Van Vlissingen
Clyde
Jeffery
Merrill
Paxton
Luella
Crandon
Oglesby
Yates
Bensley
Calhoun
Hoxie
Susan
B. Anthony Elementary School
Oliver
Goldsmith Elementary School
Daniel
Burnham Elementary School
Luella Elementary School
Luella School (1999)
Luella Elementary School
Webpage
We lived at 10041 S. Van Vlissingen from 1956 til 1964. I went to Goldsmith for kindergarten and Our Lady Gate of Heaven (OLGH) through 4th grade when we moved to Beverly. My parents grew up in South Shore--in fact, I was born in St. Bride's the year before we moved to Jeffrey Manor.
I remember Bennie's (I liked
Paula Harris Meyer's recitation of all the treats--taste memories!), Tastie
Freeze, and the union hall quite well. OLGH used to have
"bazaars" in that hall, and I got Minnie Minoso's autograph at one
such event in the early 60's. I remember when the park was
"built" behind the townhouses on 100th Street--before that it was
just another prairie. Of course, we young boys liked to play in the big
prairie west of Van Vlissingen. In those days the flora (trees, grasses,
weeds) was not as
abundant as today. We had
great adventures wandering around what seemed like an enormous wilderness.
In the summer we used to watch little league and pony league games at the diamond that could be reached by the alley off of 102nd and Van Vlissingen. It's all overgrown now. Wayne and Russell Sherman were playmates of ours whooutheast corner (as it were) of 101st and Van Vlissingen, and I think Mr. Sherman must have had something to do with the little league games, because Wayne and Russell got to sit in the "announcers" area at the games.
I also recall the library bus
it was the first "library" I ever entered. The corner of 100th
and Yates has recently been cleared of the old buildings--they had gotten
pretty decrepit through lack of maintenance,
and the City took the properties
for unpaid property taxes.
Most of our cousins still lived in South Shore, and in the summer, on weekdays, my mom would take us on the Jeffrey bus to 80th (right by Horace Mann) and we'd walk to Chappell. (My mother didn't drive until many years later.) My aunt would take us all in their Chevy station wagon to Rainbow Beach -- sometimes stopping at the red-and white tiled McDonald's on 79th Street for burgers and fries (15 cents).
Neighbors of my cousins on Chappell were the Jordans, and one of their daughters used to babysit my cousins. She later was one of the student nurses murdered by Speck at 2319 E. 100th.
Does anyone remember going to Rib Hill or Jennie's? Those were our usual "out to dinner" spots--sometimes we'd stop at Oh Henry's on 95th Street or Miner Dunn on 79th when we were in South Shore.
Or how about this: I seem to remember that the roof of Goldsmith was hit by lightning during an afternoon storm in 1961, 2, or 3 (?).
I'll never forget 100th
Street itself, or the fact that when we moved to Beverly, none of the
kids would believe that 100th
was a "busy" street.
~~~Kevin Byrnes
I grew up in a little six-room house at 9842 Van Vlissingen (1954-1974). It was red then. Now someone has painted the outside wood beige. But the bricks are still the same. The little evergreen bushes have been trained into topiary, not the wild mess we used to have. The trees on that block were all planted in the early ‘fifties. They are so big now. A five-year-old could not get her arms around the trunk to climb them any more.
~~~Carol Fineberg Mason
I lived at 9654 Van Vlissingen, right across from Burnham. Those were the days! It's amazing how clear the memories are. Bennie's, Moishe Pupicks (sp?), the Clark Station. I also remember my phone number SO 8 5352. I live in California now and my kids growing up definitely don't have the memories we have. It was a special place.
~~~Helene (Mastin) Cohen
For us Gzesh
kids, we had our own house at 9023 S. Clyde, but our maternal grandparents, Max
and Celia Kronenberg,
lived at
10154 S. Van Vlissingen, with their large backyard looking out on the
"prairie" that extended east. Yes, we
went to lots
of games at the Pony League field out behind 102d and Van Vlissingen. We
also went to services with my
grandfather
at CKI. How many synagogues and temples were on the southeast side in the
1950s and 60s? I think at least 9
or 10 -
Rodfei Sholom, CKI, Agudas Achim, South Shore Temple, Beth Am, KAM, Isaiah
Israel, Sinai, Rodfei Zedek,
and maybe
another conservative shul in South Shore? Now we just have KAM-Isaiah Israel
and Rodfei Zedek in Hyde Park -
and I think a
very old conservative shul in South Chicago. And as a real landmark of Jewish
culture, who remembers the
hotdog place Moishe Pupik's on 100th Street?
~~~Susan Gzesh
I accidentally found your site while trying to find some of my grade-school buddies. Thanks for the memories and here are some of mine. ============ I graduated from Luella in 1955. My family lived in a row-house at 9630 Jeffrey Ave. I had many friends who lived in Merionnette Manor, which I always regarded as the "wealthy" families. We weren't poor, but certainly those nice homes in the neighborhood were impressive to me. I too remember Alan Olschwang and also "Buddy" Zitnick, who were two of my friends who lived in the Manor. My brother and I used to take short-cuts through several neighbors' yards, hopping fences when necessary. to walk to school when we didn't ride our bikes or take the bus. I remember one family had a pet duck that we used to feed an Oreo cookie to from our lunch as we passed through the yard.
~~~Gene Goldstein
I lived in the cul-de-sac at the end of Jeffrey, which turned into Van Vlissingen around 100th street, I guess. We played Kick the Can, Ghost in the Graveyard and Spud every night in the circle until our parents made us come home. We lived across the street from David, Evie, Ron, Michael & Bobbi Wexler (and are still great friends with them.) The Bruahs, Ruths, Angrists, Ormans, Caren, Mark & Larry Fine, Bass, Foreman, Goldberg, Skiba, Liebolt, Carroll and Starcevich families were all a part of our world. We could crawl through a little space between our yards, make forts behind there. My mom forbade me to go to the prairie behind 102nd, but of course I did anyway, and got to see David Wexler & his friends dig a huge underground cave in cave in case the end of the world came. We watched Little League all summer there, spending 20 cents on 20 spaghetti-like pieces of red licorice. We walked up to 100th street all the time, home of our library, the Penny Candy store and a hot dog place from heaven. We shopped at Grocerland for food, Korvette's for clothes. We started school at Goldsmith, where Mrs. Bonait once made us sit in a circle for 20 minutes after school until someone figured out that all snowflakes had six points, a lesson I've inflicted on any children I've met since. I was in love with Jay Mandelsburg, who lived on the street across from the school. Evie Wexler and I spent our summers being Harriet the Spy, and going around the alleys, writing down what people had in their back yards, then going back and writing down WHAT HAD MOVED. Our gym teacher Mr. Vernon always had white stuff congregating at the corners of his mouth, made me playground captain in 5th grade and had a tendency, unfortunately, to have us sit in his lap and bounce us. Mrs. Stiebel was the scary teacher who pounced on my love of reading and brought me books from her own collection.
At 5th grade, we moved on to Luella, where we would go across the street after school and on weekends and visit the priest who lived at Our Lady Gate of Heaven. He had a St. Bernard named Barney, I believe. OLGH was where I saw my first crucifix, and I sweated it out all night once after making the sign of the cross with Michael Carroll when his family took me to church. I went to C.K.I., where I routinely cut Sunday School in favor of reading novels in the bathroom. I do remember Rabbi Einhorn, who once made fun of women wearing their new fur coats in the summer during his high holiday sermon. We went to the JCC on Jeffrey, made friends with kids like Debbie Gzesh, Carolyn Gans, Kenny Marks, Andy David, etc... who were from other neighborhoods like Pill Hill. We starred in plays with Sonni Burns (Once Upon a Mattress) and explored Hyde Park with kazoos in hand, bus passes and a taste of freedom.
Things started to change around 1968, I guess, though we were pretty oblivious for awhile. It did seem that for a couple of years, though, I would wake up and another neighbor would have moved during the night. One by one they disappeared, replaced by black neighbors. Our first was Loretta Sherman. She had a younger brother named Gary who was dropped on his head at birth and was in a wheelchair. Later, Betti Jo Irby and Debbie Green, Gary Jones, Shannon, and Michelle Taylor took over our world there, protecting us and stepping over imaginary boundaries. Someone named Robin, Tangie Lawrence and Linda Young taught us to dance while watching Soul Train in the basement of Linda's house. Great, great friends. Unfortunately, by 1972 the Sevelows and Wexlers were some of the last white people around, and with threats on our lives on the last day of school- our parents decided it was time to go.
We moved to Homewood, but left our hearts in Jeffrey Manor.
~~~Jill Sevelow sev3
at aol.com
My name is Linda Cohen Silverman, I lived on Merrill Ave. in Jeffrey Manor and graduated from Luella in 1961. I remember every Friday after dinner when the weather was nice all of the kids on the block would meet in front of Joey Gershons house and play a game we called Mums the Word. The object was for one person to try and make the rest of us laugh. Whoever laughed first had to knock on some ones door and run away. Of course, the whole group of us came with. I remember buying candy at Benny's and ordering my 8th grade autograph book there. I wonder if any one remembers the annual baseball game between the 7th and 8th grade boys. Does anyone remember Leo the policeman ? I remember how disappointed some of us girls were when Mr Ness stamped our autograph books instead of signing them.
Most of all I remember the freedom that us kids had in those "good old days" Riding our bikes to Slagels Dime Store or having Ice cream at Topp's. Taking the bus to 71st street or to the Museum of Science and Industry.
If anyone would like to share memories with me my email address is Linchickone @ aol.com
~~~Linda Cohen Silverman
10051 S. Paxton
I lived with my mom, dad, brother Jerry and sister Linda in a two story brick Georgian. We moved there from an apartment in South Shore in the mid-1950's. On Saturday mornings, we'd watch cartoons for hours and play endless games of Monopoly. My parents had half the unfinished basement done up into a splendid knotty-pine walled rec room. Unfortunately, that basement never stopped flooding during huge rain storms. (I heard on the news a few years ago about Jeffrey Manor homes flooding despite the Deep Tunnel Project.) In our backyard we had a large maple tree that I would climb up, as high as our rooftop.
There were families with kids all up and down the block. I played dolls, jump rope and jacks with my girl friends, but sometimes all the kids on the block would get together for a huge game of 'Kick the Can' or '500 Baseball.'
~~~Marcia Mayeroff Sacks
We moved to 10022 Paxton in about 1951. I was three. We lived there until the spring of 1956, when we moved to Chicago Heights. I went to Goldsmith, where my mother saw to it that I "skipped" a few half-grades. You could do that easily then. The problem was, when we moved to the suburbs, they didn't have half-grades and I was put in 3rd, which was almost over. So, I missed most of 3rd grade, too. When I started Jr. High School in 7th grade, I was only 10 years old.
Memories include my neighbor across the street, Michael Cohen, putting on a Flash Gordon costume and, thinking he could fly, jumping off his garage roof. He once fell down into an excavation at the end of the block and got his head stuck in a bucket. His parents had to call the fire department to get it out. Other kids in the neighborhood included Bruce Kramer (or Cramer) and his older sister, Ina, Marla Marks (my first "girlfriend") and Stuart Hayman. There was also a mean dog a few houses down named Rusty (I think).
Also, at the end of the street, there was a family with some teenage boys who had an awesome model train set in their basement. One day, one of the boys (named Kenny, I think), was on the Morris B. Sachs amateur hour on television. We had one of the few sets in the neighborhood and all the neighbors came to our house to watch him. He didn't win.
I really liked living there and wish you "could go home again." BTW - I still remember our phone number - ESsex 5-2915. Don't ask me why.
~~~Mark Gershon Padgett
I lived on Luella Avenue,
right across from Luella Park. I fondly remember when they made the Park,
it was formerly an empty lot filled with weeds, and shrubbery. It was so
nice having a park right across the street to play in. My parents
were the last white family to move off the block. The reason they
moved was because my father
almost got shot. After retiring from selling insurance, he was a cab
driver. He came home from work one night and there was a gang fight going
on. The next day they put the house up for sale.
~~~Karen Burnstein Harness
We lived at 9755 Luella. My brother says we moved there in 1948 when he entered 1st grade at Our Lady Gate of Heaven. I remember walking to the stores at 95th and by the time I got back someone(?) had told my mother. I was 5 or 6. I seemed I couldn't get away with anything. Someone would always tell. When I was a bit older I would stand at the bus stop trying to get down town to the museum and the busses would usually drive right by. It never occurred to me I was too young to be going on the bus all over town by myself. Eventually a bus would stop and I'd go on my adventure. I never would tell anyone and they never found out. I remember riding thru the black neighborhoods on the bus and seeing so many people out on their porches. I really wanted to live there.
We always played in the
street. Baseball at the intersection of 3 streets at south end of block that I
thought made a perfect baseball area. We used the playground at public school
across form OLGH for our 2 man baseball. We played hockey without skates when
the streets were covered with snow or grabbed ahold of cars rear bumpers for a
ride. Mostly we just found ways to amuse ourselves.
We caught garter snakes
in vacant lots on 95th street and caught tadpoles in the "swamp" by
the railroad trakes. We jumped fences to collect cherries, and fruits in
season. We had races going all the way around the block. My favorite activity
was on Wednesday, Trash day. After school the empty trashcans were out by the
curb waiting to be taken back by their owners. I would ride my bicycle up and
down the streets crashing into them and scattering them into the streets.
Nobody ever said anything, I never got in trouble.
There were neighborhood parties where the priests would come and drink beer with our parents. I always took comfort in knowing that they weren't some sort of religious nuts but regular guys who liked beer. Of course all our activities centered around the church and our parents friends who were all Catholic, or little league. I had one Jewish friend but he always seemed to be spending too much time studying and not enough time playing. I was very surprised to learn online that there were so many Jews in the area. I just didn't know many but then I only lived there till I was 13.
I had mostly a safe and secure childhood with only the anger of the nuns at OLGH to worry about. My father was transferred to Kansas City about 1964 or 65.
~~~Ken Normile
Marc
Binenfeld in front of Goldsmith School (1999)
photo by Jacki Sackheim
I lived at 9828 Hoxie when I first moved to the Manor. I moved to 10126 Crandon and went to Goldsmith. Then on to Luella. I graduated Luella in 1961 and then went to Bowen. My Dad owned Top's Restaurant on 95th & Jeffrey. I was Sandy Klein at that time and had a brother and sister, Jack & Judy Klein. Please email me at "nana323 @aol.com" if you remember me.
~~~Sandy Katz
I lived at 99th and Yates but I seem to have lost a small fringe purse at the 'point' with Charlie Rotenberg (the science teacher), has anyone found it?
~~~Robyn Nieman
We lived on Bensley, a short street which was renamed Phillips when you were North of 95th Street. Our block was only partially paved, no gutters or curbs, and it was the end of the route for the No. 5 Jeffrey Express. We moved in the summer of 1953, my sister Ilene was born in September. Mom always said that Dad looked for a house on a bus route, since those streets would be plowed during the winter snows. Well, they plowed the street, but the buses would sit there, revving their engines on cold winter mornings. I thought nothing of it at the time, but when I went away for college and came back home I was amazed. The whole house shook, the china banged away in the cabinet, the noise could wake the dead, and nobody even noticed.
The day after the Reunion,
Ann Grover and I took a ride to see the old neighborhood. A lot was
different, but more was the same. The small brick houses were, for the
most part, in good shape. There were some board ups, but there were some with
new roofs too. Kids were riding their bikes, families
were in the yards. My
house looked about the same. It needed tuckpointing in the same spot it
needed tuckpointing in 1968, only more so. The business' on 100th street
were all gone, but there was a new branch Library. The biggest surprise
was how close together everything was. The streets seemed
shorter and the distance from
Luella to my old home was a blink of an eye.
~~~ Shelley Volk
Bensley memories ... I lived at 96th and Bensley. Spent many days at 'the park' riding bikes, playing softball, football and, of course, ice skating in the winter. When lights were put in I recall my Dad charging to the park around 9 o'clock (I was supposed to be home when it got dark ...) - my answer " But Dad, it's still light out!".
As time went on, and the neighborhood changed (my Mom was the last to move) it was mostly walking the dog. I recall defending Mallory Dick (she lived on the outskirts of the park) in a snow-ball fight ....she still didn't like me even after that !
Others living in the area
included Rick Feingold, Ed Levy, Rick Sloan, Bonnie Boersma, Steve Schultz,
Mark Kleeblat, Mark Povitsky, Mickey/Roger Simon, Renee Yuditsky (my first
crush...), Susan Coffey (my second
crush...), Iris Nierman, Mallory
Dick, Linda Cohen, Allan Walker and Mike Ketcham.
~~~Ron Bloom
My parents
Anita Levin (age 66) and Kenneth (Ken) Levinson (age 67) were high school
sweethearts and both graduated from Bowen around "58" and
"59". They were raised in the Jeffery Manor area around Paxton,
Drexel, Clyde area. My younger brothers and I were all born in the
"60"'s and I remember our childhood address was something like 9563
Bensley.
My father Ken, my grandfather Jack and great uncle Sid had a Pop/Klezmer band
on weekends. They played many Bar Mitzvah's and Weddings. I would
usually go with my father on weekends to his Gigs and my brothers would stay
home with my mother.
I remember winter 1967, we had a major snow blizzard and my youngest
brother Eric was a few months old, (he was born November 1966.) The cars
would not start and my mother needed baby formula for my baby brother, so my
father put my middle brother Marc and I on a sled and pulled us to Walgreen's
to buy baby formula. I was 6 and Marc was 4.
Also, during this winter my father built us an igloo in the back patio of our
house on Bensley. We had a blast playing and drinking hot chocolate in the
igloo. Our house on Bensley was small for our growing family, so my
parents bought a larger house newly built spring of 1967 in Glenwood Estates so
that my brothers and I could attend all of the Homewood schools. I missed
my elementary school Susan B. Anthony and all of my friends such as
Robbie Friedman and his sisters Cheryl and Mala and other families whose
children my brothers and I played with. These names will "come to me
eventually".
I also remember having a babysitter whose name was Karen. She was approx
12 or 13 when I was 5 or 6.
I miss the Tropical Hut restaurant. Their barbecue sauce and "Song
of the Island" salad dressing was the BEST! Makes me proud to be a
"South Sider".
My husband, our teenage daughters and I have been living in San Francisco for
12 years. I sure miss Chicagoland!
~~~Alene Levinson
jamalene at sbcglobal.net
and
ilovescience at juno.com
I lived at
9829 Bensley from about 1960-1967. Went to Our Lady Gate of Heaven
school. I remember going to the stores on 100th St. to buy pop and candy.
Spent all my time at Bensley Park, coming home many nights at 10. There
were lots of baseball games. I believe it was Trumball Park that we would
walk to see the 4th of July fireworks. Those sonic booms always scared
me. Friends I had were Terry Hardy, Paula Jones, Terry Hollenbeck. Had a
mad crush on John McLaughlin. I remember the blizzard of '62 I think it
was. The milkman on the corner sold milk, juice and other things to the
neighbors. They had 3 boys I used to play German spotlight with.
Played spud a lot too. Rode my bike everywhere. I remember when the
helicopters were flying around looking for Richard Speck. Love my White
Castles still, get them frozen as I live in New Mexico. Rib Hill was
great, had those bowls of warm water with lemon to clean your hands after
eating those awesome ribs. Trick or Treat was safe and fun. Ate
fresh baked cookies. I was a girl scout and sold a lot of cookies,
delivered them in my red wagon, they were .50 a box. We had some awful
thunderstorms too and the basement always flooded. The neighborhood was
like half Catholic and half Jewish. I came to love bagels, lox and cream
cheese! Some of the neighbors even had a maid! Those houses were
small. My dad was the butcher at National Tea on 95th st. Great
memories. If anyone remembers me contact me at dianadberry at aol dot com .
~~~Diana (Engelbrecht) Berry
Albuquerque, NM
I lived at 9901 Calhoun. My name is Leroy
Rubenstein. My family moved to the manor from Hyde Park in 1947 before I was
born.Like all the other manor folks I have great memories of all that the
manor had to offer.Such as Jodee,s Boomerang.on 98th and Torrence. That was my
first real job in 1959 that they took social security out of my paycheck.
In 2 years I,am going to get my money back. As far as sports venues I still
believe the brick wall at the Luella gym outside provided great training for
future pitchers and hitters in high school. I went the other direction I
umpired high school and college baseball for 35 years until my knees wore out.
I vividly remember the finest place to eat in the Manor was the Tastee
Freeze on 100th St. We didn't,t know any better. If you won enough money
in any of the local poker games or bowling pot games you were off to Rib Hill.
If things were tight you found Eddie Schwartz peeling spuds at Moshe Pipic and
if he knew you he would take good care of you.
It seems like
yesterday when I would look out my bedroom window and watch the sky light up
from the slag being dumped at the mills down Torrence. I guess it was the
Manors version of an active Hawaii volcano. People still talk about the bar at
Skyway bowling alley that was shaped like a bowling pin. They were way
ahead of design at that place.
Probably the biggest debate that went on those
didn't,t occur in the classrooms at Bowen but at the bus stop On So Chicago
Ave. I,ll always remember people getting pretty worked up over whose hot dog
was better Carl's or Segals. I liked Carl's it was more affordable plus the
fries were included. I did notice one thing myself that those kids that ate at
Segals wore nicer clothes. I guess that Segals had a dress code.. Well I
finally left the manor survived the Vietnam war got married to a wonderful
women had 2 great kids one lives in Chicago and the other in NYC. I'll
always remember the Manor. I live in Naples Fl and pretty much retired
early. Working is highly overrated. If anyone remembers me I did not die or
move to Europe I would love to hear from you.
~~~ Leroy Rubenstein
marcoump
at aol dot com
Whenever I go to Planning
Commission, protesting tacky developments, I always point out that I am a proud
graduate of Daniel Burnham Elementary School. That results in a look of
guilt and shame on the faces of our town's planning professionals, who know
that I know that they are selling out to the
Philistines.
I would like to publicly
thank Alfred Palombo for my knowledge of the multiplication tables. Miss
Dixon would make us all write the times tables numerous times when Alfred did
something bad, which was all the time. Nowadays, he would have been put
on Ritalin and the students have calculators.
~~~Nancy Henning Weres
I liked Burnham more than any of
my other public schools. Of course, there was one special teacher who I just
melted away when she spoke, and I did have my first date with Susan Schwartz, a
wonderful girl. I remember playing ball in the back, and football in the front.
It was very nice. Also, I remember Miss Dixon, at least I think she was the 6th
grade math teacher who said some day we would find out 2 plus 2 doesn't equal
4, but 3.xxxx with pages of equations. It was funny..
~~~Barry Mellovitz
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