Thanks for the memories! Born in Flint in the early 70s, moved south in '79. I miss Flint's golden age. Lots of museums, things to do, prosperity. There's still Koegel meats--best hot dogs in the universe.
Nothing beats Koegels! One of my best memories was going on ona tour there shortly after moving there. I was born in Detroit in 1980 but moved to Flint in mid 1993 and even then the city looked somewhat decent and kinda thriving. I moved back in 1999-2003 and yeah, it looked a bit rougher but kinda alright. Now it just looks terrible and sad.
Downtown Flint was just beginning to die. The malls were coming in and GM was moving out. Thanks for posting brought back a lot of memories. I lived just a few blocks from downtown on 9th Ave. and Mason St. (a nice neighborhood back then) from 1959-1969. Only 10 years but as a kid it seemed like a lifetime.
I was born in 1966. I grew up on Lake Fenton. I can still remember how my mom would take us 4 kids to Downtown Flint...to shop...and get lunch at "Smith Bridgmans". I remember eating up at the 2nd floor...and watching people ride up to the 2nd floor on the "escalator"...to come eat at the restaurant. I'm m proud to say that ALL my childhood memories of being in a city...was in Flint, Michigan.
I was born in Flint to in 1966 August. I remember my parents taking the 4 of us (children) downtown too. We at at Smith Bridge man's, SS Kresky and the conney island too. We also rode the busses too. Thx.
I was born in Flint in 1956. All my memories are of a great city. I graduated from Southwestern High in 1974. Enlisted in the USAF in 1975 and lived a good life. I wouldn't have wanted to grow up anywhere else. Back then it was perfect.
This video was taken at the very end of the golden era for Flint. I lived within walking distance to downtown not far from Hurley hospital and have many good memories of this town. I haven’t lived there for any length of time since I joined the Air Force in 74 but still consider it home. I’m in my 60s now and seriously doubt that Flint will ever come close to being the town I knew, at least not in my lifetime.
Thanks for posting the retro images of Flint. While I no longer live in Flint, I have many fond memories of Vehicle City from the 50's, 60's, and 70's. (Flint Southwestern Class of '77).
I loved Saginaw Street when it was a brick road and in the summer they would have an Ethnic festival and you could walk up and down Saginaw and try food from various ethnic stands. They closed it off to traffic and had a bandstand and played music all day and into the night. What a great trime to be a teenager the 70's were, we had so much fun back then with little to no worries at all about EVIL in the world. Kids could be kids...
@3:37 the Royal theatre, an adult movie house downtown. Three of us skipped school while in 9th grade at Holmes Jr High. Took the bus downtown to goof off. We got the idea to somehow get into that theatre. We looked all of 15 yrs old but I had always had a really deep voice so I was the "chosen one" to get the tickets. I approached the the ticket window lady, stood on my tip toes and in my deepest voice, "Three please". I looked downward to try to conceal my way underage face. To my surprise, she slipped 3 tickets to me and took my $2.25. I walked a couple store fronts down to my two friends and showed them what I had in my hand.....the holy grail of tickets. The look on their faces! In we went. It was much larger inside that it appears here and very very dark. Not too many customers so we grabbed three seats and saw.......a black and white movie with women running around topless. We were in heaven.
Thanks for that brought back a lot of memories. Don't live there anymore still have some family there. Still miss it though. Always Flint Southwestern Colts. Class of 79
That fire was a super TRAGIC loss! The Dort Music center was a great thing for the residence to become. The Dallas Dort residence - like the Mott residence should have become treasured Michigan landmarks (officially, if they weren't). I also have strong feelings about the wonderful William C. Durant... what of his residence, or his name in Flint, for that matter??!! Flint is was his hometown. He created GM. He brought Mott to Flint. He BUILT Flint into a giant. Billy Durant is all but forgotten!
W.C, Durant had a Bowling Alley at N. Sag. St. and E. Witherbee. There is not a trace of it left nor even the street sign as it is a parking lot now. After Durant died in 1947 my dad started managing the alley around the late 40s until it closed in 1961. The alley had 'pin boys. who reset the pins with mechanical assist as the carriage would be tripped to replace them on their spots. As a young teen I went to work with my dad on weekends, worked the counter, assigned alleys to pinsetters and customers and would set pins at times. One day Mrs. Durant came in (she still owned the alley and several blocks of N. Saginaw St.) and W.C.s old secretary Aristo Scrobogna worked with her, helped collect rent from nearby businesses. I met her that day and talked briefly. There's more to tell but only if someone wants to know and asks me. lylec01@msn.com
Born and raised in Flint. 1937 until 1978 and moved out of state. Downtown was my playground as I lived on Third Ave then. It was a wonderful city. GM started its downhill slide when the accounting people took over the company. No more engineering foresight only quarterly dividends and profits mattered. Roger Smith rode the company right down and sold everyone out. I was third generation employee and the loyal salaried employees were sold down the river by that bastard and his buddies. Will never be the same again. Look what is happening again as they are shutting down plants and moving out of the country.
I miss the good Flint, taking an afternoon with the parents to have some Coney's and take in a Movie. OH MAN, the memories this vidio brought back... Thanks
I left Flint in February 74......once a thriving and wealthy city! No more, but it sure is nice to see these old videos. Thanks! Jack Wood, Kearsley, Class of 67.
Lots of blame to go around. Entitled is an excellent choice of words! I was a UAW member and I can vouch for the fact that there is plenty of blame to go around. So entitled the workers felt they were (a large % of them) they felt invincible as to losing their jobs. The same was true of the arrogant supervision in the plants - I know, I worked for 40 years in Buick, Chevy in the hole, Chevy V8, and AC. I saw it all and it wasn't a pretty picture!!!
It's possible that the song 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton is loosely based on the pitfalls of job sites and their often corrupt management. Especially in Flint as you may have described.
Colts! Take a look at your year book..132 Spence, Dillenger, Sly. Judge Beagle. Hopper Gary Danials ..Bob Boon. Art Bush. Denise Kelsey Ron Spaulding ..Danny Hogan..aka Alfred E Newman . Richard Sovey .check out the blooper on page 206 Robert Spoden and Sue Spafford, 207 Sandra Turner.
Owosso = one super clean, super friendly, and incredibly decent little city. My grandparents lived in Owosso and so did my Aunt and Uncle and my cousins. I would visit (from Flint) and stay for weeks at a time in the summers from 1960 - 69. My younger brother is still a Doctor in downtown Owosso after nearly 40 years. I left Flint in 1968 and moved to Clio. I can't even visit my boyhood neighborhood without fear of being robbed or shot. :( D. Strong, Clio
Feel you! We moved from Chesaning to Flint in 1976…, culture shock! Very familiar with Corunna/Owosso as a kid! We used to visit cousins in Bancroft to get out of Flint! Old neighborhood no longer exists… I lived 5 houses from Haskell Park on Forest Hill
Thank you for posting the video, was born and raised in Flint. I haven't lived there in years. I had some really great memories in Flint. A friend told me the Acid was, OMG THE BEST! At least that's what I heard.
Look it up ! In the 50s Flint had the had the highest middle class income of any place in the world. Born in Detroit 1948 , raised in rural Flint , Dad moved family to California (1962) because of his love for the ocean from his WW2 experiences in the S. Pacific. Good move dad !
My birth place. 1966. Flint Michigan, FOH, Julia Street from 1966 to 2968. Thsn my parents moved of from the Beacher city to Flint, west Rankin street. We lived there from 1968. Me 1968 to 1987 then I joined the navy in November 02 1987.
That corner store was the strip joint and that huge pillar house was awesome before the fire. We lived just streets away from Down Town and this brings back a lot of memories and also many that were not shown. I can't help but think this was a bit earlier, but do not remember so many run down buildings. Your dad and my wedding reception was in the top of the Capitol theatre building,, what fun.
Great film--my life was just beginning, I am an Owosso native, so do not remember this, but do remember growing up in the early 1970s...would like to see more films by Mr. Mucha and others, keep up the good work!
I thought I might see myself somewhere in this video but no luck. In 1969-70 we (my wife and 3 childern) lived on E. 2nd street between St Joseph hospital and Dort Hwy. Worked at Fisher #2 on Van Slyke Rd. and my wife worked at St Joseph. We moved out of the city in 1972 to where we live today in Swartz Creek. Many city memories as I worked downtown making deliveries after school from 1952 to 1955.
Great to see Dayton Avenue and Civic Park Elementary in an earlier time! I wasn’t born at the time this footage was collected but I attended Civic Park from K-6 and grew up in that area in the 80’s-90’s. Downtown definitely looked nothing like this when I was kid! Great to see how things were hustling and bustling back then!
Thankyou, For Posting this! As a Retired Auto worker, It really Hurt me to Learn From a Recent Episode of "Wheeler Dealers" That G.M. and Chevrolet was so far ahead, in the 1960's with the Chevrolet Corvair, That was Ruined by a Book, "Unsafe at any speed" Ralph Nader(1965). To Find out that Porche same year, Stole the Technology, Starting the Bombardment of Imports! And, so many Lost Good American Jobs! Not Only Flint would suffer but the Whole U.S. Economy is Gone Forever! Thanks to Flint NASA had a Lunar Rover!
No, the unsafe Corvair was ruining lives, and it needed to be exposed. The blame properly belongs with Chevrolet, for allowing a vehicle which they knew - and which they have been proven to have known - was unsafe, to be marketed and sold to the uninformed American public for the seven or eight years of its production run. A book didn't ruin a city; a dangerous car ruined lives. Let's be clear about this and stop blaming journalism for doing what journalism is meant to do: INFORM and PROTECT living people.
I was born in Flint in 1955 and went to Dewey School on Saginaw St until I was in first grade . We moved to Chicago but we came back to Flint for vacation . Our family lived in Flint , Fenton , Flushing and most everyone worked in the plants . I remember a dairy on the corner of Myrtle and Saginaw , great ice cream and going to the A&W for root beer and coneys . I was just a little guy but it was a great time to grow up then . It’s sad to see how things are now in Flint and other cities and towns in Michigan . I do remember some things but I’m older now and the memories are fading , but once there was a Great City and way of life in Flint Michigan .
I was born IN Flint in 1949. I wrote a tune about the town I remember as a boy. You would have had to been with me in those days to appreciate the magnitude of the decay over the years. I agree with you 100%. I seriously doubt that the town will ever revive to even half of its former glory. The downtown shows signs of new life with it becoming a college town. They are renovating the glorious Capitol theater, so who knows.. - a Flint boy : (
I thought they renovated the Capitol Theater for the filming of Semi-Pro and "Hollywood" paid for that.. I remember it as being around 100K that the entertainment industry put into it.
Didn't get to visit Flint until 2003. Living in GB for a few years. The area has true potential for greatness, if the proper business could move in. I like the area. Would like to have seen the real city, 40 years ago.
Very cool Video.. there are pics of the school where my Grandmother used to teach and a shot of the MI Bell office building where my Grandfather worked....wow
NO, not at all. Flint was a blue collar working town with really good paying jobs. That is until General Motors pulled out. The city has shrunken dramatically in population. There are no jobs and very little hope in this once-beautiful city that is dying a slow, miserable death.
I went to my first concert ever at the old Flint IMA Auditorium in 1976 which was Foghat I saw a Lynyrd Skynyrd in November 5th 1976 on the one more from the road tour at the Flint IMA Auditorium in 1978 I saw Thin Lizzy warming up for Blue Oyster Cult there... the Flint IMA Auditorium had all the best bands there until they shut down late 1979 .. then they switched it to the Flint IMA Sports Arena which I saw a few concerts there like Krokus warming up for Rainbow I n 1981
I remember how Flint was in the 50's and early 60's. Had graduation ceremony at the IMA in 1964. Would go to the movies every Saturday at the Palace or Capital and have a coney at the one by the river. I would buy clothes at A.M. Davison"s or Robert"s David Allen.
*Thank you for sharing those fond memories! In June* *of 1964, do you recall the three class A Flint high* *schools (SW, Central and Northern) having a joint* *graduation ceremony at Atwood Stadium on Third* *Avenue?*
Hi! I'd like to use a little bit of your video in a montage for a documentary I'm making. If the video doesn't belong to you, can you point me in the right direction? If there's a business email I can contact you with to discuss this further, that would be great. Thanks!
The houses were being demolished to make way for I-475. I wish they picked a different route, but connecting all the auto plants (now gone) was the priority.
Wish the photographer hadn't centered his photos in the Durant Hotel area so much. Thought I caught a glimpse of Smith Bridgemans but couldn't be positive as the camera panned so fast.
Angelos was on Franklin over by AC..Flint's Original, and Mikes was downtown at the tracks..You could get beer in the coney islands downtown...Three coneys and a Strohs went down real nice...
back when flint was full of life and people were fullof life . back when GM ran the city , when things were great . before all the greed stole the life from this once great city . i called home from 1978 to 2013.
my exact thought man that live inside looking out would have been perfect good 9 minutes just like this.. and they're from fucking Flint oh the irony.. and then you could show Flint from 2014 on and play the standells dirty water 😱😱
I was born in Flint in 1965 and lived here all my life and on the whole eastside. Still here too! It has really gotten bad. It was so much better in the distant past! .
get out there bob, if you can. I was living on the southwest side up until the last 3 and half years. even had the hookers walking down the street on Fenton Road near Atherton.
I would LOVE to John if I had A ton of money. Life is BEST in other STATES now where they don't have a lot of problems that Flint has! Where are you at now John?? In another State?
@@bobcummings8228 moved out towards Davison. good luck Bob. I know it's rough in the city anymore. I grew up on the northwest side. great then. not so much nowadays.
Wow. Downtown Flint was really run down by the late 60s. Factories and train tracks all over the place, buildings with trees growing out of them, tattered storefronts. Looks like Gary, Indiana. People complain about how much was torn down, but imagine how much worse it would look today.
That's what happens when Democrats run the city into the ground, getting greedy with the taxes they wanted from GM, GM said screw it, pulled up stakes and started moving out.
@@BobbyTucker Yeah sadly these cities got greedy. Before too long taxes and regulations drove much of the industry out. detroit still hasn't learned that lesson, even after a bankruptcy
@@BobbyTucker That's right Bobby Boy..Blame it on the democrats..Listen buddy,the republicans were a part of the problems too..Both parties are corrupt you old boomer..
And now all of the neighborhoods are extremely dangerous even in the middle of the afternoon. My old street (near Dupont and Pasadena) had three drug related killings in only one week! And when I was a boy.. Forrest park had a petting zoo where mom used to take me and my brother for picnic lunches. Drugs were pretty much unknown in Flint in the 1950s and 60s. I hate to say it but you are pretty much correct. The blacks moved in, we moved out, and the drugs flourished! : ( Dave, a Flint boy
i grew up in flint, just down the road from you. (fleming rd. area between pierson and carpenter.) my friend lived on dupont across from forrest park. the house is gone now.
weird recommend video but fitting i suppose. My parents were born around there I lived in places like flint,burton, grand blanc on and off from 84-99 then escaped the cold lived in oklahoma until nov. 21 moved to backto mi. clio this time but visited parents in flint a few times but moved back to oklahoma a year later. Im not a snow or fan of my family lol but I do have some respect for flint history. I walked the waterstreet pavillion before it was closed, road on the train at crossroads village and one year trick or treat in a blizzard dressed as godzilla lol also to this day I eat olives on my hamburgers because of halo burger.
That burnt building was the former Dallas Dort residence. It had been turned into a music center. Its stood where the current Dort Music building is now on Kearsley Street.
The auto industry (GM, specifically) was the only thing Flint ever had. Boggles the mind how entitled the population felt they were and continues to feel -- in Flint, MI... Big gub'ment idiots deserve everything you get and then some.
Paul ..Yeah Reagan screwed this country up ..Governments the problem he said while making it bigger..Nothing wrong with goverment,just people like you with a one track minds,or lack of..
You know something? I'll have to agree with you 1,000,000 percent on this. Look at Flint - four members of its city council are members of the black community - of which one of them is councilman Eric Mays.
Thanks for the memories! Born in Flint in the early 70s, moved south in '79. I miss Flint's golden age. Lots of museums, things to do, prosperity. There's still Koegel meats--best hot dogs in the universe.
Nothing beats Koegels! One of my best memories was going on ona tour there shortly after moving there.
I was born in Detroit in 1980 but moved to Flint in mid 1993 and even then the city looked somewhat decent and kinda thriving. I moved back in 1999-2003 and yeah, it looked a bit rougher but kinda alright. Now it just looks terrible and sad.
@@Turbotef dang near everything is abandoned anymore. I urbex there often. Maybe once or twice a week and my god.. the history.
That’s the only hot dog that counts!
Mmmmmm, eyeballs! 👁️👁️👁️
Downtown Flint was just beginning to die. The malls were coming in and GM was moving out. Thanks for posting brought back a lot of memories. I lived just a few blocks from downtown on 9th Ave. and Mason St. (a nice neighborhood back then) from 1959-1969. Only 10 years but as a kid it seemed like a lifetime.
We were neighbors I lived on 5th Avenue, And Lyon St. Small world.
I was born in 1966. I grew up on Lake Fenton. I can still remember how my mom would take us 4 kids to Downtown Flint...to shop...and get lunch at "Smith Bridgmans". I remember eating up at the 2nd floor...and watching people ride up to the 2nd floor on the "escalator"...to come eat at the restaurant. I'm m proud to say that ALL my childhood memories of being in a city...was in Flint, Michigan.
I was born in Flint to in 1966 August. I remember my parents taking the 4 of us (children) downtown too. We at at Smith Bridge man's, SS Kresky and the conney island too. We also rode the busses too. Thx.
To bad they did not show the "Original Angelo's Coney Island"
Now they had the GREATEST CONEYS EVER!!!
Miss them days.
I was born in Flint in 1956. All my memories are of a great city. I graduated from Southwestern High in 1974. Enlisted in the USAF in 1975 and lived a good life. I wouldn't have wanted to grow up anywhere else. Back then it was perfect.
What a shame it could not last!
@@johnmucha8079 Are you related to the Mucha's from Flushing?
Michael Cap Who in particular?
This video was taken at the very end of the golden era for Flint. I lived within walking distance to downtown not far from Hurley hospital and have many good memories of this town. I haven’t lived there for any length of time since I joined the Air Force in 74 but still consider it home. I’m in my 60s now and seriously doubt that Flint will ever come close to being the town I knew, at least not in my lifetime.
Thanks for posting the retro images of Flint. While I no longer live in Flint, I have many fond memories of Vehicle City from the 50's, 60's, and 70's. (Flint Southwestern Class of '77).
The 50's? I graduated from FC '79.
I graduated from Flint Central 1979 Staying Alive in 79 Flint Michigan birthplace of General Motors UAW
Flint Southwestern, Class of '67
Flint Southwestern Class of 1970
I loved Saginaw Street when it was a brick road and in the summer they would have an Ethnic festival and you could walk up and down Saginaw and try food from various ethnic stands. They closed it off to traffic and had a bandstand and played music all day and into the night. What a great trime to be a teenager the 70's were, we had so much fun back then with little to no worries at all about EVIL in the world. Kids could be kids...
@3:37 the Royal theatre, an adult movie house downtown. Three of us skipped school while in 9th grade at Holmes Jr High. Took the bus downtown to goof off. We got the idea to somehow get into that theatre. We looked all of 15 yrs old but I had always had a really deep voice so I was the "chosen one" to get the tickets. I approached the the ticket window lady, stood on my tip toes and in my deepest voice, "Three please". I looked downward to try to conceal my way underage face. To my surprise, she slipped 3 tickets to me and took my $2.25. I walked a couple store fronts down to my two friends and showed them what I had in my hand.....the holy grail of tickets. The look on their faces! In we went. It was much larger inside that it appears here and very very dark. Not too many customers so we grabbed three seats and saw.......a black and white movie with women running around topless. We were in heaven.
Thanks for that brought back a lot of memories. Don't live there anymore still have some family there. Still miss it though. Always Flint Southwestern Colts. Class of 79
71..Atherton /Saginaw
Southwestern 78'.
That fire was a super TRAGIC loss! The Dort Music center was a great thing for the residence to become. The Dallas Dort residence - like the Mott residence should have become treasured Michigan landmarks (officially, if they weren't). I also have strong feelings about the wonderful William C. Durant... what of his residence, or his name in Flint, for that matter??!! Flint is was his hometown. He created GM. He brought Mott to Flint. He BUILT Flint into a giant. Billy Durant is all but forgotten!
That Mr. Durant must have been a very nice businessman. Too bad that we don't have another gentleman like this nice guy.
I live in Flint he has stutues and the nicest apt building is named after he. I'd say the average citizen knows who he is
W.C, Durant had a Bowling Alley at N. Sag. St. and E. Witherbee. There is not a trace of it left nor even the street sign as it is a parking lot now. After Durant died in 1947 my dad started managing the alley around the late 40s until it closed in 1961. The alley had 'pin boys. who reset the pins with mechanical assist as the carriage would be tripped to replace them on their spots. As a young teen I went to work with my dad on weekends, worked the counter, assigned alleys to pinsetters and customers and would set pins at times. One day Mrs. Durant came in (she still owned the alley and several blocks of N. Saginaw St.) and W.C.s old secretary Aristo Scrobogna worked with her, helped collect rent from nearby businesses. I met her that day and talked briefly. There's more to tell but only if someone wants to know and asks me. lylec01@msn.com
Born and raised in Flint. 1937 until 1978 and moved out of state. Downtown was my playground as I lived on Third Ave then. It was a wonderful city. GM started its downhill slide when the accounting people took over the company. No more engineering foresight only quarterly dividends and profits mattered. Roger Smith rode the company right down and sold everyone out. I was third generation employee and the loyal salaried employees were sold down the river by that bastard and his buddies. Will never be the same again. Look what is happening again as they are shutting down plants and moving out of the country.
never knew flint could be this small to see so much people from somewhere underated
I miss the good Flint, taking an afternoon with the parents to have some Coney's and take in a Movie. OH MAN, the memories this vidio brought back... Thanks
I remember it all so well. Thank you for a piece of my hometown history! I worked in downtown Flint from 1973-2000.
I'm glad whoever took this video filmed so much. Not just big landmarks, but everyday life in the city
I left Flint in February 74......once a thriving and wealthy city! No more, but it sure is nice to see these old videos. Thanks! Jack Wood, Kearsley, Class of 67.
I was born in this beautiful city, In 1970. Thank you for sharing this wonderful time travel video.I would give anything to go back to this time.
It's wonderful to be reminded of many of these long-gone businesses and buildings.
Beautifully done... every frame is a memory. Johnny you are the man!
2:12 and 3:54 IMA Auditorium. Many great concerts back in the 70’s!
Lots of blame to go around. Entitled is an excellent choice of words! I was a UAW member and I can vouch for the fact that there is plenty of blame to go around. So entitled the workers felt they were (a large % of them) they felt invincible as to losing their jobs. The same was true of the arrogant supervision in the plants - I know, I worked for 40 years in Buick, Chevy in the hole, Chevy V8, and AC. I saw it all and it wasn't a pretty picture!!!
Buick..599
It's possible that the song 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton is loosely based on the pitfalls of job sites and their often corrupt management. Especially in Flint as you may have described.
I've heard the stories myself I agree with you 100%.
My dad worked at the hole
Did you know Jim Unrath,, Charlie Lange or bubba Morley
That was Great! Thanks for the memories, Dan McFarlane Flint Southwestern 1968
Colts! Take a look at your year book..132 Spence, Dillenger, Sly. Judge Beagle. Hopper Gary Danials ..Bob Boon. Art Bush. Denise Kelsey Ron Spaulding ..Danny Hogan..aka Alfred E Newman .
Richard Sovey .check out the blooper on page 206 Robert Spoden and Sue Spafford, 207 Sandra Turner.
Awesome vintage footage Johnny!! I miss me old Flint.
Thanks for taking the time to post this video Mr. Mucha.
Thanks so much for posting this John. Was nice to see the tulips at Haskel and my Civic Park neighborhood. Flint Northern 1981
Mr Span.
Great video. Thank you for posting this historic piece.
Owosso = one super clean, super friendly, and incredibly decent little city. My grandparents lived in Owosso and so did my Aunt and Uncle and my cousins. I would visit (from Flint) and stay for weeks at a time in the summers from 1960 - 69. My younger brother is still a Doctor in downtown Owosso after nearly 40 years. I left Flint in 1968 and moved to Clio. I can't even visit my boyhood neighborhood without fear of being robbed or shot.
:( D. Strong, Clio
My dad moved us out of Flint and to Owosso.
Feel you! We moved from Chesaning to Flint in 1976…, culture shock! Very familiar with Corunna/Owosso as a kid! We used to visit cousins in Bancroft to get out of Flint! Old neighborhood no longer exists… I lived 5 houses from Haskell Park on Forest Hill
@@kirkscobey3031 You moved into my old neighborhood right after my dad moved us out. I miss the old Flint so much.
Thanks for the memories! Moved South in 1974. Still miss it!!
Thank you for posting the video, was born and raised in Flint. I haven't lived there in years. I had some really great memories in Flint. A friend told me the Acid was, OMG THE BEST! At least that's what I heard.
Look it up ! In the 50s Flint had the had the highest middle class income of any place in the world. Born in Detroit 1948 , raised in rural Flint , Dad moved family to California (1962) because of his love for the ocean from his WW2 experiences in the S. Pacific. Good move dad !
My birth place. 1966. Flint Michigan, FOH, Julia Street from 1966 to 2968. Thsn my parents moved of from the Beacher city to Flint, west Rankin street. We lived there from 1968. Me 1968 to 1987 then I joined the navy in November 02 1987.
That corner store was the strip joint and that huge pillar house was awesome before the fire. We lived just streets away from Down Town and this brings back a lot of memories and also many that were not shown. I can't help but think this was a bit earlier, but do not remember so many run down buildings. Your dad and my wedding reception was in the top of the Capitol theatre building,, what fun.
Great film--my life was just beginning, I am an Owosso native, so do not remember this, but do remember growing up in the early 1970s...would like to see more films by Mr. Mucha and others, keep up the good work!
I think I know John Mucha. I think he went to Longfellow. Thanks for posting this. Good memories of Flint.
I thought I might see myself somewhere in this video but no luck. In 1969-70 we (my wife and 3 childern) lived on E. 2nd street between St Joseph hospital and Dort Hwy. Worked at Fisher #2 on Van Slyke Rd. and my wife worked at St Joseph. We moved out of the city in 1972 to where we live today in Swartz Creek. Many city memories as I worked downtown making deliveries after school from 1952 to 1955.
That's cool I was born in 76" in flint.
Great to see Dayton Avenue and Civic Park Elementary in an earlier time! I wasn’t born at the time this footage was collected but I attended Civic Park from K-6 and grew up in that area in the 80’s-90’s. Downtown definitely looked nothing like this when I was kid! Great to see how things were hustling and bustling back then!
My grandfather was a sit down striker
So was my Grand Father...
My grandpa helped lay the brick on Saginaw. Dad worked in plant 9, Chevy in the hole
Mine too ! My Grandfather worked in the Buick plant , most everyone else AC , Fisher Body and Chevrolet
Before my time... all I know is what came after :(
Love your name. Weed & Flint go hand in hand :))
My family lived in Flint 6 generations never seen Flint thanks for the video
Thankyou, For Posting this! As a Retired Auto worker, It really Hurt me to Learn From a Recent Episode of "Wheeler Dealers" That G.M. and Chevrolet was so far ahead, in the 1960's with the Chevrolet Corvair, That was Ruined by a Book, "Unsafe at any speed" Ralph Nader(1965). To Find out that Porche same year, Stole the Technology, Starting the Bombardment of Imports! And, so many Lost Good American Jobs! Not Only Flint would suffer but the Whole U.S. Economy is Gone Forever! Thanks to Flint NASA had a Lunar Rover!
No, the unsafe Corvair was ruining lives, and it needed to be exposed. The blame properly belongs with Chevrolet, for allowing a vehicle which they knew - and which they have been proven to have known - was unsafe, to be marketed and sold to the uninformed American public for the seven or eight years of its production run.
A book didn't ruin a city; a dangerous car ruined lives. Let's be clear about this and stop blaming journalism for doing what journalism is meant to do: INFORM and PROTECT living people.
I was born in Flint in 1955 and went to Dewey School on Saginaw St until I was in first grade . We moved to Chicago but we came back to Flint for vacation . Our family lived in Flint , Fenton , Flushing and most everyone worked in the plants . I remember a dairy on the corner of Myrtle and Saginaw , great ice cream and going to the A&W for root beer and coneys . I was just a little guy but it was a great time to grow up then . It’s sad to see how things are now in Flint and other cities and towns in Michigan . I do remember some things but I’m older now and the memories are fading , but once there was a Great City and way of life in Flint Michigan .
I was born IN Flint in 1949. I wrote a tune about the town I remember as a boy. You would have had to been with me in those days to appreciate the magnitude of the decay over the years. I agree with you 100%. I seriously doubt that the town will ever revive to even half of its former glory. The downtown shows signs of new life with it becoming a college town. They are renovating the glorious Capitol theater, so who knows.. - a Flint boy : (
I thought they renovated the Capitol Theater for the filming of Semi-Pro and "Hollywood" paid for that.. I remember it as being around 100K that the entertainment industry put into it.
Nope still a dump.
i can still remember the smell of the taystee bread factory
worked at taystee bread ( American bakeries ) grom july until they moved utility position
Nice job playing the Allman Bros! Its mind boggling to think what it would be like if we were never shit on by the auto industry.
Didn't get to visit Flint until 2003. Living in GB for a few years. The area has true potential for greatness, if the proper business could move in. I like the area. Would like to have seen the real city, 40 years ago.
That was nice!!! I was five at this time . good days
Came for the Flint vid, stayed for the music!
Very cool Video.. there are pics of the school where my Grandmother used to teach and a shot of the MI Bell office building where my Grandfather worked....wow
My favorite was seeing the IMA Auditorium! Soooo many awesome concerts there... and then came frickin Autoworld. What a waste!
Now this brings back a lot of memories.
I know a lot of people are commenting on how bad Flint looks now but honestly the corner of Kearsley and hunt Street looks much much better now.
NO, not at all. Flint was a blue collar working town with really good paying jobs. That is until General Motors pulled out. The city has shrunken dramatically in population. There are no jobs and very little hope in this once-beautiful city that is dying a slow, miserable death.
I went to my first concert ever at the old Flint IMA Auditorium in 1976 which was Foghat I saw a Lynyrd Skynyrd in November 5th 1976 on the one more from the road tour at the Flint IMA Auditorium in 1978 I saw Thin Lizzy warming up for Blue Oyster Cult there... the Flint IMA Auditorium had all the best bands there until they shut down late 1979 .. then they switched it to the Flint IMA Sports Arena which I saw a few concerts there like Krokus warming up for Rainbow I n 1981
I remember how Flint was in the 50's and early 60's. Had graduation ceremony at the IMA in 1964. Would go to the movies every Saturday at the Palace or Capital and have a coney at the one by the river. I would buy clothes at A.M. Davison"s or Robert"s David Allen.
*Thank you for sharing those fond memories! In June* *of 1964, do you recall the three class A Flint high* *schools (SW, Central and Northern) having a joint* *graduation ceremony at Atwood Stadium on Third* *Avenue?*
Dang! A lot of these places are no longer here! Unreal! So much bad stuff has happened here!
Thanks for signing N A F T A Billy Boy Clinton !
I'm not THAT old but I remember going to Autoworld as a little kid before it was closed and demolished like everything else in Flint.
The cars are great!!!!
I remember my grandma taking me with her to Comber's (1:33), her East Side neighborhood grocery store.
If the actual film stock still exists, hopefully it can be 4K scanned and have the color (Kodak? Focal? Sakura?) somehow restored. Solid footage!
Hi! I'd like to use a little bit of your video in a montage for a documentary I'm making. If the video doesn't belong to you, can you point me in the right direction? If there's a business email I can contact you with to discuss this further, that would be great. Thanks!
I know this is an old question, but the main Public Library may have this or similar films.
The houses were being demolished to make way for I-475. I wish they picked a different route, but connecting all the auto plants (now gone) was the priority.
I don’t know why you used the Allman Brothers for a soundtrack but it works
Back in the day.
Wish the photographer hadn't centered his photos in the Durant Hotel area so much. Thought I caught a glimpse of Smith Bridgemans but couldn't be positive as the camera panned so fast.
Miss them Coney's From Angelo's coney and famous chillie 🦕
Angelos was on Franklin over by AC..Flint's Original, and Mikes was downtown at the tracks..You could get beer in the coney islands downtown...Three coneys and a Strohs went down real nice...
grew up on the Northwest side. it was nice then.
back when flint was full of life and people were fullof life . back when GM ran the city , when things were great . before all the greed stole the life from this once great city . i called home from 1978 to 2013.
Why play the Allman Brothers and not Grand Funk Railroad?
That's what I was thinking here in 2019!
Agree!
Good question. I think it was more about "One Way Out" and he can't leave. I left in 83. Born there in 61.
my exact thought man that live inside looking out would have been perfect good 9 minutes just like this..
and they're from fucking Flint oh the irony..
and then you could show Flint from 2014 on and play the standells dirty water 😱😱
some places were also abandoned in that years...best years were the 50's
60s were pretty good there.
@@johnjarou2357 The 60s were good..until the riots started in downtown, then it was all downhill from there.
neoasura what riots? I was there in 1967, if you can call that a riot.
I was born in Flint in 1965 and lived here all my life and on the whole eastside. Still here too! It has really gotten bad. It was so much better in the distant past! .
get out there bob, if you can. I was living on the southwest side up until the last 3 and half years. even had the hookers walking down the street on Fenton Road near Atherton.
I would LOVE to John if I had A ton of money. Life is BEST in other STATES now where they don't have a lot of problems that Flint has! Where are you at now John?? In another State?
@@bobcummings8228 moved out towards Davison. good luck Bob. I know it's rough in the city anymore. I grew up on the northwest side. great then. not so much nowadays.
Thks John! God bless! @@johnjarou2357
How are things going for you in Flint? Hope you stay safe and away from the bad parts. BTW Scooby here from NW of Chicago.
Wow. Downtown Flint was really run down by the late 60s. Factories and train tracks all over the place, buildings with trees growing out of them, tattered storefronts. Looks like Gary, Indiana.
People complain about how much was torn down, but imagine how much worse it would look today.
That's what happens when Democrats run the city into the ground, getting greedy with the taxes they wanted from GM, GM said screw it, pulled up stakes and started moving out.
@@BobbyTucker Yeah sadly these cities got greedy. Before too long taxes and regulations drove much of the industry out. detroit still hasn't learned that lesson, even after a bankruptcy
@@BobbyTucker That's right Bobby Boy..Blame it on the democrats..Listen buddy,the republicans were a part of the problems too..Both parties are corrupt you old boomer..
Watched repeatedly
i dunno what version of the song this is, but it fn rocks
And now all of the neighborhoods are extremely dangerous even in the middle of the afternoon. My old street (near Dupont and Pasadena) had three drug related killings in only one week! And when I was a boy.. Forrest park had a petting zoo where mom used to take me and my brother for picnic lunches. Drugs were pretty much unknown in Flint in the 1950s and 60s. I hate to say it but you are pretty much correct. The blacks moved in, we moved out, and the drugs flourished! : ( Dave, a Flint boy
i grew up in flint, just down the road from you. (fleming rd. area between pierson and carpenter.) my friend lived on dupont across from forrest park. the house is gone now.
Hey let's time travel in time just for today!!!!
so flint was as the same city as DC & NY right?
What a shame it’s all gone now just a memory
I agree with you. Maybe I worded it wrong. The auto industry/Flint would be thriving but big wigs and politics stepped in the way.
And ... the UNIONS! Teamsters, UAW, you name it. That and the bigwigs and the politics.
Wish I would have experienced Flint like this now sadly I can't wait to leave there is nothing left but a broken community.
The Capitol Theater was playing a movie called There's A Girl In My Soup, starring Peter Sellers & Goldie Hawn.
What building is that at the end that was burning
weird recommend video but fitting i suppose. My parents were born around there I lived in places like flint,burton, grand blanc on and off from 84-99 then escaped the cold lived in oklahoma until nov. 21 moved to backto mi. clio this time but visited parents in flint a few times but moved back to oklahoma a year later. Im not a snow or fan of my family lol but I do have some respect for flint history. I walked the waterstreet pavillion before it was closed, road on the train at crossroads village and one year trick or treat in a blizzard dressed as godzilla lol also to this day I eat olives on my hamburgers because of halo burger.
That burnt building was the former Dallas Dort residence. It had been turned into a music
center. Its stood where the current Dort Music building is now on Kearsley Street.
THANK YOU!!! I was Wondering what building that was!!!! So it was right across Kearsley street, from the Flint Public Library, Main branch is now?
Was on the Flint Fire Department - was at that fire
man wow how much have changed flint was a nice place not no more that's why im gone
Awwww ya missed Gypsy Jacks house!
I prefer remembering Auto World and fake storefronts
I wish I knew Downtown Flint before it took a turn for the boring worst
What was the song?
One Way Out by the Allmand Brothers
@@johnmucha8079 *Yes, with Gregg Allman on lead vocals.*
Love the old shots Glad to see the Capitol
Flint in REALLY good times! I was there and lots of fun with 9 GM Factories going everyone had money! Allman Bros. is a great choice since GFR sucks
I miss my Buick neighbors NW side.
Well this shows the effects of automation and when you make your local economy too reliant on one company and industry
The auto industry (GM, specifically) was the only thing Flint ever had. Boggles the mind how entitled the population felt they were and continues to feel -- in Flint, MI... Big gub'ment idiots deserve everything you get and then some.
Blessed day!
Paul ..Yeah Reagan screwed this country up ..Governments the problem he said while making it bigger..Nothing wrong with goverment,just people like you with a one track minds,or lack of..
Parker 84 Flint Central
WHAT!? The Alman Brothers! This is MARK FARNERS town!! its at the time GRAND FUNK RAILROAD formed!! WTF!
Great music but ain't Duane
*Hi Nick, I believe it's actually Gregg Allman not Duane.*
I was just born
"BLACK" is not synonymous with "DRUGS," racist.
You know something? I'll have to agree with you 1,000,000 percent on this. Look at Flint - four members of its city council are members of the black community - of which one of them is councilman Eric Mays.