365 Facts: #87 (Childhood--Irving Park Road)
Okay, I lied. Byron Street wasn't my whole universe, or at least it wasn't past a certain age. By the time I was old enough to wander around by myself or with friends, I gladly left the comfort of Byron behind. That led me to...Irving.
Irving Park Road is a main street in the greater Chicago area. It is also known as Illinois Route 19 and runs from the lakefront roughly to Elgin. It starts off as east/west but runs on a northerly angle once you hit the suburbs. Irving, for a long time, was the only way I knew how to get to the suburbs. My aunt and uncle lived off Irving adjacent to O'Hare in Bensenville; every few months or so we'd hop in the car and take the ride out there. My child's mind had no idea what the timeframe was; I always figured we were about 10-15 minutes from the airport. It was probably closer to 20-25, and now I wouldn't doubt that it's longer. But I didn't mind. I always enjoyed the car ride.
We lived in the part of the city that's near the two suburbs surrounded by the city, Norridge and Harwood Heights. Our local mall, Harlem-Irving Plaza (AKA the HIP), was actually in Norridge. On at least one occasion I took the bus to the mall with a friend; we got freaked out because it did a turn-around at the mental health center. Um, this is definitely not where we want to get off. But it was nice to have the mall and transportation close enough so that we didn't need our parents to get there. Of course, we were sixth graders at the time, so it probably would have been in our best interest to, say, tell our parents what we were up to, but it was summer; eh. :)
Most of my adventures along Irving did keep me closer to home. I've already mentioned that Narragansett was one of the cross-streets; this was the main north/south road just west of my house. On the northwest corner of Irving and Narragansett had been a field, part of the mental health complex, where up until fifth grade there were yearly spring carnivals. By sixth grade, it was a strip mall with a Jewel and a TCBY and a Subway. We went there on occasion to hang out, but not a whole lot. New subdivisions went up north and west of the stores (this is where my grandmother lives, in one of those new-ish condos), and I remember walking through the empty houses with my friends, checking them out, because they were so different from the houses we lived in. The friend I'm thinking of, Michelle, lived in a bungalow. I didn't realize it, but the houses we saw were more like suburban houses. Whoa. Weird.
For the most part, I stayed east of Narragansett. The next "main" street east of there was Melvina, which was the cross street my house was closest to. My school and church were at Irving and Melvina. Across the street from school were my preschool, the Academy of Early Learning, and my postage stamp-sized library branch. A block east of there was where all the shops were--little boutiques, a candy store, the Patio movie theater, an ice cream parlor that became a Western Union, I believe, and Bruce & Ken's Pharmacy. Oh, the pharmacy. Bruce & Ken's was our version of a 7-11, not that there weren't any in the city; there just weren't any in the immediate area. I remember buying a lot of gum there, and my dad would always get his lotto tickets there. In front of Bruce & Ken's was a newspaper stand, which we'd always drive to on Saturday nights to pick up our Sunday Trib. It was a drive-thru, really; you'd pull up, roll down the window, say, "Trib," hand the dude your dollar or whatever, and you'd turn the corner to go back home. Easy. It wasn't until we moved out here that I realized you could get the Sunday Trib actually on a Sunday.
Bruce & Ken's was at Austin and Irving. I think it was a few years before I regularly started crossing Austin. That was a decently busy intersection. I'd guess I was around ten or so when I started venturing farther east. Of course, it helped that my friends lived east of there. Michelle, for instance, lived several blocks north and east. I went to her house a lot. From there, we'd go on to Portage Park (briefly mentioned yesterday) or to the other businesses around Irving and Central, four blocks from Austin. She was close to McDonald's and Dairy Queen, for instance. Baskin-Robbins was kitty-corner from Portage, so after the closer ice cream place closed (Bressler's, maybe?), we had to go there.
There were a lot of food places between Austin and Central. My beloved Giordano's was there, for one; the Burgundy was another. It was a little too fancy for us (translation: Not Wags*), so we didn't go there much. The infamous Hub's** was there, at Irving and Menard (halfway between Austin and Central), but it at one time was a Church's Fried Chicken before a fire destroyed it. We were fond of the Polish smorgasbord down the block from there, though it changed hands several times. The buffet had a bowling alley on one side and McDonald's on the other. Now that's placement.
I rarely went past Central by myself. By that point I was about a mile from my house, so unless I was on my bike it was too far to go. However, another mile down the road was the Six Corners area, where we did a lot of shopping. Our bank, then Talman Home, was in the area. I met Bozo the clown there and he gave me his pen. Actually, he was an elderly gentleman and not in costume, and as I was around eight I didn't believe him. My father, luckily, was gracious enough for both of us, as was Mr. T. Clown. I'm trying to think which Bozo he would have been--Bob Bell, maybe? No idea. Maybe I'll look into that. I have no idea what happened to the pen, either. Anyway, Six Corners (where Irving, Cicero, and Milwaukee meet) also had a Sears store which was where we did a lot of shopping. That was where my mom's company car got stolen. That was also the place we'd get our hot dogs--ah, that parking lot holds a lot of memories. If you're familiar with Fantasy Headquarters--they get mentioned a lot around Halloween--that's just north of Six Corners. Sadly, I didn't shop there. We got our costumes at Venture. But a typical Friday night meant going to the bank to deposit dad's check, maybe a stop by Sears, and dinner at Wags, which was across from the costume place. What fun. I loved coloring the kiddie menu.
As a family, we didn't typically go east of Six Corners unless we had to go downtown; then we took Irving to the Kennedy and downtown we went. The other two reasons to go east? The Golden Bear, another casual restaurant, which was close to the Kennedy, and to visit my great-grandmother, who had an apartment at Irving and Clark until the late '80s.
To sum up: Byron may have been my universe, but Irving was my portal to the rest of the world.
*I'll bet some of you have never heard of Wags. It was a cozy family restaurant with Wags the raccoon as its mascot. I found out a couple of years ago that it was actually related to Walgreens, which makes sense now as its logo had the same script as Walgreens. I loved their chicken fingers. At one point I even had a Wags doll, but I think it got destroyed in a flood. Bah.
**Hub's was the inspiration for the "You like-a da juice?" sketches on Saturday Night Live, which I'm sure some of you have heard me mention previously. The facade they'd show just prior to the sketch was the actual restaurant I visited.
Irving Park Road is a main street in the greater Chicago area. It is also known as Illinois Route 19 and runs from the lakefront roughly to Elgin. It starts off as east/west but runs on a northerly angle once you hit the suburbs. Irving, for a long time, was the only way I knew how to get to the suburbs. My aunt and uncle lived off Irving adjacent to O'Hare in Bensenville; every few months or so we'd hop in the car and take the ride out there. My child's mind had no idea what the timeframe was; I always figured we were about 10-15 minutes from the airport. It was probably closer to 20-25, and now I wouldn't doubt that it's longer. But I didn't mind. I always enjoyed the car ride.
We lived in the part of the city that's near the two suburbs surrounded by the city, Norridge and Harwood Heights. Our local mall, Harlem-Irving Plaza (AKA the HIP), was actually in Norridge. On at least one occasion I took the bus to the mall with a friend; we got freaked out because it did a turn-around at the mental health center. Um, this is definitely not where we want to get off. But it was nice to have the mall and transportation close enough so that we didn't need our parents to get there. Of course, we were sixth graders at the time, so it probably would have been in our best interest to, say, tell our parents what we were up to, but it was summer; eh. :)
Most of my adventures along Irving did keep me closer to home. I've already mentioned that Narragansett was one of the cross-streets; this was the main north/south road just west of my house. On the northwest corner of Irving and Narragansett had been a field, part of the mental health complex, where up until fifth grade there were yearly spring carnivals. By sixth grade, it was a strip mall with a Jewel and a TCBY and a Subway. We went there on occasion to hang out, but not a whole lot. New subdivisions went up north and west of the stores (this is where my grandmother lives, in one of those new-ish condos), and I remember walking through the empty houses with my friends, checking them out, because they were so different from the houses we lived in. The friend I'm thinking of, Michelle, lived in a bungalow. I didn't realize it, but the houses we saw were more like suburban houses. Whoa. Weird.
For the most part, I stayed east of Narragansett. The next "main" street east of there was Melvina, which was the cross street my house was closest to. My school and church were at Irving and Melvina. Across the street from school were my preschool, the Academy of Early Learning, and my postage stamp-sized library branch. A block east of there was where all the shops were--little boutiques, a candy store, the Patio movie theater, an ice cream parlor that became a Western Union, I believe, and Bruce & Ken's Pharmacy. Oh, the pharmacy. Bruce & Ken's was our version of a 7-11, not that there weren't any in the city; there just weren't any in the immediate area. I remember buying a lot of gum there, and my dad would always get his lotto tickets there. In front of Bruce & Ken's was a newspaper stand, which we'd always drive to on Saturday nights to pick up our Sunday Trib. It was a drive-thru, really; you'd pull up, roll down the window, say, "Trib," hand the dude your dollar or whatever, and you'd turn the corner to go back home. Easy. It wasn't until we moved out here that I realized you could get the Sunday Trib actually on a Sunday.
Bruce & Ken's was at Austin and Irving. I think it was a few years before I regularly started crossing Austin. That was a decently busy intersection. I'd guess I was around ten or so when I started venturing farther east. Of course, it helped that my friends lived east of there. Michelle, for instance, lived several blocks north and east. I went to her house a lot. From there, we'd go on to Portage Park (briefly mentioned yesterday) or to the other businesses around Irving and Central, four blocks from Austin. She was close to McDonald's and Dairy Queen, for instance. Baskin-Robbins was kitty-corner from Portage, so after the closer ice cream place closed (Bressler's, maybe?), we had to go there.
There were a lot of food places between Austin and Central. My beloved Giordano's was there, for one; the Burgundy was another. It was a little too fancy for us (translation: Not Wags*), so we didn't go there much. The infamous Hub's** was there, at Irving and Menard (halfway between Austin and Central), but it at one time was a Church's Fried Chicken before a fire destroyed it. We were fond of the Polish smorgasbord down the block from there, though it changed hands several times. The buffet had a bowling alley on one side and McDonald's on the other. Now that's placement.
I rarely went past Central by myself. By that point I was about a mile from my house, so unless I was on my bike it was too far to go. However, another mile down the road was the Six Corners area, where we did a lot of shopping. Our bank, then Talman Home, was in the area. I met Bozo the clown there and he gave me his pen. Actually, he was an elderly gentleman and not in costume, and as I was around eight I didn't believe him. My father, luckily, was gracious enough for both of us, as was Mr. T. Clown. I'm trying to think which Bozo he would have been--Bob Bell, maybe? No idea. Maybe I'll look into that. I have no idea what happened to the pen, either. Anyway, Six Corners (where Irving, Cicero, and Milwaukee meet) also had a Sears store which was where we did a lot of shopping. That was where my mom's company car got stolen. That was also the place we'd get our hot dogs--ah, that parking lot holds a lot of memories. If you're familiar with Fantasy Headquarters--they get mentioned a lot around Halloween--that's just north of Six Corners. Sadly, I didn't shop there. We got our costumes at Venture. But a typical Friday night meant going to the bank to deposit dad's check, maybe a stop by Sears, and dinner at Wags, which was across from the costume place. What fun. I loved coloring the kiddie menu.
As a family, we didn't typically go east of Six Corners unless we had to go downtown; then we took Irving to the Kennedy and downtown we went. The other two reasons to go east? The Golden Bear, another casual restaurant, which was close to the Kennedy, and to visit my great-grandmother, who had an apartment at Irving and Clark until the late '80s.
To sum up: Byron may have been my universe, but Irving was my portal to the rest of the world.
*I'll bet some of you have never heard of Wags. It was a cozy family restaurant with Wags the raccoon as its mascot. I found out a couple of years ago that it was actually related to Walgreens, which makes sense now as its logo had the same script as Walgreens. I loved their chicken fingers. At one point I even had a Wags doll, but I think it got destroyed in a flood. Bah.
**Hub's was the inspiration for the "You like-a da juice?" sketches on Saturday Night Live, which I'm sure some of you have heard me mention previously. The facade they'd show just prior to the sketch was the actual restaurant I visited.