Whenever we got on the 12th Street car to go down to Halsted Street we would pass Holy Family church, and I don’t think we ever passed it where my mother didn’t say, “My mother was buried from that church.” So several years back, when I heard they were going to demolish the church, I sent them $25. And because of my $25 they didn’t demolish it–they restored it instead.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
We didn’t go down to Maxwell Street. We’d go to Halsted between Roosevelt and 14th Street. My mother was a little afraid of Maxwell Street. It had all these open stalls and lots of people and carts going up and down. We could find everything we wanted on Halsted. There were all kinds of stores, one right after another. The 12th Street Store was at 12th and Halsted, and Klein’s was at 14th and Halsted. They were both bargain stores.
The salesmen would be out front calling people in. “I’ve got good bargains today. What are you looking for? Coats? We’ve got coats.”
