WHITING, IN.—-Life is like a mascot.
You have to look beneath the surface.
The new Mascot Hall of Fame, 1851 Front St, in Whiting is ripe with punchlines. Right off the bat, it’s a mascot museum for North American professional and collegiate sports, with more than a hundred items.
And it is on the industrial shores of Lake Michigan in Whiting (pop. 4, 900), two miles from the south side of Chicago. Whiting hosts an annual Pierogi Fest at the end of July. Local ladies parade around in babushkas and housecoats and there are mascots Mr. Pierogi and Miss Paczki.
The museum’s executive director is Orestes Hernandez. His parents fled [...]
Jim and Pete’s restaurant, 7806 West North Ave. in Elmwood Park opened in 1941 serving hand rolled, thin crust pizza on the gritty west side of Chicago. The restaurant has since expanded to feature risotto of the day, steak vesuvio and baked clams drizzled with the house wine sauce.
Jim and Pete’s never closed, even to bust a union, like Berghoff’s did in Chicago.
Italian Village, 71 W. Monroe in Chicago (opened 1927) has a legitimate streak under its third generation.
Current Jim and Pete’s owners are Michael Bucchianeri and Jim Sorce, Jr. which gets a first time visitor to wondering why the [...]
May 28, 2010—
Maybe this is how my reporting career began.
I was 10 years old when I first sat in the smoky, stinky balcony of Chicago Stadium. On March 12, 1966 my Dad took me to my first Chicago Blackhawks game. In the third period the Blackhawks Bobby Hull fired a wicked slap shot past New York Rangers goalie Cesare Maniago to become the first player in the National Hockey League to score more than 50 goals in a season.
Apparently I was excited by all the beer and confetti.
I still get excited by beer and confetti.
Everyone in Chicago is talking about bandwagon jumping as the Blackhawks play in the Stanley Cup for the first time [...]
