5400 McDougall Street
Famous Cleaners, Al’s Appliance Shop
5400 McDougall Street was built in 1923 in Detroit’s Poletown East neighborhood. It features a storefront on the ground floor, two apartments, and a detached garage behind the structure. Not much is available online about the origins of this building, but it was the scene of a treacherous feud between cleaners in the 1960s.
It started when Famous Cleaners moved into the property on March 25, 1963. The cleaners were founded around 1918 and had multiple locations in Detroit and the surrounding areas. They were known for their low prices and led some community efforts to revitalize neighborhoods.
On April 11, 1963, around 3:45 AM, two sticks of dynamite were thrown through the window of Famous Cleaners at 5400 McDougall Street. One of the apartments was occupied by Frances Slowik and her son Anthony, and the other by Harmon Cook and his wife, Edwina. Several windows were blown out in nearby stores as well.
In May of that same year, someone threw dynamite into Famous Cleaners & Dyers’ main plant at 4465 Beaubien. Later that month, someone threw rocks through the still-recovering location on McDougall. Vandals also hit another branch of Famous Cleaners and Gladway Cleaners, both on Mack. It was expected that the malicious attacks were due to the low prices offered by certain cleaners.
“They’re not difficult cases to solve, they’re probably the most difficult cases to solve. Anyone can do it and it takes only a few moments to perpetrate it at a time the bomber picks,” said the Detroit Police Chief of Detectives Thomas R. Cochill when speaking to Detroit Free Press Staff Writers Carter Van Lopik and Jack Mann.
At 3:04 AM on Monday, April 13, 1964, two sticks of dynamite were thrown at the front of Famous Cleaners & Dyers’ main plant. Less than 15 minutes later, Richard Coats and Walter Brown were arrested while standing outside 5400 McDougall, which remained a Famous Cleaners location. They had a 10-gallon plastic trash can full of gasoline and a foot-long wick to light it.
Coats had worked for a rival cleaner, City-Wide Cleaners, on Chene Street, since 1950. That shop was owned by Dominic Cavataio of Grosse Pointe Park, a known member of organized crime groups in Detroit with family connections to Prohibition-era mobsters.
Brown was employed by Pointe Auto Wash, owned by Cameel H. Hanna, Cavataio’s brother-in-law. Brown was convicted of manslaughter in 1953.
Dominic Cavataio was charged with producing counterfeit currency in 1931, although the charges were later dropped. He died in 1965 while attending a dinner party in Detroit. To my knowledge, he was never charged with anything in this case.
Coats and Brown claimed their innocence. I have yet to find information about their case or trial after that.
Apart from the reports of the bombings and aftermath, there isn’t much online about 5400 McDougall. It sold in August of 2022 for $60,000. The last accessible sale prior to that was in 1978 for $2,500. At some point after Famous Cleaners left the premises, I believe Al’s Appliance Shop moved into the building. If that’s the case, it hasn’t occupied the property for at least 15 years.
There’s a hand-painted sign on the side of the garage for Hawthorne’s Tires. I’m not sure whether this was a business that sold tires or whether it was an advert for a brand of tires called Hawthorne.
The structure has been at least semi-vacant for most of the past two decades. It had a ‘This building is being watched / Stop Halloween Arson’ sign in the front window for ages, but the glass was smashed and boarded up in recent years.
