Saturday Night in Lakeview

Next we hopped on an El train to our old neighborhood, Lakeview. Except that "hopping" is not exactly an accurate description of what it took to get us on that train. The El must be as old as Chicago itself (maybe older), and the elevated Loop tracks aren't handicapper-accessible at most stations. Which means they're also not stroller-accessible. So we had to unlatch the carseat, take everything out of the stroller basket, fold up the stroller, and haul all that crap, plus Claire in her seat, up two flights of stairs and through the impossibly narrow turnstiles. I don't know how city-dwelling parents (or, well, the disabled) do it. Taking a cab can't be much easier, and is possibly even illegal, since cabs obviously aren't equipped with carseats. But we really wanted to see the old neighborhood, and Elsa was dying to ride on a train, so we managed.

We were happy to recall, once we got on the train, that the Brown Line stations in Lakeview have all recently been rebuilt, and in the process those were made handicapper-accessible. Too bad the elevator at Wellington, where we got off the train, and Diversey, where we got back on, were both out of order. They're practically brand-new stations, but of course, it's the CTA. I don't know why I expected anything else. I was flooded with fond memories of riding on trains without air conditioning, riding on trains that had "mechanical failures," riding on trains that crashed into other trains ... the list goes on and on. Certainly not sorry the CTA is no longer a part of my daily life.

Anyway. Once we managed to haul all our crap back down two flights of stairs, we found our little corner of Lakeview remarkably unchanged. Somebody put some really ugly replacement windows and strange-colored siding on our old townhouse, but other than that, it's mostly the same stores and restaurants. We walked past the old place with Elsa and Claire, and I was struck by how much our lives have changed since we lived there. Bob and I reminisced about all of our walks with Belle through the neighborhood, and how she was our only baby at the time, and therefore the center of all our attention. We wondered how Belle would have reacted if she could have been with us on this visit. We're quite sure she would remember our old house and would be really excited about being back—she probably would look for her old neighborhood pals, terriers Sid and Ruby. I wish we would have thought to take a picture of Elsa and Claire by our old house, but sadly, we didn't.

The biggest change in our old neighborhood is that the ghetto Dominick's where we used to shop for groceries burned to the ground just months after we left, and still hasn't been replaced. It was the only grocery store within walking distance of our house, so if we had still lived there, we would have been forced to drive to the Cub Foods on Elston every time we needed food. Cub was 2.5 miles away but it took at least 30 minutes to drive there due to the kind of traffic that could drive a person into a mental institution. (Seriously, a half an hour to drive 2.5 miles is not an exaggeration—and people sometimes wonder why we moved?) We walked past the spot where our Dominick's once stood, and there's still nothing there. Nothing except a sign that says, "Coming Soon ... Dominick's!" It's only been almost five years, no hurry getting it rebuilt or anything. I just did some searching online and found an article dated early 2007 with the headline, "Lakeview Dominick's moving forward." Apparently, not so much. Ah, Chicago, you gotta love it.

After gazing in awe at the empty lot that used to be Dominick's, we ended up at The Bagel for dinner. The Bagel is a cute little diner that I suspect is probably a Lakeview institution (they have a location in Skokie as well). There's always a lot of really old people in there, which is unusual in a neighborhood populated almost entirely by under-40s. In fact, there used to be a waitress there who was 82 years old. We knew that because one time we heard someone at another table ask her age. She looked it too, but she was still waiting tables at The Bagel. On this visit, I had a fantastic Rueben, Bob had an omelette, and Elsa got her all-time favorite, grilled cheese. Claire had a lovely bottle of formula, as you can see.

We were seated by a guy who I think may have been the owner, or at least some sort of head manager. When Elsa introduced herself (because she introduces herself to everybody lately), he said his grandmother's name was Elsa and that the name carries many wonderful memories for him. He continued to chat with Elsa off and on throughout the meal, then offered her a special treat as we were leaving.

She got to pick out one of these mini "ice cream cones," which was actually a chocolate-covered marshmallow on a teeny cone. She loved it.

By the time we got back to the hotel, both the girls were up way past their bedtimes and I think Elsa had walked several miles. But our girls were sweet and happy and smiley anyway, and we feel so lucky to have such wonderful kids. As I was getting Elsa into her pjs, I said, "Thank you for being such a good girl today." She answered, "Yeah, I was going with the flow." "Go with the flow" has been our motto for Elsa lately, since she tends to get frustrated and upset about little things sometimes (like any almost-3-year-old, I'm sure). But maybe that lesson is starting to sink in. At the very least, she seems to love traveling and experiencing new places, and of course we couldn't be happier about that.