Dion Johnson has a wish for everyone: May you live in a neighborhood as caring and collaborative as where he grew up in Bloomfield Hills.

Johnson, a barber and first-time author, makes his case in a memoir, “Revolutionary Vision Boulevard.” Through the book’s sensitively written 478 pages, he describes life on Bloomfield Boulevard for 18 mostly Black families.

The book tracks the lives of the first Black families who bought homes on the street, bordering Pontiac. Johnson and other children on the boulevard were among the first Black students to attend and graduate from the former Bloomfield Lahser High School.

Johnson describes a bonding — a togetherness — forged by breaking barriers, bridging gaps and bringing the best out in others and oneself.

Today’s divided America, Johnson contends, would do well to follow lessons learned on Bloomfield Boulevard.

“I wish everyone could experience the magic we felt on that street,” said Johnson, 53, a popular barber-stylist with a hefty client list including Detroit Lions Barry Sanders and Herman Moore and Detroit Pistons Joe Dumars, Allan Houston and Lindsey Hunter.

“There was a respect, an energy on the street that we shared. We had what I call a real neighborhood.”

Friendships forged as toddlers a half-century ago on Bloomfield Boulevard remain, Johnson said.

“That’s priceless,” he added, a 1989 graduate of Lahser.

Johnson said he devoted much of his free time over the course of a year to interviewing former neighbors and gathering memories and photos of life on the street.

The book dates to 1973 when his parents moved the family into a ranch-style home on the boulevard. Before long, the street grew to 18 families: 16 Black, one Hispanic and one Caucasian.

“They were much more than neighbors to one another; they were more like one big family,” according to an announcement describing Johnson’s book.

Johnson examines ingredients that produced the street’s harmony, including parental involvement, religious faith, mutual respect, shared experiences and an appreciation of multicultural traditions and tastes.

“It’s important to look at other cultures, styles, foods and practices,” Johnson said. “That’s better than any textbook.

“On our street, we did it all as kids, including all sorts of sports from hockey to skiing, riding unicycles and playing different musical instruments. You name it, we did it.”A key to maintaining a cohesive community, Johnson said, was a sense of shared responsibility and values among parents, whose house rules were similar.

“Every family had the same Ten Commandments, the same playbook for their kids,” he explained. “It gave us a structure.”

As life on Bloomfield Boulevard unfolded, Johnson said, neighbors learned they had more in common than in conflict. That realization, he said, is valuable in today’s often-polarized society.

“So much of today’s society is fast-paced and pulling apart,” said Johnson, a member of Empowerment Church in Southfield. “There’s no substitute for eating together and praying together.”

Johnson said writing the book was a “labor of love,” and generated “heartfelt” reminders of the value of “loving your fellow man.”

In his free time, he said he enjoys traveling, cooking, exercising, riding bikes, going to the movies and spending time with family and friends, namely his wife, Mone’.

Johnson said he lives by a new mantra, “Every day we should learn something new, every day we should do something new, and no matter how big or small it is, we should share it with someone else, so they can do the same thing for someone else.”

He will share his experiences at a book signing and conversation at 5 p.m. Feb. 24 at the Bloomfield Township Library, 1099 Lone Pine Road. There is no admission charge.

The book is available for sale on Amazon for $23.99 in paperback.