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Random Thoughts Of A Tired Old Man
 

Continuing on with the travels and adventures of me and Danny Packanowski was Halsted Street. Halsted street was a veritable treasure trove of fun for a pair of 6-7 year olds. First and foremost it had the Ramova theater. The Ramova was one of the original 1920’s movie palaces. The inside was like an italian opera house. It had the conventional movie theater stadium seating but was surrounded on the second floor with the balcony seating which, like an opera house consisted of little balconys protruding from the main aisle. The ceiling was domed and painted black with hundreds of tiny light bulbs that imitated night stars. The pillars supporting the balcony’s were huge and painted gold with red trimmings. Everything was gold with red trimming throughout the theater. They had ushers dressed in fancy uniforms complete with little pillbox style hats. They carried flashlights to guide you to your seats. Very elegant. We usually went to the Saturday matinee which consisted of a Warner Pathe newsreel, half a dozen comedy films and the a double feature cowboy movie. 35 cents would cover the admission, a small popcorn and a cup of soft drinks.
That would pretty much kill an entire Saturday afternoon. On other occasions we would make a stop at the Thom McCann shoe store and X-Ray our feet in the X-Ray machine. Lord only knows how many doses of radioactivity we gave ourselves X-Raying our feet. Another popular stop was the Chicago Boys Club on Emerald Ave. I think the official name was the Louis Valentine boys club but nevertheless we spent a lot of time there. I learned how to swim there. My older brother, who tried to kill me several times over the years taught my how to swim by throwing me in the pool. I quickly learned how to move forward in the water by flailing my arms. They had everything there. They had arts and crafts where one could make watch fobs and bracelets and all the other stuff connected with arts and crafts. They had a volley ball court on the roof, a gym and countless other rooms full of stuff to explore like ping pong, pool tables and racquet ball. Norman Rockwell’s America was very good.