While attending the recent funeral of Erminia Frigo, I was viewing the photo boards on display when one of the pictures took me by surprise. The photo was of a few people standing across the street from the old St. Anthony’s church in front of Pat & Matt’s newsstand, soda shop and bar. There in the background stood Christi Silvestri. I had not seen or thought about Christi since the 1960s, when I graduated from St. Anthony’s. However, I do remember Christi from my many trips after 9:00 Mass to Pat & Matt’s, where Christi stood out at 6’3” and …

The end of summer is approaching but there’s still time to make up for the frigid winter we went through. That is, of course, if you weren’t able to make it to some of the summer festivals that took place in Chicago and suburbs. One of the summer events that was well attended is the St. Anthony Festa which took place on Sunday, June 8th. Fr. Mark Krilowicz, the pastor of St. Anthony’s for the past eight years, has kept the celebration alive with a strong parish St. Anthony’s Feast committee that meets year-round to come up with food, activities, …

Recently, I came across an article that began with “The Best Year for …” I don’t remember what the focus of the article was but the article did spark an idea: What was the best year of your life in Roseland? Throughout my tenure with Fra Noi, countless people have shared their fondest memories of growing up in Roseland. I’ve met couples at Spaghetti-Os dining at Carlos Lorenzetti’s, at St. Anthony’s on Sundays, and at special events like the St. Anthony Feast that took place on June 8th; at Roseland Roundtable’s Traverso Pizza Parties; and as they came to visit …

As Lent drew near this year, the Veneti nel Mondo held their annual Carnivale con Cudighi Dinner, which spotlighted that beloved spicy Northern Italian sausage, and that got me to thinking about carnivals in general. That brought me right to the St. Anthony carnivals that the St. Anthony’s Holy Name, with the help of the parishioners, used to put on every year. When I mentioned St. Anthony’s carnival in a conversation, someone brought up the fact that there were numerous carnivals held throughout Roseland and the surrounding communities. A number of the larger Roseland parishes put on carnivals as one …

My friend Eddie Wolak didn’t even grow up in Roseland but we eat at the Cal Harbor Restaurant at 115th and Forestville often. We were talking when the subject of “The Ave” came up, and Eddie wanted to know more. Eddie worked for the railroad in and around Roseland for more than 20 years so he is acquainted with the area and he wanted to know all about “The Ave” that all the guys from Roseland talked about. “The Ave” was our slang name for Michigan Avenue from 110th to 115th Street. It not only was the main shopping strip …

A number of months ago, I wrote about ways we can keep our Italian heritage alive. Of course, the first thing that comes to mind was Italian food. To that end, over the years I’ve written about the South Side food markets and delis available to all the former Roseland/Pullman/Kensington residents that are still living south of the city’s downtown. There’s Calabria Imports, which came out of Blue Island — the Italian pride of Beverly that serves the far southwest side including Oak Lawn and Evergreen Park. Directly south of the city out in Stege /Crete is Dal Santo’s Italian …

Now that the holidays are behind us, we can take a moment to relax and look back at the life we grew up with in Roseland. In preparation for my holiday display, haphazardly carrying 4-foot-by-8-foot sheets of plywood on the top of my Jeep, I decided I would avoid the expressway driving back to Pullman from Menard’s on Sibley Boulevard. That thinking proved to be wise as the wind howled. Of course, that meant the road home took me through Dolton and Riverdale and over to 130th Street right past the former Acme/Interlake Steel and The Shrimp Boat. It was …

Celebrate! Celebrate! Celebrate! Here we are in a new year, so let’s see what’s on the the horizon for 2014. Insofar as Pullman is concerned, National Park Status is almost a given. That means a redefining of the area many of you have grown up in. To check out an example of what an industrial type of National Park looks like, go online to http://www.nps.gov/lowe/index.htm Lowell, Mass., was a former textile production town that had been down on its luck until there was a movement to make it a National Park. On a personal level, my daughter Jamie, husband Eric, …

December brings us to the end of another year, with all of life’s beginnings and endings, accomplishments, realizations, and small steps in a big world. Interestingly, we spend our early lives looking to take giant leaps and, as we get older, we are more than happy to settle for small steps. At least we’re looking down at the daisies instead of up at them! This year has been special for my home community of Pullman in many ways. Pullman has been given a positive vote by the National Parks Committee, which means that all that is required is President Obama’s …

Riddle me this. What is Chicago lacking that San Francisco, San Diego and Boston aren’t? This column is going to digress just a little from the Roseland/Pullman/Kensington theme and go with the topic of our heritage. Diminished neighborhoods whether through racial changes, younger family members moving to the suburbs, or urban sprawl, as in the ever expanding University of Illinois at Chicago Circle Campus, have led to a lack of cohesion in maintaining our Italian ethnic connections to our past. One way to do our part in maintaining those connections is by considering the efforts of our friend, Dominic Candeloro. …