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Emil Denemark Cadillac.
Posted by:
Jayg
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: May 09, 2011 07:36PM
I was poking around the internet looking for information for Emil Denemark
Cadillac they were originally located at 3860 W. Ogden Ave.(Cermak and
Pulaski,phone Crawford 7-4100 ) and moved to 4646 S Pulaski Rd
I was curious because Emil Denemark advertised on his own Radio Station which
played mostly ethic programming.
Mr. and Mrs. Denemark owned a horseracing stable
The first two entries are the most interesting.
___________________________________________________________________________________
http://www.drf.com/news/oaklawns-highlight-reel-100-years-racing-thrills
"During this era, Mrs. Emil Denemark, generally believed to be the
mother-in-law of gangster Al Capone, rose to prominence as an owner at Oaklawn,
winning titles in 1940, 1941, 1949, 1950, and 1959. She won the Arkansas Derby
in 1940 with Super Chief. Capone built a barn and house near the backstretch
of Oaklawn, and it served as one of his residences when he visited Hot
Springs. It was a time when the town boasted casinos, and high-profile
visitors to Oaklawn included baseball great Babe Ruth. Oaklawn eventually
bought the barn and house that Capone built, and it named the barn the Count
Fleet."
___________________________________________________________________________________
http://www.oakpark.com/News/Articles/12-19-2006/'Extra!_Extra!_Read_all_about_it!'
"Oak Park resident and Cicero car dealer Emil Denemark found himself entangled
with people-the Chicago mob-who probably made him wish he'd been indicted
instead. Over a four-year period, the wealthy auto dealer's home and business
were both robbed and bombed by mobsters, and his chauffer shot to death.
In February 1927, the rear of his house at 600 Clinton Ave. was blown up with
a black powder bomb. His children and their nanny, at home at the time, were
uninjured. Three weeks later, the showroom of his auto dealership at 3860
Ogden in Cicero was blown up, causing $15,000 damage and severely injuring an
employee."
___________________________________________________________________________________
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1940/12/07/1940_12_07_106_TNY_CARDS_000184621
"ABSTRACT: The leading trainer for 1940 will be Daniel Davis Womeldorff. He has
saddled 180 winners this season for Mrs. Emil Denemark, who lives in Cicero,
Ill., and whose husband has the largest Ganeral Motors agence on the South Side
of Chicago."
___________________________________________________________________________________
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WEDC
"WEDC's original studios were located on Ogden Avenue at the car dealership
known as Emil Denemark Cadillac, the owner of the station. The studio was in
the showroom in a glass booth
In 1966, Pat Sajak, now host of TV's "Wheel of Fortune", was employed to read
hourly five-minute newscasts during an all-night Spanish-music radio program "*
((*my note. I remember Pat Sajak reminiscing on the Tonight Show that he
broadcast from a radio booth at the back of a car dealership))
___________________________________________________________________________________
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bert_S._Michell
In the fall of 1929 Michell left the Hertz stable to take over as trainer for
the racing operations of Emil and Jennie Denemark of Chicago. Bert Michell
raced at various tracks on the East Coast of the United States. He made his
home in Miami, Florida where he met with considerable success with the
Denemark's runners at Hialeah Park and Tropical Park racetracks
___________________________________________________________________________________
http://www.horseracingnation.com/person/Mrs_Emil_Denemark
Cadillac they were originally located at 3860 W. Ogden Ave.(Cermak and
Pulaski,phone Crawford 7-4100 ) and moved to 4646 S Pulaski Rd
I was curious because Emil Denemark advertised on his own Radio Station which
played mostly ethic programming.
Mr. and Mrs. Denemark owned a horseracing stable
The first two entries are the most interesting.
___________________________________________________________________________________
http://www.drf.com/news/oaklawns-highlight-reel-100-years-racing-thrills
"During this era, Mrs. Emil Denemark, generally believed to be the
mother-in-law of gangster Al Capone, rose to prominence as an owner at Oaklawn,
winning titles in 1940, 1941, 1949, 1950, and 1959. She won the Arkansas Derby
in 1940 with Super Chief. Capone built a barn and house near the backstretch
of Oaklawn, and it served as one of his residences when he visited Hot
Springs. It was a time when the town boasted casinos, and high-profile
visitors to Oaklawn included baseball great Babe Ruth. Oaklawn eventually
bought the barn and house that Capone built, and it named the barn the Count
Fleet."
___________________________________________________________________________________
http://www.oakpark.com/News/Articles/12-19-2006/'Extra!_Extra!_Read_all_about_it!'
"Oak Park resident and Cicero car dealer Emil Denemark found himself entangled
with people-the Chicago mob-who probably made him wish he'd been indicted
instead. Over a four-year period, the wealthy auto dealer's home and business
were both robbed and bombed by mobsters, and his chauffer shot to death.
In February 1927, the rear of his house at 600 Clinton Ave. was blown up with
a black powder bomb. His children and their nanny, at home at the time, were
uninjured. Three weeks later, the showroom of his auto dealership at 3860
Ogden in Cicero was blown up, causing $15,000 damage and severely injuring an
employee."
___________________________________________________________________________________
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1940/12/07/1940_12_07_106_TNY_CARDS_000184621
"ABSTRACT: The leading trainer for 1940 will be Daniel Davis Womeldorff. He has
saddled 180 winners this season for Mrs. Emil Denemark, who lives in Cicero,
Ill., and whose husband has the largest Ganeral Motors agence on the South Side
of Chicago."
___________________________________________________________________________________
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WEDC
"WEDC's original studios were located on Ogden Avenue at the car dealership
known as Emil Denemark Cadillac, the owner of the station. The studio was in
the showroom in a glass booth
In 1966, Pat Sajak, now host of TV's "Wheel of Fortune", was employed to read
hourly five-minute newscasts during an all-night Spanish-music radio program "*
((*my note. I remember Pat Sajak reminiscing on the Tonight Show that he
broadcast from a radio booth at the back of a car dealership))
___________________________________________________________________________________
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bert_S._Michell
In the fall of 1929 Michell left the Hertz stable to take over as trainer for
the racing operations of Emil and Jennie Denemark of Chicago. Bert Michell
raced at various tracks on the East Coast of the United States. He made his
home in Miami, Florida where he met with considerable success with the
Denemark's runners at Hialeah Park and Tropical Park racetracks
___________________________________________________________________________________
http://www.horseracingnation.com/person/Mrs_Emil_Denemark
Re: Emil Denemark Cadillac.
Posted by:
Berwyn Frank
(---.lightspeed.cicril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: May 09, 2011 08:52PM
Jayg, Emil Denemark was a well known Bohemian car dealer in Lawndale beginnng in 1915. Here is a page from a postcard booklet from my collection put out in 1925 by Bohemian photographer E.F. Macha advertising the neighborhoods of Czechoslovak Chicago and vicinity.
Emil Denemark lived at 2449 S. Pulaski in what is now Little Village and eventually had a beautiful home built in Oak Park at 600 Clinton Ave., he later lived in Riverside, IL. I don't buy the Capone connection in the first entry though. It seems as if everybody back in the 1920s claimed some connection to Capone. What that first entry says is Mrs. Emil Denemark was the mother-in-law to Al Capone??? That means Mae Capone is the daughter of the Denemark's???? I don't think so..... Mae Capone, nee Coughlin, was a native of New York and eventually came to Chicago to be with Al.
HOWEVER, Mr. Denemark seemed to be in a heap of trouble back in the 1920s. His house and business were bombed, and his driver murdered, and he was robbed several times. Who knows, he may have been into bookies for a lot of coin, afterall he liked the ponies.
He did have the radio station in his showroom and hosted many Czech language programs.
Emil Denemark died at age 68 in May 1963 and was waked at Svec Funeral Home in Berwyn. He is buried at Bohemian National Cemetary. At the time of his death he was hailed as a "pioneer of thoroughbred horse racing in Illinois."
Emil Denemark lived at 2449 S. Pulaski in what is now Little Village and eventually had a beautiful home built in Oak Park at 600 Clinton Ave., he later lived in Riverside, IL. I don't buy the Capone connection in the first entry though. It seems as if everybody back in the 1920s claimed some connection to Capone. What that first entry says is Mrs. Emil Denemark was the mother-in-law to Al Capone??? That means Mae Capone is the daughter of the Denemark's???? I don't think so..... Mae Capone, nee Coughlin, was a native of New York and eventually came to Chicago to be with Al.
HOWEVER, Mr. Denemark seemed to be in a heap of trouble back in the 1920s. His house and business were bombed, and his driver murdered, and he was robbed several times. Who knows, he may have been into bookies for a lot of coin, afterall he liked the ponies.
He did have the radio station in his showroom and hosted many Czech language programs.
Emil Denemark died at age 68 in May 1963 and was waked at Svec Funeral Home in Berwyn. He is buried at Bohemian National Cemetary. At the time of his death he was hailed as a "pioneer of thoroughbred horse racing in Illinois."
Re: Emil Denemark Cadillac.
Posted by:
Jayg
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: May 09, 2011 09:14PM
Thank You Frank, especially for that postcard. St Ludmila's church and school were in my neighborhood. I grew up along Cermak Road ,Albany,Troy and Whipple.
My Parish was St Casimir, The church survives albeit renamed to Our Lady of Tepayec. Poor St Ludmila's church was torn down,but the school survives ,however, also renamed to Our Lady of Tepayac. I too followed the western trail and ended up in Riverside for a few years.
My Parish was St Casimir, The church survives albeit renamed to Our Lady of Tepayec. Poor St Ludmila's church was torn down,but the school survives ,however, also renamed to Our Lady of Tepayac. I too followed the western trail and ended up in Riverside for a few years.
Re: Emil Denemark Cadillac.
Posted by:
Berwyn Frank
(---.lightspeed.cicril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: May 09, 2011 09:28PM
Jay, check out my book on Little Village. In the book I cover St. Casmir and have a couple of very old images of the school.
http://www.amazon.com/Chicagos-Little-Village-Lawndale-Crawford-America/dp/0738577375/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1304983627&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/Chicagos-Little-Village-Lawndale-Crawford-America/dp/0738577375/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1304983627&sr=8-1
Re: Emil Denemark Cadillac.
Posted by:
deepstblu2
(---.par.clearwire-wmx.net)
Date: May 09, 2011 11:50PM
WEDC was a shared-time station--it had to take turns on its frequency (1240 AM) with two other stations, WCRW (operated out of an apartment at Pine Grove and Diversey) and WSBC (originally located at Madison and Western, later around Belmont and Cicero; the owners were the original owners of WXRT). The three stations coexisted (sometimes uneasily) from the late 1920s until the 1990s when WSBC bought out the other two.
Re: Emil Denemark Cadillac.
Posted by:
Richard Stachowski
(---.dsl.chcgil.sbcglobal.net)
Date: May 10, 2011 12:46AM
[b]The car dealer and radio station I could see out my window . I was living in the old bank building apartement house on the corner of Pulaski and Ogden Ave. That was in 1957.[/b]
Re: Emil Denemark Cadillac.
Posted by:
Berwyn Frank
(---.lightspeed.cicril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: May 10, 2011 01:19AM
Wow Richard, that is neat. Do you have any pictures? What else do you remember about the area?
Re: Emil Denemark Cadillac.
Posted by:
Chipast
(---.dsl.chcgil.ameritech.net)
Date: May 12, 2011 09:09PM
Was it in 1967 that the dealership closed on W.Ogden???????.
Re: Emil Denemark Cadillac.
Posted by:
Richard Stachowski
(---.dsl.chcgil.sbcglobal.net)
Date: May 12, 2011 09:48PM
[b]I lived there when I got married and worked for western Electric in Dec of 1957. I then after a few months returned to my old niehborhood in Back of the yards where we both grew up. A mile west on Cicero by Western Electric was full of strip joints and bookies taking bets on the horses. It was a regular thing for someone at western to go through the plant taking bets. It was a horse betting town. Their taverns also served us when we were still minors with cicero cops sitting right there. That's a bit about the area what I experienced in the 50's.[/b]
Re: Emil Denemark Cadillac.
Posted by:
continentalbill3@yahoo.com
(166.181.3.---)
Date: September 15, 2012 10:39AM
My mother was a announcer and hostess of THE VOIVE OF POLAND PROGRAM. She had an intelligent program for intelligent people. This was way before the days of HIGH TECH radio statios obviously. She had to get her own sponsors, run her own time log, pick her own records out of the library at the station, type & translate the news ..BACK IN THOSE DAYS THERE WAS AN FCC to monitor what you were broadcasting. Did i mention her name was NINA CZUWAROWA. I am her 75 year old son. geez its been a long time. I remember one time Emil invited us to the race track Arlington i think with his Black Caddy limo & his cheaufer dressed up in the black suit and hat. I was about 16 years old much to young to attach the importance of this man. I do remember him calling me "billy" and gave me $2 to place a bet. Since i was too young my mother did it for me. I asked him "what horse should i bet it on?" and he told me it dont matter unless you own him. The horse lost but it was a moment in time that I still remember as if it was yesterday. In my next post I will think of some more stories that I would like to share.
Re: Emil Denemark Cadillac.
Posted by:
continentalbill3@yahoo.com
(166.181.3.---)
Date: September 15, 2012 10:45AM
[email]continentalbill3@yahoo.com[/email]My mother was a announcer and hostess of THE VOIVE OF POLAND PROGRAM. She had an intelligent program for intelligent people. This was way before the days of HIGH TECH radio statios obviously. She had to get her own sponsors, run her own time log, pick her own records out of the library at the station, type & translate the news ..BACK IN THOSE DAYS THERE WAS AN FCC to monitor what you were broadcasting. Did i mention her name was NINA CZUWAROWA. I am her 75 year old son. geez its been a long time. I remember one time Emil invited us to the race track Arlington i think with his Black Caddy limo & his cheaufer dressed up in the black suit and hat. I was about 16 years old much to young to attach the importance of this man. I do remember him calling me "billy" and gave me $2 to place a bet. Since i was too young my mother did it for me. I asked him "what horse should i bet it on?" and he told me it dont matter unless you own him. The horse lost but it was a moment in time that I still remember as if it was yesterday. In my next post I will think of some more stories that I would like to share.
Re: Emil Denemark Cadillac.
Posted by:
continentalbill3@yahoo.com
(166.181.3.---)
Date: September 15, 2012 11:42PM
Going back to the old time radio stuff its strange that i can remember certain names from times gone by but cant remember what i ate yesterday. The engineers name was Wayne Smith, weekdays anouncer & record spinner was Bill Mack, and the weekend announcer was Bill Brady. Alot of times my mom would let me run theconsole cue the records up and turn on & off the mike. LOL ....Wayne Smith was usually having a drink in the engeneers booth where he would allow me to "throw" the big switch when the big clock on the wall would change from WCRW to WEDC. It was exciting to me. MOre exciting was when I would ask a girl if she had ever visited a REAL radio station and she would say she had not so I would invite her along to come with my mother ...boy was that a big deal! Incidently i would show her around the premises and go thru the garage and end up necking in an old Buick. those were the days.
Re: Emil Denemark Cadillac.
Posted by:
continentalbill3@yahoo.com
(166.181.3.---)
Date: September 15, 2012 11:57PM
I had no idea of the history connected to Emil Denemark. Somewhere along the way i heard the runor that he made his money building bullet proof cars for the mob. That would make sense going back to the dealership back in the early years. I also remember the music and talk coming thru the long long showroom which housed the brand new Buicks & Caddys as you walked thru on a Sunday night. The place was locked up tight for the weekend. My mother was very much into longhair and classical music, that was WAY BEFORE talk radio. She used to give her number out for the folks to call her if they wanted a request or something and she spent a lot of time on the phone between records and commercials. Does anyone out there remember my mother NINA CZUWAROWA? I wonder.
Re: Emil Denemark Cadillac.
Posted by:
Dunning1
(216.81.94.---)
Date: September 18, 2012 01:08PM
I remember going to Emil Denemark Cadillac with my grandfather when he picked up a new Fleetwood one year. It was right after Packard ceased production, and he could no longer get his favorite car. He evidently knew Denemark from the West Side somehow, and the two of them were rather friendly. I go by the old dealership often on my way to the Daisy Brand factory outlet on Pulaski and 24th. In reference to the mob car dealer, Bergl Chevrolet, which was located on the northeast corner of Cermak Road and 54th Avenue, was the preferred supplier of mob cars. Joe Bergl started out as a mechanic, and later was a Chevrolet dealer. He supplied many of the cars used by the mob during those years, and he was featured in an article in Hemming's Classic Autos. Bergl died about 1950, and I know GM would not let his wife take over the dealership (as a woman), so I don't know what happened with the dealership after that.
Re: Emil Denemark Cadillac.
Posted by:
Berwyn Frank
(---.lightspeed.cicril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: September 18, 2012 05:43PM
Dunning, Joseph Bergl's wife was allowed to sell the dealership to Bergl's long time trusted manager, George Pavlicek. Pavlicek started with Bergl in 1929, and by 1937 became general manager. Pavlicek owned the dealership from 1950-1978 when he retired to Naples Florida where he died in January 1991 at 82 years old.
I know a guy that GM was trying to work out a deal with to sell him the dealership around 1978-1980 under the "Dealer Development" program which was geared towards minority owned GM franchisees. It didn't work out and the dealership became Strat Chevrolet for a brief time before it closed down. The closing of the Western Electric Hawthorne Works plant near Bergl on Cermak and Cicero Ave in the early 1980s hit Bergl Chevrolet's business hard.
Just as an interesting side note, one of Joseph Bergl's nephews, Emil Bergl, founded Community Chevrolet located at 7025 W. Ogden Ave. in Berwyn which he owned from March 1950 through June 1970. The dealership then became Jack Phelan Chevrolet which stayed in the building that Bergl continued to own until October 1997 when Phelan built his own store at 4000 S. Harlem Ave. in Lyons. I started my career in the car business at Jack Phelan Chevrolet in the old building and was there when we made the move to Lyons. I remember Emil Bergl coming into the dealership in early 1997 to switch out his demonstrator model that Phelan continued to give him as a perk. Emil Bergl died in 2002.
I have a bunch of neat memorabilia from Bergl. Here are a couple of photos of the building I took a few years back which still stands on Cermak Rd. and 54th Ave. The other photo is of a ghost sign that is behind the building across from the 54th Ave. El station showing a rare relic of Strat Chevrolet which succeeded Bergl. The third photo is images from Bergl Chevrolet in 1951.
I know a guy that GM was trying to work out a deal with to sell him the dealership around 1978-1980 under the "Dealer Development" program which was geared towards minority owned GM franchisees. It didn't work out and the dealership became Strat Chevrolet for a brief time before it closed down. The closing of the Western Electric Hawthorne Works plant near Bergl on Cermak and Cicero Ave in the early 1980s hit Bergl Chevrolet's business hard.
Just as an interesting side note, one of Joseph Bergl's nephews, Emil Bergl, founded Community Chevrolet located at 7025 W. Ogden Ave. in Berwyn which he owned from March 1950 through June 1970. The dealership then became Jack Phelan Chevrolet which stayed in the building that Bergl continued to own until October 1997 when Phelan built his own store at 4000 S. Harlem Ave. in Lyons. I started my career in the car business at Jack Phelan Chevrolet in the old building and was there when we made the move to Lyons. I remember Emil Bergl coming into the dealership in early 1997 to switch out his demonstrator model that Phelan continued to give him as a perk. Emil Bergl died in 2002.
I have a bunch of neat memorabilia from Bergl. Here are a couple of photos of the building I took a few years back which still stands on Cermak Rd. and 54th Ave. The other photo is of a ghost sign that is behind the building across from the 54th Ave. El station showing a rare relic of Strat Chevrolet which succeeded Bergl. The third photo is images from Bergl Chevrolet in 1951.
Re: Emil Denemark Cadillac.
Posted by:
Vern H
(---.dsl.emhril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: September 19, 2012 03:42AM
Didn't he own a farm in the Burr Ridge area? My uncle worked for Denemark Cadillac and he was keeping an eye on the farm till it sold. I vaglely remember a big barn for horses. This would have been late 60's.
Re: Emil Denemark Cadillac.
Posted by:
Berwyn Frank
(---.lightspeed.cicril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: September 19, 2012 01:30PM
Yes Vern. It was either Burr Ridge or Oakbrook.
Re: Emil Denemark Cadillac.
Posted by:
Chipast
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: September 20, 2012 09:23PM
Wasn't there an Oldsmobile dealer on W.Ogden with a large neon sign displaying an airplane flying up????????. Midway????????. And a Ben Geller dealership too??????????.
Re: Emil Denemark Cadillac.
Posted by:
daveg
(130.36.62.---)
Date: September 21, 2012 01:36PM
Chipast Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Wasn't there an Oldsmobile dealer on W.Ogden with
> a large neon sign displaying an airplane flying
> up????????. Midway????????. And a Ben Geller
> dealership too??????????.
I think it was a rocket which looked like it was lifting off at night. Olds had an engine name of "Rocket V8" back then.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2012 01:37PM by daveg.
-------------------------------------------------------
> Wasn't there an Oldsmobile dealer on W.Ogden with
> a large neon sign displaying an airplane flying
> up????????. Midway????????. And a Ben Geller
> dealership too??????????.
I think it was a rocket which looked like it was lifting off at night. Olds had an engine name of "Rocket V8" back then.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2012 01:37PM by daveg.
Re: Emil Denemark Cadillac.
Posted by:
Berwyn Frank
(---.lightspeed.cicril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: September 21, 2012 03:48PM
Guys I'm not sure who the Oldsmobile Dealer was. Holiday Olds prehaps?
Chipast, here's an image from my collection circa 1963 showing Ben Geller Chevrolet which was located at 3651 W. Ogden Ave. (between Lawndale & Millard Aves.) in the Lawndale neighborhood near Denemark.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2012 03:50PM by Berwyn Frank.
Chipast, here's an image from my collection circa 1963 showing Ben Geller Chevrolet which was located at 3651 W. Ogden Ave. (between Lawndale & Millard Aves.) in the Lawndale neighborhood near Denemark.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2012 03:50PM by Berwyn Frank.
