good questions, both and I wish I could be of more help. from the early '80s (at least) I recall some nondescript stores being torn down on the SE corner of Cicero & Addison (making way for the strip mall now there). I don't like strip malls--who does--but at least there's always parking. You could ask these same questions about the SE corner of Cicero & Fullerton. Addison & Cent
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

you certainly can't pin these taffy apple manufacturers down
Forum: General Discussion

(here in Chicago) it was OMNI vs. CUB Foods, both outgrowths of the 'generic food' trend touting the lowest prices - and both confirmed losers I shopped at the OMNI on Oakton / Waukegan (Niles, in what was called then the Lawrencewood Shopping Mall), and that building now is home to SUPER-H which my dear wife asks me to take her to occasionally
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Although I loved eating Affy Tapples (and still do) when I was a kid I hated the selling of them through Chicago Public School promotions, as much as I hated us kids having to sell anything through a CPS promotion. What ridiculously exploitative and comtemptible enterprises foisted upon grade school kids. Don't buy Affy Tapples though, get a far better product from STAN'S GROCERY at Elston &am
Forum: General Discussion

correction: WBKB did not become WBBM, it became ABC-TV (channel 7 in Chicago)
Forum: General Discussion

Rubenstein lumber could have their own discussion thread here, with the 3 stores I'd frequent, scavenging for usefull boards of a type not common elsewhere (the other stores were inner-city on Lake & Morgan, and Elmwood Park on Grand Ave at the long RR crossing). I'd do the same @ Shannon lumber and Mayfair or a couple other now gone yards.
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

the LOGAN theatre is and always was the LOGAN, but a block or so east (or do you say south?) on Milwaukee was the LOGAN SQUARE theatre (building gone since the '60s) that had changed its name to the MARS in later years, I imagine to eliminate confusion with its nearby similarly-named competition the bldg. that was the ROUND-UP theatre was torn down only about 5 or so years ago (you could still
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

I remember the restaurant to the early-80's at least, address 2554 w. diversey
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

the wanted you to donate nickels, didn't they? that's all I can remember from then about it (I wish I could remember which theatre(s) I encountered the iron lung at, it was a neighborhood one)
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

there was also the MARS theatre (a.k.a. LOGAN SQUARE), and in the early-to-mid '60s I remember the tall vertical MARS signage although the theatre by that time was closed, and this was a half block south on Milwaukee Ave from Logan Blvd (west side of street). It was as big as the Harding theatre judging by outward appearances.
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

yes I remember it from when I moved to that area in 1981, the hamburger'diner'-like place on the east side of Cicero, perhaps at the southern edge of the Walgreens parking lot? (or in some lot just a little further south from there)
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

right, i'd thought the short section between Ridge & Clark was named Elmdale and was bi-directional, before it continues westward as Peterson (I know Elmdale east of Clark was one-way), but now I realize that short section east of Ridge to Clark is named actually named Peterson. so for my driving story to work the overall direction must be reversed - start at the west, Caldwell, and drive eas
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

the police station @ Harlem & Irving was an IL state police one (now gone), and I used to think the radio transmitting tower there was for them
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yes, Elmdale & Broadway, where I end up going to Moody's so a driver can begin @ Elmdale and merely follow the natural course of the roadway they're on going west, and see the signage change names twice, from Elmdale to Peterson, then later from Peterson to Caldwell (finally Caldwell will merge w. Waukegan Rd). Cumberland changes names at least that frequently, while you just keep driving
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

the Gikas Grocery store mentioned a few posts earlier nowadays is in the 3500 block of west Lawrence
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one point about peterson & caldwell I forgot till now - peterson is east-west (west as address numbered) while caldwell is north-south (north as address numbered). technically. so if you've all been posting your letters to 6235 w. caldwell for example, well now you know why they never got there btw when I first mentioned that 1974 snowstorm I'd put it as but 'early april'
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well if not quite 14-16 inches it certainly seemed like it (I remember 9 inches snowfall reported then), but that much that late in the season? the city of chicago didn't get 'in front of it' and plow the thoroughfares just as soon in the afternoon as anyone who could look out a window could tell what was coming, so rush hour was a lost cause. you could walk home faster in any case and I wish I
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

to communicate effectively, even minor locations of restaurants now gone, it requires more than mere 'technicalities' the very last time I remember going to that old elston/cicero tavern was Xmas of 1972. it was torn down quickly in 1973 (like they were in a hurry) in early april of 1974 there was an unexpected major chicago blizzard, starting @ 12:45pm. I watched it come down, getting wor
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

if you asked the average joe to meet you at the intersection of peterson & caldwell, they'd either a) pause and think before saying "hey, they're the same streets aren't they", or b) think you were pulling their leg with a trick type location. for the purpose of locating a restaurant you can be no clearer than to do the usual - start by naming the crossing street which in this case
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

would you also say someplace was at Kimball & Homan? I don't think so
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Peterson AND Caldwell? Peterson IS Caldwell and vice versa. Unless you mean the intersection where they undergo name transformation, at Cicero.
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

the transparent plastic (vinyl) covers I got were from FINGERHUT - whatever was I thinking then
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

in the '60s our closest pizzaria was JOHNNIE Q's on North Ave about 3200 block (they seemed to be built into the Jewel Foods building once there). I think JOHNNIE Q's moved a few miles further west on North Ave later. Mustly my local friends ordered from Father & Son (milwaukee ave), and they'd tell you to go out and meet their delivery drivers who'd honk their car horns. Two other pizzar
Forum: General Discussion

the J-I-T-B on the northeast corner of Kimball & Fullerton was the one I usually went to, but nowadays I go to Portland OR about once a year where I can still enjoy it there's a old dirty schoolboys joke about Jack-In-The-Box merging with Cock Robin
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In 1981 at the Golf Mill theatres I went to a couple of movie 'sneak previews' then, one being Raiders Of The Lost Ark
Forum: General Discussion

What I was thinking of of course was 'opened bottle of alcohol' in vehicle (it doesn't matter all the alcohol was already drunk), and there'd be many incriminating bottles
Forum: General Discussion

if the deadman's switch existed there wouldn't be runaway trains at all, and that's what the harlem/forest park accident was the track trip may remain in some places but I don't see them and they used to be part-and-parcel of all red/green signal lights, easily visible everywhere ATC would appear to be for the birds--it addresses many issues but hard-and-fast safety is NOT its top concern
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

i remember while riding the CTA subway (or elevated) trains years ago watching the white T-shaped trip lever down by the right track rail go up or down (usually down) when the signal light changed from red to green (or vice versa). this was a reliable automated mechanical system--which by the way doesn't exist anymore--that would stop a train if it proceeded through a red light. the white T-leve
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

the early 2000's is the last time I returned bottles for deposits here in Chicago. it was Huber Bock beer sold in cases, at the cardinal liquor store on central ave this link you can click on mentions the returnable cut-off: http://www.realbeer.com/news/articles/news-002079.php Huber Bock was great stuff and low-priced too, but in the past couple years I don't find it anymore (last sol
Forum: General Discussion

some real estate agents will insist there could be (new) lead paint on chicago area houses as late as 1978, though I agree with the 1960 finale figure previously mentioned. from memory I never knew house paint with lead in it to be more expensive back then. but bring me back linseed oil vehicles and throw your PVA latex water-based nonsensical paint into the nearest gov't approved landfill
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)