The Old Harvey Ave. Bungalow

[berwynson]

I took this from up in the attic, through the east window, circa 1970. The "stable" was a '63 Falcon with my 430 Lincoln engine hidden under the stock hood, completely undetectable, my '65 Mustang ordered from Murphy Motors on Roosevelt Rd. in Aug. 1964, and my wife's daily driver, a '58 T-bird bought for a thousand bucks down south of the canal, off Harlem, exactly where I forget.

The garage, my Dad built with his brother during the first year my folks lived there, about 1 year before my birth. My Dad opted for the place because of it's "side-drive", giving 5 feet more lot width, 35 feet!



Below, the view from inside the garage. The back porch on the house is not original, being built as an add-on by my Dad, before I was born. My Mustang took us to the Western U.S. and back at least 15 times in ensuing years, trouble-free, but with no A/C (not available with the High Performance package I ordered. By the time we hit Nevada, coming down from relatively cooler Utah, my new wife had soaked a towel with water, and stuck it down behind me against the black leatherette seat back. Evap cooling worked tolerably well.

In 1971, I wrecked that Mustang at the intersection of 18th. St. and Ridgeland. Started from the stop on 18th., too quickly, and encountered a speeding southbound on Ridgeland V-W bug. I repaired that Mustang myself, (no collision coverage), painted it in that old garage, and the result was again a beautiful little car!

Let it be known here, I started this thread on behalf of a certain little lady also a Member of BTF, and a Berwyn Resident. I can only hope she views it here.   berwynson

[Marcy]

What is the exact address for this Bungalow?

My husband owned a 1967 Ford Mustang Coupe when we got married. My first car was a 1971 VW Squareback (type 3). The Mustang was easier to tune up than the VW's pancake engine.

[berwynson]

Drive over to 18th. and Harvey, if Harvey is still a one-way north, note that only 3 houses on the east side, up by 18th. St. have side-drives. Look in the back, and you will see the white (if still same color) garage back by the alley. If you don't mind, I would rather not list the address, as folks outside of the Berwyn area need not know.

Please understand the poor quality of the pics; all we had in them days was a Polaroid Swinger camera, which yielded 3X2 inch photos.

berwynson

[berwynson]

Marcy, there is no 1803, they start out 1801, 05, 07 (I think) or 09; the wider lot side-drives caused a skip of addresses. Any further doubt, if any exists, park in front of the second house, walk up the driveway skirt, look at the sidewalk just north of it: there  is a "bump", a step, in the flatness of the walk about an inch high. The step faces north, I believe, but that detail is not 100%. All this depends on the walk not being repaired or replaced, of course. I last saw these details in May, 1972; the walk was then 49 years old!

The house was built in 1923, by a Czech builder, I seem to recall my Mother saying his name was Sloboda. A wealth of historical info has been stored by the Berwyn Historical Society, about which I know no more than it's name. Admin could help with that.

Is the strip of land just north of the northside stores on Cermak Rd. still used for parking? Along that strip when I was a kid, ran the elevated trains, there at ground level. J

[Marcy]

...
The garage, my Dad built with his brother during the first year my folks lived there, about 1 year before my birth. My Dad opted for the place because of it's "side-drive", giving 5 feet more lot width, 35 feet!
...
  berwynson

Your Dad was a good carpenter; building something that lasted this long...
Who was older, your dad or your uncle?
Google Maps

[berwyn senator]

If we could only have those days back! Drive by the old bungalow now and then just to reminisce.

[Marcy]

...
The house was built in 1923, by a Czech builder, I seem to recall my Mother saying his name was Sloboda.
....

Looked at 1940 population and practically everyone in a certain age range, from Ridgeland to Lombard and from 1500 to 2100 were Chek. house after house.
I wonder if entire villages came, like the scots did in the 1600's

[Marcy]

Drive over to 18th. and Harvey, if Harvey is still a one-way north, note that only 3 houses on the east side, up by 18th. St. have side-drives. Look in the back, and you will see the white (if still same color) garage back by the alley.
If you don't mind, I would rather not list the address, as folks outside of the Berwyn area need not know.
...

The google map in 2015 of the middle driveway showed no gate
[it didn't show street view - I'll work on that] & my picture taken this morning [overcast day & thru car window] showing the tall gates.

[berwyn senator]

There are gates on the drive way, they sit back near the end of the house.Maybe put in within the last few years.A small dormer also exists on the south side, could be a bath room or room for a stair way? Everytime  I drive past our whole past flashes through my mind! You would be working on the 55 Merc George,Charlie and I would be standing around the garage watching until the time came to sample the vineyards!!!!

[berwynson]

If we could only have those days back! Drive by the old bungalow now and then just to reminisce.

I appreciate you doing that guy. I hope we may meet one more time before it's too late, to reminisce. You are lucky, as is also Charlie, Ted, you are within visiting distance. Since you do not know Marcy, and I do, barely though, I would like to introduce you two: Senator, meet Marcy, who lives in Berwyn, but was not an original, like you and me. OK with you, Marcy?
berwynson

[berwyn senator]

My traveling plans have been put on hold, but hope that will change.If you ever come this way I have two extra bed rooms and a private bath.

[berwynson]

On hold, I understand, guy. Getting harder and harder for me to get around, but I'd do almost anything to get to see how your face looks now! I can picture you laughing your ass off down in my folks' basement, and the view down the stairs, on New Year's Eve, when my folks returned from the movies, and you had just fallen down the basement stairs, my Mother, looking down from above, as you looked upwards, saying, "Hi ya, Mrs. H! She just shut the door without a word.

Ever realize how tolerant my folks were? Hell, much more so than my new wife, don'tcha think?

[berwyn senator]

I have been working on putting some pictures together of the old group!

[berwynson]

Hoping tom see them! Didn't know you had any. Remember all the wine I made in the basement? Or my Lab in the corner room? Once, you and Ted were sitting outside that room, In was intent on getting some.....er....you know? Off the big Polack. You two were not sober, not drunk, and I never knew you were both 4 years younger than me. Ted said, hey, they're not really doing it, right R..S? You didn't answer him. I cracked the door, and flipped her bra out to you guys.

Bet you don't remember THAT one!

How about the 1/4 stick of dynamite out in the alley while we played cards down there, yards crawling with cops, I went out nonchalantly, ran into a detective, asked what the hell was going on. Reports of an explosion. I said we were playing cards in the basement, thought we heard something, but, well, ya know how it is, cards, money, booze. He said he knew. But he really didn't know jack shit!!

[berwyn senator]

I remember all, bats hitting the walls in the dark,then the cat.We came over one evening your mom let us in your dad was siting on his easy chair.We asked him where you were he pointed to the bedroom,He's In There pointing to the bedroom we told him we would be back! Laughing all the way down the driveway we figured what you were up to!!!