The house where Doris was born

[webmaster]

Can anyone help answer the email I've had below?

Hello, Bryan

I just saw DorisDay.Net and it's a nice website. I live not too far from where Doris Day was born in Evanston. Greenlawn and Jonathan are about a mile from me. I've tried to find out which house is the house she was born in but can't figure it out. Do you happen to have any information on it? One of the possible homes is currently for sale and the thought that it could be the house she was born in makes it a very enticing proposition.

If you know, I would really appreciate it.

Thank you,

[John M]

It is 3475 Greenlawn Avenue, which is down the block between Jonathan and Grantwood Avenues, actually closer to Grantwood. And I believe it's on the west side of the street, but I'm not 100% sure.

[webmaster]

Thanks a lot, John. I forwarded your information - I'll let you know if it's for sale!


Reply to the info was:

Wow! I can't believe you had the address. Thanks a lot!

[globack]

Thanks for posting my question for me. Well, the house I was looking at is two doors down from the address you gave me. If the owners of her old house will let me, I'm going to see if they would let me take some pictures of the inside of the house. After reading her biography, it would be very interesting to see the rooms she described.

George

[John M]

Hi George!

That would be terrific if the owners let you in and take pictures. Please keep us posted!

[globack]

Ok, I'm confused now. The pictures of the house just submitted is the house I was looking at that is for sale. Can someone verify for sure that this is the place. In Doris Day's book, she mentions watching her dad drive down the long driveway, but there is no driveway with the house in the pictures? Granted, after this many years, the driveway could have been removed. However, if you put the address in Google Maps it gives a house two doors east from this house and that house has the long driveway.

The ribbons look like Christmas decorations.

George

[Angie Palucci]

I was able to pull it up on Google maps street level. It is the same house and does have a For Sale sign out in front. It looks different to me probably because of camera angles. If you scan your mouse around the neighborhood you will see that every old house in Doris' neighborhood is still standing. And the way the houses are positioned I can envision those days of the Germanic neighborhood. Very interesting. I hope those kids from Germany will make their Doris Day Documentary DVD American compatible as well. I'd really be interested in seeing the old country.

Hint, hint. This would be something nice for some computer savy friend of Doris' to show her. She could walk the streets of her girlhood home without leaving her babies.

[John M]

I know, this is VERY confusing. Both Mapquest and Google Earth pictures (and maps) show the address as farther down the block, closer to Grantwood Avenue, but the pictures from the documentary are clearly of the house on the western corner of Greenlawn, right at Jonathan.

I would go by the address of the house, and forget about any driveway or where Google places it, etc.

[globack]

Ok, then it looks like it is on the corner of Greenlawn and Jonathan. One thing that is neat with the Google Map is you can go around the neighborhood. If you take Greenlawn to Jonathan on the Google Map and make a right turn on Jonathan, it will dead end at the church Doris Day attended as a child, and where her father played the organ. The church is St. Mark and is still in operation.

[globack]

Angie-

If you move that Google Map to the intersection of Greenlawn and Jonathan, you will see the same picture that is on this forum. I've stopped by the house and asked some people if they knew which house was Doris Day's and nobody knew. The neighborhood, like a lot of old German neighborhoods in Cincinnati, has changed a lot over the years. Evanston is now a very poor minority neighborhood that has none of the German heritage that it once had. I don't mean anything negative about it being a minority neighborhood. I'm just pointing out that it is a different culture that may not enjoy the fact that Doris Day once lived there as much as another culture might enjoy. I hope that makes sense and doesn't offend anyone.

You know, I've always wondered what it is about Doris Day that is so capivating. As a kid, I would watch the Doris Day show and for some reason, just my entranced by her. I don't know if it was because I was growing up in the same neighborhoods as she did and felt that community connection. A boyhood friend's dad went on a date with her in their early teens and I think that is what makes me feel more of an afinity for her. Growing up, people considered her one of us and after reading her biography from the 70's, I can see where she feels that same connection with the people of Cincinnati. There is a bond that community members have for one another and that bond is what Cincinnati feels for her. She is definitely a true Cincinnatian and I'm proud that I was raised around her old stomping grounds.

George

[Angie Palucci]

I'm from the midwest as well and growing up my best friend was a German girl. Her neighborhood had been very German and was transitioning during the time we were in high school. I wasn't offended by that and I spent time with her at her house anyway. But the first thing I did when I learned Google street level was to check out that neighborhood to see if I would recognize her house after all these years. About 85% of the homes are torn down. All you have are patches of ground with sun shining through. It was kind of a bummer.
But to see all those tall houses still standing there proudly in Doris' old neighborhood, it was a very cool thing to see. They don't make strong houses like that anymore and the folks who now live there must be doing something right.

[webmaster]

So is Dodo's house for sale or not?

[globack]

If the house in the pictures is the correct house, then it is for sale. I drove over there about a week ago and the for sale sign is still out. It would be awesome to live in that house with the history we all enjoy regarding her.

George

[webmaster]

Wish I had the money! I wonder if Doris knows it's for sale? Wonder what she'd think? I'd want to buy it if I were her. Where you were born/spent your childhood is very important, isn't it?

[suzie]

Bryan, gotta agree with you ,it would be so cool to buy doris days childhood home. Im half temped to go look at it ,as I only live 350 miles away from it. Couldnt leave my good job though Gotta pay the bills lol

[globack]

You know, that's what surprises me about Cincinnati's city council. She has to be the biggest celebrity to come out of here, but her house just sits there. You would think the city would want to make something special out of that house. Just a few blocks from her house close to Xavier University is the old King Records building where James Brown recorded "I Feel Good." The building just sets there vacant as does Doris Days home.

One word of caution to anyone who may make the trip to see her house, it is in a very bad neighborhood. It's not the same neighborhood that Doris Day grew up in so many years ago.

George

[suzie]

Thanks for the info george, guess I will pass at going to see it.

[Ruthie]

If you go to realtor.com, you can view the house and see the information about it. It has been turned into 3 units. The asking price is $95K. It gives the information as to what each unit is renting for etc....

Ruth

[globack]

I went to realtor.com and the date the house was built is showing 79 years ago which is after she was born. Makes me wonder if the house on Google is the correct house. It does have the driveway she described in her book.

[webmaster]

Do you have the direct link (always helps!) on realtor.com?

Tried to find, out of curiousity, but couldn't.

I would think that the actual address is likely to be more accurate than Google maps!

[globack]

Here is the direct link to realtor.com:

http://www.realtor.com/search/searchres ... p=16&typ=7

It is the 8th listing as you scroll down the page.

George

[webmaster]

Thanks George.

It looks the same as the pics I posted above.


Multi-family Property, Area: Hamilton-E01,
Subdivision: Evanston, County: Hamilton,
Age: 79 year(s) old, Three story

Funny to think Doris grew up there. It doesn't look a run-down area.

[webmaster]

A thought: Can she have been born there if the house is 79 years old? Or could the given age of the house be wrong?

[Debbi Austen]

Too bad there isn't a picture of little Doris in front of her house, that would make it easier to identify it.

[suzie]

My grandmother and aunt went to cinci back in the 60s and I remember them telling me that they had gone to see and actually tour the home where doris day grew up in. Even though I was a child I will never forget my grandma saying she was IN doris' childhood home. My darling grandmother and aunt are both gone now so I am not able to ask if this was indeed the right home.For what its worth, it sounds like it is. Im not sure if marty bought the house to give tours of and make money or if someone else did. I just remeber that it was at one time availible for tour groups to see. I remember asking gram about the house and she said it was a typical mid western home from that era. Nothing special, just normal middle class american home.I had just become a huge fan of doris and asked my gram a million questions, (she thought I was crazy lol ) why do you care so much she said and I said "cause doris is so cool." Gram just kept saying "its just a normal regular house." You just gotta be a true doris fan like all of us to understand, right guys ??