Dave Hoekstra

Dizzy Gillespie with his arm around Gerri. Dizzy Called Gerri just before his death in 1993. (Courtesy of Mike Medina) Gerri Oliver was more than a trailblazing owner of the Palm Tavern in Chicago. She was a passionate keeper of history. The Palm Tavern was at 446 E. 47th St. in the Bronzeville neighborhood. It opened in 1933 and became the meeting place for the acts that performed at the historic Regal Theater across the street. James Brown, Jackie Wilson, Duke Ellington, and the Temptations were among the many luminaries who frequented the Palm Tavern. Mrs. Oliver owned the Palm from 1956 until the City of Chicago evicted her on July 3, [...]

Wyonella Smith, 1921-2020 (Courtesy of Marie Ellis.)

Wyonella Smith had a love affair with Chicago. With a forward nature in her eyes, she saw the hopeful texture of its baseball seasons and she navigated local media in its black and white years. Mrs. Smith was the wife of trailblazing newspaper columnist and mid-1960s WGN-Channel 9 sports anchor Wendell Smith. Mrs. Smith died on Thanksgiving Day at the Montgomery Place Retirement Community in Hyde Park.

She was 99 years old.

Mrs. Smith lived in the same retirement center as Mary Frances Veeck, the wife of Baseball Hall of Famer Bill Veeck. Wendell Smith [...]