In '50s house, the memories swell

In the working-class suburb of Park Forest, where history drips from the old Eagle Theater downtown and from the broad, pitched roofs above quiet streets, it would be easy to miss the simple house at 141 Forest ...

[Chicago resident]

I wonder what hours will it be open after this month?

I would like my parents to see the house as I think they would get a real kick out of seeing it. Winter is not a great time to get seniors out and about with the snow and low temps we have had so far.

[clyde]

I remember more turquoise. And curvy lamps. And a Stromberg-Carlson radio/record player. It had short-wave capabilities, and I could listen to stations in the Caribbean at night.

[Deb]

I'm with Clyde on the turquoise - we had a turquoise kitchen, turquoise melmac dinnerware, even a turquoise slipcover on one of the chairs in the "frontroom" (livingroom). And remember "blonde" woodtone tables? And those BIG, decorative ashtrays? If I could choose one thing to have now, it would have to be the big, reliable yet so simple white gas stove, you know, the kind where you had to light the oven by turning the knob while holding a match to the gas connection. Good times!

[You Are Next]

What memories? My mother-in-law's house looks just like the pictures from the story. The woman has never thrown ANYTHING out. My favorite is the plastic covers on the furniture in the summer.

[Tina]

My grandparents had this huge two-piece turquoise couch with silver thread embedded in it. By the time it finally hit the curb for garbage pickup about 6 years ago, I think all that was left was dust mites holding hands.:p And they had the blonde end-tables/coffee table, the curvy wooden lamps, and the big amber oversized ashtray too.

I wish we still had their kitchen table, though--the formica one with the metal edging all around the table and the matching chairs.

[clyde]

My mother had a turquoise refrigerator and a turquoise sofa, AND the big oversized turquoise ashtrays. Our dachshund was brown, and didn't actually match, but went to Daytona Beach on vacations with us anyway.

[sue]

we sold our house in the city last august and we had 2 white enameled stoves from the 50's. The top burners lit automatically but the side by side stove and broiler had to be lit by match. we LOVED those stoves! They came with the house when we bought in 1996. In fact, we designed the first floor apartment kitchen around the stove. The stove was the only original item after we finished rehabbing. most likly the new owner has replaced that grand old stove for a new version... oh well.

[Cat]

I wonder if, 50 years from now, there will be such nostalgia for the McMansions that replaced the modest but sturdy 1950s homes in my town. Somehow I doubt they will generate such affection.

[chico17]

My hometown area. Rich HS: Late '50's to early '60's. Remember going to "Rebel Without A cause" with James Dean at the Park Forest theater. The "lagoon" at the HS. a lot of memories in that town!

[Debi]

Really enjoyed seeing this - I grew up in PF, lived on Fir Street and was born in January 1955! The kids table in the basement - it could have been my table! How fun!

[gretta]

really enjoyed this article since i lived in these town houses from1960 till 1973. i hope someday to return and visit the museum.

[Cathy]

My daughter still has an old wooden bookcase that we found in the basement of the town house rental unit that my family lived in after coming east from Denver in 1955. We were waiting for our house on Wilson Court to be finished. The back porch of that rental unit was the site of my first introduction to black ice.

[Jill Eymer Holland]

My family lived at 83 Water St....less than a mile away. It was a wonderful community to spend 7th-12th grades. I remember one of my chores as being to clean the metal cabinet faces with a special cream cleaner, and ,another, to wash the dishes, as there were no dishwashers at that time. I was a lifeguard and instructor for four years at the Aquacenter and am featured in a picture of that group, standing on the diving board. There are 12 of the 1966 graduates of Rich East that got together at the 50th all-school reunion and have been having our own "mini-reunions" every 18 mos. or so (aka: "Dangerous Babes")

[Deb]

aaahhhhh yes, a black ice ride right down the porch stairs, Cathy? If you live in the Midwest, you will fall prey to it sooner or later.

[Jane Nicoll]

I am the Museum Director in this article. We plan to be open all Saturdays 1-3 p.m. until january, when we close because of weather like we are having now! We are a volunteer organization, so it pays to check our website, or to email me at [e-mail]. for all of you with great Park Forest memories, the society has a website with a memoirs section at www.parkforesthistory.org . Take a look and send me a memoir to add. We have an original stove, too, but it is stuck in the back of our storage POD. We had two units in our old location and some of the furniture got switched around in the packing. Right now we have a red and white enamel table in its place. To Jill, we have the photos of the lifeguards. I will try to relaunch the Aquacenter photo gallery on the website sometime. You would get a kick out of seeing the two Aquacenter badges we have in the china cabinet. I enjoyed seeing all of the reactions. Y'all come! We can show it by appointment, if we can work it out with a visitor's schedule, and can also do small groups, school visits, etc. Hope you can see our website, too. There are other photos and the text of our tour.

[jcl]

If you get a chance to to D.C. and check out the Smithsonian's exibit on Park Forest. I believe it's called "America on the move". It was very flattering and really sheds some great light on Park Forest. It made me proud to be a former Park Forester!

[nonnie248]

I lived at 385 Dogwood, not far from this house and it looked pretty much the same from the outside. I was there in the early 50's as a very young child, but remember a nearby sandlot with wooden posts. My father was a G.I. and we moved here when I was a baby. Later, when I grew up in Homewood, we made many trips to the shopping mall in Park Forest. Going to Sears for school and Easter clothes, to another store in the mall for Homecoming dresses (I think it started with an "L"..does anyone remember the name?), to Fields, to a Buster Brown shoe store with the x-ray machine for feet. I loved the movie theater and saw "West Side Story," "The Alamo," and "Lawrence of Arabia" -which had an intermission. I must make the trip back before the building that was Fields is torn down. Love reading all the comments here.- Tricia, Lake Geneva, WI

[nonnie248]

Tricia again. I'm in Lake Geneva, not Milwaukee.

[Jane Nicoll]

Tricia, are you thinking of Lytton's?

[Jim]

nonnie248 wrote:

I lived at 385 Dogwood, not far from this house and it looked pretty much the same from the outside. I was there in the early 50's as a very young child, but remember a nearby sandlot with wooden posts. My father was a G.I. and we moved here when I was a baby. Later, when I grew up in Homewood, we made many trips to the shopping mall in Park Forest. Going to Sears for school and Easter clothes, to another store in the mall for Homecoming dresses (I think it started with an "L"..does anyone remember the name?), to Fields, to a Buster Brown shoe store with the x-ray machine for feet. I loved the movie theater and saw "West Side Story," "The Alamo," and "Lawrence of Arabia" -which had an intermission. I must make the trip back before the building that was Fields is torn down. Love reading all the comments here.- Tricia, Lake Geneva, WI

The store also might have been Lester's. It was right across from Maeyamas, where I had my first job out of high school.(George was very nice to me, in spite of the fact that I was pretty useless.)

My (now) wife's father owned the shoe store next to the bookstore.