Memoirs of a Geezer!
Reflections and Observations -- A Bright Passage from the Fantasies of Youth
to Illuminations of Advanced Maturity!
This Episode: Whatever Happened to What's That Place, Whoz It and Whachacallit..?
Where the heck's the Marine Bank? I used to work in that building! Is it gone? What about my savings account? (Maybe I never had one there!?) And what about County Stadium? I mean, I call and call, and no one answers!! I want to purchase ducats for next season!!??
I guess it's all part of GeezerHood... Longing for stuff and places familiar, things and locations we cherished. Goldmanns? Is Goldmann's gone too?? I was gonna meet Ernie at the lunch counter for chicken fries and a pork cutlet... maybe mashed spuds!!
When I first got out of the military, I got a job as a VeriType operator, and had to buy a new suit from Goldmann's. Cost me maybe $26.00. Oh, but I got caught in a rain storm getting off the Number 32 bus, and had to walk home. When I arrived, the suit coulda fit maybe Donald Duck. Oh well... I still miss Goldmann's! And I suppose no one uses a VeriType anymore! And where do I get my $26.00 suits from, already!!?? No matter.... After about two weeks of VariTyper'ing, I burned my Donald Duck suit and took a job in road construction.
Anyone seen Schuster's? My Ma and them liked to shop by Schuster's!! What's it now? Lofts? A warehouse? A bank, maybe a walk-in medical place? We want it back!! Oh, what the hell... gone is gone! Gimbels?
Let's get back to County Stadium. Oh... Now it's Miller Park, is it? I hear there's some insurance outfit wants to re-name even Miller Park! What's it? Scam Am Park or something? Flam a-Damma-Ding-Dong Park? I won't have it!! I shall begin to refer to the stadium as "Effinger Park." Maybe see if it'll catch on!! I grew quite fond of Effinger Beer from Baraboo where Uncle Hackett allegedly regained his health drinking Effinger.
Oh yeah! Where the hell did they put Harry Brezhinski's tavern? Used to be on Fratney and Hadley. Where'd they put it? People can't go around removing iconic saloons when one is expecting to stop in for a boomba and a shot of cheap whiskey!! Something's gone terribly wrong, here!!
And another thing! I once had a crummy but rustic office overlooking North Avenue, next to Farwell. It also overlooked my favorite drug store and lunch counter... What did they do with Oriental Drug??! It's been 15, 20 places since then. Multiple pizza parlors, and now a food court sort of thing! Maybe they'll bring it back!?... Oriental Drugs, I mean!
I suppose the Sport Bowl's gone too, what? North Avenue and maybe 58th Street? We used to watch Pat and Joey bowl there. Although I sometimes complained about the bad carnauba wax they slathered on the alleys, I liked to sit at the bar on in the gallery drinking stubby bottles of Mueller Beer, or maybe shorty Pabst's. (My own average was maybe 45... Bowling, I mean!) Where do people go for bowling nowadays? The Narrow Lane (no reference to the aforementioned bowling parlor, but close by for convenience...!) is also no longer in evidence on North Avenue! A person turns around and everything familiar is gone!!
Morry's on Prospect, the Koo Koo Club, Trail's End Lodge, George's Tap... Meyer's Drug
Store and Lemon Phosphates... Alright, already! Maybe it's just GeezerHood and missing stuff, familiar addictions and places we liked to hang out! Like Stoney Calhoun at that bar on 60th and North Avenue. He played great country tunes, like Wildwood Flower, even though those were the only words in the whole song! Oh well, the Oriental Theatre's still there. The Downer too. Oh yeah, and Zaffiro's! We go there every year for our special holiday pizza fix. It's the best. Anyone seen or been to a "Ham 'n Egger" lately?
Sigh... Guess it's the bane of those of us in the bosom of robust ("middle-plus-a-little") age. We revel in former glories, allowing memories and thoughts of past pleasures and adventures to play like newsreels in the reverie of our imaginations. Truth is, I like and embrace change. Really!!! But, no one says one can't float on the magic ship of recollection, sails unfurled, billowing...
Hey! Where did I park my '59 Oldsmobile with the moon hubcaps??!! I better call somebody... SweetHeart!!!...
Where the heck's the Marine Bank? I used to work in that building! Is it gone? What about my savings account? (Maybe I never had one there!?) And what about County Stadium? I mean, I call and call, and no one answers!! I want to purchase ducats for next season!!??
I guess it's all part of GeezerHood... Longing for stuff and places familiar, things and locations we cherished. Goldmanns? Is Goldmann's gone too?? I was gonna meet Ernie at the lunch counter for chicken fries and a pork cutlet... maybe mashed spuds!! 
When I first got out of the military, I got a job as a VeriType operator, and had to buy a new suit from Goldmann's. Cost me maybe $26.00. Oh, but I got caught in a rain storm getting off the Number 32 bus, and had to walk home. When I arrived, the suit coulda fit maybe Donald Duck. Oh well... I still miss Goldmann's! And I suppose no one uses a VeriType anymore! And where do I get my $26.00 suits from, already!!?? No matter.... After about two weeks of VariTyper'ing, I burned my Donald Duck suit and took a job in road construction.
Anyone seen Schuster's? My Ma and them liked to shop by Schuster's!! What's it now? Lofts? A warehouse? A bank, maybe a walk-in medical place? We want it back!! Oh, what the hell... gone is gone! Gimbels?
Let's get back to County Stadium. Oh... Now it's Miller Park, is it? I hear there's some insurance outfit wants to re-name even Miller Park! What's it? Scam Am Park or something? Flam a-Damma-Ding-Dong Park? I won't have it!! I shall begin to refer to the stadium as "Effinger Park." Maybe see if it'll catch on!! I grew quite fond of Effinger Beer from Baraboo where Uncle Hackett allegedly regained his health drinking Effinger.
Oh yeah! Where the hell did they put Harry Brezhinski's tavern? Used to be on Fratney and Hadley. Where'd they put it? People can't go around removing iconic saloons when one is expecting to stop in for a boomba and a shot of cheap whiskey!! Something's gone terribly wrong, here!!
And another thing! I once had a crummy but rustic office overlooking North Avenue, next to Farwell. It also overlooked my favorite drug store and lunch counter... What did they do with Oriental Drug??! It's been 15, 20 places since then. Multiple pizza parlors, and now a food court sort of thing! Maybe they'll bring it back!?... Oriental Drugs, I mean!
I suppose the Sport Bowl's gone too, what? North Avenue and maybe 58th Street? We used to watch Pat and Joey bowl there. Although I sometimes complained about the bad carnauba wax they slathered on the alleys, I liked to sit at the bar on in the gallery drinking stubby bottles of Mueller Beer, or maybe shorty Pabst's. (My own average was maybe 45... Bowling, I mean!) Where do people go for bowling nowadays? The Narrow Lane (no reference to the aforementioned bowling parlor, but close by for convenience...!) is also no longer in evidence on North Avenue! A person turns around and everything familiar is gone!!
Morry's on Prospect, the Koo Koo Club, Trail's End Lodge, George's Tap... Meyer's Drug
Sigh... Guess it's the bane of those of us in the bosom of robust ("middle-plus-a-little") age. We revel in former glories, allowing memories and thoughts of past pleasures and adventures to play like newsreels in the reverie of our imaginations. Truth is, I like and embrace change. Really!!! But, no one says one can't float on the magic ship of recollection, sails unfurled, billowing...
Hey! Where did I park my '59 Oldsmobile with the moon hubcaps??!! I better call somebody... SweetHeart!!!...
Humbly Submitted, 02-26-19 -- Joel K.
