Watch your step.

Suburban Chicago, January 1959. My Mom and my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, return from a shopping trip. Back then, people thought sixty-year-olds were "old," and stores sent you home with "brown paper packages tied up with string."

They "made it."

Suburban Chicago, August 1958. This is how my childhood home looked around the time I was born. My Parents bought the house when they learned they were expecting me. The little girl standing at the front-door steps is my Toronto Cousin.

The Center of Attention

Chicago, Illinois, February 1962. We're back at the Chicago Auto Show, and the crowd still focuses on the Ford "Gyron."

Bundling up.

Suburban Chicago, late Winter/early Spring 1970. I'm taking Gigi out for a walk. She'll stay warm because she's wearing her red coat.

Related by Marriage: First Apartment, Same Neighborhood

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, many Lithuanian Displaced Persons lived, worked, and socialized within the radius of a few miles. This was true for new arrivals who settled in the neighborhoods of Brighton Park, Gage Park, Marquette Park, West Lawn, and Archer Heights. Those neighborhoods surrounded Midway Airport.

When Mr. Irene's Dad first arrived in Chicago in 1949, he lived in a boardinghouse just across the street from the family home of his sponsor. A first-wave Lithuanian woman owned the boarding house; she rented rooms and provided meals to second-wave, single men. A cousin of Mr. Irene's Dad, who fled Lithuania with Dad and his brother Ignas, lived just a few doors down with her husband and young daughter in rented rooms on the same block in Brighton Park, South Artesian, near 40th Street.

After completing his U.S. Army service in 1953, Mr. Irene's Dad returned to the same boardinghouse and eventually found work alongside fellow Lithuanian DPs in a factory that manufactured seats for Ford automobiles. The factory stood in a sprawling industrial district along 65th Street, between Cicero and Narraganset Avenues. Just a few blocks south along Cicero Avenue were other manufacturing neighbors like a Ford assembly plant (that became the Ford City Shopping Center in 1965), Tootsie Roll, Sweetheart Cup, and Cracker Jack.

Mr. Irene's Dad shared his room with an older fellow he had known in the Displaced Persons camp at Seligenstadt. In early 1956, while Mr. Irene's Dad was visiting his brother in Los Angeles, his roommate passed away in his sleep, presumably from a heart attack.

Brighton Park, Spring, 1956. Immaculate Conception Lithuanian Catholic Church. Mr. Irene's Dad, standing at the front, on the right, serves as a pallbearer for the funeral of his boarding house roommate. Many younger DPs, however, were not Immaculate Conception parishoners. Instead, they attended Sunday Mass at Holy Cross Parish near 46th and Woods, in the nearby Back of the Yards neighborhood.

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Shortly after the funeral, Mr. Irene's Dad moved into his first apartment with another immigrant friend. The spacious flat was just a few blocks south of his old boardinghouse, near the intersection of 43rd and Campbell. Mr. Irene's Dad occupied that apartment until his wedding day.

Brighton Park, Chicago, Illinois, sometime between 1956 and 1957. Mr. Irene's Dad relaxes on the sofa in his new apartment. The flat stood behind a first-floor grocery store operated by the owners of the six-unit building, themselves recently arrived DPs. The apartment had two bedrooms and an ample, eat-in kitchen. Mr. Irene's Dad made good use of his Army mess-hall training: quick sales at the grocery store frequently prompted hearty pork chop dinners.

 

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Vytautas Grove, Chicago, Illinois, about 1957. Mr Irene's Dad and his apartment roommate chat in the parking lot during a Sunday picnic.

Full-Service Station

Ontario, Canada, July 1957. My Parents are on their way to another Canadian vacation. They wait for a gas-station attendant to check the Ford Customline's oil.

Spring rains can cause trouble ...

... if you live near a big river:

Suburban Chicago, June 1965. This is the view from our living room's bay window after a big rain.

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Suburban Chicago, June 1965. Teens frolic in the flooded street. We are near the Des Plaines River.

Related by Marriage: Write down what you think is important.

A few years ago, Mr. Irene asked his Mom to gather the historical family photos in an album. My Mother-in-law pasted the photos onto the album's black pages. She used a silver scrapbooking pen to number each album page, and she assigned a letter to each photo.

Mr. Irene had suggested that his Mom provide the location, date, and a short explanation or story about each photo. She wrote the photo annotations in a simple, black spiral notebook. It's easy to follow the explanations in the notebooks, and most of them provide clues about why Mr. Irene's Mom thought the photo merited inclusion in the album. For example, one of the picnic culture posts derives largely from her notebook entry for that photo.

I noticed that the album carefully records the family's history of auto ownership. There's a photo of Mr. Irene, from the late 1970s, standing next to his Grandfather Stanley's last car, a 1969, teal Plymouth Valiant. Mr. Irene's Mom noted that it was significant that Mr. Irene drove that Valiant after Stanley died. 

You can get a taste of the importance my Mother-in-law attributed to the cars here and here and here.

When I came across this adorable photo of Mr. Irene and his Mom, standing in front of their house, I anticipated that a cute story might accompany the image.

In the notebook, my Mother-in-law wrote, "1956 Chevy—Bel Aire." And that's all she wrote.

Suburban Chicago, March 1963. Mr. Irene and his Mom stand in front of the family car. Look! That might be my Mom's turquoise Ford Customline behind them.

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Suburban Chicago, Summer 1977. Mr. Irene sits on the hood of Stanley's Plymouth Valiant. He's in the alley behind his house.

Mr. Irene and I went on a date in that very car in March 1977—to "Dingbat's," a disco in downtown Chicago—and the car wouldn't start when we set out for home. So there I was, on Michigan Avenue, knowing that my strict Parents would spit bullets if I missed my 11:00 pm curfew.

It's back to work today.

Suburban Chicago, Summer 1957. Mom heads out to the office in her turquoise Ford Customline.

It's almost time for the Chicago Auto Show!

In February 1962, we visited the Chicago Auto Show at McCormick Place.

There were concept cars. This is the Ford "Cougar 406:"

Glamorous models demonstrated the features of futuristic vehicles. Here's the Ford "Gyron:"

People stood in line to see the practical automobiles:

My Dad was thrilled to see his favorite car on exhibit:

The VW!