Wow, did somebody here buy the Springfield Ave sign? It was on for a few days but after I linked it here it was sold right away. Well in case that one interested you, there is another from the same seller also with a 165.00 e-bay buy it now. W. Dickens Ave. **UPDATE** AS SOON AS I LINKED THIS ONE ON THIS SITE, IT WAS ALSO SNATCHED UP IN MINUTES! http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Chicago-Por
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There is a N. Springfield Ave. sign with e-bay buy it now price of $165.00 http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Chicago-Porcelain-Street-Sign-n-Springfield-Av-/160436415942?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item255ac16dc6
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Thanks for the nice comments Dave. If you have not picked up the book yet, I am doing a book signing on May 29th. This is NOT a discussion with a power point presentation and all, I am doing that at the Berwyn Public Library on October 2nd. This is going to be a smaller and more personal setting where I can meet people and sign their books. Books will also be available for purchase. Ths de
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Just in case anyone is interested, amazon.com added the "look inside" feature to my book. This is a great way to get a preview before buying the book. http://www.amazon.com/Chicagos-Little-Village-Lawndale-Crawford-America/dp/0738577375/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273809262&sr=8-1
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Artista, I am sorry that I did not see your post. The garden on 28th & Kenneth (the pictures of the man and the last one I posted) was located on the SW corner of 28th & Kenneth Ave. in Little Village. Here is a google maps view of it today. The two buildings on the end were built after the war. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=2800+s+kennet
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Davey, you need to read the first post closer. Here it is again. "the painted advertising on the side of the building which was advertising Novak & Sebek Men's clothing store which was located in the heart of the Czech California Bohemian neighborhood at 22nd St (Cermak Rd.) & Cor. of Troy St. as it says on the bottom of the sign. I know the sign was painted before 1910 because of
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N. Seminary Ave. sold for $180.00 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330429841034&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
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More Millard Ave. How cool is this? Look at the original circa 1908 shot I posted of Millard Ave where you can see the street from the el tracks. Look in front of many of the homes and you will see these "steps" that were used to help get off of your horse. Many homes back then would use a wood box or crate, but the wealthy had stone steps with their family name on them. Some ac
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More North Lawndale. Here are a couple of coach houses from the five houses on Avers. This is the coach house of the old Kralovec house at 2102 S. Avers. 1952 S Avers coach house.
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Here is a site I use sometimes to find churches when doing research. http://genealogytrails.com/ill/cook/churches_1905.html It is interesting that the Italian ancestry site lists St. Columbkille because when I looked up the building on Grand earlier in this thread, I found that there were a ton of Italian surnames in that area. Second highest represented ethnic group appears to be Irish as
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Thanks for the info Wardell. Captain, the Eastland Disaster was actually in July 1915. I cover it in my book Chicago's Little Village Lawndale-Crawford.
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

In 1930 the building at 1624 W. Grand was listed as being occupied by John Conley for "teaming." Don't know what that means. The building at 1618 was listed as being occupied by W.J. O'Neil, undertaker. Perhaps O'Neil moved to the corner location in an expansion? By the way, that building does not seem reminiscent of an 1873 building. Late 1880's-1890ish maybe?
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I was looking through my old image file and I DID scan the victory garden image from 28th & Kenneth I mention above. I just forgot where I put it. Here it is.
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These next shots are of a small Chicago landmark district called the "Five Houses on Avers." http://webapps.cityofchicago.org/LandmarksWeb/districtDetail.do?disID=10 I find these gray stone homes to be absolutely fascinating. They are located at 1942, 1950, 1952, 1958, and 2102 S. Avers Ave. on the west side of the street. The developer was a prominent Bohemian named Jan (John) K
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Thank's guys! 222psm, yes Cermak was born in what is now the Czech Republic. Here is an incredibly ironic story about Cermak and Berwyn's Mayor Frank Novotny. Cermak was born in a city in the old country called Kladno which was known for it's mining industry. After the Cermak family immigrated to Chicago they relocated to Coal City Illinois, where many other Bohemians had moved to, so Cerma
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More on North Lawndale....... I went out today and took pictures of some stuff I wanted to talk about. First, here is a couple of cool ghost signs that survive on Ogden Ave. The first one is on a building at 4366 W. Ogden. One sign is on one side of the building and the other is on the opposite side of the building. This next one is very cool to me. The building is located at
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Growingretro. In my book I have a page where I focus on two WWII victory gardens. The first image is of Home Run Inn Tavern's victory garden on 31st & Kildare in Little Village. The old tavern building is LONG gone and there would be absolutely no remnants of this garden. The second image came from a woman who is like my surrogate grandmother here in Berwyn. This image is not that
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Actually, Shedd Park is in what is now known as Little Village, formerly SOUTH Lawndale. For more info on that area see my other thread on the book I just released on the area called Chicago's Little Village Lawndale-Crawford. I cover Shedd Park in that book.
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I have had a few people tell me that they could not find my book at Borders or Barnes and Noble. For some reason some have it and some don't. Remember it is for sale at Amazon.com for cheaper then both of those stores with no taxes or shipping with purchases over $25. http://www.amazon.com/Chicagos-Little-Village-Lawndale-Crawford-America/dp/0738577375/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1
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Yeah guys, the neighborhoods sure are rough places now of days. For those that don't live in Chicago anymore there is even talk of bringing in the national guard to patrol our deadly streets. boy oh boy, read the comments following the article.... National Guard in Chicago
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Yes Alex, in the book there is an image of a crowd in front of Cermak's house on Millard after he was assasinated. There is also a vintage image from 1910 of your block on page 32 where you can just make out your house on the far right of the image. At the end of the book on page 120 where I cover the neighborhood as it is today, I have a modern shot I took of your house with a caption totally d
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Wow, that is so great to hear Alex! I had noticed that there was recent restoration work done to the building. He must be good at restoring wood because the front door looks gorgeous and I love what he did with the columns on the front porch! I would love to meet everyone and sign their book(s). Let me know by private message if you guys are interested in that. Also, if you have neighbors tha
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alex2437 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I Found out about your book from a postcard in my > mailbox and we are excited to go buy it and learn > about our lifelong neighborhood. I'm currently > renting an apartment in the Shedd home on 23rd and > Millard. My Sister in law owns the building and > we've always tried to look up the history sin
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Basically the "official" map uses the Burlington railroad tracks as the north border. Interesting. Using this map, on the west end of the neighborhood there is industrial land where it "cuts off" what I say the borders are. One the east end it goes to basically 21st St before you enter more industrial land between Rockwell and Western. One thing's for certain, Ogden is DEFIN
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Some do say that Ogden bisects the two neighborhoods but they are wrong. The "official" neighborhood boundaries are stated below in this excerpt from my book I posted in the old thread that was lost on this subject. Little Village could be confusing at times. To make your experience a little easier, here are some facts to keep in mind. The geographical borders of the neighborhood a
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N. Sayre Av. ended up selling for $147.05 W. Wilson Av. ended up selling for $41.00
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Thank's to everybody that will be buying the book, I am sure you will enjoy it. There are some GREAT images in it. As far as an event/discussion there will be at least a couple. There is already one scheduled for October 2nd at the Berwyn Public Library which I am looking foreword to. Unfortunately, I had hoped for it to be a lot sooner but there was a scheduling error that took place and I lo
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Ask and ye shall receive. First of all, 21st & Harding is NOT South Lawndale, but one block into North Lawndale. 22nd St. (Cermak Rd.) is the border that separates North and South Lawndale. In the early days of the neighborhood the borders were kind of fuzzy and did not make much of a difference ethnically. In the beginning your fathers neighborhood was SOLID Bohemians. I have images in m
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I have a friend who is with the Edgewater Historical Society and he provided me with this info. It appears that many of the adornments have been added by the current owner. Edgewater Historical Society The "castle," as it is commonly known, is clearly an Andersonville landmark. It was built in 1904 for C. Christiansen at a cost of $6,000. The architect was George Pfeiffer. In this
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Well, for some reason Mike will not resurrect the thread we had going on Little Village and my new book Chicago's Little Village Lawndale-Crawford (perhaps he is a busy man?), so I will just start a new one! Chicago's Little Village Lawndale-Crawford The books official release date was yesterday, but as of this afternoon it was not at Borders in Oak Park yet. I give it a day or so before we
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