Favorite Chicago park (Skokie, Burnham, Mark: 2013, house, live)

[noid_1985]

Jackson
Garfield
Washington
Columbus
California/Horner
Gompers

[BOBNCHI]

Originally Posted by ChicagoMeO

.......

didn't they have a little hot dog vendor that walked by with his push cart there? tamales, hot dogs, etc.

Yep, sure did. Our guy in the 70s was a Polish guy maybe 50-60 years old, spoke little english. Great dogs probably because he always put on a perfect amount of toppings and celery salt! Also, after playing softball we would go to one of the local establishments on Irving and he would come around with his cart, we would usually buy something of course. Often, when it was hot out, he would order a beer, but we paid for it.

There was also the hot dog stand (a trailer) on the gas station property that was at the N/E corner of Long/Irving. If the hot dog man wasn't around or we wanted fries we would stop by here after a game of baseball, football, etc.. Good times!

[Master Jay]

ChicagoMeo and BOBNCHI, wow, thank you for sharing your Portage park memories from back then! Sounds like those were great times. We had no phones or computers. Technology wasn't as advanced and yet we were more sociable and knew how to have fun with free time!!

I hope the youth of today will be able to share greater memories of their youth one day, other than EVERYONE saying the same thing: "I spent my youth on a phone."

[Master Jay]

noid_1986, thank you for sharing. I think you mentioned one I have not seen mentioned before on this post: Washington Park.

I had to look that one up. It looks like a good size park with a good size lagoon from the map I saw.

You are a Galewood resident, right?... I actually wanted to throw a shout out to a park in your area: Rutherford/Sayre Park!

That was one of those parks I went to when I started Chicago exploring the west side. When I went in and introduced myself, the guy working for the park took me for a walk around the entire block and taught me about that side of Chicago, and its history.

I love the tiny library inside the park, as well! A very unique park. I am a big fan of your neighborhood. And the fact that technically it is the AUSTIN neighborhood is an interesting tidbit, for me.

[ChicagoMeO]

Originally Posted by BOBNCHI

Yep, sure did. Our guy in the 70s was a Polish guy maybe 50-60 years old, spoke little english. Great dogs probably because he always put on a perfect amount of toppings and celery salt! Also, after playing softball we would go to one of the local establishments on Irving and he would come around with his cart, we would usually buy something of course. Often, when it was hot out, he would order a beer, but we paid for it.

There was also the hot dog stand (a trailer) on the gas station property that was at the N/E corner of Long/Irving. If the hot dog man wasn't around or we wanted fries we would stop by here after a game of baseball, football, etc.. Good times!

do you remember a hot dog stand/truck (small one) that was on the corner of Addison & Long? that was my 1st hotdog place. I wrote about it here somewhere. my dad sent me to get 5 hot dogs and fries. me being 5 years old, i didn't know they put fries on the hotdog. so they go making 5 huge orders of fries, its like a whole bagful.. so my dad comes looking for me, not realizing i misunderstood him. he got mad at me lol.. but i was just a lil kid! the hot dogs were great! that place is gone now. good place to get food when coming home from Portage swimming. we had a lot of french fries that day too! they were really good.

the other good place near there is Boborinos on Addison and Roscoe!

woops sorry changing the subject.

[ChicagoMeO]

the other fave which i think may be a park, is the forest preserves, i.e. Thatcher Woods, they have a kinda big hill you can sled down or slide down on it on a saucer which you ended up tipping over when you got to the bottom. its on Cumberland and Irving! Plus you can go to the flying field across the way and fly your radio control airplanes (small ones), and plus you can get that nasty well water that people seem to love. And you can picnic.

[Master Jay]

ChicagoMeo, we will go ahead and call your Thatcher Woods nomination a "park" because you are always a good contributor on this forum!

I nominated the North Park Village Canter as a park, although I don't feel it is the same type of park as what we are all thinking (playground, baseball fields, etc.), but it IS listed in the Chicago Public park website.

Just when we complain about the snow, ChicagoMeO comes along and mentions all the FUNfrom the snowtime!!!

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!

When life gives you snow, make snowmen!

THANK YOU ChicagoMeO, for keeping us positive!!!!

[BOBNCHI]

Originally Posted by ChicagoMeO

do you remember a hot dog stand/truck (small one) that was on the corner of Addison & Long? that was my 1st hotdog place. I wrote about it here somewhere. my dad sent me to get 5 hot dogs and fries. me being 5 years old, i didn't know they put fries on the hotdog. so they go making 5 huge orders of fries, its like a whole bagful.. so my dad comes looking for me, not realizing i misunderstood him. he got mad at me lol.. but i was just a lil kid! the hot dogs were great! that place is gone now. good place to get food when coming home from Portage swimming. we had a lot of french fries that day too! they were really good.

the other good place near there is Boborinos on Addison and Roscoe!

woops sorry changing the subject.

Sure, it was another good spot and again it was a truck or trailer on a gas station site! I forget what it was called, Dons Dog Hut or something similar. Bob-o-rinos opened, giving the only other sub shop in the neighborhood, Mr Submarine, serious competition.

Yep, sorry for the hi-jack....I must be hungry!

[Master Jay]

BOBNCHI, no worries. This IS lunchtime, after all!

[BOBNCHI]

Got to add Caldwell Woods Jensen Slides (rip) , Whelen Pool at Devon & Milwaukee! Another staple for the nw siders!