Flickchick and Gerry C.
Didn’t I give a big whoop when I got home and saw that I had 2 postings in answer to my Chicago Memories?? I have even been dreaming about the old neighborhood. I have been trying to retrace my steps from my old apartment up to 63rd and Halsted. I am amazed that I remember so much. I moved from there in 1954, which only made me 9 or close to it.
Times were so different then. My own Grandaughter just turned 10, but she has never in her life gone anywhere without supervision…whereas the old Englewood gang thought nothing of being gone all day while your Mother cleaned and you amused yourself.
I was surprised and pleased Flickchick to hear that you went to Lewis Champlin too. What years were you there? Did you have Mrs Vanderpoel for Kindergarten, or Mrs Watson for 1st grade, or Mrs Bishop for 3rd grade? I remember each one of their faces so well. The first two were ancient in 1950, so they would be long gone now, yet their faces and kindness to me still live a half of a century later.
Gerry, I loved reading all your memories,so many of them are my very own!
One of my fondest memories had to do with Lain Funeral Home on 63rd Street. A young woman used to sit in the window on summer eves and once my sister and I stopped to peek into their ornate window and the young woman spoke to us and asked us to go up to Walgreens and get her a thick milkshake. We were glad to go, she was so pretty and nice to us. It got to be a ritual with us running up to see if she needed anything. Finally she told us that she was the hairdresser and when a body came in she would fix the hair. We were so facinated!!! Once she took us in the back and let us see a dead body she had just fixed the hair. I have never forgot the waxy look on the bodys face. (Nowdays, they would have arrested her and charged her with some child abuse law, but she was our hero. We thought she looked like Lana Turner).
My Dad painted all the signs up and down the street and all over Chicago. He would let me go up on the stage with him and coat out signs when I was just a little girl. He showed me such a good life, filling me with the confidence in myself that I carry to this day.
Another special memory is a coloring contest that Weibolts held called “The Cinnamon Bear Coloring Contest”. I was so sure that I would win..I dreamt about my prize..but on the day that the winner was announced, alas! another kid won, and I just knew that it was rigged, as mine was so much more beautiful than hers. As a consolation, my mother took me over to where they sold “Buster Brown ” shoes and let me look at my feet through the X-ray machine, ( which they now say causes cancer)Oh well, my feet survived!
I remember the streetcar fire under the viaduct I think on State Street and 63rd, my Dad called it the Green Hornet train I think..lots of people died. I also went to the Fish Furniture fire and I well remember the awful smell. There was a picture in the SOuthtown Economist of the fire and you could see my Dad silloueted in the light of the fire. I had that picture for years.
I better stop now, but let me say that my spirit is soaring just knowing that you two exist out there and our eyes have seen the same things and our feet have walked places that are exactly the same. We are the Old Englewood Gang!! Write back both of you and write lots!!Best to you both Gale
Hello everyone,
My Dad was the one who painted the China Clipper sign. He owned Goodlander Sign Comapany on Eggleston Ave. He traded some of the cost for trade at the restaurant, so we would eat at the Clipper and then go up to the Southtown. I lived at 243 West Englewood Ave. within sight and smell off my back porch of White Castle. The building is gone now, just tried to take my Mom back for her 87th birhtday. She lived in Englewood all her life and so did my Dad. Went to Englewood High both of them. I went to Lewis Champlain and spent all my off time at the Hiram Kelly Library. Afternoons spent at the youth program at EBC (Engelwood Baptist Church) even though I wasn’t Baptist! You guys have got me DREAMING about the old neighborhood. Thanks for the Memories, Gale Goodlander
I was born and lived at 243 West Englewood Ave, a building now demolished to make room for the Expressway. My Father owned Goodland Sign Company and did most of the signs along the 63rd St corridor.
Our favorite treat was to go to the Southtown and enjoy all her beauty. People now days think I am exaggerating when I describe the Swan Pool, the Golden Fish and the Ushers brillant uniforms.
My Dad painted the large flying airplane on the side of the China Clipper Building and took out part of the payment in trade, so we would go to the Clipper then up the block to the Southtown. He also painted the signs for the Butter Burger and we took some trade in that one too.
I honestly feel bad for modern people who will never experience the joy of the old neighborhoods, with the movie theaters, shops and restaurants. Where everyone knew the butcher and the barber. Who remembers the windown sign that read “ I’m Tony the Barber, the son of the beach”….??? Walgreen’s thick milkshakes, the 3 Sisters mashed potatoes ? I went to Lewis Champlin School, my parents graduated from Englewood High….Sigh…those WERE THE DAYS!
Flickchick and Gerry C.
Didn’t I give a big whoop when I got home and saw that I had 2 postings in answer to my Chicago Memories?? I have even been dreaming about the old neighborhood. I have been trying to retrace my steps from my old apartment up to 63rd and Halsted. I am amazed that I remember so much. I moved from there in 1954, which only made me 9 or close to it.
Times were so different then. My own Grandaughter just turned 10, but she has never in her life gone anywhere without supervision…whereas the old Englewood gang thought nothing of being gone all day while your Mother cleaned and you amused yourself.
I was surprised and pleased Flickchick to hear that you went to Lewis Champlin too. What years were you there? Did you have Mrs Vanderpoel for Kindergarten, or Mrs Watson for 1st grade, or Mrs Bishop for 3rd grade? I remember each one of their faces so well. The first two were ancient in 1950, so they would be long gone now, yet their faces and kindness to me still live a half of a century later.
Gerry, I loved reading all your memories,so many of them are my very own!
One of my fondest memories had to do with Lain Funeral Home on 63rd Street. A young woman used to sit in the window on summer eves and once my sister and I stopped to peek into their ornate window and the young woman spoke to us and asked us to go up to Walgreens and get her a thick milkshake. We were glad to go, she was so pretty and nice to us. It got to be a ritual with us running up to see if she needed anything. Finally she told us that she was the hairdresser and when a body came in she would fix the hair. We were so facinated!!! Once she took us in the back and let us see a dead body she had just fixed the hair. I have never forgot the waxy look on the bodys face. (Nowdays, they would have arrested her and charged her with some child abuse law, but she was our hero. We thought she looked like Lana Turner).
My Dad painted all the signs up and down the street and all over Chicago. He would let me go up on the stage with him and coat out signs when I was just a little girl. He showed me such a good life, filling me with the confidence in myself that I carry to this day.
Another special memory is a coloring contest that Weibolts held called “The Cinnamon Bear Coloring Contest”. I was so sure that I would win..I dreamt about my prize..but on the day that the winner was announced, alas! another kid won, and I just knew that it was rigged, as mine was so much more beautiful than hers. As a consolation, my mother took me over to where they sold “Buster Brown ” shoes and let me look at my feet through the X-ray machine, ( which they now say causes cancer)Oh well, my feet survived!
I remember the streetcar fire under the viaduct I think on State Street and 63rd, my Dad called it the Green Hornet train I think..lots of people died. I also went to the Fish Furniture fire and I well remember the awful smell. There was a picture in the SOuthtown Economist of the fire and you could see my Dad silloueted in the light of the fire. I had that picture for years.
I better stop now, but let me say that my spirit is soaring just knowing that you two exist out there and our eyes have seen the same things and our feet have walked places that are exactly the same. We are the Old Englewood Gang!! Write back both of you and write lots!!Best to you both Gale
Hello everyone,
My Dad was the one who painted the China Clipper sign. He owned Goodlander Sign Comapany on Eggleston Ave. He traded some of the cost for trade at the restaurant, so we would eat at the Clipper and then go up to the Southtown. I lived at 243 West Englewood Ave. within sight and smell off my back porch of White Castle. The building is gone now, just tried to take my Mom back for her 87th birhtday. She lived in Englewood all her life and so did my Dad. Went to Englewood High both of them. I went to Lewis Champlain and spent all my off time at the Hiram Kelly Library. Afternoons spent at the youth program at EBC (Engelwood Baptist Church) even though I wasn’t Baptist! You guys have got me DREAMING about the old neighborhood. Thanks for the Memories, Gale Goodlander
I was born and lived at 243 West Englewood Ave, a building now demolished to make room for the Expressway. My Father owned Goodland Sign Company and did most of the signs along the 63rd St corridor.
Our favorite treat was to go to the Southtown and enjoy all her beauty. People now days think I am exaggerating when I describe the Swan Pool, the Golden Fish and the Ushers brillant uniforms.
My Dad painted the large flying airplane on the side of the China Clipper Building and took out part of the payment in trade, so we would go to the Clipper then up the block to the Southtown. He also painted the signs for the Butter Burger and we took some trade in that one too.
I honestly feel bad for modern people who will never experience the joy of the old neighborhoods, with the movie theaters, shops and restaurants. Where everyone knew the butcher and the barber. Who remembers the windown sign that read “ I’m Tony the Barber, the son of the beach”….??? Walgreen’s thick milkshakes, the 3 Sisters mashed potatoes ? I went to Lewis Champlin School, my parents graduated from Englewood High….Sigh…those WERE THE DAYS!