Cate, I have my own very minor incident with Cook County Federal Savings, almost 60 years ago. Sid DeLove the boss was a wacko super patriot, that was as far, far right wing as anyone ever was in this country. He once wrote his own editorial titled "Can We Wave The Flag Too Much?" He had it made into a bronze plaque attached to the outside of the bank building. It's been removed by the new bank owner. But in the photo in your column above, you can't see it, but at the far left, at the west end of the bank, there's still the bronze statue of a soldier about to throw a grenade in combat.
Now back to my incident. I found a bunch of keys when I was maybe 17 & it had a tag on it saying if you brought it back to the bank, they'd give you $2 for returning it. It had a number on it to identify the owner of the keys. So I walk in with the keys, give to a receptionist & was asked to sit & wait. Then they had the security guard stand over me the entire time, while i assume they called the owner of the keys to see if they lost them or were stolen. After 20 minutes or so, of the guard standing there with his hand on his gun, someone came over & gave me the $2. But i was so angry at being treated like a criminal just for being nice, I told the man who gave me the cash, if I ever found another set of keys with their tag on it, I'd throw it away, rather than be treated like I was a criminal that stole them! He didn't reply & just left.
Garry that is hilarious! Now how did you know Mr. DeLove was "Sid" and about his editorial and all? This is your neighborhood, and maybe it was in the local Lerner paper or something? Do you know where the editorial appeared? I'd love to add whatever details possible to the post. Thanks! You are full of surprises, as always.
I've lived in Rogers Park since I was 1 year old, moved here in 1950. I believe the editorial did run in a paid ad in the Lerner papers & Sidney DeLove was always getting himself into Lerner coverage & I think he was also part of the Devon/Northtown Chamber of Commerce. Maybe the current bank moved the bronze plaque inside or just stored it somewhere. You should call them & ask what happened to it. There were several other memorial plaques on the building & they also appear to be gone.
And it's possible, that bronze statue is a Marine or a soldier from either WWII or Korea throwing the grenade. While I pass it either in a car or the bus at least once a week, I haven't walked by the building in years. The building is DeLove's copy of Independence Hall in Philadelphia & he actually referred to it as "Independence Hall of Chicago". There was an addition added on in I think the 1980s on the east end, which enclosed the parking lot & added offices on the second floor, but the new owners demolished that & returned it to a surface parking lot & now the building is as it was originally..
Go for it. After Leo Lerner died & his son Louis became obsessed with becoming the US ambassador to Norway, the chain devolved into a pathetic mess. Louis gave his brother Robert a column, which became more bizarre every week, until one column ran where the typesetters somehow screwed it up & most of the column came out as total gibberish & of course no correction was ever made!
I definitely remember reading "You sir, ain't a gentleman!" in 1968. I was 13 years old. My family had the Sun-Times and Daily News delivered to our home, and I read each end to end. My dad probably paid more attention to the horse race entries and results, but I read Royko religiously.
Cate, I have my own very minor incident with Cook County Federal Savings, almost 60 years ago. Sid DeLove the boss was a wacko super patriot, that was as far, far right wing as anyone ever was in this country. He once wrote his own editorial titled "Can We Wave The Flag Too Much?" He had it made into a bronze plaque attached to the outside of the bank building. It's been removed by the new bank owner. But in the photo in your column above, you can't see it, but at the far left, at the west end of the bank, there's still the bronze statue of a soldier about to throw a grenade in combat.
Now back to my incident. I found a bunch of keys when I was maybe 17 & it had a tag on it saying if you brought it back to the bank, they'd give you $2 for returning it. It had a number on it to identify the owner of the keys. So I walk in with the keys, give to a receptionist & was asked to sit & wait. Then they had the security guard stand over me the entire time, while i assume they called the owner of the keys to see if they lost them or were stolen. After 20 minutes or so, of the guard standing there with his hand on his gun, someone came over & gave me the $2. But i was so angry at being treated like a criminal just for being nice, I told the man who gave me the cash, if I ever found another set of keys with their tag on it, I'd throw it away, rather than be treated like I was a criminal that stole them! He didn't reply & just left.
Garry that is hilarious! Now how did you know Mr. DeLove was "Sid" and about his editorial and all? This is your neighborhood, and maybe it was in the local Lerner paper or something? Do you know where the editorial appeared? I'd love to add whatever details possible to the post. Thanks! You are full of surprises, as always.
I've lived in Rogers Park since I was 1 year old, moved here in 1950. I believe the editorial did run in a paid ad in the Lerner papers & Sidney DeLove was always getting himself into Lerner coverage & I think he was also part of the Devon/Northtown Chamber of Commerce. Maybe the current bank moved the bronze plaque inside or just stored it somewhere. You should call them & ask what happened to it. There were several other memorial plaques on the building & they also appear to be gone.
And it's possible, that bronze statue is a Marine or a soldier from either WWII or Korea throwing the grenade. While I pass it either in a car or the bus at least once a week, I haven't walked by the building in years. The building is DeLove's copy of Independence Hall in Philadelphia & he actually referred to it as "Independence Hall of Chicago". There was an addition added on in I think the 1980s on the east end, which enclosed the parking lot & added offices on the second floor, but the new owners demolished that & returned it to a surface parking lot & now the building is as it was originally..
I'm on it Garry. You're gonna like how this turns out. I guarantee it.
Go for it. After Leo Lerner died & his son Louis became obsessed with becoming the US ambassador to Norway, the chain devolved into a pathetic mess. Louis gave his brother Robert a column, which became more bizarre every week, until one column ran where the typesetters somehow screwed it up & most of the column came out as total gibberish & of course no correction was ever made!
I definitely remember reading "You sir, ain't a gentleman!" in 1968. I was 13 years old. My family had the Sun-Times and Daily News delivered to our home, and I read each end to end. My dad probably paid more attention to the horse race entries and results, but I read Royko religiously.