What happened to the Hillside Shopping Center?

WayBack wrote:

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George was ALWAYS grumpy, especially with kids. He always followed us through the store too! I guess I would have been like him too if I was an older man and three 8 year olds came in with maybe .30 cents between them, then took 20 minutes to pick out .30 cents of penny candy through his old wood framed glass case!
I remember the old brown wooden screen door as you entered and the creaky floors...all surrounded by a dark gloom and musty smell! I also remember buying "cracker balls", snakes and smoke bombs from there in 1969.
Later my family moved to another part of Hillside and my "George's" penny candy store was replaced by the delicatessen on Butterfield Road...across from Q's Pizza. No grumpy old man but very similar...though a much larger store....with the same kind of glass case with penny candy.

The deli store on Butterfield Rd. in Hillside across from Q's Pizza (which is still there) was called Butterfly that was run by Coleman Family.The store was closed sometime during the mid 1980's.

Did Goldblatts have a beauty salon?

x employee wrote:

Did Goldblatts have a beauty salon?

Yes they did

Goldblatt's also had the "Walnut Dining Room" for those who felt that they got the munchies while shopping there.I never tried their food personally.

Jasper wrote:

Snap A Bite was on the southwest corner of Boeger and Roosevelt, with the "corner store" on the southeast corner. There was a hair salon there "Dominiques" or something like that. Seems to me there was also a gun store down there (?) Dog Hut moved in too and they gave out the hot dog gum with your order. There was a restaurant on the northeast corner of Wolf and Roosevelt, what was it called? I lived there for 20 years and was never in that restaurant.

Cotugno's

dan wrote:

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Cotugno's

These flashbacks are great! Oh, before 20 Century was "The Spot"

dan wrote:

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Cotugno's

And s/e corner across from snap a bite was "High Ridge Food Shop". Awesome little store (which it was also called)

Dan, then you must remember "Dovigi's.

Does anybody remember the Goldblatts Tire Center that was across the Illinois Central Railroad Tracks located at the northeast corner of Wolf Road & Harrison Streets just across from the former Village of Hillside Offices and Proviso West High School?The foundation from the place is still there & the property have been for sale for just about forever & still is. I wonder if their tire brand was called Apollo just like their cheap-skate brand of motor oil that was sold in the Goldblatt's store in the Hardware Dept.in Hillside Shopping Mall,the stuff pretty much ruined my front wheel drive 1972 Renault 12's car engine while on vacation one summer!

Lenny from Boeger wrote:

Dan, then you must remember "Dovigi's.

Actually, that one draws a blank. I forgot about "Pal Joey's" as being between "the Spot" and "20th Century"

I also remember 20th century being named Five Coins. Does anyone remember the A&W on Butterfield? What about when they brought the lion and tiger cubs to the mall in the 70's and you could have your picture taken with them? The guy who owned Rexes sons now own Teddys Red Hots in Downers Grove. It's not Rexes but they have good food. Grovers Oyster Bar on St. Charles? Joe the Cop chasing us out of the Sem after the lights went off? Worse of all, getting sent to Sister Eileens office at St. Doms. Talk about The Blues Brothers. Doc Suchy's poofy shirts? Doc Seno? and to end it behind B building at PW. If you know good, if not I know nothing.

I recall A&W on butterfield, for sure. I do remember a large "Keebler" display, complete with tree and elves, right in front of Woolworths once. Special promotion of some kind. Good old days for sure.

I was just at Menards today. It is definitely not the the good old days for sure. What I dont get is why the would sell and move the Police station and Village hall. It was next to Hillside school and corner to PW. Now its by the Library. In this day and age with people going postal at schools why would you move the Police Dept? It was in the perfect location. They also built a mall south of Harrison just south of the 290 off Mannheim. Theres a Target and a bunch of stores. Now that the dump is filled and doesn't stink they build over there? Even with the Carmax there is still room for a small mall where ours was. One last little thing. The thing that was cool about Goldblatts is that they had a cigarette machine hidden in the back. In 1979 smokes were 85 cents and you didn't get chased by the old lady cashiers at the Dominicks and they charged a buck. The same with Orgos. It was 50/50 depending on the bartender. You're 14 and walk in and get your change into the machine, pull the lever, grab your smokes and run. Hanging out at the mall you could walk down from Woolworths and get smokes at Goldblatts. At the same time the manager of Dominicks is chasing your friends around the parking lot like they robbed the place. The cigarette machine at Goldblatts was my little secret. I never even told my friends about it. Those were the good old days.

I remember the Goldblatts Tire Center, we use to ice skate and play hockey just off to the west of it, across from PW. The city of Hillside fire dept. would flood a small area with thier fire hoses for us to skate on each year. They did the same thing on the grounds of the seminary. The seminary had two "rinks" to skate on..a larger rectangle one and a circle one.

I remember Doc Seno. He also owned some apartments across from Howart's Drug store. A few of the Black Hawks use to live there during the season. Tony Esposito lived there for a season..Dan Maloney...Jerry Korab.

The A&W on Butterfield was the place our baseball coaches took us to after any game we would win!

I also remember the "rinks" at the Sem. Coming from Chicago and moving to Hillside I lived right by Doc Seno and his Apartment building. It was later bought by a T.O. from PW. The point is some of those Blackhawks would have there kids down especially around Christmas. Being from the South side I was not good at ice skating. While Moose Vaskos son tried to teach me I was just plain bad. They would check me as I was wobbling around but come Christmas Eve all was forgiven. Those Canadian kids were born with skates. Anyway most of the '61 team would get together on Christmas Eve at the Vaskos and then it was down to Stimacs. I was like Wow and my Uncles were jealous. They went to The Stadium and waited for the Hawks to win the Cup and here is their nephew hanging out with their heroes on Christmas Eve. Those were Fun times and I don't think there will be another town like that one. We are all different ages on this Forum but I bet if we all got together it would be like I knew your brother/sister/parents/you or someone in your family. Hillside/Berkeley and Bellwood were like that. It was cool as everyone knew everyone until you caught doing something stupid. Then it was like crap I'm so busted. You just don't see that anymore. Hell now you are lucky if you talk to the people who live two or three doors down.

I remember the A&W Restaurant on Butterfield Rd.next to the Standard Gas Station in Hillside,I think it was closed down due to some illegal activities of some of the employees selling narcotics.It was later demolished & a new strip mall was built there sometime during the mid to late 1970's.I used to go to the Radio Shack that was once there for a few years to get electronic parts.

I also recall getting good at playing that grand prix? video game at woolworths, that I could keep getting the extended play, and play that thing forever. They would try (Mr. Slocum? remember that guy? I'm sure he was a nice guy but seemed cranked always) to close the store and had to mentally wrestle with us to get us out of there. Good times.

I remember Woolworths having that stupid football game with the ball that you kept rolling with your palm. If you were good you could make that thing cook. Then they got Defender and thats when people would put quarters up so you knew who was next. Then The Holiday Inn got a bunch of cool games but they were for the guests and not the locals. Depending on who was on duty they might let you play,come over and tell you to leave or call the police. Nothing beat Woolworths though. During 7th period there might be 60 people and 4 games. Every once in a great while a T.O. would show up and everyone would scatter. They would ask you for your PW ID to check your schedule but I would lie and say I went to IC. They never caught on.

Russell wrote:

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Hi Sue, My cousin's lived on Lee Blvd. too they where Marsha and Dennis Molnar they lived at 734.... the restruant you are thinking of was named "Rex" we lived on Morris in Berkeley! e me crowcall at cox.net thanks....

Hi Russell, I also lived on Morris Ave. in Berkeley.(1529 Morris). The name 'Molnar' really sounds familiar to me but I don't remember how. I graduated Jefferson in 1955 and Proviso East in 1959.

During the mid to late 1970's (1974-1978) the truant officers used to chase us across the Illinois Central Railroad tracks when we would ditch classes at Proviso West & we would run & hide in the Hillside Shopping Center.Does anybody remember "Nova Joe",old man Brown(in the trench coat)& his son,& Ira Wilks"Taco"was his nickname because everyone thought he was Mexican,man he hated that name!
Sometimes we would ditch Bruce Beck's Electronics class if he called in sick & hitch rides to Bemis Woods North & Party,heck there were a lot of cool people who had Beck as a teacher. He would hook you up to the power supply if you came in late to class & increase the power supply voltage 10 volts every time you were late.One guy(Larry Frogner)in our class was up to 160 volts & he has burn scars on his hands from this to this day!