There is a story and a picture in the Chicago Tribune on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 1975. (I found this on the Chgo Trib Historical Archives thru the Chgo Public Library website) Beth
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Just to show you how much my own perception of the city and its buildings have changed - in that second to last picture, I was looking at all the smaller buildings trying to figure out where Marina Towers were! Not realizing that there they are - the focal point towering over eveything else. I'm so used to them now, being dwarfed by all the others. And to think I was up on the roof of the Towers -
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

I do remember that place - never ate there though as I won't eat any kind of fish! But I remember the birds swooping all over there. That was when you could still walk along the outside of Navy Pier and watch the ships being loaded and unloaded with freight. I believe that Rocky's was removed when the Disneyfication of Navy Pier occurred. Although I DO still love to walk along the pier all the way
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I wonder if it's just the carbonation or lack of that makes it taste different? At the drive-in, it came from a dispenser. When you buy those liters at the Jewel, it's straight from the bottle.
Forum: General Discussion

I use to always order a Green River with my hamburger from the drive-in by my house. This was in the '60s. It seemed like it disappeared for awhile and then when it came out again, just didn't seem as good as I remembered. Or perhaps my taste buds changed.
Forum: General Discussion

Captain, thanks for that video clip. I used to go to Oak Lawn Roller Rink once in awhile. Not too often, as I can't roller skate too well. Put me on ice skates and I'm fine, wheels, not so much! Although I have danced on roller skates - wish I could remember where that rink was that I was waltzing on skates. It had to be somewhere not too far away as it was a school (college) outing and I went to
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Actually, the Oak Lawn rink was across the street from where Hooters is now. Hooters was the Dairy Basket and next to that was a cleaners. The rink was actually located on the site of a now-shuttered Saturn dealership. I only drive by there every day and still, I had a hard time trying to picture that stretch of road in my mind! So crow, you are close, just across that side street. There is an Oak
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Yes, the ice building on 95th is a Lang Ice Machine. I know the company is still on 59th St near Western (west of Western). There is a good history of the company here: http://www.langice.com/ I found this information on the Jefferson Ice Company: http://www.troynovant.com/Franson-WR/Memoirs/Jefferson-Ice-Company.html Beth
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

A little further research verifies that the building IS indeed also a CTA property. There is a map on the newschicago site that shows the main building on School St as the Com Ed substation and the middle section belongs to the CTA. I did an address range search and then clicked on the pink and white square on the map to get the correct PIN numbers and addresses which led me to the picture of the
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

Yep, they are the sludge pits from MWRD. Ever drive over the LaGrange bridge on a hot, humid day and smell that, um, interesting odor that wafts up from the pits? I worked gate security there at 39th and Central one summer and they had a community open house. We got to take a 'scenic' train ride completely around the facility and out by these pits. When the sludge is dried out it is loaded onto tr
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

In the Chicago Tribune in 1956 the location is listed as a Com Ed substation.
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

My mother always liked Wieboldt's. They were the first store to give her a charge card with her name on it as opposed to Mrs. *******. When she got married and was changing her name on her other cards the other stores made her use Mrs.******. She used to shop at the 63rd & Halsted store. But I grew up shopping at the Ford City location. They also had a juniors dept before the small boutique st
Forum: General Discussion

Does anyone remember a parking garage which I am pretty sure was right across from City Hall? To park, you drove in and an attendant would take the car and drive into an open cage elevator that would transport the car to an upper level. One time we got to ride in the elevator with the attendant as our car wouldn't start and my dad had to go up and help him get it started. Probably was against all
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That area just west of Pulaski next to where the Chinese Restaurant was and is still houses that back up against the railroad tracks. There is the one strip of duplex housing that faces a frontage road which is directly parallel to SW Highway. My cousin lived in the first one west of the restaurant . They bought it when it was built in the mid-1950s. From there they moved to the Scottsdale neighbo
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What time frame are you talking about? I can't picture anywhere along there where there could have been motel cabins.
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You can try posting your pictures on: deadfred.com or searching their pictures for similar or the same names as in your family.
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They were quonset huts. My parents told me that when they finally tore them down, the neighborhood was infested with mice. I have pictures, although very vague, in the distance of before the school was built, but I don't see the huts. Hancock was originally a K-5 feeder school for Stevenson which is located at 80th and Kostner. Back in the '90s, the school re-opened as Hancock HS, which pretty mu
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

The original Gertie's was on the NW corner of 59th and Kedzie in the same block as the Colony Theater. They had the best hot fudge and taffy apples.
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There are the Swedish American Archives located at North Park College on the north side of the city. Here is a website with more information: http://www.swedishamericanhist.org/archives/index.html Beth
Forum: General Discussion

the only one that I can think of would be the one at 76th and Lawndale which is just East of Pulaski. That was kind of a mini Com Ed office where we could pay our bills, pick up light bulbs and take care of other problems with our Com Ed service. There is a payment center right on Kedzie on the west side of the street in that vicinity of 45-50th, but I think it was an Illinois Bell building. Anyb
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Bill, I sent you a private email with some information which I hope will be helpful to you. Beth
Forum: General Discussion

Go to this website and type in kiddy land in the search box and you can see some pictures from Green Oaks Kiddy Land that was at 95th and Pulaski: http://www.lib.oak-lawn.il.us/indexsearch/lhphotographs.shtml somewhere on there are a few short videos also from the rides at the park. I used to go there so much when I was little that I called it "My" Kiddy Land!
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I've been in the Midget Club - back about 1978. It was run by a couple that had been Munchkins in the Wizard of Oz. There was a giant painting behind the bar of a scene from the movie. The bar was short, but I think they had some sort of riser behind the bar that they could stand on to reach the bar itself. The stools were also shorter than what one usually sits on at a bar. Yes, I remember the p
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let's see, I've been there for the circus on many occasions, the dog show, a rodeo. Also, the auto show when McCormick Place burned down and the flower and garden show. I'm sure there were other events that I can't think of right now. Unfortunately, I didn't get to go to the Beatles concert - but I DID go to Midway Airport when they landed here for the concert.
Forum: General Discussion

I agree Captain. The front of the new ones are more boxy - like a giant shoebox on wheels. The inside of the modern CTA buses are a complete waste of space also. You used to be able to sit right behind the driver - not any more. The whole section up front is non-usable space. Part of it is for the contraption that reads the fare cards (about 6 ft long and 3 ft high) - forget what's across - I thin
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

That's where the Ford City little league played their games. Although I thought that they used those fields more recently than 1972 - up until the 80s at least - could be wrong on that though. But yes, all the neighborhood little leagues played back there until Daley College kicked them out eventually. I suppose when they started to expand the school beyond the original expandables that were use
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I heard my parents talk about them all the time. They said that Amy Joy were close but still not as good as Dixie Cream. When Krispy Creme opened, my cousin said they also were close, but still not as good. I would love to find a location still open to try them for myself. They sound divine!
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The brass doors from Peacocks have been restored and were installed inside the Palmer House Hotel just inside the Monroe Street entrance. These were installed during the hotel's recent renovation.
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These were facing a regular street just as a house or 2 flat would be configured.My dad grew up around 55th and Halsted, which makes me think that these may have been located in the 4000s somewhere, as they were a little bit out of his immediate neighborhood. The day that we drove by them, I think we may also have gone by St. Augustine Church so possibly they were in that area. I am 99.99% sure th
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Crow, I definitely remember the post office building that you described. I don't think though that it was an actual PO open to the public. I could be wrong, but never saw it as open to the public. It seemed that it was more of a drop-off/pick-up stop (for lack of a better term) I remember seeing the PO trucks parked outside in the adjoining lot. Truthfully though, I can't remember what the buildin
Forum: General Discussion