Today I’m sharing some photographs from the 2005 Deborah Boys Club reunion, but first let me tell you a bit about Jim Cash, who sent in these photographs. His story will bring back some 1960s-era Albany Park memories.
In 1965, Jim’s family moved to Leland Avenue, right across from Roosevelt High School. Jim and his younger brother and sister attended Haugan and Roosevelt. Jim’s mother managed the Martha Washington Ice Cream Shop on the north side of Lawrence, just east of Kimball.
Other Albany Park places Jim recalls include a hot dog stand named Jordy’s, Cosmetique, Sam’s Cigars, Max’s Trading Post and Barry’s Young Man’s World. He remembers working at a small fruit store on the current site of the Albany Park bank.
By coincidence, Jim was a childhood friend of another one of this blog’s contributors, Mike Wolstein. They reconnected through this blog and the memories they shared with me bring back a familiar picture of neighborhood life.
“Jim and I and a bunch of other kids hung around at the
northwestsoutheast corner of St. Louis and Leland in the mid-60s, where we used to play soft ball every night.” — Mike Wolstein
Jim had this to say about Mike:
“In 1966 0r ’67 Mike bought a brand new Suzuki x-6 Hustler that was the fastest thing in the world to us kids. He was also like a genius when it came to slot cars, which were big in those days. We used to go to a slot car track on Bryn Mawr. east of Kimball or to Classic Raceways, which was Lawrence & Lincoln.” — Jim Cash
Jim met his future wife, Wendy (Dolgin), at a Battle of the Bands dance at Deborah in 1966. After losing track of each other for many years, they re-met in 2004 and were married in 2009.
Bands at Deborah
Check out the photos below. That’s Ronnie Rice, performing at the reunion. Many will remember when he played at Deborah in the ’60s with the band New Colony Six. Other bands that played at Deborah in the ’60s included The Buckinghams, The Exclusives, Ides of March, The Embers, The Flock, The Shadows (later Shadows of Knight), Baby Huey and the Babysitters. Anyone else?
Thanks again, Jim, for sharing your photographs and memories.
Wendy and Jim Cash
Ronnie Rice
Related posts: This was Deborah; This was Deborah, Part 2.
Read more Albany Park Memories
Hi, Brian. Thanks for stopping by. Very excited to hear from a Battle of the Bands winner. Do you have any photos of your band? If so, send me an email via the contact form and I’ll give you an email address. I’m interested in doing more posts about the garage bands of the day. Seemed like everyone was in a band.
Francis,
My brother Carl sent me the link to your articles, This one about Deborah Boy’s Club brought back memories. In 1966 my band, Time Peace, came in first place in the “battle of the bands” contest. We were just 15 at the time so we didn’t do so well at McCormick Place for the finals. Albany Park, Deborah Boy’s Club, Hibbard and Von Steuben, all good memories. Didn’t know Jim or Wendy, but they must have danced to our tunes.
Hi Frances. Many times over the years I’ve often wondered if the 17th District& the North River Commission didn’t have a little something to do with it. We’ll never know but it sure gave us something to look forward to.
Hi, Jim. Thanks for visiting. Interesting way for a neighborhood business to promote ties with the community. I wonder it was also a way to provide an activity for teenage boys and keep them out of trouble by appealing to their worship of tough guys.
Although it was a block or two outside of Albany Park,on Friday or Saturday evenings once or twice a month they would have FREE semi -pro wrestling matches @ Fairway Ford which was just east of Albany av. on Lawrence. Lots of guys from Albany Park went to the matches.
Mike, somewhere in the older comments there’s more about Millie’s husband.
I don’t if I have the whole Mutt and Jeff history right, but one version is they moved into the old Lerner’s Hot dog space on Kedzie in 1953. Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal was Stash’s partner in the hot dog stand, but Stash kicked him out because of gambling in back. My sources told me Lefty was a genius at making odds, and went on to run the Stardust Hotel in Vegas. In the movie, Casino, De Niro played Lefty. The addresses don’t really match up, and I’m not sure about the dates. The first Lerner’s was at 4848 N. Kedzie, and I think Mutt and Jeff’s was at Leland and Kedzie. Maybe there were two locations for Mutt and Jeff’s. Maybe I got it wrong. The guys that told me the story were kids at the time. Lefty was nice to them, let them hang out in the hot dog stand. I did hear that the movie got it all wrong.
Wendy’s comment about Millie’s Hibbard School store brings back some great memories.
If you had a nickel you could eat yourself sick on candy there – and a dime would make
you best friends with half the school! Millie and her husband were probably in their 80s
back then – but it was true about their rapport with us young’uns. They were always
yelling at us!
I’m sure almost everyone who reads this blog remembers Mutt and Jeff’s! Stosh, the
owner, reopened Mutt and Jeff’s many years back (15, maybe?) in downtown Highland
Park, in the Port Clinton Square shopping center (ground level). I think Stosh sold the
place and retired a few years ago, and I hear it’s still operating, under the name “Stosh’s”
rather than Mutt & Jeff’s.
Thanks for visiting, Wendy. Little Al’s is where a regular contributor to this blog, Jerry Pritikin, recalls his father bought their first TV in 1947. Scroll down a bit on this blogpost and you’ll see a photo of the first TV in Albany Park that was not in a tavern.
I remember “Little Al’s” where we listened to 45’s as long as they would let us. How about Rice’s drug store on the southwest corner of Lawrence and Kedzie where my Mom worked as cashier for several years, and S&L Restaurant on the Southeast corner of Lawrence and Kedzie where they had the best split pea soup ever. How about the candy store on Kedzie just north of Ainslie and the old couple who ran it Millie and her husband and they hated children!!!
Does anyone remember “Little Als” on the north side of Lawrence near Sawyer? I bought a floor model Magnavox HiFi from him in 1956
I will pass along your email to Jim to give to Wendy.
I lived down the block from Wendy Dolgin and her sister, Bonnie. I would love to hear from Wendy.