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Review Grixdale
Grixdale Farms Needs Help.
3.5
rating
By
JulianaMoon (
Dec 29, 2017)
I used to live in Grixdale Farms on West Nevada. 172 to be exact. I just looked at our family home, and I am crying. This house was in our family since 1925. My brother was literally chased out in 2006. He left with the clothes on his back, his car, and his dog and still suffers ...Read More
PTSD from what happened to him by the tenants he rented the upstairs flat to. I always hoped one day I would buy back the house and restore it. Someone has owned it since 2008, and hasn't done anything to it, and now the taxes are behind. They have let my family home, my precious memories, and all the love and care 3 generations of my family put into that house just fall apart and rot away. This may have been just a piece of property to them, but it is my history, my siblings history, my fathers and aunt and uncles history, and my grandparents history.To me this is the best place in Detroit to renovate, and I don't know why West Nevada looks so awful. It is 10 minutes from everything. Literally. I used to take a cab to Mr. Mike's Restaurant on Woodward in Detroit, where I worked, and it took less than 10 minutes to get downtown. You are 5 minutes to Ferndale and 10 to Royal Oak, Southfield, Warren and anyplace else you might work or decide to spend the day at. You are surrounded by freeways to get you to the areas further out. You have Palmer Park Golf Course down the street, Marygrove College in bike riding distance, the shops on Livernois, and so many up and coming new attractions and entertainment springing up in Highland Park, the University District, and every area surrounding Grixdale Farms. But Grixdale Farms looks like nobody cares about it. It looks like it is crying for salvation, and I can't do anything. I am trapped out of state or I would be there because I CARE. I CARE about our old neighborhood.Our family home at 172 West Nevada was filled with so much love and so many memories. I have sooooo many family pictures from the 1930's to the late 1990's, when I had to leave. My grandmother used to lay out in the sun on the porch upstairs. The man across the street used to whistle at her, so she put lounge chairs around the whole railing so he couldn't watch her. My grandfather owned a market at 3rd and Alexandrine in Detroit, and during the depression, my grandmother would be up all night cooking and making food for the 150+ people that would be lined up at her back door at 10:00 am for a hot meal. My grandfather raised carrier pigeons in the garage for the war. World War II. My Uncle Bob was murdered Easter Sunday at the local hangout at 6 Mile and Woodward breaking up a fight. He told my grandparents he was going to midnight mass, but didn't. This was in the late 1940's and it was a huge news story in Detroit. They caught the killers. Members of "The 7 Mile Gang". My grandfather never came home after that. He was too devastated that his son, 18 years old and having just received a football scholarship to MSU, was murdered. It broke his heart so bad, he had a heart attack in his store and died.Every Sunday we would go to my grandmothers house for dinner. I would sit on the front steps and watch cute boys play in the street, and later I would polish my fingernails on the steps and watch cute young men drive by. We always had the family in both units. My grandmother would be downstairs, and my aunt and uncle would be upstairs, till they bought their own home on West Nevada closer to Woodward. Than my uncle and his new bride would be upstairs, than cousins and so on. When everyone started moving away, my grandmother moved upstairs, and started renting out the downstairs. Than, when she was too old to care for the house, she moved to an assisted living apartment and sold the house to my brother for next to nothing. I moved in shortly after, and we had so much fun in that house. I met my ex husband at Ted's on the Park restaurant in 1985. I loved that house, and when my husband and I moved to the apartments at State Fair and Woodward, I went to my brothers almost everyday. Everyday up until 2000, when I left the state. I did not want to leave, but I had to. Then the break ins started. He put burglar bars on the basement windows, but the thieves tied the bars on one window to a van and ripped them out, and stole everything. So, we put burglar bars on the whole downstairs. Drugs took over some of the houses on the street. We would watch rich suburban kids come to buy crack from the house across the street. As soon as it got busted, another one would pop up. My brother heard gunshots one evening. he peeked out the window, and somebody collapsed on his front porch. Than, a car sped up to his house, took the man shot, threw him in the trunk and took off. My brother spent the next day cleaning blood stains off of his front porch. We don't know what happened to the victim, or if the police ever caught them. It increasingly got worse and worse till my brother was forced out in 2006. It was a beautiful house with so many memories for our family, that we still talk about them all of the time. I cannot believe the bricks are all missing from one side of the house. Why? Why did these people buy the house to just let it rot away? The trees we used to play under are all grown over the house. Weeds have turned into trees and the place is a mess. A few years back it was in good enough shape outside to refurbish. I was hoping it would go on the market or be auctioned off so I could buy it. Now, it is too far gone for me to ever refurbish it. It really was a wonderful area, and it can be again. I just can't help if I can't live in my grandmothers house. I am angry that the current owners did nothing to save the house. I thought if you bought a house in the city at a tax auction, you had to fix it up and live in it or rent it out. It will take time, but I know this neighborhood can be a jewel again. This is the area you drive through to get downtown. The first impression people get of our beautiful city is the State Fair area and Grixdale. To not refurbish it would be a blow to everyone that has worked so hard on the rest of our city. Tourists will go home and say it is an awful place. Because they remember the 7 Mile and Woodward area. Grixdale Farms. My home.https://www.google.com/maps/@42.4245073,-83.105075,3a,19.7y,325.31h,92.4t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sKol21XMcfqJ7dUbU-zziqQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
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Family friendlyPublic transit is accessibleWalkable to grocery storesYards are well-keptLots of parksWalkable to restaurantsFriendly neighbors Safe at night Pet friendly Streets have sidewalksA quiet areaSense of community
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Compare Detroit, MI Livability
F
Amenities
Are there many local amenities in
Grixdale?
Well, there are not many amenities close to this location.
Parks
Yakisch Playground
Dequindre-Grixdale Park
Dequindre-Emery Playlot
Conant Gardens Association Park
Twork Park
Conant-Minnesota Park
Hawthorne Park
Russell-Maderiea
Entertainment
Hamtramck Disneyland
Splash Park
Renaissance Bowling
Olympus Theater
Planet Ant Theater
Ant Hall
Hamtramck Historical Museum
Detroit Repertory Theater
Food & Drink
Keynote Lounge
Pete's Grill Coney Island
Pelzers Party Shoppe
L.A. Coney Island
McDonald's
KFC
Subway
Popeyes
A+
Commute
Is public transit available in Grixdale?
Of all people who commute,
0.0% take public transportation in
Grixdale.