A Former Life

I am a citizen of the world. I am at home in many places, and no matter where I live, or how happy I am where I live at the time, there are places in this world I pine for. Even if I lived in Paris, I would pine for the other cities and towns and countrysides that I have lived in.

Today I am feeling nostalgic for Chicago. I don’t know why, maybe it’s because today is windy, a gorgeous 61.5 degrees, and spring is around the corner. Springtime in Chicago is a lovely, lovely time.

M was born in Chicago. We moved there a few weeks after we got married, and we lived there until 1992, just before she was born (we then moved to a suburb). We had two great apartments, and I would give my eyeteeth to have that character in this house (but we’ll get there!).

Our first apartment was a garden apartment in Wicker Park. We lived on Schiller, a one-way street that overlooked the triangular park. Our apartment was an afterthought in a gorgeous rehabbed building, but we loved it and made it our own. We had gray painted wood floors, layer after layer of paint on what was once stunning woodwork. We had a sweet clawfoot tub in a bathroom that could only be accessed by going through the one bedroom. The bedroom was so long and narrow that our queen-sized bed barely fit. Our kitchen had an amazing old double Roper gas oven. I loved cooking in that oven! We fashioned a kitchen island out of an old table we found, and had some instant counter space. Otherwise, all we had was the sink and a foot or so of counter space on either side. We used our card table for a side table and hung our college posters all around. Papasan furniture was all we could afford, but it looked lovely in our living room. We dreamed of the day we would have the time, energy and money to restore the beautiful (but heavily painted) interior shutters that covered each bay window.

Our three flat building was right next door to Wicker Mansion (I didn't take this picture, credit to Dave, a Flicker-ite). It is a gorgeous rehabbed mansion, supposedly built by Charles Wicker for his daughter. Two lovely men, George & Mike, owned it, and took pity on our poor souls. They let us house sit for them while they were gone at times, and one time we even had a party there during the year the Bulls were in the championships. I wonder if George and Mike still live there…

We were a hop, skip and a jump from the elevated train, and I worked downtown. There was no need for a car, we just walked across the park and up the stairs and took the train downtown. I got off at the State of Illinois Building, and walked over to Michigan Avenue and up to my building. I worked in the Equitable Building, on the 24th floor. Our office was new, and had not been configured, so for a while I had an amazing view of the Chicago River as it met Lake Michigan. You could see ships far out on the horizon, and it was the best place to watch the fireworks on the 4th of July! If you’ve seen the movie Sleepless in Seattle, the view of the Wrigley Building's Clock was shot from that building, not sure which floor, but we had a very similar view on the other side of my floor. Later the NBC Tower and some hotels were built, and the view was blocked, but for a while, we had a million dollar view.

B and I used to spend as much time as possible downtown. We’d come down on a Friday night and splurge for pizza at Bacino’s. Man, they had good pizza! We walked in Grant Park, and admired the rose garden. We went to the Lincoln Park Zoo as often as we could. Many of our college friends lived in the city, so we hung out with them, going to coffee houses and listening to “open mike” nights. We played pool with our friend Pat now and again at a really cool pool hall. B spent a lot of time studying architecture, and can give a really mean tour of the city! I remember doing some holiday shopping for him at the Rand McNally store on Michigan Avenue. B’s parents once took us to the Chez Paul for Bastille Day. I still remember the decadence of that meal! There’s nothing like St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago. The first time I experienced it, we had gone downtown before we were married, to register for gifts. We went to Bloomingdales to see if we should register there (we ended up going to Marshall Field's instead). I came out of the store, and a drunken reveler bumped into me. I had only been to Chicago once before with my parents, so I remember at that moment feeling very much like a fish out of water!

After a year or so of living in our garden apartment, we moved to another apartment a mile or so away in Ukrainian Village. It was a fun place to live, very ethic, and amazing things to eat! There is a fantastic Ukrainian restaurant there, it was amazing food, and it was one of my favorite places to eat.

Of course, Ukraininan village was not the only place to eat in Chicago! We spent enough time in Italian Village and Greektown to put on a few pounds. We also loved Leona’s, and splurged on their food when we got the chance.

Our apartment was on the 3rd floor, and you could see the Sears Tower from our kitchen window. We had a huge kitchen, but no counter space other than on either side of the sink. Our bedroom was small—even smaller than the other apartment’s bedroom—and we had to put a dresser in a closet because only our bed would fit in the room. We had a huge pantry, with loads of built-in storage, and a gorgeous built-in hutch. This apartment also had a big bay window, and beautiful wood trim that had never been painted. We graduated to a two-bedroom apartment, and we actually had an “office.” Boy, did we think we were living large! Most of the time we went upstairs from the back stairs—back, between the buildings (it was one of those buildings that you see on TV where you can reach out and shake hands with the neighbors), up the back stairway to the back porch and in the back door. The front stairs were more formal—wooden and creaky and winding all the way around up to the front door. They, too, were preserved and very ornate. Our hardwood floors had been sanded and restored, and looked like a sea of honey.

I am not sad to be away from Chicago. When we came back from England and we were considering where to make our home, we considered Chicago. But with M’s disability, we wanted to be sure that the schools were top notch. We would have had to afford private school in Chicago, most likely. Living in Chicago with children is very, very different than living there as a young couple. It was fun at the time, and we are where we’re supposed to be now.

But it’s fun to remember!