1. Towne Club Soda. Popular local soda company that marketed to lower income households in Detroit starting in the 1960’s. Detroit residents visited The Towne Club warehouse store and filled a wooden 24 bottle crate with exotic flavored sodas like pineapple and kiwi and could purchase 24 bottles for under $2. There seems to be a lot of nostalgia for this now, but as a child, the soda was simply gross. The colors were garish, the flavors were horrible and pungent. Fanta and Coca-Cola were considered the gold standard.

2. In the 1970’s some kids had portable record players that played 7 inch singles. This one is “FlashLight” by the funk band Parliament. Mistakenly believed by some children to be a well deserved ode to an actual flashlight. At the time, having access to a flashlight was what texting is today. One could send signals to aliens in the far reaches of the galaxy and send morse code messages at night to friends.

3. The Bomb Pop. The highest priced and most desirable treat one could purchase from roving bands of ice cream trucks that drove through the neighborhood in the summer. These trucks blasted the discordant jangling tune, “Turkey in the Straw”, which unbeknownst to us at the time was actually a racist melody about a minstrel character.

4. 7 inch 1979 single “Le Freak” by Chic. There was a dance that went with the single that involved a lot of pelvic gyrating. For a short time it became wildly popular on the playground to dance to “Le Freak” and shout out the chorus “Freak Out!”. The principal of our school felt forced to announce on the public address system that the song and dance were banned. The announcement included the refrain: “No more freaky deaky on the playground”. We were inconsolable with laughter for years afterwards.

5. The Hoppity Horse. $1 more than a Hippity Hop.

6. A blue Ford Gremlin. The car was rumored to be driven by The Oakland County Child Killer, who murdered our classmate, Jill Robinson in the winter of 1976.

7. Ice cream cone symbolizing the Tastee-Freez in Detroit on Navy and Springwell. Has a sign that says Family Treat, but is still referred to as Tastee-Freez.

8. Ambassador Bridge. Um. Canada is building a new bridge. #mattymoroun #corruption

9. Basilica of St. Anne of Detroit. Services in Latin and Spanish.The church one went to escape the Post-Vatican II liberalism most exemplified by certain Irish families playing folk music in Catholic services around the University District.

10. The Fisher Building. God Bless, no one ever stopped us children from riding in the elevators of this architectural gem.

11. The SS Ste. Claire, known as The Bob-Lo Boat. Hard to describe the allure and thrill of this 2500 capacity ferry that travelled to a small Canadian island, on the Detroit River, that featured an amusement park. People now say it was Detroit’s Coney Island, but truthfully, as a child, it was on par with Disney World.

12. The Fist commemorating Joe Lewis.

13. The Renaissance Center. In 1977 we knew of no place more modern. The building had public areas with concrete alcoves, furnished with swanky brown velvet chairs and smokey glass tables that were illuminated inside with light bulbs. Security guards ignored us when we used these areas like our private club house.14. A building in Detroit that showcases Spanish Revival Architecture. As children growing up in Detroit we had a sense we were living in the disintegrated dreams of an alien race’s golden era.

15. A classic old merry-go-round. There used to be one on a school playground a couple yards from the busy thoroughfare of 6 Mile. The sound of the traffic masked our screams and this merry-go-round in particular broke more than a few bones of kids that lost their grip and were flung off.

6. The funeral home where Houdini was embalmed and stored after his death in Detroit on Halloween night 1926. Purported to be haunted. Always guaranteed to see ghosts after sunset here in the 1970’s.

17. The house on Larkin’s Street where Nereida and Maria spent their early childhood. This is the setting of the story "Elegy for our Home in Detroit"

18. Jumbos’ Bar in Detroit. In the early 1980’s and 1990's, those of us who had grown up in Detroit were caught off guard when well intentioned White camera toting acquaintances, who had grown up in the surrounding suburbs of Detroit, started asking us for tours of Detroit. Jumbo’s Bar was on the list. It was disorientating to be fêted for our connection to Detroit where previously we were stigmatized by this crowd who now could not get enough of the city.

19. This house symbolizes the kind of house where atrocities against children took place that would end up on the news. These houses and their horror stories all seemed to blur together. This particular house is located off Livernois in Southwest Detroit.

20 The house on Muirland. After the 1967 uprising in Detroit, many architecturally beautiful homes were rapidly vacated by economically well off Whites headed to the outlying suburbs. Some of these neighborhoods were repopulated as quickly as they were emptied by middle class black families and also Irish-American families who were referred to as either Shanty Irish or Lace Curtain Irish. Some of these families of Irish descent were regarded as “white trash”, and truthfully weren’t held in high regard. One such family we grew up with did not have hot water or electricity on a regular basis.

21 “The most beautiful bike in the world. Stolen from Palmer Park. A bike without equal. Still mourned 45 years later. Hard to communicate today how priceless it was to experience the absolute freedom of a bicycle back in the 1970’s.”

22. Also pictured on the front cover is another symbol for a Detroit childhood. Monarch butterflies symbolize both the fragility and resilience of children. Aztec mythology says that butterflies are the souls of the returned departed.