Susie Smidl Powley’s old house is up for sale. Click on http://www.nickelrealestate.com/ and go to the listing that’s $839,900. View the slide show. Enjoy the music ?#34; kind of like Bruce Hornsby or Al Stewart around 1980.
The first time I was in that house, I was probably about three years old. The last time was when I was 15. Let’s take a virtual tour of the house of my best childhood friend.
OK. The living room. That’s where we had Susie’s infamous slumber parties. We put Barbie Meegan’s little bra in the freezer and she cried. (That was mean. I’m sorry, Barbie.) We spread our Eddie Bauer sleeping bags all across the floor and giggled and listened to the Beatles all night long. Susie and I first heard “Sergeant Pepper” in that living room, and we perfected our harmony act singing to “Love is Blue” by Paul Muriat.
Susie’s parents were musical. Her mother gave me voice lessons. I think they both sang in the Chicago Symphony Chorus or Choir ?#34; hey, forgive me, I haven’t lived in the Chicago area since 1987. But then her parents divorced. Her dad, Ward, later married a lovely woman named Edith.
This is all part of the “listing” at 823 Wenonah.
They also had a 1910 stove in the basement at one point.
Back to our tour. Let’s skip the kitchen and the master bedroom because I don’t remember them looking the way they do now and move along to the upstairs rooms. Susie and I goofed off in her room on her bunk beds for most of 1966. One of our tricks was to look at each others’ faces upside down singing along with “Hooray for Hazel” by Tommy Roe. We also enjoyed singing “Paperback Writer” and “Eleanor Rigby” while flirting out the window with cute Terry Doyle next door.
The thing about a house for sale is that it’s not just a house. It’s a great big box of memories, ghosts and old Beatle songs.
As the Nickel Real Estate site says, “In perfect move-in condition! Call to see today!”
And don’t forget your Beatle records.