By Sarah Downey
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“There wasn’t any real money in it. The clientele now isn’t really the milkshake type, they’re more coffee drinkers,” says Arthur Bookman, who’s owned the diner for more than half a century. “We were selling maybe three or four milkshakes and malteds a day in the summer and none in the winter. It’s technical, you see. To store all that ice cream we were going to have to raise the prices. I figured I didn’t want to do that. We do a good job of keeping the prices down, so we got rid of the shakes. It hasn’t hurt our business any.”
What’s been more difficult is retaining staff at his 24/7 operation, Bookman says. Charlie has worked for him for 15 years, but finding help for the graveyard shift is tough sometimes. “The whole thing depends on your help,” Bookman says. “If someone doesn’t show up, you put on a white shirt and go down and work.” The schedule never really bothered Bookman much, but at 76 he says he may finally be ready to step aside. “If I was 35, I would start all over again,” he says. “I love the place, but I’ve got my health to think about now. Most people do retire before they die, don’t they? I think so. Especially if you can afford it.”
It returned in 1994, after the city bought much of the old Maxwell Street market district and sold it to UIC to expand into. Vendors now pay $30 a day to hawk their wares along Canal, on either side of Roosevelt. James Tucker, 47, an equipment hauler, has been a White Palace regular “since I was a little kid.” Before going to work in the market, he says, “I have coffee, bacon and eggs, hash browns, grits, whatever. I know this is good food. And on hot days you can get free water.”
John Panos, a manager at Jim’s, wonders what’s coming. “They’re gonna need to eat, aren’t they? So maybe we’ll get left standing, I don’t know,” says Panos. If Jim’s has to go, he thinks the White Palace would be a place to consider: “If I were the owner, I’d think it’s a good idea,” Panos says. “We’re the people that have been here forever. We’re the little guys that made it, you know?”
