Scratch Crib

Arturo Petterino, always a helping hand. (Sun-Times photo by Jon Sall)

LOTS of Pump Room memories and we haven't even gotten to everyone's Pump Room padre, Arturo Petterino. I spent a stylish New Year's Eve with the legendary matrie d' at the tiny Mondelli's Lounge on Rush Street. I'll excerpt some 1996 oral histories with Arturo in a minute, but here's a great story shared by reader Jim Mueller:

The Pump Room. My 1970s friend Jerry Phillips, an aging rake at 55, picked up the damndest girls back in the day. He'd drink too much, then go home with the cute gal who'd hidden her left hand all night in a jacket pocket. They'd be jumping at it hammer and tong. She'd hoist herself up in the saddle. He'd invariably look over to see...no hand! There were others with glass eyes and wooden legs--and each time Jim wouldn't notice until waaaaay too late in the negotiation.

Decades before the current Cougar Phenomenon, Jerry would occasionally troll for lonely older ladies. One of his favorite fishing holes was the bar at the Pump Room....
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Stairway to Heaven (Sun-Times photo by Scott Stewart)

THE PUMP ROOM is on the downbeat.
After cabaret singer Nan Mason's final song on Jan. 30, the restaurant will no longer have live music. There will be no extravagant dinners except for special occasions. The Pump Room is the cultural jewel of the Ambassador East hotel, which is in the process of being sold to Ian Schrager Co. in New York. Schrager is eyeing a hipster renovation. He was co-founder of the Studio 54 dance club.
"Holy Cow!," as former Ambassador East resident Harry Caray said.
The Pump Room opened on Oct. 1, 1938. It thrived on a celebrity culture that no longer exists.
Original owner Ernie Byfield recruited stars to sparkle in the dimly lit elegance of the Pump Room. He saw the room as a spinoff the 18th century spa of the same name in Bath, England. That pump room was spot where London aristocrats mingled with local showfolk, absorbing the cure of the waters by day and the roguish social scene at night.
It was "Swimming with the Stars."
The Pump Room was a hit from the jump. Celebrities stayed over in Chicago for a day or two instead of rushing to a private jet........

Bob Waldmire, still looking for stuff in the last month of a wonderful life.

You could not categorize Bob Waldmire just as you cannot stereotype Route 66.
The migratory road is more than vintage jukeboxes and antique cars. It is about everyone, or at least anyone who has dreamed of a rainbow on a western horizon. Mr. Waldmire was an artist-gypsy-raconteur who was born in St. Louis and grew up near Route 66 in Springfield, Ill. He died Wednesday in Rochester, about 10 miles southeast of Springfield. Mr. Waldmire lost a battle with cancer. He was 64.

I visited with Mr. Waldmire three or four times over the years, the last time being in early November. He was in repose on a cot in the 1966 school bus he converted into cozy living quarters. My intention was to talk about his life and Route 66. But just as in all our other visits, Mr. Waldmire began by talking about birds.......

I had heard about the impeccable acoustics at the $30 million Wentz Concert Hall, which opened a little more than a year ago in downtown Naperville. The sound in the 605-seat theatre has been compared to New York's Carnegie Hall.

You can hear a pin drop.

I was at Wentz for the first time on Sunday to celebrate my Mother's 88th birthday. We were in the balcony to see the Du Page Symphony Orchestra's "Winter Dreams" program.
Not long after a group of children joined the symphony to play percussion on "Up on the House Top," "Jingle Bells" and others, an elderly man collapsed on the main floor. The symphony was between songs. We were in the balcony.
I could hear the "thud" of the man hitting the floor from our seats.........

Alan Shaw, president-founder Folk Era Records whistlin' in the graveyard with his long neck Wildwood five-string banjo.

THIS is my way to get your thrill in Naperville:
(Between 1969-73 I sometimes attended Naperville Central High School. My parents still live in the subdivision along the Du Page River that was known as West Gate.)

9 AM.-- Rise and shine at Folk Era Records, 705 S. Washington St. [(630)- 637-2303,], (and the Rediscover Music Catalogue) the largest independent folk music label in the Chicago area---and the only record label in America to rent its office and warehouse space in a cemetery.
They should be doing the Grateful Dead reissues.
Folk Era (The Kingston Trio, John Stewart, Paul Robeson, Chad Mitchell Trio, etc.) is in the Naperville Cemetery, 750 S. Washington St.

11 AM--Goodwill Industries Store, 530 Fort Hill Dr. [take Jefferson west from downtown; (630) 357-6258]
I've found great vinyl like Marty Robbins. There's the obligatory Herb Alpert LPs and tons of kitchenware. Not a bad selection of hardcover books. When my brother Doug visits from Nashville he updates his vintage wardrobe from the threads of Naperville rich people......

Enclosed year-round market; just a dream in Chicago.


May 31, 2009----

MILWAUKEE---The Milwaukee Public Market is open year-round, but the best time
to visit is during the annual Summerfest celebration that runs in late June along the lakefront.

After all, a market stop makes it SummerFeast.

The 25,000-square-foot downtown market is loosely based on Pike Place in Seattle and has been called a model for a potential Chicago market. The market is three blocks west of the Summerfest grounds.

During an early May visit to the Milwaukee market I picked up some smooth cheese curds at the West Allis Cheese & Sausage Shop and Point Nude Beach Summer Wheat beer (whose provocative bottles are banned in Michigan!) at Thief Wine Shop and Bar. A stranger looked at me, smiled and said, "Cheese curds and beer, that's all you need."

Welcome to Milwaukee.......