Monday, January 3, 2011

Flint Photos: Corner of Garland Street and Third Avenue


This empty block was home to the planned Urban Alternatives House and the restored Jackson Hardy House before an arson fire in October. The empty lot next to the brick house in the background to the right is the former site of Third Avenue Fish & Chips.


The Urban Alternatives House (left) and the Jackson Hardy House (right) before the fire.


The Urban Alternatives House at 519 Garland Street around 1900.



11 comments:

  1. I am seeing Third Avenue Fish and Chips a bit west. I kinda remember having to cross Grand Traverse on the way to Atwood. Wasn't there a cleaners next door? And a funeral home across the street? Wish I had my old map handy. My friend Celeste lived two blocks east on Garland (northwest corner of 3rd) so we often walked to the games.

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  2. Jan, I'm pretty sure on the location of Third Ave. Fish and Chips. The brick house in the background is owned by the guys featured in the NY Times story on Carriage Town, and the restaurant was still there when they moved in. The site is now their well-manicured side yard. They were even able to salvage some of the old restaurant plates before the building was torn down. So, in a way, the spirit of the place — or at least the plates — lives on.

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    1. Wow Gordon Young I think my grandpa Ernest Tomczak was the owner of that resturant but I am not sure I have to ask my sister. He passed on a long time ago he made his own fish recipe from scratch. I wish I had that recipe and I wish I had the resturant plates for remembrance of my grandpa.

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  3. All the arson hurts, but these case was especially painful. Those two buildings had a great past and a bright future.

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  4. As a graduate landscape architect at ROWE, I was assisting Dr. Hill-Rowley (my former professor) and THA with the landscape design component of the project. The Urban Alternatives House (UAH) was part of the Sustainable Sites Initiative and one of only 3 pilot projects in the State. It's an absolute tragedy that all of HR's years of work and collaborative academic/private partnership literally go up in smoke and it was devastating to see this happen, even from the other side of the continent.

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  5. Gordie, you are right re: the Fish n' Chips. That is my brother's yard now - and I remember the building still being there when he bought it (and oddly, seems like it still smelled of fried fish until it was demo'd!)

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  6. I LOVED! 3rd Avenue Fish & Chips! =^O

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  7. Gordon is correct - The Third Avenue Fish & Chips was exactly where it is now vacant next to the brick house - I remember distinctly because the house directly across the street on the corner of Third Ave. and Lyon Pl. was the house that my drummer Greg Gorton lived in with several room mates. The house was called the "Animal House" because of the wild parties and the group of guys who were renting the place. Our band called "Vandal" used to rehearse in the basement of that house in a very small room with egg crates all over the walls to cut down on the noise factor... As many times as we rehearsed and hung out there, I don't believe I ever walked across the street to get a meal at the Fish & Chips - I musta missed out... Great memories!

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  8. There was a Hair Salon on the northwest corner of Third Ave. and Lyon Place, owned by Jack Fischer. There was a bus problem and I walked there with a family member when I was about 5 years old in the 1950s. I remember walking down Cadillac St. and seeing the Soap Box Derby lane markings as we walked. I also remember stopping by Third Ave. Fish and Chips over the years.

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    1. Do you happen to know what happened to the family who owned Jacks ??? Jack. June and son Tim.

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  9. My Aunt worked at 3rd Avenue Fish & Chips for Herman. That was way back in the late 50's & early 60's

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Thanks for commenting. I moderate comments, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You might enjoy my book about Flint called "Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City," a Michigan Notable Book for 2014 and a finalist for the 33rd Annual Northern California Book Award for Creative NonFiction. Filmmaker Michael Moore described Teardown as "a brilliant chronicle of the Mad Maxization of a once-great American city." More information about Teardown is available at www.teardownbook.com.