Fra Noi Embrace Your Inner Italian
This is the time of year when we look back at what we can be thankful for. Of course, there are the material things that we can see and touch. In the case of the Roseland, Pullman and Kensington neighborhoods, many of those things can only be view in our mind’s eye.
Living in Pullman, I can still visit many of the locations where businesses and family homes from my early years in the area were located, although I do sometimes have to visualize what you used to stand on what is now an empty lot. For instance, at one time or another, my dad owned buildings on 114th,115th, 116th, 119th, and 124th streets. Of those four places, only the house on 124th and Michigan Avenue, across from the Roseland Little League Field, is still standing.
And yet, I have fond memories of growing up in each of those buildings. I recall the neighborhood kids getting together for pick-up baseball games on the Little League field. They were a lot of fun, excepting the time slugger Kathy McKay hit me in the throat with a line drive to third! Then there were the games in the alley under the basketball hoop on our garage. Many games of horse were played there with our neighborhood buddy Julius “Sonny” Kortvely.
I knew many of the kids I went to school or played on the Little League team with. The local businesses were proud to sponsor a team for the sake of the kids. A few that I can recall are LeRose Coal & Oil, Home Store and Faesel’s. The season-opening parade was always something to look forward to as the march went from 111th and Michigan Avenue all the way to the fields at 124th. Great baseball memories for everyone but living across the street from the fields makes me especially thankful for the great memories.
The other houses we lived in have their own special memories for me, with the exception of the one that I never lived in but is still standing. I was giving my late brother Chester a ride home from St. Anthony’s and thought it would be a treat for me to take my 80-year-old brother on a ride around the neighborhood. As I drove out of the alley just west of what was Panozzo Brothers Funeral Home, I turned north on Forest Avenue. To my surprise Chester said, “Hey, that was our house.” As he pointed to a house with a stone brick front. It brought back memories to him of when he was in high school and the good times he had. I was very surprised because my family had moved to 221 East 115th Street before I was born.
I think I’m most thankful for my father having owned the building on 115th Street. That building existed until the current church was built on that half of the block across the alley from St. Anthony School. It was across the alley from St. Anthony’s where I had a lot of experiences that I am thankful for and look back upon with wonder and appreciation. For instance, while in first grade, I recall Sr. Laurentia asking me if my brother Augie had come to school that day. I answered that he had and that’s when she told me to look out the window and who was it that I saw jumping between garage roofs across the alley from the school. It was my brother, who happened to be sharing the antic with his friend Alan DaCorte, either to demonstrate their bravery or stupidity.
The building on 115th was where this ‘golden child’ was born and accumulated so many fond memories. That was my nickname because my brothers and sisters couldn’t lay a finger on me no matter what I did — my Nonna Pierina Chiodarelli made sure of that. I was her special baby and slept in a crib next to her bed. which at times made things very interesting. In particular, when I was about 5 years old and I woke up loudly crying my eyes out. On the other side of my crib was a big round dresser mirror and staring back at me was an image of a child with red marks all over his face and body. My crying shocked my nonna awake and made her and my mother come running to sooth me.
My brother was always running around with his friends narrowly avoiding trouble, while I stayed home with my mom and nonna finding things to do on my own. Sometimes I would get lucky and my dad would take me with him. That was the only way I ever got to see his building on 119th Street between State Street and Michigan Avenue. Now, all of the buildings that were on the north side of the street are gone. I’ve still got fond memories though of ‘Audrey’ the renter’s daughter. She was my age, had a great smile, and I really liked her. As a matter of fact, she was the first girl I had a crush on—one of many—that went nowhere except into my fondest memories bank.
Our house at 15 East 116th Street hour growing up holds the most memories for me because that’s where my sisters Tootsie and Rosie, and my brother Augie and I did most of our growing up. I remember the dogs we had like Arf-Arf who my dad picked up for free from a farm in Joliet and made us return the $10 dog we had bought from the pet shop on 117th and Michigan.
I remember going to Bob’s Corner Store to get my sister Tootsie and her friend Prudy Mazzcavallo a bag of Bullseye caramels and getting bit by a dog on my home. My reward was to get to keep the fifteen-cents worth of Bullseyes!0
Another memory of the house on 116th was a going away party for my classmate Jack Panozzo and myself. We were getting a sendoff to Sacred Heart Seminary, which was 30 miles away in Stone Park, Illinois. We were about to begin our studying for the priesthood at the high school seminary. I stayed at the seminary for the first year and a half of my high school and then moved back to the house on 116th and transferred to St. Willibrord’s in Roseland and a part-time job as a pharmacy tech at Bakkers Pharmacy.
The 1960’s were definitely an eventful time of my life. I graduated high school; met my first girlfriend Phoebe Bakkers; got drafted in 1966 and sent to Vietnam; got out of service in 1968; lived in California; came home and went to Junior College; met my future wife Marilyn Chao and moved out of the 116th house to the north side.
For all these memories I’ve shared, I am thankful. Those are just some of my memories and I know that my retelling of them will give you a return trip to the days of your youth; the houses your family lived in; the friends you grew up with; the schools and churches you attended. We can look back on our life experiences and we can see the effect Roseland, Pullman, and Kensington had on each of our lives and find things to be thankful for. When we hear people say, “Today’s kids don’t know what life is all about, they’re so different from when we were kids.” I am sure today’s kids will have great memories of the addresses where they lived too!
“Petals from Roseland: Fond Memories of Chicago’s Roseland, Pullman and Kensington Neighborhoods” is available from me for anyone interested in sharing or revisiting their life in Roseland at $20 + $5 s&h. Contact me at petalsfromroseland@gmail.com or 11403 S. St. Lawrence Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60628; 773-710-3559. My book is also available at D & D Foods, 1023 S. Halsted, Chicago Heights, at Bookie’s New and Used Books, 10324 S. Western Ave, Chicago and at Miles Books, 2819 Jewett Ave., Highland, Indiana.
