Originally published Nov 11, 2008
Jim and Toni and I went to the 2nd play in our subscription series at Illinois Theatre Center this week—”The Subject Was Roses.” Great acting in a family drama about the blame game. ITC is a unique small suburban Equity theater that has been in their town for 30+ years, headed by producing director Etel Billig, who always entertains. On the back side of the theater, which is in the old downtown shopping center, is a mural that has a cool painting of the Billigs.
There is also an art gallery adjoining the lobby of the theater which we had a few minutes to explore. There were sculptures of clay, rope, and waxed index cards from a library card catalog. Really worth stopping by if you are ever in Park Forest.
We talked about how the times have left this downtown shopping center behind, and it never really recovered from the advent of Lincoln mall (1973) & Orland Square mall (1976). Many of the spaces are empty and others house village offices, such as the Rich Township Senior Center where Toni works. In another bit of trivia, Jim’s step-grandfather’s old family farm is now the site of Lincoln Mall in Matteson. A little tidbit for future genealogical research.
It reminds me of the older Meadowview shopping center in Bradley we went to when I was young, and how it suffered when Sears and Penney’s moved to Northfield Square mall (1990). Meadowview had a great bookstore called the Little Professor where I bought my treasured editions of Frances Hodgkins Burnett and Shel Silverstein. I would buy shaker-knit sweaters off the clearance rack at Sears with my babysitting money. On the far side of Sears there was also a whole store devoted to stickers! And there was a Baskin Robbins as well (one scoop French Vanilla, one scoop Chocolate Fudge Brownie on a sugar cone please). Meadowview also had a big Woolworth’s complete with soda shop counter. I think I ate a BLT there once with my grandma, although it was rare to be in Kankakee/Bradley with grandma. We made the 35-mile trip with mom almost every weekend to this town where she grew up.
Edit, 2025: I am adding a link to a Daily Journal article about Meadowview from which the above photo was taken. It opened the year my mom was born, 1955.
You can also read more about Park Forest Plaza (1949).
There was a Little Corporal Restaurant in a stand-alone building in Meadowview in the 1960s where I often ate meals with my first husband, usually on Sunday. And in the shopping center there was a Singer Sewing Machine store where I bought a sewing machine in 1968 after we returned home from Germany. Your blog posts bring back so many great memories for me!!
That’s so cool! I love that you told me Grandma Mil had her Christmas Club savings account there too.
We definitely ate at Woolworth’s with Mom one time while we waited for a Sears mechanic to unlock our car after Mom locked the keys inside. I had my first club sandwich that day!
I also remember buying stickers at Clyde’s and friendship beads at Woolworth’s.
Was Clyde’s also a camera shop? In my memory it was all stickers.
I can’t believe I forgot to mention the movie theater where we saw “E.T.”! Thanks for reminding me about “Ghostbusters” too.