Marsha and I are moving to 942 S. Euclid Ave. from 1227 Belleforte. The move is an essential element of the Hubbuch Retirement Plan. I considered less expensive real estate in Berwyn, Elmwood Park and Forest Park, but my editor, Mr. Trainor, took the understandable position that you can’t write a monthly column for an Oak Park newspaper if you don’t live in Oak Park. The prospect of silence during next year’s village election campaign was just too much, so South Oak Park was our choice. Also, it helped that my oldest son and his wife-to-be will be moving there.
Some of our friends were not particularly gracious in their comments. One observed that we were moving to the part of town where the youth baseball program cheated in the annual North-South playoffs. Another said we were moving to Berwyn.
I also learned there seems to be no clear demarcation between North Oak Park and South Oak Park. Unlike the Mason-Dixon line, there were a number of proposed dividing lines: Lake Street, the Green Line, Madison Street, and the Eisenhower Expressway.
People from River Forest seemed to favor Lake Street. Yuppie condo owners favored Madison. Everybody agreed that 942 South, which is a block south of the Eisenhower, was definitely south side, more like Mississippi than Kentucky.
Some of our friends thought that being only a block from the Eisenhower was a bit too close to six lanes of expansive pavement that runs through our town. But I observed if you sat on our back porch and closed your eyes, the sound emanating from a block north was identical to the surf coming in on some distant ocean shore (with an occasional honking of a horn).
Marsha and I are excited about returning to our south side roots. Our very first house when we were married was 544 S. Clarence, where we moved in March, 1976. With our move, I trade the Green Line for the Blue Line. I trade the congestion of O’Hare for the confusion of Midway. I will drink my coffee at Nola’s instead of Starbucks. If Marsha has a baby, which is unlikely since I don’t think her 57-year-old biological clock is ticking, we would send the little feller to Irving instead of Mann. We can look down on Berwyn instead of Galewood.
Lots of interesting changes.
There is one other thing. Last year I wrote a column mocking the idea that the Ike would ever be capped. Why I even suggested that George Jetson?#34;like personal flight machines were more likely to succeed. They say consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds, and I have a big mind. I think this capping the Ike may have real possibilities. Think of the extra land Oak Park would have for condos and such.
Oak Park would at long last be re-united. No North. No South. Just Oak Park. And just think what it could do for property values for the homes immediately adjacent to the Eisenhower.
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