If you still have the aluminum overlays, hang on to them and keep them with the sign! Those CSL cast signs are extremely rare as it is (I know of only one other one out there that's not in a museum...because I used to own it) and I know of *no* others that exist today with the CTA overlays. A friend remembered seeing one at a CTA bus turnaround at about Roosevelt and Central ages ago, painted
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Demolished 1960, I believe. As with the Lexington Hotel in the 1990s, the original Mayor Daley saw it as symbolic of a Chicago era he wanted forgotten, and made sure it went away.
Forum: General Discussion

The "New Apollo" building actually started out as an early movie theater, somewhere in the 1910-1915 era. It closed during the Depression. Artista Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > the "NEW*APOLLO" at 1536 N. Pulaski. When i was a > boy, Mom sent me out to the Apollo for milk many > many many many many times ,,lol. The building is
Forum: General Discussion

I was at Hans Bavarian Lodge, Honey Bear Farm and Ignatz and Mary's once each,
Forum: General Discussion

I know a fellow who's looking to sell one of those machines, if anyone's interested. Kchi Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Here is a link to a picture of a 1936 Mills Gum > Dispenser. > >
Forum: General Discussion

I think The Zephyr closed within the last five years or so. I went there with several friends from church shortly before it closed. I was there only about two or three times...my memory of the first time was an odd one. I was there with some classmates and a teacher (we were going to a Neil Simon play that evening over at Truman College). Four guys, five girls and the teacher. Us guys and t
Forum: General Discussion

Kchi Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I don't know why there were a number of commercial > picnic groves way back when especially in this > case when a Forest Preserve was so close by. I > assume it had something to do with availability of > electricity,food,rest rooms and possibly the > restrictions on alcohol consumption. Probably b
Forum: General Discussion

It was built on the site of a Chicago & North Western yard that served various industrial concerns along the riverfront, the south end of Streeterville and Navy Pier. Interestingly, because of city smoke abatement ordinances in the downtown area, the line was one of the first rail lines in the city to receive diesel locomotives, in the mid-1920s.
Forum: General Discussion

My late father remembered the Mecca Flats from his time as a student at IIT in the early 1950s. He said that it was a well known landmark on the campus...well known to avoid, that is. By then the Mecca had become a haven of drugs, vice and crime so bad that some of his fellow classmates who were Marine veterans of WW2 (and otherwise fearless) wouldn't go near the place. His recollection was t
Forum: General Discussion

Old military aircraft, tanks, artillery etc. that you see on display in parks are still property of their originating service. Those tanks would have gone back to the Army when their use as a war memorial ended. (Unfortunately, if they were removed in the 60s or 70s they may have simply been scrapped.)
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

The former Bowman Dairy building in Evanston is now part of a public storage facility, and I remember the one on S. 1st Avenue in Maywood, which came down sometime in the 90s.
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

There was a gasholder near Division Street, just east of the C&NW tracks. I have a C&NW photos from the 1950s with it visible to the side. There's a People's Gas office and yard of some sort on the site now.
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

I have some memories of the German community on Lincoln Avenue...Zum Deutschen Eck ("The German Corner", fyi) was a family favorite on Saturdays for years before they closed in 1994. Heidelberger Fass was another favorite...a nice intimate little neighborhood place on Lincoln that was simply wonderful. Chicago Brauhaus is well worth a visit, as is Laschet's (and there's another Germa
Forum: General Discussion

Didn't know there was a second one. The only one I knew of was at Washington and about West End, built by West Side developer Louis Guyon.
Forum: General Discussion

Two of the most notorious "contract sellers"/blockbusters on Chicago's west side in the 1950s and 60s were Kenneth Goldberg and Louis Wolff. They were part of a group of West Siders who did this for years before being exposed. The Chicago Tribune ran a devastating (and detailed) expose of their activities in about April of 1973. Ironically, once the block busters came to a neighborh
Forum: General Discussion

Berwyn Frank Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The sign below hung on a fence near the old > Hotpoint plant. It is big, about 3 1/2'-4' tall > and VERY heavy. Some how some way, I am not > saying how, it now resides in my basement! > > I HATE when that happens! The NERVE of old signs, forcing somebody to take them home like that....:D
Forum: General Discussion

There's a small, abandoned gasholder in Hammond, just across the state line.
Forum: General Discussion

I believe the big closing of C&NW commuter stations was in 1955-56. Part of Ben Heineman's plan to revive the North Western was to modernize and speed up its commuter service, and he convinced the city and state that the neighborhood stations that were closed served areas that were already well served by the (also modernizing at the time) CTA. The station mentioned sounds like it may have
Forum: General Discussion

Those boxes dated back to the 1920s at least. Chicago Surface Lines published a series of flyers (memory escapes me now..."Surface Service"?) and the "L" company published "Elevated News" and "Rapid Transit News". They were promotional literature touting businesses along the lines, service improvements, and the inevitable invitation to buy stock in the com
Forum: General Discussion

If memory serves, that had been a Chicago Dodge factory during World War II. They made Wright R3350 engines for B-29s there.
Forum: General Discussion

My dad remembered a second-floor poolhall on that block in the fifties. He would sometimes go over there on his lunch break.
Forum: General Discussion

I recall reading a published history of the Uptown Theater many years ago, which stated that the theater was built on the former site of a beer garden.
Forum: General Discussion

I remember my dad didn't think too highly of George Diamond...he viewed it as a place where they made you wait for your table and steered you into the bar. (I also think he wasn't too impressed with the steaks.) Because of that I never thought to go down there and try it myself...a shame, since it lingered on for so long. My dad did think highly of Binyon's, though. I was there with him seve
Forum: General Discussion

The gallows went to Seven Acres Antique Village outside Union, IL. I remember seeing it on display there. It is now a western-themed park called Wild West Town (with a very good attached steakhouse BTW) and I don't know if they still have it or not. I understand recent research (a book?) concluded that Terrible Tommy O'Connor successfully evaded capture, made his way back to Ireland and subse
Forum: General Discussion

Lazer Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I was at William Powers State Fish and Wildlife > Area yesterday and I found a monument > commemorating the Nike Missiles which were > stationed there. > > Photo Link: > http://forgottenchicago.com/forum/file/1/file=5/fi > lename=NikeMissile.JPG That's the business end of a Nike Ajax, an ear
Forum: General Discussion

Jacob Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Yes, the theater was completed in 1931, while the > building the ads are on seems to date from the > 1920s, so the ads must be from the late 20s or so. Lill Coal Company was one of the last (if not *the* last) retail coal dealers on the north side, closing abruptly in 1973. It was also the last customer of th
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

fleurblue Wrote: > There was an orphanage called St. Hedwig's at the > corner of Harlem and Touhy in Niles. Condos stand > there now and prior to that it was Niles College, > a Catholic Seminary. I remember it in its last role as the seminary. Never knew it was built as an orphanage; I remember thinking it did look like an old school of some kind.
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

I've seen remnants of them in the foyers of many buildings, but I don't think I've ever seen a complete (let alone functional) example.
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

bwalsh Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- There was a place across from > the Daley Center on Randolph that you had to walk > downstairs - it was sort of like a country western > decor - can't recall the name. That was the Double-R Bar, famous for their chili. South Shore Line employees used to hang out there. Also, another place > that used t
Forum: General Discussion

About a year ago there was a neat amateur film of East 63rd Street posted on YouTube. It looked like it was made around 1950. Unfortunately, it has since been pulled. querencia Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > For a long time in recent years E 63rd Street > looked as if it had been bombed out, and now it > has new townhouses. It's hard to realize t
Forum: General Discussion