Saturday, December 8, 2012

Flint Photos: Welch Blvd. Pharmacy, 1971 and 2009


 Welch Blvd. Pharmacy, a popular destination for neighborhood kids, at its original location near the corner of N. Chevrolet Avenue, sometime in the early seventies.
 

The storefront in 2009 when it was serving as a satellite campaign office for candidate and soon-to-be mayor Dayne Walling.


13 comments:

  1. Hmmm, I wonder why "LIQUOR" is the biggest word on the sign?

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  2. @Gordon, LOL! It was very popular, I'm guessing. ;)

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  3. Across the street from the "Della Theatre".

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    1. Loved Gene Autry at the Della
      Circa 1950.

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  4. Hey would it be possible when you post these to include the Google map so we can see what it looks like (today) and where it is (my geography isn't what it used to be).

    Thanks Gordie!

    http://goo.gl/maps/udsIO

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  5. Spent a lot of time on this strip. Grampa got his scripts here after the place on Detroit Street became too far to walk. There was a five and dime to the right and it became more of a stop and rob over the years. Then we flipped to the other side of the street for the drug store there (it may have replaced this one-Terry was the owner of the new one). Anita's was next door which was Luigi's Pizza when I was young. The theatre was gone and a bank with drive thru replaced it. Not a nice part of town anymore. When my dad died in 1995, we had stopped going for coffee everyday about a year or so before. It just wasn't safe and the bank was rubbed on regular basis as was the drug store and eatery. And at night, the take out pizza place and liquor store were scary. Even Baskin Robbins left the strip early on.

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    1. I used to go there a lot, and when it moved accross the street i rember them rolling the giant safe accross the street through traffic! Little did I know that some years later i would work behind the counter for a couple of years. The owner was Terry Skougland in '82 thru '84. The foodstore next to the original location was "Joubrans market" in the late seventies, and evryone waited out front for a "buyer" unless you knew a stock boy who would put the beer out back for you. I still have my Genessee Bankbook from that location next door. Jerry Etzler

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  6. Yikes at the Walling campaign promises.

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  7. Don't forget the shoe repair shop and beer and wine behind the drug store...........can't think of their names now.

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    1. It was 'Johnnie's Shoe Repair,' owned by John Capua; can't remember who owned the beer store.
      I spent a lot of time on that 'strip,' as my dad managed the Fred Elliott's shoe store next to the 5 & dime store (Murray's). My friends and I spent nearly every Saturday afternoon at the Della's Matinees; I can remember when the admission price was $.14. The hardware store was 'Glen Roy's' and don't forget the 'Buttercup Bakery' and the 'Carol Lynn Shop,' owned by Madeline Sundwick. The Bank actually started on the North side of the street, then built new on the South side.
      That was quite a 'thriving' shopping area in it's day.

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    2. I think the beer and wine was called Ken’s. I remember a fellow that would come in and order “10 cents coke please”. Regardless of the actual cost Ken would charge him ten cents.

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  8. Johnny's Shoe Repair behind the drug store on Stockdale is still there & thriving. I also remember the Saturday matinees at the Della & the Welch Blvd. hardware. Still living in the Civic park area & NOT going anywhere.

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    1. Right on Dave; I wish more people had the balls to stay and fight for what's theirs. I moved into the city in 2004 (after most of my family white-flighted years before) and I'm not going anywhere either.

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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.