May 5, 1973: My New Chicago Neighborhood
	Return to Index for 1973

Since I moved up to Chicago, when I have wanted to "get out of town" I have either gone down to Indianapolis or, more often, over to Muskegon to visit my Aunt Marguerite. This weekend was one of those trips.

Chicago is by far the biggest city I have ever lived in, and it is taking me a while to get used to it. After a month or two of being in the city I get the urge to hightail it out of town back to someplace smaller, and I find that driving the four hours over to Muskegon to see my Aunt to be one of the out-of-town trips that can relax me.

Typically, I can leave the bank right at five; on the days when I've planned a trip to Muskegon, I take my car downtown and park it for the day so I don't have to go all the way back up to my apartment to get it. Then I can just head south on Lake Shore Drive to the Chicago Skyway and over to northwestern Indiana on I-90. I-90 takes me over to I-94 and that heads up into southern Michigan while I-90 continues on east through northern Indiana.

When I-94 turns east to head over to Detroit, I can take I-196 that continues to head northeast towards Grand Rapids. I don't go that far though; at Holland, Michigan, I get on US Highway 31 that goes all the way into Muskegon as it parallels the Lake Michigan shoreline.

When I get to Muskegon, I have a few options, but to me the easiest is to turn west on either Apple Avenue or Marquette Avenue and go two miles into town and then onto Seaway Boulevard. I notice that some of the roads I was using back then have been renamed, but in essence I take what we always called the Causeway around the north end of Muskegon Harbor.

The causeway goes through Veterans Park where we often stopped when we came back here in the summer from North Carolina. When I get to North Muskegon, there's a little shortcut that takes me through a small business district and then onto Ruddiman Drive. This beautiful two-land road goes along the north shore of the harbor, and is somewhat elevated, so there are nice views of the city of Muskegon across the harbor.

At left is an aerial view that shows where my Aunt's house is relative to Ruddiman Drive. I have been to my Aunt's house more times than I can count, and from an early age I could find my way to it easily. Before we moved from Muskegon to Charlotte, my Dad and Mom and sister and I would go out there frequently. Then, when we came back here in the summers, we would also spend a great deal of time there- particularly after my grandmother died and we no longer spent any time in the house on Houston Avenue.

When we stopped coming so often in the summer, I was in junior high and high school, and then in college at Davidson, so trips as a family slacked off, and I don't think that I came to Muskegon more than once between 1960 and when I entered the Army in 1968. I recall that during my training at Fort Harrison in the fall of 1968, I drove up to visit once, and when I returned to Fort Harrison after returning from Korea, I also drove up to visit a few times.

And now that I am over in Chicago, like I say, Muskegon makes a nice weekend getaway. So coming down Ruddiman Drive, I know right where to turn right onto Plymouth Road. The road goes only a hundred feet or so before Mills Avenue branches off to the right while Plymouth Road continues to the left. My aunt's house is pretty much right at that intersection. It's nice, because from her living room window, she can look right down that short bit of Plymouth Road and across Ruddiman to the harbor and the city on the other side.

When my aunt knows I'm coming, she leaves the front door open if she goes to bed before I arrive. (You might find that unusual, that my widowed Aunt would even consider leaving a door unlocked, but 1973 was a lot different than today; my aunt knew all her neighbors and all of them watched out for each other. Also, North Muskegon was always considered one of the nicest areas of Muskegon, and was very, very safe. Finally, Muskegon was itself a relatively small town, with all that this implies. So, while my aunt would of course lock the door normally, she thought nothing of leaving it unlocked for an hour or two if she went to bed at ten and I arrived at eleven.

Perhaps you've seen my Aunt's house on other album pages, but in case you haven't, here is the way the house looks today, sometime around 2015. I didn't take this picture, of course; it is courtesy of Google Maps "Street View". But I can tell you that were I to put a picture of the house from my visit this weekend (had I taken one) right beside this picture, the only difference you would note would be that the trees have grown higher.

My Aunt's house hasn't changed at all; even the furnishings are all the same as I remember them from visits when I was a kid. That makes it very comforting and restful to come visit, and I always have a good time. My Aunt likes to play Cribbage, and she has taught me, but I'll admit that she is much better than I am. My Aunt also plays bridge, and on this trip she arranged a game at her house with her best friend Grace Frauenthal and another lady whose name I have forgotten.

I usually take her out somewhere to eat at least once, and we also either drive to the lake or into Muskegon or to visit some of the people that my Dad and Mom knew here. But I am happy just to relax with my Aunt, read, or watch something interesting on television.

I actually only took two pictures on this trip (I have so many that I have taken before), and I took both of them when Aunt Marguerite and I walked across Ruddiman to sit on one of the benches where you can look out over the harbor. This year, Lake Michigan has been at about the highest level in forever, and so lots of the cities and towns around the lake have had to take steps to protect shorelines and homes that might be right on the water. The two pictures I took were of the high lake levels that had partially submerged the boat ramp that used to be right across Ruddiman. (It actually hasn't been used in many years, as the parking area for it was taken over for new homes.)

This weekend was just one of the many visits I made to Muskegon while I was working at Continental Bank in Chicago.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	May 5, 1973: My New Chicago Neighborhood
	Return to Index for 1973