My Apartment On Lakewood In Chicago

• I lived here with my Mom, Dad, Jimmy, and Mary.
• The girls, Carol Lux, that lived in the brown house next door asked me to her prom. We had a good time.
• We used to save parking places on the block and rented them to Bear fans that came to see their games at Wrigley Field. The area is now called Wrigleyville.
• I graduated high school while living in this house.
• I met my first girlfriend, Charlene Imhoff, while living here.
• I got my first job at Jewel Food Stores at 3132 Sheffield while living here.
• I bought my first two cars while living here.
• I used to go on fishing trips to Squaw Creek with my Dad while living here.
• I met and dated my wife Pat while living here.

Charlene was my first girlfriend. Her best friend Doris took this picture just down the street Hawthorne Elementary school. I sure was skinny then. I had rented a garage for my '57 Pontiac and one day Charlene and I went to go for a ride. But we sat in the car in the garage for our eight hours, just talking and smooching. It was dark when we left. I'll never forget that day. Charlene lived with her dad, her brother, and her sister Lucy. Lucy used to bring me notes for Charlene. Not having a mother must have been hard. Charlene had to learn about makeup and fixing her hair all by herself. Look at how nice she looks.

I met Pat while living on Lakewood. Here Pat is standing with her close friend Randy. Randy was dating my friend from Jewel, Chuck Dominick. Pat always had interesting ways of fixing her hair.

 

This is my sister Mary in our back yard. She was a regular on Chicago Bandstand and Spin Time.

This is my brother Jimmy on our back porch on our house on Addison. . He is wearing my Wright College jacket. He married Doris, had a son little Jimmy, and he is now a grandfather to a cute little girl who looks a lot like my brother. Jimmy and I would go to Cub games for free because they used to open the gates during the seventh inning, and we would go and sit in the bleachers and see Willie Mays and other famous players. We would also go down to Lake Michigan and swim off the Addison rocks. Sometimes we would stay over night and bring a bar of soap so we could wash ourselves in the lake. Back then they didn't have parking meters by the lakefront. Back then you could drive all the way to the rocks and park for free. The good old days were good. I love and miss Jimmy.