Let’s get back on that longest street in Chicago. We’ll be heading south to north in this excerpt. Looks like Western Avenue runs about to 147th before becoming Dixie Highway… about as far south as I can recall right this second, takes us to about 95th to the famous Rainbow Cone. We made many trips there as a kid; orange and white for me please… which meant orange sherbet and vanilla ice cream on a cone. Funny enough, all these years later, we ended up taking our son there. Furthermore, the day we did, was the day Baez debuted for the Cubs in Colorado; we were listening on the radio. Funny how these things intertwine w/in my memory banks.
Right across the street from there was one of my favorite golf courses, Evergreen Park. We had many good times on that 18… one that comes to mind is my brother in law’s bachelor party. We stocked up an empty bag full of ice and beer to kick off the festivities that day. His father couldn’t believe how much we pissed that day, watering just about every tree on that course between us all… haha. We had a work outing there as well, along with plenty of times with my dad, brother and myself… I remember a guy trying to sell us golf balls in an egg carton. Unfortunately, that course is long gone. We played another sport right around there; racquetball! Not quite on Western Avenue, but in the vicinity. Sweating our assess off for an hour or so, then enjoying some pitchers of beer after showering off; good times I say.
As we head north down Western, I remember the walk-a-thon in high school, where we walked from 77th and Western to Sox Park for the White Sox opener; the first time was the first game ever in US Cellular. Still have that ticket stub I think. I believe we walked to Archer Ave before veering east. Between 77th and Archer are plenty of memories. Took Driver’s Ed at Gage Park high school around 57th couple blocks off Western. One night walking to the bus stop we got stuck up; lucky for me they didn’t shoot us, and at that point, all I could offer them was my bus pass and $5… 39th, better known as Pershing, and Western was voted the most dangerous intersection in Chicago, due to all the posts you had to navigate through that intersection; I saw a guy drive right into one. I do recall a certain place on the corner there, that turned into a different type of establishment late night to my surprise… haha. I also remember a seatbelt/DUI check setup there one time by the cops. By the time I realized it, I couldn’t bust a U-Turn, but I was able to quickly dump my sports cup full of Rum and Coke out before getting busted…
OK, where are we? Archer? Shit, we’re just getting started. If I took a minute, I could mention probably another dozen or so things that happened between 95th and Archer down that 2400 West street, but let’s keep heading north… plenty more to talk about there.
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