Kchi - there is a movement in some areas to have parking, for enclosed garages specifically, open onto alleys rather than the street, but it's more aldermanic decisions/neighborhood wishes, than an even policy across the city.
Forum: General Discussion

I recently got a tour of an apartment in Hyde Park and there was a sticker for L'Escargot on a kitchen cabinet. The owner may have put it there or else his grandson is a chef.
Forum: General Discussion

shekaago- I think Lerner is out of business - their building, which was within site of the Howard El station, has been demolished (if I remember right). You might try another post, I know my journalist friends talk about working there as paying their dues. I think one of the queer eye guys worked for them. Seems there should be a thread about neighborhood malls, like dead malls, but just f
Forum: General Discussion

I would have thought that the expansion of the el and decreased ridership would have had more to do with closings that the construction of the Kennedy specifically (with the blue line in the median of course). I recall reading somewhere that the commuter railways and CTA at the time divvied up "territory" too, but can't remember where - the commuter rail companies wanted to speed up serv
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

I think you can physically drive on the breakwater south of the river out to the lighthouse (or could if it was allowed - I've seen cars out there, probably city vehicles). Is that the one you mean?
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

I finally checked the book this weekend. The new building is, in fact, Keck & Keck.
Forum: General Discussion

Don't the RR companies pay property tax whether or not the tracks are in use? Playgrounds of course, would be another no revenue situation. I wonder if the track is being landbanked for future use (or there is no development pressure to reuse the land for another usage).
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

There was one (may still be in fact) in front of the building (last on the odd side of street) at 56th and Blackstone in Hyde Park. In fact I remember several all over the neighborhood - most of probably been removed since they were pretty deteriorated back then.
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

So I talked to my dad about them; they were originally married veterans housing and were quonset huts. This was in the early/mid fifties - they didn't live there very long. The heat was from a central stove which actually got red hot which made him rather nervous. The group they lived in was across from Lying-In Hospital (maternity wards of U of C hospitals at the time) just east of Cottage betwee
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

That's surprising; as far as I know the church has been there exclusively for many years. Would love to see the photo now.
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

I'd always heard it was much earlier than that. Wikipedia was of absolutely no use in even getting a basic (and always 100% accurate) sense of it.
Forum: General Discussion

Swank cocktail lounge for new residents in playboy approved bachelor apartments, I mean pads, along the Sheridan Rivera? Do you mean the building at the SW corner of the intersection, the one with the blue glazed brick?
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

Valois see your food, on 53rd Street has been open for eons. I guess Standee's is no more (wah!), but a lot of neighborhood diners are still open, although renamed and facelifted (with or without the same owners). The Medici recreated their previous layout (they moved their art and furniture lock, stock and barrel) in the current location, with the addition of a roof terrace and second floor.
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

We had a Jack in the Box frisbee when I was a kid - I always figured it came from visits to Cali, but maybe not.....
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

I need to ask my dad, the impression I've gotten from him was that it was very bohemian (of course, U of C was very much a "student life" university at that time - a lot of older students who'd had to put off college due to the war were there, more so than today, lots of bars and clubs on 55th street pre-urban renewal) and artsy. Funny that you mentioned Pierce Tower, my parents were
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Cool maps - My dad was north of the midway. I'll have to get details. There were lots of artists and boho types in them (beatnicks perhaps?).
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

I've seen subdivisions where the streets are named after the developers families or worse, by a WWII vet who named the streets after Parisian streets with American spellings. There's also a subdivision outside of Chesterton, In, which has Indian names (along Indian Boundary Road, so very apt of course).
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Elaine, I'm not sure that they are K&K, I'll try and remember to check in "the book" which is usually accurate about their projects (they did two or three senior buildings for the CHA). They were active from the 30's (if not earlier) until the very early 80's (a solar subdivision in LaPorte County). Apparently Drexel Square Apartments was the first CHA senior building and would h
Forum: General Discussion

The fish on Friday's is also a union driven, quirk, shall we say. As I understand it the Fishermen's Guilds pressured the pope into the no meat on Friday. You still can't buy booze in Indiana on Sundays - they put up these little signs in front of the liquor departments in supermarket rather than having lockable sections.
Forum: General Discussion

My dad lived in one with his first wife - probably mid to late 50's. It produced two PhD's and a baby, so I guess that's apt. They were VERY cold in the winter.
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Isn't this a union health clinic?
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

You're talking about the block between Cottage and Drexel on the north side of Drexel Square? There are two apartment buildings there, but nothing hotel like. There is a CHA senior building at the corner of Cottage and HPB. There is a new building called Hyde Park Tower, but it's not the one you are referring to. The Hyde Park Historical Society might have some information, as might the Hyde Park
Forum: General Discussion

More lights have been changed on North LSD and they are beginning on south LSD, but a lot (if less) of the new ones are still out, compared to the old lights. I was trying to compare how they performed in the rain with reflections, they seem about the same.
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

I remember their tape (cassette/8-track) conveyor belt - you had to pick them out through windows/cut-outs in a plexi wall and drop them into a conveyor belt to the cashier which I guess was supposed to prevent theft. This was on the second floor I think.
Forum: General Discussion

I just took a look at the building (someone has posted nice photos on Flickr), that's the municipal seal alright, but I don't think/very very strongly doubt that that building ever was a city facility/property - as I think I've mentioned before (on that other thread), other buildings sometimes have it, such as the building I was born in (well, that we lived in at the time).
Forum: General Discussion

I'm guessing in the late 50's, but maybe someone more knowledgeable can comment - I have my (late) old neighbors phone from '55 and it has something like 'Hyde Park-XXXX' listed as the number.
Forum: General Discussion

I know a few people who live there. Once you are known as living there, the locals leave you alone, but outsiders are easily id'd. I was there during the house tour two years ago and people sitting out on stoops were very friendly.
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Still in use in Hyde Park and Edgewater.
Forum: General Discussion

We were talking about this at work the other day - am I correct in remembering that a body was found during demolition? We couldn't figure out if it was a homeless person who had wandered in and simply died or if it was a body in the structure/foundation/other inaccessible place that had been there all along. Anybody know?
Forum: General Discussion

I drove on the section of LSD (about Irving to Hollywood) with the new lights last night and noticed that a lot of them were out (and it seems a bit dimmer as well). I hope that this is poor installation or faulty original fixtures rather than a problem with the new lights - they are so much more attractive and seem like they are also more focused to the roadway - less overspill and light pollutio
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings