Ravenswood Terminal at Kimball and Lawrence
Roosevelt class of 1966 alum and former Roosevelt Review photographer Marc Klowden shared four of the many, many photos he has taken in Albany Park. The photos in this post all date from 1968.
Can someone explain the huts pictured outside the Ravenswood (i.e., the Brown Line) station house? I remember there was a newstand inside the station – was there another one outside? The station house, for anyone who hasn’t been back to Albany Park in a long, long time, was replaced in 1974 with a modern terminal building. Believe me, you don’t want to see a picture of that.
Lawrence Avenue
Roosevelt High School
Leland and St. Louis
Thanks to Marc Klowden for allowing me to share these photographs on my blog.
Newspapers were indeed part of everyday life. Where we lived on Central Park near Peterson there were no newstands so we had home delivery. Just one newspaper, the Chicago Daily News. My mom poured over it daily, laughing out loud at the latest Royko column. And, in the morning, the radio was always on to AM 78 WIND Radio. Took it for granted of course but we were well informed.
I’ve written somewhere here about the stand on Kimball and Lawrence. The couple that owned greeted the kids crossing the street to go school. I learned through someone’s comments here that they lived in the neighborhood and had a child who attended Peterson.
I lived at 3410 W Carmen and my dad walked down to the Ravenswood station every weekday. We were a 4 newspaper family. My dad always brought home the American and Daily News when he came home from work. I often bought magazines at the train station on Kimball and Lawrence and ate 2 doors down at Purity. Also remember Lani Hall from Von. You couldn’t forget her.
As for the outdoor newstands they were quite popular and specialized in the Sunday papers that came out early Saturday evening. There was also one on Bryn Mawr and Kimball. Sometimes people would stand in traffic and hawk the Sunday papers if you stopped at a light.
My 2 most memorable trips to the Newstand on Lawrence and KImball were the morning after the White Sox clinched the AL crown in 1959 and the afternoon of the JFK shooting. I can still see the headlines as all 4 papers had special editions about the assasination. Its something you never forget.
By the way Frances, I don’t think I expressed my appreciation to you for creating this really beautiful moderated forum — far more cozy and fortuitous than Facebook or similar forums. The Albany Park/Peterson Park complex was indeed a unique and treasured “sociological” environment that we shared as a common bound — neighborhood; which had its many unique characteristics, micro-climates, inlets, and tributaries which we all explored more or less mostly carefree and innocent. Although Eugene, Gompers, River, and Hollywood Parks were islands of community events (never taken full advantage of); certainly Kimball and Lawrence could very well be said to be “the center” of Albany Park, at least the central image that comes to mind. Hugs!.
Hi Donny! Thanks for clarifying. I do remember all the candy and gum on the inside, now that you mention it.
If I remember rightly the hut was open only during rush hour as it was far more convenient to buy a newspaper outside (wasn’t there a side exit gate). Both newsstands were run by the same person, but the inside structure sold more than newspapers. “Paper! Paper! Get your paper here!”
Reds was a neat little proto-MacDonalds diner. Red graduated Von Steuben around 1946 (plus or minus). My cousin, Norm (the storm) Spellman went to school with him and used to take me there for a treat. I was a bit out of the way for us Kimball and Lawrence freaks.
Hi Orrin! “Make Albany Park Great Again”!
Donny
Sharon Guill-Clark… not a Skylark, its a ’68 Chevelle or Malibu.
Is that a Buick Skylark behind the bus?, If it is it might be Chris Wurslin and me!
Thanks for confirming, Donny. Was that unusual to have two stands so closely together?
Yes, there were two.
Albany Park was a great place.
Albany Park has good memories. Thanks
Yes, you’re right, as today’s headlines reminded us.
Life in Albany Park as we once knew it is just a memory now.
With major drug dealing and gang-related shootings, Albany Park is a very dangerous place to call home.
Orrin Brand lived at 4713 <n Central Park
Roosevelt H.S. Class of Jan. 61
Hi Stuart! So, it’s been confirmed there were both inside and outside newstands, as this photo confirms. I bought snacks for the bus ride home at the inside stand, but would not have used the outside stand to buy a paper, so I may just not remember it.
Speaking of news stands, I’ve heard some owners were bookies in both Albany Park and North Park.
The last time I remember being near the station at Kimball & Lawrence was when I graduated from Roosevelt in January of 1958, At that time, I do not believe that there was a newsstand outside of the terminal building. If one was there at any time thereafter, I cannot say with any certainty as I was rarely in that area after leaving Roosevelt; and if I was in that area, I would not have noticed something as trivial as a newsstand on the outside of the building. There were other changes to that area that were more noticeable, like the change in the ethnicity of the neighborhood.
Thanks, Kathy! You’re right about the penny candy! I should tell them and take this photo of what the store used to look like.
I lived on the 5900 block of Central Park — one block further away and I would have gone to Solomon.
I love your updates, Frances. I didn’t know what happened to the Hollywood Bowl. I hope I can visit the Bryn Mawr Breakfast Club some day. They should add penny candy to the menu! We lived on Drake in a cute Cape Cod. When we moved to the suburbs didn’t want to leave Hollywood Park – such good memories, sweet friends and neighbors. Your website has told me the rest of the story. Thank you so much!
Hi, Bob. Nice to hear from you. Things are slowly improving on Bryn Mawr. If you are in town check out Bryn Mawr Breakfast Club, where the Hollywood Bowl was located. Great food.
Andy, I will ask Marc. He plans on contributing more photos when his schedule gives him time to go through his files.
Mike, Agree the area is still pretty around the river, especially this time of year when things start blooming. I remember going behind Von during lunch period or maybe when I was cutting a class to sit on the “hill.”
I sure would love the opportunity to interview Lani Hall for this blog.
Frances: This is great! I grew up in Hollywood Park at 5711 N. Drake and moved from there in 1964 to Lincolnwood.
The photos of Bryn Mawr bring back so many memories. I now live in Scottsdale, Arizona and visit family several times each year. I started Peterson School in kindergarten at age 5 in 1954.
Please keep up this great work!!
Hi Frances, I’m wondering if Marc has any pictures of Alba bowl or Reds Hot Dogs?
It’s always great to see pictures of the old places.
A few years ago, while being interviewed by Geoffrey Baer at WTTW, Lani Hall (Brasil ’66) said that during her last trip to Chicago she toured Albany Park, and she didn’t recognize it. Not even her own block (Kimball and Lawrence, across from the K&L). She said that “The “L” station looked like a bus station”. She appeared to be dissatisfied with the “look” of the area, and noted that all the places she remembered had been torn down. But she did note that the area around Von Steuben was still pretty. I agree. Very little change. I still enjoy a walk around the area near Kiwanis Park, in back of Von.
Tina, thanks for stopping by!
Thanks for the memories ❤️
Thank, Donny! I just heard from another reader who confirmed there was an inside news stand and an outside news stand. Wonder if that was unusual.
Yes, the outside hut (toward the West) was a news stand. My neighbor, Jay Kaplan, used to work there. I would assist at times.
Hi, Marty! I didn’t mean in the doorway – I was asking about the hut, and someone has written me directly that it is a newstand. But I distinctly remember the inside newstand. Were there two?
Frances, I think those covers were over each doorway to the old Kimball station.