Back in the late '50's we used to go to Burkhardt Bottlers and pick up a case of quarts once in a while. We lived near Archer & Oak Park at the time and it seems like the building we went to was just NW of Archer & Canal. You would pick assorted flavors and put them in a wooden case yourself. Now-a-days businesses are afraid if you enter a parking lot, let alone the warehouse. Another was
Forum: General Discussion

I recall that it was a few doors north of the Pacific Garden Mission, but cannot remember the name. I was personally in the one north of Congress, I think it was in '65 and I was sixteen. Couldn't have been more than a buck or two to get in, and as far as being underage nobody cared as long as you paid. The name was the Follies, some of the women performed to recordings, others to the house band,
Forum: General Discussion

My grandparents had a tavern on the NW corner of 25th & Rockwell during that time and according to my dad their bar became a "tea house". Apparently the locals would gather for a spot of tea, but of course they also had the stuff everyone was really after. There was a Sgt. on the police force that was the bagman for whoever it was that got the payoffs that kept the heat off. Also, a
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

I bet you are thinking of Peterson Bowling Alley which was on 35th St. right off of Archer. It was best known as "The Home Of The Peterson Classic" which was a big money tournament held every year. Might also have been the first tournament of it's kind, anybody know for sure? OK, I just googled it and here is the correct name of the bowling alley, Archer-35th Recreation. The followi
Forum: General Discussion

I just spoke with my mother-in-law about the Horejsi property and have a few details to add. I happened to mention the name today to my wife and she said she has heard reference to them many times over the years. My MIL grew up at 3347 S. Hoyne and was a regular at that grocery for years. In the '40's the store was run by the children, who according to my MIL were probably in their forties or so.
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In looking at the Cinema Treasures 'site I did not find a listing for the Marshall-Square Theater. At least that is what we called the movie house on the north side of 22nd St., just west of California Boulevard. Is my recollection of the name wrong?
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I believe that Twin Oaks Dairy was a co-op. Individual milk men joined together and formed a group that would buy raw milk, process, bottle and then distribute the products themselves. I may be mistaken about processing, maybe they only bottled it from bulk. I went to high school with a guy who's father was a MM and ultimately wrested control (yes, it was unethical and ugly) from his partners in a
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The trough I remember on Kedzie was more like the one pictured here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/christiansphotos/4651496825/ Similar, but not matching, the base was different. It did not support the whole underside as seen in the photo. I don't know if it had the fixture (?, whatever it is) in the center as I never got out of the car to look at it closely. In Googling "troughs, Chicag
Forum: General Discussion

Back in the early '70's I used to go to a business near 31st & Kedzie, and just north of Kedzie a RR track crossed the street serving local industries. At the SE corner formed by the street and track was a remnant of the past, a horse trough. It was a light green color, maybe terra cotta, or some type of stone, or possibly even cast bronze. It was the last one , in fact the only one, I ever sa
Forum: General Discussion

In a previous post I made mention of the "honey dipper" that would drive the alleys in the neighborhood and offer to clean out your grease trap, but there were others too. In the '50's when we lived at 25th & Washtenaw we had a man with a horse drawn wagon and his call was "Rags and old iron!", and as the junk man he'd take anything he perceived to be of value. Today that p
Forum: General Discussion

Go to http://encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/11095.html to see a picture of the plant, it was right on Cicero Avenue. After it closed some genius attempted to steal one of the large ComEd transformers located behind a fenced enclosure on 66th st. It still had a live connection, making him the last thing cooked on the property.
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

Watra Religious Store is located where Wolf Furniture used to be, and a bit further west in the same block was the old Brighton Theater. I used to go there as a kid for the 25 cent Saturday matinee. Also, the White Castle at Archer and Kedzie was featured on CBS's show "Undercover Boss" last season. I immediately noticed Fortuna Funeral Home in one of the shots on the show. Grandparents
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I don't recall the sign but I do remember what put that guy on the map, so to speak. During the oil crisis of 1973 he was contracted with Clark Refineries for his fuel. Clark had to sell him product to satisfy the contract and as a result he had more gas to sell than their own stations did. Being an independent producer the Clark pricing was also more favorable. Later on, (early 90's?) he sold m
Forum: General Discussion

Dad had a house built in 1954 and we had a metal cover just as you picture, exact in fact down to the "sewerage" marking. I am certainly no plumber but I do not believe what we typically consider sewerage passes through that area of the system. Somehow the gray water from the kitchen flows there and the pit under the cover is known as a grease trap. Grease and phosphates (phosphates were
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Nice looking building, from a great design era in our history. I think the pipe is nothing but a large sign standard, although now it serves as a bird house. That convertible top boot has to be from dad's '59, he was pretty cool to buy a rag-top!
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

In the 23rd Ward on the SW side the precinct captain would pass out those 55 gallon drums for favorable votes at election time. Sometime in the '70's the city issued galvanized covers to fit the drums to keep down fly's and odors. I still have one from dad's house, it has City of Chicago and Join The Mayor's Clean Up Campaign-Keep The Lid On Litter embossed on it.
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

Well it's not a crazy man story, but around 1959 or so I was in a pretty cool shop like that. It was owned by Max Marek; Max was a boxer in the '30's and among other, later, enterprises he ran a second hand/junk shop on Archer Ave. just east of Kedzie. Even at the age of ten I recognized that he had loads of antiques and collectibles in there.
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

Oddly enough I just received a box of candy from Gayety's the other day. In the box was a brief description of the business so I checked the website for more info. They are in Lansing,IL now but were started by the Grandfather, a Mr. Papageorge, right next to the Gayety Theater. Apparently Papageorge thought Gayety was a better sounding name for his firm. The only location given for where they sta
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

Robert M. Hill passed away the other day and while I'm sure many here had never heard of him he was truly the personification of the term local historian. Bob wrote and self published a book on the neighborhood he was raised in and loved, Clearing. Printed in 1983 "A Little Known History of A Land Called Clearing" tells the story of an area in the city as far south and west as you can g
Forum: General Discussion

Thanks for the clarification on when the Garfield Ridge area was annexed. I'd say that originally the Wentworth house had the Harlem Ave. address, as Neva did not exist early on. In later years, the property along Harlem was developed and likely had changed hands too, thus there was a need for the Neva address.
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Middle of the 5400 block of S. Neva on the west side of the street. I'm pretty sure that paw, who posts here sometimes, has grandparents who built on the exact spot, or at least on a lot near it when it was subdivided. When Wentworth lived there it was considered part of Summit extending all the way to Central Ave. (5600W); I don't know when the area was annexed into the city.
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222, from the S those tracks near Kenton are part of the Belt Railway of Chicago and they do not terminate at 68th St, they continue ESE to a yard near 95th St. on the E side of the city. Going back N they parallel Kenton until they veer to the W and connect to the Milwaukee Road (or at least it was the MW RD, I don't know who has ownership now). The BRC, a consortium of 6 or 7 RR's, operates the
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

Looks to be just east of Cicero and north of 22nd, I think there is a shopping center right there. Take someone with you Artista.
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

Here's one especially for 222psm- check out http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM60D I don't recall how I ran across this,(might have been right here on the Forum, I really don't remember) but I've had it bookmarked for awhile. There is plenty of other interesting stuff there too. Be sure to scroll down and look at "recent visits" for more pictures. If it was previously posted here
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

Not quite the image you are looking for, this one is currently available. Check out http://www.icevendingmachine.net/index.html . Scrolling down I see that they are "available for delivery and installation in GA,SC,NC,AL,MS,and TX..." They seem to be a little behind the times out there, we progressed to the storage locker type ice dispensers around here years ago.
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

Numerous locations, I went to the one on 63rd east of Pulaski. One time I read their ad in the Times and they had a case of windshield washer fluid for 25cents! Six gallons for a quarter sounded pretty good and the other ten or so people who beat me to the store that morning must have thought so too. We got it but I don't think the manager was too happy. BTW, it was Steinberg-Baum.
Forum: General Discussion

Years ago there was a building at 59th & Harlem that was a favorite destination for many. Stark's Warehouse Store had something for just about anyone and I visited there many times. Sporting goods, fishing, camping, army surplus, cheap (made in Japan) tools, house paint, in fact you never knew what you might find. I remember seeing gallons of paint and bowling balls both scorched in a fire on
Forum: General Discussion

Those are sludge drying pits used by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. The processed sewerage must be dried before it can be shipped to it's final destination and it is brought to the pits from the MWRD facility at 39th and Central. Sludge can be used as land fill or fertilizer but will contain heavy metals so it will not be used for any land on which crops will be grown. If you are a g
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

denwoz, if you have an interest in the Port of Chicago but you may want to get a copy of Maritime Chicago, ISBN 0-7385-0761-X. It is one of the Arcadia series and documents the river and lake from frontier days through development of the Lake Calumet Harbor. Tugboats were required to move vessels to and from the lake, they could not traverse the river under their own power. I'm sure the reason b
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

There is a strange tale involving that grave. In the late '70's there was a rumor that Liz Taylor had buried him with a rather large diamond ring. A sleeze bag/publicity hound private investigator by the name of Pellicano was likely the guy that either dug up Mike Todd's remains or had it done by someone else. Police were frustrated and could not locate the bones but Mr. P showed up at the cemeter
Forum: General Discussion