Wow Hal, I missed those four that you posted! They were pretty nice. Yeah, that S. Plymouth Ct. sign is pretty rare. That street wasn't that long. I only know of it because it is near John Marshall Law School where my friend just graduated from a year or so ago.
Forum: General Discussion

I knew what you meant jay. I just posted a pic of the substation sign because I had it. Interestingly, I didn't even take a picture of the whole building, just a pic of the plaque. And yea, it WOULD be awesome for an album by one of the large neon sign companies to surface. A friend of mine just bought an album full of professionally taken 8"X10 photos of apartment buildings in Chicag
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I took this picture a few years ago of the Troy Substation plaque.
Forum: General Discussion

I was browsing e-bay and I saw this Chicago Daily News photo from January 1978 showing the demolition of a large apartment building on Juneway Terrace. The blurb on the back of the photo refers to the neighborhood as "The Jungle."
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

So I went to take some better pictures of this ghost sign that I showed a few pages back in this thread. Pilsen Br'g Co's. Beers. In the old picture there was a for sale sign over a couple of the letters, now it's gone but I got a shadow from the pole. Darn... Kind of neat, I have this ink blotter card in my collection which dates to the 1920s. Charles Vesley was a Chicago Bohemian that
Forum: General Discussion

Chicago street sign sales have been low. Here are a couple. N. Oriole Av.- $133.50 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&item=330750015963&nma=true&rt=nc&si=A%252BW4kb%252B68tQaL3exsiIA%252F50CX7Q%253D&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc S. Wentworth Av.- $137.50 http://www.ebay.com/itm/330755581388?ssPageName=S
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sanity94 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > OMG! This is so surprising to find out! Thank you > so very much for the information and for the bonus > stories. > > I have actually bought your book a couple of > months back and I literally fell in love with it. > I even showed it to my classmates in my high > school because it showed a
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While I am at it, here are the histories of a couple more neat buildings on Troy St. Here is one about a building at 2144 S. Troy St. that I posted in this thread about Little Village. Chicago Bohemian James P. Vrba (pronounced Verb-a) was the proprietor of the Verb Sign Works that painted many signs in Chicago and vicinity back in the day. Here is an ad I scanned from the 1915 Chicago Bohe
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I also wanted to add that Jan Cermak who had the saloon at 2257 S. Troy St. was the treasurer of the Karel Havlicek Building and Loan Association in 1914. I assume that it was located very close by because the president, Vaclav Tesar, lived a half block away at 2231 S. Troy St. Pk, where did you get the info on California Mfg? I would like to find more if I could.
Forum: General Discussion

Wow, I love this building as well! Here is a somewhat better picture of the front that I took a few years back. Let's start with what I know about the building. In it's early days circa 1910, it was the saloon of Jan (John) Cermak. Here is a picture of a wine jug that came from there. By the 1920s, several buildings have been purchased from 2243-2257 S. Troy Street, to house t
Forum: General Discussion

GREAT info jayg! I should have posted this link earlier, but check out this persons images on flickr or the Kedzie/Cermak area in 1990 and 1954. Click on the Lawndale file with the 80 pictures. The ones concentrating on the house are at 2113 S. Fairfield and the surrounding block and area. The family lived there for a really long time. I looked it up and they ended up selling the building in
Forum: General Discussion

"In the modern Douglas/Spaulding photo, are those newer two-story mansard-roof buildings some sort of infill low-income housing units?" EXACTLY Wardell!
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Thanks for the comments guys. Chipast, yes, it is a shame what has happened to some neighborhoods in Chicago. These next shocking examples aren't Lawndale, but East & West Garfield Park. This is Maypole W. of Pulaski (after the street names changed) circa 1908. Remember, save both images then click back and forth. Wasteland in 2011. Monroe St. W. of 5th Ave. (after
Forum: General Discussion

Here is something fun. My friend Perry Casalino went out and rephotographed these vintage images from our collections. They are 100% dead on and aligned with the originals. Right click on the photos and save them on to your computer. When you get them both saved click back and forth and see how amazingly aligned they are. What I do is focus on some small architectural detail like a piece of l
Forum: General Discussion

Here is a copy of an original charter from the State of Illinois for the Bohemian Pisek Building & Loan that was originally located on 18th St. in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood. The charter, which dates from 1886, was held by the original organization until the 1970s when they merged with the very well known Olympic Savings and Loan in Berwyn. Many years earlier, Pisek had moved west to Cerm
Forum: General Discussion

Kchi, The Bohemians/Czechs were practically the kings of the old building and loans. By 1924, 15 state and federal banks in Chicago were controlled by Czechs; they also controlled more than half of the assets of Chicago’s building and loan associations. The groth of Cicero and Berwyn were the result of so much ethnic Eastern European savings in these organizations. In the 1920s, Berwyn was ca
Forum: General Discussion

Sold Sign Update. W. Archer Av. (Damaged)- $76.00 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&hash=item1c252f8dae&item=120882957742&nma=true&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&rt=nc&si=YGZT17a5nUaN1YfVapm%252BpzbB1xY%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc Modern Green W. Chicago Av.- $99.99 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.
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That WAS a fascinating little area and among the earliest neighborhoods in Chicago just outside of downtown. It's a shame that so many early historic neighborhoods were razed during the "urban renewal" era in Richard J. Daley's Chicago. So much history lost.....
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Awesome, great find! Man, the area looks so "gritty" in the photo. By the way, there's your "air conditioned" sign!
Forum: General Discussion

WayOutWardell Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Frank, > Any idea if 2501 Kedzie was some sort of > entertainment venue after its use as a > dealership? > Before it was painted over by Volkan Nightclub > about ten years ago, I remember the sign above the > door on the corner saying 'Air Conditioned' with > some figures above it - peop
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The building was at Ogden Ave. & Custer in Lyons.
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RegGuy, here is another neat piece of Little Village/Lawndale dealer memorabilia. This is an ink blotter card from my collection that I used in my book about Little Village. Here is the caption from the book: Frank Breska emigrated to Chicago from Czechoslovakia in 1885. He worked as a representative for the Atlas Brewing Company for many years before entering into the automobile busin
Forum: General Discussion

Oh, by the way, 21st & Western would have been the Pilsen neighborhood, different from Little Village. Another clue to that is that Pilsen used the "Canal" telephone exchange. Little Lillage used the "Lawndale," "Bishop," "Rockwell," and "Crawford" exchanges.
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You mean THIS building?????? >:D< How freakin cool would it be to find something like this on your building! My uncle took that pic for me at that time.
Forum: General Discussion

RegularGuy55 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Yeah, Berwyn Frank, you have a genuine mystery > there. Chevrolet was started in 1911, the same > time your records show the school being built, so > it' not too likely the dealership was on that site > before the school began. > > I suppose it's possible the building housed the > deale
Forum: General Discussion

Dave, the Vojta Naperstek school was a Bohemian school, kind of like a "Sunday school" for Bohemians/Czechs to learn their language and culture. The school was NOT a Chicago public school, it was a private school built by the Bohemian Freethinkers.
Forum: General Discussion

Good question. I just checked 2546 S. Homan and I found something strange. That location which is on a side street just off of 26th St. is a large building which was the Vojta Naperstek Bohemian School. The address of the school was 2548 S. Homan Ave. The school, which I included in my book on Little Village, was built in 1911 and continued to operate into the 1960s. I am puzzled why my bill
Forum: General Discussion

WayOutWardell Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > A friend asked me to post this here for your > viewing. It's in front of 2535 S. Millard, and > the boy in the cap standing on the running board > is my pal's grandfather, ca. 1912. > > 2535 S. Millard ANOTHER awesome picture! It is INDEED the front of 2535 S. Kedzie. Here is the scene
Forum: General Discussion

RegularGuy55 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I believe this photo was taken in the 2400 block > of south Kedzie in Little Village. You can see a > sign in the second floor window which says, "22nd > Ward Democratic Organization". The date would > have been in 1930 or 1931 as Anton Cermak > challenged "Big Bill" Thompso
Forum: General Discussion

I just checked the 1929 Polk reverse directory and James Rusy was listed at that address at the time.
Forum: General Discussion