Does anybody remember what year bottlers stopped refilling glass bottles. As a kid in the 60s, one of our main sources of spending money was that we were allowed to return the bottles to the market. We thought it was great, but I remember the manager at the local National or the corner grocery store would be annoyed when we would bring in a shopping cart full of bottles. As a Pepsi family, I re
Forum: General Discussion

I would like to hear from people of different ages of their memories of visiting Santa. I was lucky enough to grow up in the late 50s early 60s where the city still had shopping districts with free standing non-mall stores like Weiboldts,Goldblatts,Sears,Montgomery Ward etc. Not being in a mall each of these stores usually had thei own toy departments and a Santa Claus. Coming from a working
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Many of the bungalows in my neighborhood were built in the 20's. Most of the houses I know of have only two bedrooms. Since when these houses were built, family sizes were larger than the typical family is today. What was the thinking of how these bedrooms were to be used? Assuming the parents occupied one bedroom, was the assumption that all the children would occupy the other bedroom? Or wa
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Anybody care to mention pizzarias they remember from the past. In Bucktown in the 60's, I remember a pizzaria now long gone I think at Damen and Wabansia named J&J's. On Western and Charleston there is John's which I visited a few years ago that looks like it hasen't changed since the 50's. Old counter stools and booths with a jukebox. Another pizza place I remember was Congress pizza on
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My opinion is the "quality" is not the same at supermarkets. There are still some quality bakeries hanging on like Reuters at Grand and Harlem. In my neighborhood in the 60's the bakeries were packed on Sunday after church. People, believe it or ot would actually walk to church as a family annd walk home stopping to pick up the newspaper and bakery goods.
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The Blue Angel was replaced by Finnegan's Pub which is suppose to be run by the same family that last ran the restaurant.
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Ran across this picture of Labagh at 1940 dedication http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/uic_ccfp&CISOPTR=369&CISOBOX=1&REC=2
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Years ago my parents use to listen to the Polka programs on the radio. Polonia Grove was mentioned a number of times. I have never been in the area and I think there is still a banquet hall on the site I assume that at one time it was a picnic grove on Archer. Can anybody provide information as to its history, years of operation, size etc and personal experiences attending picnics there.
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Found a obituary for H.J Kolze 1/3/1983. It stated the picnic grove opened in 1885. The Kolze family bought the property in 1835. He operated the park until 1949. The article states that the Park District bought the land in 1950 and converted it to Merrimac Park. It was called the "Electric Park" because it featured the first electric lights on the NW side. The article mentions it to
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Nordsider Thank You very much! The correct spelling seems to have solved the mystery. With the correct spelling, I went to the Tribune archives. Although I saw no mention of a Cuneo Press picnic, there were many articles announcing various organizations having picnics at Ehrhardt Picnic Grove in Park Ridge. One of the articles mentions the picnic grove as being at Talcott and Dee road or
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A little off the topics, but here is some more info I found on Cuneo Press Apparently in addition to Cuneo Press, Cuneo also owned hawthorn Melody and National Tea http://cuneomansion.org/?page_id=8 Here is a link with memories of someone who worked at Cuneo Press http://kokomoperspective.com/lifestyles/columnists/article_d82ba018-f292-11df-a8da-001cc4c03286.html Footage of a fire a
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There is a Mariano's under construction on Elston Ave. next to the Secretary Of State Motor Vehicle facility. I've seen a ad for one of the Mariano's already in Chicago. From the ad it looks like some form of hybrid, where I can not figure out who their target customer is. On one hand they sell Roundy's house brand products but also advertise more upscale prepared foods, wines and organic produ
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I originally posted the subject two years ago and never received a answer. Hopefully some new users can provide some information. Back in the 60's a remember going to a annual picnic at what I believe was Earhart Grove. The picnic was for Cuneo Press where my uncle worked at the time. My memories were that it was an old fashioned picnic grove with a central area that has a dance floor and wood
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While in the library, I picked up a copy Of Chicago History magazine, and was surprised to see that both Loyola and Depaul once had football teams. Loyola last played football in 1930 and Depaul in 1938.
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I also remember waiting back in the 70s for the Damen Ave bus in front of Northwestern Pharmacy. The bus always seemed to take forever. One of the highlights or lowlights was watching for pickpockets. since the bus seemed to take forever, when a bus finally came, the people made a mad dash and huddled trying to get in the door. Across the street on the west side of damen Ave was a snack shop.
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I did some more research on Great Chicago Surplus store at 1395 Milwaukee. It did burn down on May 1,1973. There was also a fire there on 5/14/1959 where the article also mentions Star Sales at 1391 Milwaukee. I also was surprised that at one time, Great Chicago had 5 other locations at: 212 Madison 1395 Milwaukee 3126 Lincoln 4129 Madison 6244 S Halsted 5625 Cermak 1115 Lake (Oak Pa
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I believe the surplus store was called Great Chicago. It was a great place especially as a kid to look at all the unusual items. I also remember going to Advance Catalog and Gore & Kaye which among other things sold bingo, raffle and carnival type supplies. There was also a rundown show called the Royal that showed third rate movies. You've are jogging my memory, but as a kid I remember goi
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Bruce This is not the same bike path. The bike path you are referring to goes all the way north to the Botanic Gardens in Glencoe. The path referenced is further east and does not connect to the one you remember without meandering through side streets in a round about way. There was some talk a year ago about a study being done to connect the path from Caldwell Woods to run further south and Eas
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I ran across a bike path in Forest Glen that runs from Bryn Mawr on the south to 6400 north parallel to Kostner. It is up an embankment, so I get the impression that this may have been a former railroad line. Since it is so short and the fact that Labaugh Woods and the river would be a roadblock on the south, I have trouble visualizing where a rail line would have run annd connect to a mainline.
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Another disappearing part of Chicago's history is the family run neighborhood Savings and Loans that have either been squeezed out of business or swallowed up by National Competitors. Many of these institutions are responsible for generations of immigrants being able to purchase their homes. Because they were locally run and part of the neighborhoods many of them catered to specific ethnic groups
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Piggly Wiggly Midwest is owned by the same people who own the Butera Markets. From what I read there are 110 stores with 30 company owned and the rest being franchises operating under the Butera and Piggly Wiggly names. Paul Butera is the CEO.
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Enjoyed your website. Keep up the good work!
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Found in the Chicago Tribune a article dated Nov 3,1944 where a woman was hit by a truck driven by the owner of Krismer Flower Land which was located at that address.
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Found this long list of products on Wikipedia Former Beatrice brands Absopure Acryon A.H.Schwab Airstream Allison All-Pro Altoids American Hostess American Pickles Antoine's Aqua Queen Argosy Arist O' Kraft Armitage Realty Co. Arrowhead Water Assumption Abbey Aunt Nellie's Avan Avis Banner Barbara Dee Barcrest Beatreme Beatrice Becky Kay's Beefbreak Beeforcan Benek
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Found a link that provides more info annd lists many of the products. http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/06/12/companies-that-vanished-beatrice-foods-former-household-name/
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Does anybody remember the Beatrice Foods billboard on the Kennedy Expressway? The sign used to change to display various products they owned. I believe the company was located in Chicago from the early 1900's until KKR bought it and did what they did best, breakup a company to profit from the pieces. Feel free to name as many of the products that the company once owned.
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Back in the late 60s early 70s, I used to walk to Diversey River bowl. I remember passing a number of buildings and storage tanks that were labeled Durkee Foods around Elston, Logan Boulevard and Diversey. There is currently a Target store and a shopping center where I believe these buildings once stood. Does anybody know when the complex closed? The Durkee name is not a name I recognize from
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Does anybody know what supermarket was located in the building now occupied by Happy Foods at Central and Devon?
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No. The building where Don's was located is still there but was taken over by the florist next door.
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We used to buy Kayo from a tavern across the street from where we lived. Which reminds me of in addition to the Kayo, We also used to buy pretezel sticks. The pretzel sticks were sold in a flat cardboard box with cellophane about the size of a CD case.
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