"Someone You Should Know" Harry Porterfield and crew payed your's truly a visit.

Between the long mid-west winter and rotator cuff surgery I haven't posted in a while. However, the public relations angel payed me a visit a few weeks ago in the form of channel 2's award winning journalist, Harry Porterfield paying me a visit. Mr. Porterfield produces a segment on WBBM Chicago called, Someone You Should Know.  It did feel a little odd being on this end of the camera.

                    That's Camera man Mike, Harry Porterfield and me talking car videos.

                                           Maybe I should have kept my hat on my head.

   Mike, Harry and myself enjoying some video of the Downers Grove Friday Night Car Show

And this is the final result of that visit. It appeared on Friday the Third and on Monday the Sixth of April.
                 VIDEO From WBBM Chicago- Someone You Should KnowAlmost the big time... VIDEO
Almost the big time.... 

A Leather Post Card from 1906

This is something I never knew existed. I guess leather post cards were all the rage a century ago. I'm guessing from this card that a fellow named Harry, way back in the summer of 1906 had a bit of a falling out with his girl friend Bertha. If you have a different slant on this please let us know what it is.

Jiffy Remedies or Dr. Scholls What ever happened to Jiffy Remedies? Downers Grove

Maybe when I go to the drug store Jiffy Remedies is still there but difficult to find. When I started collecting this stuff I assumed that Jiffy was long gone. I'm probably right but I could be wrong.

I think that this product is way passed it's expiration date mainly because there is no printed expiration date.

                                         Did Dr. Scholls walk all over Jiffy Remedies?

Rotaryfest or is it Rotary Fest or is it? The Downers Grove Carnival!

Rotary Fest is over for this year. It is walking distance so I always spend some time there. It is difficult to get much done in town that week end so one might as well go to Rotaryfest. I did take a few pictures.

I did spend 10 Dollars for Alligator on a stick. It was dry, too salty and in my opinion over priced. Speaking of prices why aren't prices posted?

                                              "The Heart Attack", fair warning.

                                          I always enjoy the car show. It's free to see.

If you get to the car show in the morning it is usually not hot yet. Car shows like this can be brutal in the sun.

After I saw what there was to see at the car show I walked through the ride section of Rotary Fest and caught a glimpse of the carnies getting their instructions and pep talk for the day.

The Ring of Fire is one of the scarier rides and I thought I would take a closer look at it.

You will never get me on that thing. I have flown in a number of vintage aircraft but you will never get me on that thing.

The ride is held up with strong wire, chains and binders. Those are the red things attached to the chain. I spent a few summers as a truck driver when I was going to school and this is not the way we set the binders.This is a video on the use of the binders. Pay close attention to what he says about making the bind more secure. 

Normally to make the binders more secure the chain is wrapped around the handle to keep it tight and to avoid any possibility of the binder popping open. When the ride is in operation these wires, chains and binders do a bit of vibrating and shaking.

After bringing this to the attention of the RotaryFest people the binders were wrapped in chain.  In what manner was this ride checked for safe operation?

Arriving by train in Downers Grove in 1976.

Arriving by train in Downers Grove back in 1976.
https://vimeo.com/92475585

 

A Christmas Thank You Note - December 26, 1911 Downers Grove

                                This card recently arrived from Vallejo, California.

 

Oakland, California must have been a very small town back when this was sent. There's no street address mentioned at all.

 I am proud to have this in my collection.

Smokers rights in Downers Grove

The exercise of our freedoms is always important. If you don't use your freedoms they might disappear. Ballydoyle in Downers Grove is a bastion for smokers rights.

How many communicable diseases are represented in those butts?

Is there an active health department in DuPage County?

Walker Motor Sales 933 Curtiss Street, Downers Grove, Illinois

I came across this matchbook on eBay. This is the first time I have ever heard of this Buick dealership. Most are familiar with Baughman Buick. Can anyone tell me some history of this dealership?

If you bought your car at Walker Motor Sales you would have a smile on your face, so I am told.

If you didn't buy your car at Walker Motor Sales, possibly bad shit might happen. This would make you sad and put a frown on your face.

                                                933 Curtiss as it appears today.

Duellman's Motel on Ogden Avenue in Downers Grove

I drove by there today, November 4, 2013. This is the first time I have ever stopped to look at the place. I have never stayed there or even thought about it. It was probably a nice place at one time. It is easy to imagine a rendezvous at this motel on the highway many years ago. If you have a story to tell, please do.

The cars in the post card look late 1960's. What stories those rooms could tell.

Oh how I wish someone had written a note on this card. It would have been very easy to weave a wicked tale around it.

How Much Excitement Can You Take!

                              Sometimes it really is the little things, if you can call 1938 little.
                                                                 

                                              Downers was strange before I ever got here.

                                                                           Poker Chips
                                                  I don't know the story behind any of this.

A thing of beauty in 1938 Downers Grove was the Nash automobile, or so I've been told.

After witnessing the Martian landing in their brand new 1938 Nash, Mr. and Mrs. Downers Grove probably drove over to Luke's Grill and Liquor Store for some courage.

They played card games until the Martians were routed by germs and lived happy and full filled lives ever after.

Instant Murals IMD-296 Martian (Google Affiliate Ad) 

The Lake - Downers Grove

        Is this Prince Pond or is it what is now known as Barth Pond? It sure isn't a lake.

This card left here for Los Angeles, California a century ago. Some how it found it's way back to Downers Grove. Blessing or curse!?

Even an average writer should be able to make something of this!

             This could almost be a clue in a Maigret mystery. Ah, but this is a mystery from the Downers Grove past.

This is from 1906 so it is not likely we'll get an explanation about "Picture No.4". So in my head maybe I'll have to make up my own story.

Yellow Milk in Downers Grove

This is one of my favorite eBay finds. It describes a slice of Downers Grove life a century ago. The child didn't want to drink her Downers Grove yellow milk. Yellow milk!? I spoke with an old fellow that once lived on a Kansas farm. He said that when cows ate dandelions their milk would be yellow instead of the white that we are accustomed to.