For me, this is a trip down memory lane…

Photos in this post are from various unknown photographers . Some of this information has been around a long time and many have to be from Chicago to appreciate it. But every time I see this with some of the comments at the bottom of the post, I remember my youth, going to Riverview in the summer. We got $2 for tickets for the day, my mother packed a picnic and we ran around the park and went on rides. It was a different era, different time, and great memories. Words that are not mine at the bottom of the post on how to tell someone from Chicago will be italicized. I thank my cousin Lois for helping me relive my youth. To the rest of you who wonder how long I’ve been around, it’s been long enough to remember enjoying Riverview the first 10 summers of my life until I moved. I was told I went as a baby so my brother and sister could go on the rides. My husband, also from Chicago, did not experience Riverview until he was 20. Obviously, his parents were more protective than mine. I tell him he was deprived. But I was lucky, every weekend we went to one of the museums, Art Institute, the beach or zoos in the summer. Riverview came only once a year because it cost money.  When as a teenager I moved back to the Chicago area, I returned to Riverview until college.

Riverview Park opened in 1904 and closed in 1967. Nothing remains of the site. It was located by Belmont, Western, and Clybourn Avenues in Chicago, near the Chicago River and Lane Tech. The latter was a high school, but if you were from Chicago, you just referred to it as Lane Tech.

The Chutes were a favorite. The screams erupted when the cold water started hitting you and getting you all wet, which felt terrific on a hot day,

When you went on the parachutes, you thought you were on real ones. Oh, to be so young.

This next photo was scary. By today’s standards, it would be silly, but it was scary then as you walked on the bumpy, moving floor to get into the dark hallways where you felt your way through. Periodically, a horrible monster would light up and scare you.

At the end of Aladdin’s Castle, the last thing you’d do was tumble through the tumbler with giggles and laughter, to help calm your fears and dry the tears.

 

This photo is of The Bobs. The Bobs and Cyclone were the scariest roller coasters. All roller coasters were wooden. You couldn’t go on The Bobs until you were seven. I remember when my sister and brother finally had to take me with.

Riverview attracted people of all ages, families, teens, adults, dates, sailors from Great Lakes. Those uniforms looked good to teenage girls. It was simply a fun place to go. We never worried about pick-pockets or anything like that. We simply had fun.

Chicago is beautiful now. The city has been cleaned up. Areas that were not safe have radically changed and there are different attractions. But memories are also lovely.

I hope you enjoyed my trip down memory lane.

You Might Be From Chicago If

You know where Aladdin’s Castle was

The living room is called the front room

You measure distance in minutes (especially ‘from the city’). And you swear everything is pretty much 1/2 hour away.

You have no problem spelling or pronouncing ‘Des Plaines.’

You go to visit friends down south and you laugh when they complain about the traffic.

You understand that no person from Chicago can be a Cub and White Sox fan.

It’s ‘Kitty corner’ not ‘Katty corner’.

You know the difference between the Loop and Downtown.

You eat your pizza in squares, not triangles and you never refer to it as a pie.

You understand that the primary is the official local election.

You have drunk green beer on St Paddy’s Day.

Stores don’t have sacks, they have bags.

You end your sentences with unnecessary prepositions. 

Your idea of a great tenderloin is when the meat is twice as big as the bun and everything is on it with a slice of dill pickle on the side.

You know ‘The Bobs’ is not plural for Bob.

You carry jumper cables in your car.

You call Interstates expressways.

You call anything south of I-80, Central or Southern Illinois.

You refer to Lake Michigan as ‘The Lake.’

You refer to Chicago as ‘The City.’

You have two favorite football teams, the Bears and anyone who beats the Packers. 

There were more examples, but the above is enough to give you an idea of key things to know if someone is from Chicago.

 

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