5701 Chene Street
Palmer Bakery, Lutnia Singing Society, Nowak Hall, Polish Pavilion Gift & Music Store, Associates Loan Company, Lil Bits, Mariah’s Resale
(Address includes 5701-5709 Chene Street)
This is one of few structures still standing that made up the core of Poletown East on Chene Street. Anchored by numerous small businesses with owners living nearby or on the second floor, this was once the most bustling commercial corridor in the city outside of downtown. It sits mostly vacant today, apart from a few churches and niche businesses.
The structure pictured here sits at the corner of Palmer and Chene Street. It was constructed in the 1920s when most of the strip was built. It featured numerous storefronts; there were at least three on the ground floor alone.
In the early years, I found listings for a clothing store, an illegal prohibition brewery, the American Radio Electric Company, and a restaurant.
By 1943, the structure had become home to a bakery. I’m not sure when it opened, but by the 1940s, it was run by Steven Adamczyk. It would eventually be named the Palmer Bakery and become a family favorite on Chene Street. In 1943, Adamczyk was fined $35 in Ordinance Court for not putting enough bread into the wrapper to meet new net-weight specifications. He and three other bakers were fined. In 1944, an article in the Detroit Free Press listed the bakery for sale. It was described as a “well-established bakery” in a “good neighborhood.” It also said that poor health forced them to sell it, and the rate was discounted for that reason. At some point, the bakery did change hands.
By the 1970s, it had been sold to the Rybak family, who continued its operation through at least 1979. A Detroit Public Library Digital Collections photograph showcases it on the corner. A 1979 Detroit Free Press article described their baked goods as having “delicate flavor” and “good crust” and that it “tastes like French bread if you close your eyes.”
Upstairs, the space was used as a meeting hall. By 1940, the Lutnia Singing Society had established roots there. The group was founded to “create a center where Detroit Poles could meet and express the love that all Polish people have for rhythmic motion and music, and thus carry on the traditions of their homeland.” In 1916, the group won national honors as a part of the Polish Singing Alliance. This and a massive influx of Poles into Poletown East pushed the group to new heights, as evidenced by “the numerous cups shown with legitimate pride in the society’s clubhouse at 5703 Chene.”
By 1943, this space was up for rent. The listing in the Detroit Free Press said that it was a lovely space formerly used by a club but could be converted for many uses. It was on the second floor, looking out over the corner of Chene and Palmer. In the 1940s, the space was listed once as the Slavonia Hall, and there were at least a handful of UAW meetings there. I’m not certain who owned it then, but there were multiple large manufacturing plants nearby, so the unions were likely common here.
At some point, this space became known as the Nowak Hall. Across the way at 5706 Chene Street sat Nowak Bros. Hardware. Chester T. and Edward Nowak owned multiple buildings in Poletown East, so it isn’t out of the realm of possibility that they owned or ran the Nowak Hall. However, it isn’t a terribly uncommon last name, especially for an Eastern European enclave.
The rental hall became popular for weddings, First Communion celebrations, and parties of all kinds. In various Facebook groups, former residents of Poletown East remember the space with fondness. I can’t help but wonder if the sweet smells from the bakery would waft up through the floorboards, giving the hall a unique scent. Before the modernization of home air conditioning, it was probably a welcomed smell after hours of dancing into the night.
Back on the ground floor, a music store was here by 1944. By 1952, it was called the Polish Pavilion Gift & Music Store. In 1953, the owner and manager were investigated for sending pharmaceuticals under the Iron Curtain.
Leslie Socha, the owner, and John Konaszewski, the manager, had taken orders for penicillin from people in the Polish People’s Republic. This regime existed after World War II until the fall of communism in 1989. The men were accused of violating the State Pharmacy Act. Judge Frank G. Schemanske threw out the charge because the law was put in place only to protect Michiganders from shady, unlicensed pharmacists, not Poles trying to help people behind the Iron Curtain. They were able to ship penicillin there through a business contact in England.
By 1963, the space that the music store had occupied (5705 Chene) was being utilized by the Associates Loan Company. This was a seedy organization that would lend you up to $1,000 for any reason at all—to consolidate debts, modernize your home, take a vacation, upgrade your car, you name it! The ‘Associates’ had tons of locations around Detroit. I’m sure they helped many people, but I’m certain others were left in a worse position after walking out of the office.
Thanks to a photo from the archive of Bruce Harkness, I can confirm that there was a Kowalski Sausage shop inside this structure at one time, too. The address for the shop on the south side of the building may have been 2295 East Palmer. I’ve found Kowalski Sausage ads there between 1964 and 1985. Bruce’s photograph shows a raggedy but open sausage shop next to what, at that time, would have been a Kroger store.
Chene Street’s mainstays began to fade and disappear entirely as the years rolled on. At some point, the Palmer Bakery was closed and replaced by a clothing store (it might have been called Lil Bits). On the Chene Street side, Mariah’s Resale sold secondhand items. However, both had closed their doors by the mid-2000s. The structure was maintained despite little-to-no investment.
In 2015, the shop next door, the former Zarembski Department Store, exploded in the early morning hours of July 5th. The old shop was decimated when DFD arrived on the scene, and 5701 Chene, pictured here, was damaged in the blaze. Surprisingly, today, the damage appears to have been minimal. However, I haven’t been inside to see if it was affected. There are still soot marks on the side of the structure.
I’m unsure when, but JDK Investments LLC purchased the building at some point. I’d guess this was around 2014 or 2015 when the holding company went on a buying spree due to the cheap land available in the city. It also owns the old garage across Chene Street and the former Lincoln/Aurora Hall (later Mazurka Club and Sandomierski & Son Supermarket) at Chene and Ferry, at least at the time of writing.
It’s been a bit since I’ve gone off about JDK Investments LLC. You already know how I feel if you’ve followed this page for a while. Julian Kefallinos, the son of slumlord Dennis Kefallinos, operates the holding company. The duo has a real estate portfolio that ranks in size with the best of them—the Ilitch family and Gilbert’s Bedrock; however, the Kefalinos family has done things differently. In addition to hanging onto immense structures in essential areas, they’ve purchased numerous smaller buildings in residential neighborhoods and are hanging onto them for dear life.
This paragraph is speculation and should be treated as such. The Kefalinos family purchased these structures hoping the neighborhood around them would become trendy or wiped clean for another large plant or transportation project. I don’t think they plan to renovate small buildings like this one. I think they will sit on them until it’s worth it for them to relinquish them. Otherwise, they’ll do just enough to avoid blight tickets.
*End speculation*
One could argue that if JDK Investments LLC didn’t own the properties, the city would have demolished them. However, some city-owned properties in Poletown East have fallen far further in disrepair than those owned by Kefalinos, so it’s hard to guarantee truth in that statement.
The city has recently gone after the Kefalinos family, citing their mistreatment of a church on Grand River, the Civic Theatre on Kelly, and a cold storage warehouse on Wabash in Corktown. The family continues to claim that they’re slowly renovating these structures. Still, no wholesale changes have occurred besides new plywood stopping folks from wandering inside (until somebody brings a crowbar).
I understand that nobody is barging down the door to redevelop Poletown East; however, the neighborhood does have new residents, and folks who have been here for generations care deeply for their slice of Detroit, even if the city government and these anti-developers won’t drop a dime in their neighborhood. There isn’t much left of what once was Poletown East, but one structure renovation could be the catalyst that could change things exponentially.
That might be me being too optimistic; I’ve always enjoyed exploring, learning, and promoting Poletown East. That said, it’s a shame that potential growth here is hindered by owners who are content sitting on properties that were once integral pieces of Detroiter’s lives.
