I remember we had a bunch of Veederberg Pavers that were liberated from my grandmother's neighborhood around Armitage and Kostner that were used for borders for the flower beds in the back yard for years.
Forum: General Discussion

Heh, I still have the same telephone number that my parents got in 1953, and if you think that's nuts, I still have the same license plate number that my grandfather originally got on his 1928 Hupmobile. The plate went to my father in 1940, and then when he passed away, I got the number reassigned in 1996. When I eventually buy an old car, I will be able to put a plate on the car from the year i
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Addison Street between Narragansett and Oak Park was always a big drag strip. Cars would sail along there at over one hundred miles an hour. Our house was right on Addison, and over the years, no less than seven cars smashed into the house, including one that severed the gas main before the shut off. I am really glad that things have quieted down now.
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I used to work in the West Loop, and often ran through the old Maxwell Street market area. While it was pretty quiet during the lunch hour weekdays when I ran, you had a feeling that you were really in the middle of a lot of history. I don't work down there any more, and from what I've seen, the whole area seems pretty sterile now.
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My father told me a story that might be related to this. When he had taken us tobogganing in Riis Park, me mentioned that just before WWII started, an experimental aircraft crashed into a lagoon that existed at Riis Park. He told me that whole park was evacuated, and the whole affair was hushed up. I would wonder if this had something to do with the radar test site, which I remember well, but i
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I believe there was also a Neisner's near Grand and Harlem, on the north side of Grand, just east of Harlem Ave.
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Heh, it wasn't no name soda. I remember High Low always selling "Virginia Dare" soda. Their cream soda was really good.
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I live in the Schorsch Village neighborhood, and there used to be a lot of urban gardening in the city. I remember that the 3400 block of Natoma used to have a lot of greenhouses, and that lasted up probably until the 1960's. In my neighborhood you often see houses located on the back of the lot, or older houses with much newer houses flanked on either side. Often, people would grow vegetables
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A lot of it had to do with time....I believe numbers with different exchanges were given out over time, and then some of the older numbers were reused. I still have the same PALlisade telephone number that my parents first got in 1953! I can even remember my grandfather's store number, MONroe1466, and our old family doctor's number, CAPitol 7570.
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I never saw the Radio theatre, but the name reminds me of Radioland Liquors, at the corner of Kostner & Armitage. Whenever we would go over to visit my grandmother who lived on Lowell Avenue, my uncle would take us kids with us over to Agoranos Bros. Radioland Liquors on the corner there so he could have a short one and get away from all of the women talking. We were bribed with a big thing
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I think the one you are talking about is Pilsen Park, which was owned by the brewery down there. They brewed Yusay Beer. I heard stories about the park from a friend of mine who was born on Albany in the 2500 S. Block.
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You know, when I saw this topic come up yesterday I started looking around for some information myself, and stumbled across this book on Google Books: Buyers' Guide and Industrial Directory of Chicago Suggest you take a look at this on Google Books, it was fascinating, although nothing on 1600 S. Wood St. http://books.google.com/books/about/Buyers_Guide_and_Industrial_Directory_of.html?id
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If that doesn't work, go to the Cook County Assessor's Office, and then search by address. They usually include a picture of the property on the webpage for the property.
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I remember when Newark went all the way through to Touhy Avenue, ending near the intersection of Milwaukee and Touhy. My brother attended the old St. Mary of the Lake Seminary that was at the site of the current park, in about 1968-72, and he showed me that shortcut at that time. I believe that it was closed off right after he left there, in the early 1970's. Interestingly enough, St. Adalberts
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Here is some information from www.cinematreasures.com. While they do not have a photo of the theater, they do post an advertisement for it. http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/1007
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I think my instincts were correct. Checking the Hudson Club website, it appears that there was a Hudson dealership, Philip A. Tafel, located at 3020 N. Cicero in June of 1941. I think that's the other end of the same building.
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I'd almost bet that that was a car dealership. Cicero Avenue used to be a car dealer row, but now its mainly a used car dealer row. I remember George Carlis North Cicero Dodge near there, and the current site of Midwest Bible Church used to be Northwest Packard. The church owned the old dealership building and used it as a church until the roof caved in during the big snow of 1977, after which
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You know, I thought those were a thing of the past. Yesterday I dropped into a hobby shop on Lee Street in Des Plaines, just north of Oakton, in the same shopping center as the Jewel store. While primarily dealing in electric trains, they had a wall full of old AMT models. I believe I read somewhere that Jo-Han is out of business. Shame, as they were my favorites.
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I think there was one there, but I never went there. I think the place is now a resale store. My parents warned us to stay away from the Patio Theater when we were kids as they claimed there were "strange people" there so we kind of avoided the area.
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I have to confess that I really haven't grown up, and still collect model cars. I have a sizable collection of 1:18 of diecast cars today, and got most of them from a place called A World Of Diecast, which was on Ogden Avenue, at the corner of Arthur Street, in Brookfield. The whole store was devoted to diecast models. One Saturday I took a ride out there only to find the owner loading the last
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Our local place was Village Hobby Shop, on the 6700 block of West Belmont Avenue, on the north side of the street. A liquor store now is located in that store. I was an avid builder of model cars as a kid, and remember that the best prices on kits was down at Metro Sales and Blackstone Sales, across the street from each other on Belmont just west of Long Avenue. There was also a hobby shop on t
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I can't place any doctor's office at that corner. One corner was Sally's, the other Martin Luther Church, and there were two houses on the other corners. Are you thinking about the doctor's offices that were at the corner at Nora or Neva?
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Our local corner store was Sally's Certified Foods at 6949 W. Addison St., corner of New England Avenue. Originally, the store was located at the SE corner of Newcastle and Addison (now a dentist's office), but I remember when they built the new store, with an apartment for the family above, in 1960. Papa Ted, Mama Sally, and sons Ted (the butcher) and Mitch (took care of the other groceries and
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You might want to check out a website called OTRCAT. They have tons of radio programs, and sell them on a mp3 disc, so you get quite a bit on one disc. I am not sure if they have any programs from the station or performer you are looking for, but it might be worth a try.
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Actually, it was the Blue Dahlia Show Lounge, located at 5640 W. North Avenue. My aunt and uncle were night club types, and I remember some vague references to the place as a kid. My father would get really upset when they mentioned it within earshot of us kids. Interestingly enough, I believe the owner lived somewhere on Wabansia, near Sam DeStefano at Wabansia and Sayre. One place I have me
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You might want to look at what happened at the abandoned Milwaukee Road right of way that extended north from their main line, near Grand Avenue, at about 6600 west, all the way into the old Chicago State Hospital (Dunning). Back as late as the 1960's, a weekly train used to run up this spur line every Thursday. It ran through the middle of the current Zion Gardens and Mount Olive Cemeteries. Wh
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Mt. Olive has no computerized system. Lookups were $5 in the business office.
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I remember the place well. I think they had some troubles with drug sales and later the operation burned down.
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I am not familiar with the Columbus School that you mention, but there was a satellite branch of Thorp School located at the south east corner of Addison St. and Narragansett Avenue. This was a frame building. I remember that right after the OLA fire, the building was torn down. Now, several apartment buildings occupy the land. I believe that the buildings are actually built on a ground lease,
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I know a lady, now in a nursing home, who grew up at Irving Park and Clarendon, and regularly went to the Berlitz on weekends. Was it the Berlitz or the Biarritz? Anyway, a big night for her was getting the pianist to play "Granada" for her.
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