ONE NEIGHBORHOOD … SEVERAL GENERATIONS … MANY STORIES
That’s me in the photograph below, with my mother and my younger sister. It was 1963, the year we moved into our perfect house on one of the loveliest streets in Chicago, North Central Park Avenue in Hollywood Park.
I’ve been researching the neighborhood’s history–trying to uncover what made those 35 square blocks so idyllic, so different from the older neighborhoods to the south and the then brand-spanking-new suburbs to the north–and in the process I’ve uncovered some wonderful stories I’d like to share with you. Many were contributed by former residents of the area, so feel free to join in and share your memories of Hollywood Park, nearby Peterson Park, North Park or Albany Park.
You can leave a comment to individual posts or email me using the contact form. Can’t wait to hear from you!
Bryn Mawr Avenue
- Bryn Mawr Avenue Business District Hall of Fame A listing of businesses from the 1930s to the 1980s
- Mom and Pop–Part One Bryn Mawr from Kedzie to Bernard
- Mom and Pop–Part Two More stories about Bryn Mawr businesses
- What Made Hollywood Park So Sweet The Hollywood Bowl, of course
- I Feel Like a Kid in a Candy Store More photographs of the Hollywood Bowl
- Connections at the Crossroads The intersection of Bryn Mawr and Kimball in the 1940s
- Signs of Old Times Old photos of three Hollywood Park storefronts
- Bryn Mawr Avenue Today in Photos
Neighborhood Life and People
- Seeing the poetry in Hollywood Park “Up from the Alleys,” a poem by Martin Marcus about his Hollywood Park childhood memories
- A look back at Lincoln Village Shopping Center
- A few things Wrapping up the loose ends of blogging in 2011
- When Ray Kroc Came to Hollywood Park
- The Bungalow Guest blogger Charlene Powitz Gelber recalls her Hollywood Park home
- Classic Hollywood Park Guest blogger Allan Myer looks back at his life on Spaulding Avenue
- More Classic Hollywood Park Guest Blogger Barbara Goldsmith Burkel remembers the 5400 block of Christiana
- 23 Memories of Hollywood Park Shelby Kanarish remembers the best in the neighborhood
- A youth among the prairies Depression-era Hollywood Park
- When living in Hollywood Park meant living on the prairie Howard Korengold shares his memories of growing up on Central Park Avenue
- Ghost Chicago A guest post by Andy Romanoff about visiting the Hollywood Park neighborhood where he grew up
- Ghost Chicago Part 2 A guest blog post by Andy Romanoff looks back at Hebrew School at the Hollywood Park synagogue
- Hollywood Kiddieland A neighborhood amusement park
- They wore jackets Old school social clubs
- I scream, you scream, we all screamed for Loree’s Not technically located in Hollywood Park, this North Park ice cream parlor was owned by a Hollywood Park family.
- If they wanted to live next door to a sausage factory, they would have stayed on the West Side The history of Lazar’s Kosher Sausage Factory
- Can you smell the salami? A follow-up to the post about Lazar’s Kosher Sausage Factory
- Proustian Moments in Chicago Hot Dog Stands If there is a smell all of us who lived in Hollywood Park prior to 1980 can associate with the neighborhood, it is surely the smell of hot dogs. In the 1940s, hot dog wagons stood at the corners of Peterson and Kimball, Foster and Kedzie. In the 1960s, there were about a dozen places you could get a hot dog–with everything on it, fries and an orange pop–within the 35 or so square blocks that make up Hollywood Park. Some Chicago neighborhoods have taverns on every corner; Hollywood Park had hot dogs at every major intersection.
- Out on the Back Porch Hollywood Park’s ties to the Great “Vest” Side
- Of Porches and Backyards in Chicago Remembering my backyard on Central Park Avenue
- Basketball At Home and Away The author of a book about basketball was from Sauganash, but he played ball at Hollywood Park
- My Chicago Blizzards Photos from 1967 and 2011
- Hollywood Park: The Novel Author Martin Marcus grew up in Hollywood Park
- Chicago two-flats in all shapes and sizes The developer behind the ubiquitous Hollywood Park two-flat
- 2010 in review
- North of Peterson Peterson Park is a neighborhood that is technically part of the North Park community
- Just south of Peterson North of Peterson, south of Peterson: was there any difference?
- Then and Now: 3346 West Bryn Mawr Avenue
- They paved the stables and put up a parking lot
School Days
- Name that school Which Chicago public high school was memorialized in rock and roll history?
- Two for Two Mr. Kaz and Mr. Wahle, patrol boys and Lighted
- Back to School Forty-one years later, Peterson School is not that different
- Grounds for Play Same school, different decade
- They wore jackets Old school social clubs
- Lil Gents 1953
- Meet some Regular Fellas This social club drew kids from Von Steuben, Roosevelt and Amundsen
- They went to Peterson Members of the class of ’47 reminisce about yesteryear
- Social Athletic Clubs A list of 1940s-1970 era SACs with members from Von Steuben, Roosevelt, Amundsen and Mather
- You can go back A visit to Von Steuben on Alumni Day 2012
Hollywood Park (Chicago Park District land)
- Abandoned Plans: Why Hollywood Park Doesn’t Have a Clarence Hatzfeld Fieldhouse
- That’s not the Hollywood Park I remember
North Park
- Returning WWII Vets Found Homes in North Park
- Because it’s Earth Day 2012 Swedish immigrant Pehr S. Peterson started a tradition of gardening in the North Park community
- Valkommen to My Old Neighborhood The Swedish origins of the North Park community
- That Old Swedish-Jewish Neighborhood One of the first houses built in the community
Oscar Brotman’s Hollywood Park Venues
- The Man Who Put the Hollywood in Hollywood Park — Part One The Tower Cabana Club
- The Man Who Put the Hollywood in Hollywood Park–Part Two The Lincoln Village Theater
The Image of a Chicago Neighborhood — how landscape shaped our memories (after Kevin Lynch’s The Image of the City)
- The Image of a Chicago Neighborhood in Memory Introduction to a survey on Hollywood Park in the ’50s and ’60s
- Defining a Chicago Neighborhood’s Boundaries Hollywood Park’s border issues
- Designated Landmarks You know you’re in Hollywood Park when …
Photographs of a Chicago landmark in Hollywood Park and other buildings
How this blog got started
North Park/Hollywood Park Photographs on Flickr Great photographs of the neighborhood by Eliezer Appleton
