Columns

One of the most popular television commercials out today features rock icon Eddie Money as a travel agency owner singing “Two Tickets To Paradise” to a family looking for tickets to a vacation. The humor of the commercial stems from Money holding two plane tickets in his hand and doing the song a cappella in a somewhat inebriated state. A fair representation of a stereotypical rocker of the ’70s and ’80s, this spot proves that comedy was never really meant to be pretty. I have worked with Eddie on several occasions, most recently two sold-out shows at the Arcada Theatre …

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. …

See for yourself the beauty of history that is Chicago’s Pullman National Preservation District. You are cordially invited to the 40th Annual Historic Happy anniversary! Happy five years writing the Petals from Roseland column! Further proof that time flies! It has been five of the most gratifying years in my writing career. As a writer, your goal, albeit unknowingly, is to gain immortality. How does one do that? Simply by sharing what they know. A number of people have helped me accomplish that goal by achieving that goal themselves through sharing their knowledge and their passion. There is Danny Bovino, …

See for yourself the beauty of history that is Chicago’s Pullman National Preservation District. You are cordially invited to the 40th Annual Historic Pullman House Tour October 12 & 13. The second weekend in October is always reserved for the spectacular tour of the Pullman neighborhood and homes that were built from 1880-94. Almost 1,000 of the original row houses and a number of major buildings and spaces populate the Pullman community. Several homes and buildings are undergoing restoration at any given time. The eight homes and four civic buildings chosen for the tour are representative of a cross-section of …