You know, as the machine imposes more and more taxes and rules on us, I am seriously considering leaving both Chicago and Illinois when I retire in a few years. It's getting increasingly unlivable here. The machine is stifiling every attempt that Rauner is trying to make at reform, and I have come to the conclusion that if he doesn't succeed, that's it, I'm moving. One of the cities I am strong
Forum: General Discussion

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Forum: General Discussion

Run a tunnel from Union Station, where it comes in from now, to the Clinton Stop on the Blue Line, and you've got it. I don't know if you could electrify it though as the line goes through the CN Schiller Park Yard, and touches the eastern side of the CN Bensenville Yard. I've always thought the rebuild of the Lake Street L was idiotic, with the Congress line just a few blocks away, and I've alw
Forum: General Discussion

I remember when the Jazz Record Mart used to be on Lincoln Avenue, around Montrose. I went in there a few times. Another time, after they moved down to Grand and State, I was looking around and some famous rock musician came in. I was chatting with him, and had no idea whatsoever who he was. The staff was rather rude to me after that.
Forum: General Discussion

It's the Metra North Central Line. I am looking at it out of my office window. There are stops both in Rosemont (at Balmoral) and at O'Hare Transfer, just south of Higgins Road.
Forum: General Discussion

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Forum: General Discussion

That Green Hornet streetcar disaster happened on May 25, 1950, on the State Street line, at 63rd and State. Just north of the viaduct, as the viaduct was flooded. I just read a good book on it, and you can get it from Amazon. Here is a link for it. http://www.amazon.com/The-Green-Hornet-Street-Disaster/dp/0875804543
Forum: General Discussion

This doesn't have anything to do with American Can, but a company right up the street. While skimming through an old Who's Who in Chicago, I came across a listing for Claus S. Claussen. He was the President of C.F. Claussen & Sons, of pickle fame, and their factory was located at 5131 S. Western Boulevard. Claus was evidently the son of the founder, Claus F. Claussen, and took control of th
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

While we deal mainly with Chicago memories on this blog, one thing you might want to try is going to Google books, (not the regular google search, but click on the small link for books) and then enter the year and model of the car you are interested in. Old Popular Mechanics and Popular Science are online. You can even try something like "1952 Desoto Owners Report" and you will get one
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

I went out to the Illinois Railway Museum a few years ago and found one of the old Addison Street buses I used to ride to school. Years ago, there were not just one, but three Addison Street buses in the morning, and those in the know always rode the Addison Heights Express (Red Sign) rather than the Limited (Green Sign) or the regular route. East of Cicero Avenue, the Express only stopped at bu
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

Trosky-The New Yorker was a little longer than the Windsor due to the straight 8 vs. straight 6 engine. The New Yorker and Saratoga shared the same body, and the Windsor and the Royal shared the shorter body. Recently, a 1949 Windsor was offered in Rhode Island whose original owner was the Governor of Massachusetts, later Secretary of State. Car was in beautiful condition, but of course, not en
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Prior to electrification, Chicago, not San Francisco, had the largest cable car system in the world.
Forum: General Discussion

Every month I get my copy of Hemmings Motor News and look over the ads from cover to cover, looking at all of the cars that are out there. I will be retiring pretty soon, and I want to get two old cars...first, I want to get a 1949 Chrysler Windsor 4 door sedan. This is the car I grew up with, and I would love to get one. Ours unfortunately met its end in about 1969. Secondly, I have always wa
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Some while back Berwyn Frank invited me to see his collection, and tipped me off to a very interesting history of Czech Chicago that was republished by the Czech historical society. Extremely interesting. I used to work in the southwest loop, and back, hidden away on some side streets, some of the old houses still exist.
Forum: General Discussion

Before moving the office to Rosemont about ten years ago, I used to run through that area all of the time. I often wondered about those engines and tracks, and kind of figured that they were related to the lumber trade down there. For some reason, I have always found Canalport to be an interesting street, and ran down it often. By the way, is the marina, which I believe was on Union down there
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

It's kind of interesting talking about these old five and dime stores, but when reading a biography of Sam Walton, that's where he started off...running a Ben Franklin Five and Ten store down in Arkansas. The whole Walmart empire started from that five and dime store.
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

The Tucker was a fascinating car. I believe only 51 were built. Once upon a time, many years ago, I was walking home from St. Priscilla Grade School, and on the northwest corner of Cornelia and Oak Park, I saw a really unusual car parked. I stopped, and was looking all over it, and a gentleman came up, chuckling, and explained it was a "Tucker-Olds." I don't know what the Olds connec
Forum: General Discussion

Well, the first car I ever drove was either my grandfather's 1949 Cadillac Fleetwood, or my dad's 1949 Chrysler Windsor. I know the Cadillac was the first car I ever drove in traffic, I was about seven at the time. There was little traffic out here in the Schorsch Village area back then, and my grandfather would let me drive home from St. Joseph's Cemetery. Bear in mind that this was before pow
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

I grew up on the northwest side, but your mention of Lil Wally brings back memories. My family is pretty much Austrian/German, but when there were no German programs broadcast on Sunday mornings, my dad would listen to the Lil Wally polkas on the Polish broadcasts. It's funny, I have a good friend in Trenton who is from a Polish background, and I had to go and get him some Lil Wally CDs as he is
Forum: General Discussion

In the spirit of adding new topics to defeat the spammers, I wanted to share this oddity with you. How long have you had the same license plate number? I remember this was a big thing with my grandparents and parents, and I kind of have continued the trend. The current license plate number, registered to me on my car, was first issued to my grandfather back in 1928 when he bought a new Hupmobil
Forum: General Discussion

Right name, almost, wrong spelling and address... Found this in the Chicago Tribune Archives of January 6, 1966. Murder at Fohrman Motors, 2700 W. Madison St., killed were Sidney Fohrman, 49 of 9494 Hamlin, Skokie, Ed Fohrman, 910 N. Lake Shore Drive, and Albert Sizer, of 777 N. Michigan Avenue. They were alledgedly shot by Donald D. Jackson of 208 W. 94th St., who was sold a defective 1963 C
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

My memory is really foggy on this, but wasn't there some kind of shooting at Foreman Motors on Fullerton, just east of Cicero? They used to specialize in used Cadillacs and I remember something like that going on. I believe his son in law is Howard Orloff, and he changed the dealership over to Volvo, and later the current Jaguar dealer on North and the Kennedy Expy.
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

I was actually down on North Avenue yesterday. My dentist moved about a year ago to a new building on North just east of Harlem. I remember the restaurant you are talking about, on the north side of North just west of Oak Park. Our second dentist had his office over it probably back in the early 197os before moving to Cameo Towers. Do you remember the pet store that was in the building that wa
Forum: General Discussion

I always wondered about the Cunningham Company, right in the same neighborhood at about 4600 W. Addison. Looks like they just sold sand and gravel and were there for years. It looks like they closed down a few years ago. I often wondered if they received the sand by rail, via the Belt Line which was right on their eastern border. There would have been a lot of use for rail sidings in that neig
Forum: General Discussion

You also might try "What Was Where." The Library of Congress also has photo archives from the Daily News from like 1890-1930 online, but the last couple of times I have tried to use it the link was down. The Chicago Historical Society also has extensive photo archives. I don't think the photos are online, but I believe the index is online. Hope this helps.
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

I remember Grand Harlem Motors very well. They were unusual in as much as they were an Imperial/Chrysler/Dodge dealership. The usual pairing was Imperial/Chrysler/Plymouth and other dealerships were Dodge and Dodge trucks. My dad bought a 1965 Newport there, and I would regularly walk down there from Addison Street to see the new model cars every September that would be stored at the back of th
Forum: General Discussion

We really only had three vacations when I was growing up. In about 1960, we were able to borrow a neighbor's cottage up at Lake Delton, WI, and we went up there for a week. There was no indoor plumbing, and being a little kid, my dad scared me into thinking that a snake would come up and bite me in the behind if I used the bathroom. Luckily, my dad had another friend up in the area who retired
Forum: General Discussion

Just want to express my thanks to all involved in adding the Captcha and sorting out all of the spam that is posted. I love this site, and check it multiple times every day! One small comment, we need to add the CAPTCHA to the Private Messages, when attempting to send a PM, you get an error message that you have been identified as a spambot. Thanks
Forum: General Discussion

Jeff..It appears that there should be a Captcha in the PMs. When I tried to send a PM, it identified me as a spambot.
Forum: General Discussion