and finally moved out of Michigan in 2008 for Northern California. I lived mostly in the area of Livernois and W. Verner Ave and remember going to Historic Fort Wayne on Jefferson. I used to live about a block from there. I moved a lot when I was a kid. Pretty cool trip.

[@jairdeoliveira5780]

Detroit, grande cidade que teve grave problema de ordem econômica/financeiro. Mas está se recuperando e voltará ao seu auge anterior. Quero conhecer esta cidade. Tenho amigos que moram e trabalham nesta cidade. EUA são formidáveis. Obrigado.

[@markrocovich830]

Fort Street is a straight shot from Detroit to the Downriver communities of Lincoln Park, Allen Park, Wyandotte, and Trenton..This made it easier for the Hungarians, Romanians, Slovene, Croatian and others to leave Delray..

[@motowngirl5891]

I rode my bike through here a couple years ago, love it here Thanks for all your information

[@mikeallen4719]

Nice video lots of info. I didn’t think you were going to mention the native mounds. I wonder if your going to talk about the Delray Witch

[@julies1ify]

Tell us about the witch, sounds interesting

[@jamespeters2859]

It was like going on a weird vacation watching this video. Great stuff bud. I chill out to these before going to bed. 🙂🇬🇧

[@daronfossett7288]

Great video I use to cut down all those city lots from Lincoln Park from Schaefer and Outer drive all the way to Southwest on Junction and 75. Keep up your good hard work it is really appreciated💯🌄

[@ChrisHarden]

Thanks for the kind words!

[@StephanieBadAzz]

We used to drive down Jefferson at night from downtown to southwest just because. It was so creepy and otherworldly with all the abandoned buildings and warehouses. Same Thing going East on Jefferson but most of that has been gentrified since.

[@lorindadavis4475]

Wow! Delray! A classic place. My mom and stepdad use to hang out there playing cards with the locals at their home often. They had so much fun in Delray. I loved it too my parents won big money at the card games. I never knew it was actually a small town of its own.

[@michaelnoble6027]

Hello Lorinda how are you doing today and your family wishing you a blessed week.

[@Charli722]

The first, late summer, early fall my husband and I were married, (1975) we sold vegetables out out the back of his uncle’s pickup, every other Saturday. Then we would go to another of his aunt and uncle’s for lunch. We would drive forty miles into Delray. I love that time in our lives, so many memories. All the little Hungarian ladies were a treasure. ❤

[@paulnagy1546]

You have the best videos !!!! Thank you !!

[@FredMaples]

Nice video. I am very familiar with this area. They tore down so many homes to make way for the new bridge. I learned a lot and I will tell my Detroit friends about this video. 👍

[@ChrisHarden]

Thank you!

[@cyberpimp29]

3:45 - This area looks very green with lots of healthy trees and weeds. Turns out that plants need C02...

[@bookmagicroe9553]

Thanks for the narration and history.

[@MonteHoopla]

29:37- Iron Coffins Motorcycle club, club house....left side of street....historic inded!

[@larry648]

10:30. Axmen MC clubhouse.

[@wayneworley1293]

On Dearborn Street 🎉

[@mannashawnramirezniblock1985]

My father used to work off the docks and lived there then moved I. Further in southwest he said long time ago a lot was going to change here the last time I seen him but he always said it will get better here I believe my dad's dreams of freedom from these streets will be safe again and stores be open again kids being able to play safely this is my dream as well

[@jcee2259]

After Delray was picked to host an enormous open air Detroit sewage treatment plant the previous healthy residential odors (garden flowers, grass, shrubs, trees and vines), all were overwhelmed by public sewer stench. Pushing out residents who found their best laundry and home cleaning efforts immediately defeated by the industrial taint. Adults and children couldn't depart Delray without being mistaken for people that had defecated within their clothing. So, doors and windows were closed, even when daily sunshine caused sealed building to sweat their occupants. Hardened residents did choose to deny their fecal issues was sufficient reason to depart Delray. So, Delray misery does enjoy better company. All your worst farts are thus tolerated. Do unto others as you would want to be treated. By people in 2022.

[@MikeDavis-q2h]

Haven't seen you in ages. Glad to find you again, I dig this shit.

[@vintagechild4418]

Native Detroiter, never knew the history. What a shame the disrespect given the Native American lands.Perhaps the ancestor spirits are getting revenge! Detroit politics has had its corruption problems since the beginning. Used to be influenced by organized crime. I left in 1973, no regrets.

[@ChrisHarden]

Yeah that whole generation back then across the U.S. didn't care about Native American lands.

[@josephburchell3031]

I lived on that street that you made a left onto before the Fort Street Bridge, it's called Flora st. I lived at the very end of the street. 10202 Flora St. To be exact. Me and my brothers use to walk across that bridge into oakwood to go to the oakwood market, and Gonellas. We use to venture under the vidock which is i75 and go fishing, we found all sorts of things dumped off in Delray, abandoned stolen cars, random junk we use to take back to the junkyard and make money.

[@beckysnyder4591]

Chris Harden-- I got so excited when you turned down Calvary & the onto Driggs. I grew up on Driggs back in the 1950's till 1963. My Dad passed in 1961 & Mom remarried in June of 1963 to a Man that lived in a very small town in Northwest Ohio. What a culture shock that was. LOL!!! I was 14 at the time. There are times I still miss Detroit. But it has really fallen compared to back then. I will always Love Detroit.

[@David53D]

In the early 70's my girlfriend took me to a French Bakery in Delray near the foot of the Ambassidor Bridge with rum puffs and French coffee and a gay dude serving us. There were still many original residents residing in the area. I also drove my best buddy in 1968 to Fort Wayne for his military induction.

[@ItsaRomethingeveryday]

It's truly astonishing what's become of Detroit and surrounding areas

[@madelinethomasian9156]

It used to be known as zone 9. As the zip code ended in 9. Many armenians lived in delray during 50s

[@mark_nemecek]

10:30 - That's Holy Cross Hungarian Catholic Church, one of few churches and organizations still active in the neighborhood.

[@slomny]

That was an awesome video! loved it

[@ChrisHarden]

Thanks!

[@yone5499]

You should talk to a professor from the University of Michigan - Dearborn named Kent Murray. He was doing a lot of research to help the people of Delray, specifically with the horrible problem of lead contamination in the soil there. I'm not sure if he still teaches there, but a conversation with him could bring some interesting insight on the situation that plagues the people in that area.

[@Truetoo102]

Ha, the geese have turned gangsta! Seriously enjoying your videos on Detroit.I was stationed across from Belle Isle in the late 80s. I've seen a lot of East side Detroit.

[@ChrisHarden]

No kidding. They'll attack you if you step on their territory. No threat of having cops arresting them either.

[@thxdts]

Great job on the video! I recently checked out the Delray area and Belanger Park. I shot some drone videos from the park that I will upload soon.

[@basmatine]

Del Rey was my playground in the early 2000’s. I lived in Corktown and would ride my bike through Del Rey once a week on my way to Wyandotte. DelRey cafe was a welcome watering hole around the halfway point.

[@wolfiethedog76]

Motorcycle or regular bike?

[@robertkaspert4092]

I was born at the Delray Hospital 1951 lived there till 1979 I had a good time it was nice place. It had a lot of stores.

[@sallymay3643]

I love hearing all history u talk about. That must b a job researching it all✌🇺🇲

[@ChrisHarden]

Sure is 😵‍💫😵😂 thank you!

[@michaelnoble6027]

Hello Sally how are you doing today and your family wishing you a blessed week.

[@janibeg3247]

Fort Wayne - used to be a Selective Service induction center for draft physicals

[@MsBigBubba]

YUP! I still remember during Vietnam War, YUGE OBESE Army Doctor made us get up on a line 12 across told us to BEND OVER and SMILE as he pulled on that little Playtex Examination Glove! One young fella said GEE Doc Yo sure has a BIG Finger and that YUGE OBESE Army Doctor dryly replied ""FINGER WHAT FINGER""????

[@KrashyKharma]

Thanks for this! As a juggalo I only know about Delray from it being ICP's hometown so I appreciate the look around 🤘

[@kevinakakp9120]

I can always see something great, even in this area. This neighborhood can become a new clean high tech industry hub, solar farm, a reservoir, a clean water facility, and some parks snd reserves.

[@pjf03131979]

It's a crazy place. I grew up on the east side of Detroit. Have a mother and father who never fought and are still together strong as ever 42 years later. Middle class raised and in our neighborhood we had quite a few houses that were in total ruins my duration of growing up. It was just kinda how it was and to us, we had grown up around it, witnessed it daily so it became the norm and I believe since I grew up in that environment, it never felt as truly bad as it was because I hadn't known any different. Upon others visiting from out of town or state, it was their amazement and curiosity about where they were and their need to investigate the "bandos" that led us to begin to feel different about our environment. In the early 90's we spent the entire summer vacation driving from Michigan to California stopping at the larger National parks along the way. It was this trip that was my first experience witnessing other neighborhoods and the country for the first time that had all of my brothers and I feeling like the street over from us was a dump and gave us a taste of just how different it was beyond ours. Both our mom and dad grew up on California and their small northern California town of Hollister was our ending destination and we didnt want to go home to the nasty air and constant cloud cover or winters with snow and school where the classrooms were so cold you had to stay bundled up in jackets and gloves with a beanie on to focus. That same year in December was also when I witnessed my first murder and saw that the body had been laying in the street until the sun began to rise in the morning before any crime scene investigation or any cops showed up. Sadly, this wasnt the last actual murder I witnessed and in our high school their was two very prolific murder for hire "hitnen" that attended. Gangs were crazy and i had many friends that had their parka and shoes stolen from them AT SCHOOL! It was also a known thing back then late 80's early 90's that if you got knocked out in a fight the person was to slam you're head into the concrete once you were unconcious. The year after we graduated a student was murdered on campus at the high s hook we attended. He was the quarter back of the varsity football team and he didnt give up his Jordan's. His shoes got him killed in the locker room at school and the case is well known. Just like Vince Smothers or "Vito" as hes known that was a killer that was a unassuming seemingly nice guy. My high school like many other public schools is now in ruins and you can find KZbin videos of people exploring it. Very sad. In 2003 we all left. My twin brother and I enrolled in a California university in Chico and have never looked back. Parents love being back in their hometown and I now live in arizona with my family. I'm tempted to go back to Detroit sometimes and enjoy videos of the blight. Its soothing for so.e reason. Probably just that feeling of comfort when I was a kid that I'm now responsible for providing to mine that gets me feeling like well, happy that has me interested. Good stuff man thank you for the nostalgia

[@williamfleming5740]

My family live in Delray back when it was a beautiful city we had three movie theaters on Jefferson and three movies theaters on Fort Street we had nice schools we had the McMillan the Morley and the Carey School everybody got along together black white Mexican and we had a good time but then everybody start to move out and Industry moved in and took over there already it'll never be the same because those was the bygone days but good memories

[@willhazen9507]

The tower you pass in the railroad yard very early in the video is Delray Tower, notable as the last manual interlocking tower in Michigan. It's now (as of 2020) remotely controlled from Jacksonville, FL. Another job that left this neighborhood.

[@warriorprincessharmony]

What?

[@robertcurtis2340]

The music is great and very fitting for the scenery.

[@TJ-USMC]

Excellent and Informative Video !!!

[@williamstamper442]

At 3:34 I recognize that street...when I worked for a local alarm company as a serviceman I'd buy lunch at the original Gonella's then go down that street before the i-75 overpass and park there to eat my sub sandwich. There was Nobody around that's why I would go there.

[@franklinanderson7389]

GM's Fleetwood and Turnstill plant were on Fort street. There was a Polish community there too.

[@AnthonyTucker-sl4zj]

I love Delray for the genuine,hardworking,down-to-earth esidents of that neighborhood!! Being MAIMED by Detroit Receiving Hospitas' gross ineptitude,I've suffered visual deficits and have been prohibited from driving,so I've WALKED through this neighborhood often since 2003,and have really apreciated this blue-collar area,of neatly manicured lawns and freshly painted domiciles!! ❤

[@tmmartinesq.6216]

Michigan has lost population (due to the decline of Big 3 auto industry) and that is why we have lost yet another U.S. Congressional district going from 19 to 13. Jobs matter.

[@Golfing422]

Politicians sell jobs to China.

[@paulbergen9114]

Milwaukee has its.blight zones and some areas continue to wither away. In the early 1980s I remember gondola rail cars headed to AO Smith to be made into auto frames. Much of the steel came from National Steel or McLouth in Detroit and each had a big chalk scrawl " SAVE POLE TOWN DETROIT" Things haven't gone too well in Delray and 90% of AO Smith was leveled and remains vacant with 3000 jobs kissed off. Note the cars were marked in chalk not spray paint graffiti. There was even a switching line called Delray Connecting. Thanks for the sad but interesting tour.

[@ultimatevixn]

where have ya been? good to see ya.. I enjoy your videos