4040 N. Clarendon Chicago

Apartments at 4040 N. Clarendon
From Inland Architect and News Record, 1905

A View of Clarendon Beach

Currently offered as a Buy it Now here: Clarendon Beach

Memories of Baseball in Uptown and a Chicago Cubs Player

Editor's Note: Reader Wally Moy e-mailed this to us. If you have stories to share, e-mail editor(a)compassrose.com.

This blog really brings back memories.

In the late 50's, I lived on the 800 block of Montrose next to Lang Dental labs, where they made false teeth in the basement. The neighborhood kids played fast pitch in the vacant lot next to it, where they would chalk up a strike zone on the brick garage back and would try to throw a tennis ball as fast as we could past the opposing batter.

I played baseball at Clarendon park. I belonged to the Boy's Club little league. Back then, the Chicago Boy's Clubs had a small branch next to the park on Clarendon and Agatite. We played on the field behind the old water pumping station, but I remember the team would hop on the L and travel to play other boy's clubs teams in neighborhoods all over the city.

In the summer, semi-pro softball teams would play at Clarendon on Friday and Saturday nights on the big field next to the Clarendon Field house. It was the only diamond with lights in those days.

Because of our proximity to Wrigley Field, a few Cubs and Bears players and ex-players lived in the neighborhood. Hippo Vaughn, who pitched for the Cubs during the dead ball era, lived across the street. We loved visiting with him after our games. Mrs. Vaughn would serve us cookies and lemonade, and Hippo, long since retired, would regale us with stories of how baseball was played in the old days, and how the Cubs should have beaten the Red Sox in the 1918 World Series.

James Leslie "Hippo" Vaughn was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball for the Chicago Cubs during the 1910s. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

Reading this blog brings half forgotten memories into sharp detail, as if they happened last week rather than more than 50 years ago.

Clarendon Avenue at Graceland (Now Irving Park)

A nifty Childs postcard of Clarendon. Original postcard available here: Clarendon

Pavillion, Clarendon Municipal Bathing Beach, Uptown Chicago

I don't see this view of the Beach House come up as often; the original postcard is available from this seller: Clarendon Beach House

Another Image of Honolulu Harry's at Wilson and Clarendon, 1956

If I win the lotto I'm going to a) buy the Uptown Theatre from Jam and restore it myself and b) recreate this building.

Wilson and Clarendon, Uptown Chicago. Get it here: Honolulu Harry's!!!

Honolulu Harry's at Wilson and Clarendon, 1956

Of all the buildings in Uptown that I mourn the loss of the most, it's this one. It stood on the corner of Clarendon and Wilson:

So you can imagine how my heart nearly stopped when I spotted this image. I have another picture somewhere of when it housed the Bulldog and Whistle earlier on; I knew Honolulu Harry's was on this stretch, but I had never made the connection before. And I've never seen the building photographed from this angle.

Follow this link and get it here:

Honolulu Harry's!!!

Seriously, finding this image totally made my day.

Blessing of Cuneo Hospital, 750 Montrose at Clarendon, Chicago

This image is of particular interest to me, because I was born at Cuneo Hospital. Although we moved out to the suburbs when I was a wee toddler, I was born an Uptown Girl.

From ChicagoHospitals.info:

Beginnings

The first reference in the Chicago Tribune's Historical Index to this hospital appears on July 7, 1944. It notes a benefit by the ladies' auxiliary for the Frank Cuneo Memorial Hospital. It notes the hospital at Montrose and Clarendon Streets was endowed by the late Frank Cuneo

A Chicago Tribune article on July 23, 1944 notes a substantial addition to the hospital has been made by John F Cuneo, who donated an apartment building on the northwest corner of Montrose and Clarendon. This gave the hospital a block long frontage on Clarendon, between Montrose and Agatite

Part of the block of flats will be used for living quarters for the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred heart. Nurses, interns and the hospital chaplain will also live there.

The other wing of the apartment building will be utilized as a children's hospital. This would be the first Catholic children's hospital in the city of Chicago.

At closure

100 beds

closed 1988

Purchase image here: Cuneo Hospital

Another View of the Marine Hospital on Clarendon, Uptown, Chicago

We've previously posted a few images of the Marine Hospital, once located at 4141 N. Clarendon in Uptown, Chicago, but this one is of particular interest because it was taken by Charles R. Childs, who took thousands of images of Chicago neighborhood streets a hundred years ago.

It's currently available at auction here: Marine Hospital

The Chateau, a Reader Writes in With Additional Details

Editor's Note: Alan left these comments to an earlier post on The Chateau. We felt it deserved a post of its own. Thank you so much, Alan, for sharing your research with us!

I grew up near here and still pass frequently so was interested in this comparison btw the current Chateau and the former one (of which I was unaware until your postcard post.) I did some follow-up research and found a number of articles and ads in the Chicago Tribune archives.

The old Chateau’s address was 819 Sheridan and it was built in about 1907. The owner, Albert Fuchs, became quite the real estate baron and was featured in numerous articles in the Trib, starting in 1892. He owned greenhouses in the area and started as a florist, lived at 1149 Sheridan, appeared in debtor's court, was accused by his musician wife of forcing her to pose with other women and she sought “separate maintenance” in court, sued a Congressman for rent money, got into tiffs over the flag and defended German officers behavior during WW1, had to endure his son changing his last name to "Fox" (less Germanic), had other real estate dealings on Bittersweet and downtown, moved to California in 1927, offered all his wealth to cancer research upon his wife's death in 1928, was arrested in Santa Monica to face morals charges in 1934, was acquitted and was “penniless” although he lived in mansion. I dug a bit into the LA Times archives to find out what ultimately happened to him, but no luck without paying.

From a Trib article on 10/11/22, the old Chateau was to be demolished to make way for a new (current) hotel which was to be called The Broadway, to be built in 3 sections and include a 5,000 seat theater. But a subsequent 1927 article refers to Fuchs leasing his holdings of The Broadway Hotel, the Chateau apartments and a 1,600 seat theater (that also contained a bowling alley and "bachelor apts") to a syndicate when he moved to California. So apparently he built the hotel but left the courtyard apartments, or at least part of them. Also, it looks like the courtyard was there in the 1962 historic aerial, so perhaps the Chateau was built adjacent to them and then they were eventually torn down.

Regarding the Chateau Theater, a 1930 article gave the theater's address as 3810 Broadway. Apparently Fuchs owned the entire block to Grace. There is a good article on Cinema Treasures about the Chateau, later called Vogue, Theater (see http://cinematreasures.org/theater/4504/).

Two of the Dillinger gang’s girfriends, Pat Cherrington and Opal Long, lived at The Chateau and were arrested there on June 2, 1934.

Alan

Young Dancers at Honolulu Harry's, 804 Wilson, Uptown Chicago

An incredible collection of memorabilia from Honolulu Harry's, once located at 804 Wilson in the Uptown neighborhood, can be found at TikiRoom.com.

Honolulu Harry's Waikiki 804 Wilson, Uptown Chicago

See also Beach View Garden, once at the same address.

The location today:


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The Chateau, Sheridan and Clarendon, Chicago

One of Chicago's largest high class and most unique apartment houses, 1150 feet front, with lagoon, tennis courts, conservatory, etc. Circa 1911.

The Chateau, Sheridan Rd and Clarendon, Uptown Chicago

The Chateau, Sheridan Rd & Clarendon Ave., Uptown Chicago, Illinois.

If you're interested in a reprint or enlargement of this image, drop us an e-mail at blog(a)compassrose.com

Wright Hydroaeroplane Flies from Clarendon Beach to Grant Park, 1913

Original Caption: View of Wright hydroaeroplane owned by P. C. Davis that Harry Powers flew at Clarendon Beach at Lake Michigan, in the Uptown community area of Chicago, Illinois. This image shows the plane parked in the water at the beach.

Original Caption: Portrait of aviator Harry Powers, and mechanic Tony Stadduman belted inside a hydroaeroplane at the Lake Michigan lakefront in Chicago, Illinois. Harry Powers flew the Wright hydroaeroplane that was owned by P. C. Davis from Clarendon Beach to Grant Park.

Original Caption: Portrait of aviator Harry Powers, belted inside a hydroaeroplane, shaking hands with Theo Daves and mechanic Tony Stadduman at the Lake Michigan lakefront in Chicago, Illinois. Harry Powers flew the Wright hydroaeroplane that was owned by P. C. Davis from Clarendon Beach to Grant Park.

Source: DN-0009645, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Library of Congress; DN-0009646, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Library of Congress; DN-0009643, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Library of Congress.

Leland from Clarendon, Uptown Chicago

How's this for a big ol' shocker. Here's Leland Avenue looking west from Clarendon. Yup. that's right. Leland. The roads haven't even been paved yet.

Here's what it looks like today. A great big bunch of empty. And according to Uptown Update, it looks like it will be staying that way for a while.

Top image courtesy John Chuckman. Bottom image courtesy Google Maps.

A Poster of Clarendon Beach

An 18x12 inch art print of the Clarendon Municipal Bathing Beach, Chicago, is available from: Clarendon Beach.

Letter from a Former Uptown Resident

I get a lot of readers, but I don't always hear a lot of feedback on this little ol' history blog, so e-mails like this just make my day:

I really love the website that you have created, I’m a product of uptown, I lived there from the late 1950’s until 1970 and the moved back for 2 years in 1975. Your website has brought back many memories, I went to school at Stewart, then transferred to Brenamen on Clarendon & Montrose and from there I was sent to Catholic school at St. Thomas of Canterbury on Kenmore and Lawrence. I had my first paper route delivering the American on Winthrop from Lawrence to Argyle in 1962. We use to go to the Lakeside theater on Saturdays and see three movies for a quarter, and the Uptown theater was the coolest, you get lost in that place and it was so fabulous inside, I remember a section that was hard to find that was all enclosed in glass and was located in between the upper balcony and the lower balcony all the seats were blue velour with polished brass it was definitely made for the elite. I spent many days at the Robert R. McCormick Boys Club on Sheridan and Gunnison what a great place for a boy to stay out of trouble. I can’t think of many places in uptown that I didn’t see as me and my brother wandered the streets all summer. Well I could go on forever about the great life I had there, so keep up the good work and if you ever have any questions about uptown I would love to share. -- R.C.

Thanks for reading, R.C.!

And what's your favorite memory of Uptown? Write me at blog(a)compassrose.com and I'll feature it here!

Espana Cafe, 4600 Lake Shore Drive, Wilson and Clarendon

Image courtesy John Chuckman.

Clarendon Municipal Bathing Beach, Pavilion

What a gorgeous pavilion this was prior to renovation! Clarendon Municipal Bathing Beach, where Weiss Hospital now stands, could accommodate thousands of bathers a day.

According to the Chicago Park District, the beach was constructed in 1915, taking its name from Clarendon Avenue, which in turn was named for English statesmen Edward Hyde, the first Earl of Clarendon. The pavilion was completed in 1916. Clarendon was the largest bathing beach in the country, attracting 425,000 paying visitors the first summer and almost 2 million a year by 1929. It had two towers, separate locker areas for men and women, a playroom, and a laundry facility. It could accommodate more than 9,000 swimmers and had a promenade for thousands of spectators. It rented out bathing suits, towels, and lockers.

The beach was very popular through the 1930s. When Lincoln Park was expanded up to Foster Avenue, Clarendon lost its lake frontage. The city converted the building into a community center, "adding gymnasiums, club rooms, a playground, and an athletic field." A major renovation in 1972 resulted in the removal of the elaborate towers and roof tiles. Today, it holds a gymnasium, boxing ring, fitness center, and meeting rooms. Programs include after school sports, aerobics, and preschool activities.

You can get a thong, mug, or other unique items with this image through CafePress.