Related by Marriage: Waiting for the wedding.

Marquette Park, Chicago, Illinois, June 27, 1959. Here's Mr. Irene's maternal Aunt Martha, waiting to depart for her marriage ceremony. She's sitting in the living room of her Parents' home. Aunt Petra appears in the mirror.

I love this photo because it captures the "look" of DP-era Marquette Park. The image also preserves Martha's most common expression.

Related by Marriage: Familiarity

Marquette Park, Illinois, December 1967. Mr. Irene and his Parents visit at the home of Uncle D and his wife, Danutė.
 
First-generation offspring of Displaced Persons should recognize this scene.

Related by Marriage: Blues "Broliai"

By the time "The Blues Brothers" premiered in June 1980, the principal characters, Jake and Elwood (played by John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd)—and especially their music—were already well known to many Americans and a lot of Chicagoans. Jake and Elwood had released their double-platinum album, Briefcase Full of Blues, in November 1978. The LP featured two hit singles, "Soul Man" and "Rubber Biscuit," that Belushi and Aykroyd had performed on Saturday Night Live. The music was a tribute to the Chicago blues tradition.
 

Chicago played an integral role in the Blues Brothers' story. The film reopened the door to on-site production in the city in a way that hadn't occurred since the early 1920s. At a key moment in planning the movie, Universal Studies sent John Belushi—a native of suburban Wheaton—to obtain unprecedented permission to film in the Loop from newly elected mayor, Jane Byrne.

 

There were over thirty Chicago and suburban locations in the final cut of "The Blues Brothers," including a a scene in Marquette Park.

 

Mr. Irene's Lithuanian dance band enjoyed the Blues Brothers music. The fellows—dressed in Blues-Brothers-inspired garb—performed at a 1979 Mardi Gras dance gig at the Lithuanian Youth Center.

 

The band received its most enthusiastic audience response ever when it played a rendition of "Soul Man" to close the first dance set.

 

 

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Gage Park, Chicago, Lithuanian Youth Center, February, 1979. Mr. Irene plays the guitar with the band, covering the Blues Brothers for a dance sponsored by a Lithuanian cultural group.

UPDATE: Welcome "Official Blues Brother Website" readers. Thanks for the link!

Related by Marriage: Party Band

Chicago's Lithuanian DP community maintained busy, annual social calendars from the 1950s through the 1970s. In the fall, political, cultural, and relief organizations held fundraising dinner dances. Christmas and New Year's Eve galas followed. Easter Balls heralded the start of spring and a new season of wedding parties. Occasional picnics and neighborhood festivals punctuated the summers.

Many banquets and dances took place within the main assembly hall of the Lithuanian Youth Center (what we called "JC's"). The Center—located in Gage Park—was part of a complex built in 1957; it housed the residence of Lithuanian Jesuit priests, an art gallery, a chapel, research archives, and facilities for conducting Lithuanian language school on Saturdays. The Center also is the place at which I (sometimes) attended weekly choir practice.

 

Each gala featured live dance music, from the simplest, single accordion player to combos covering American big-band dance standards and rock music.

Mr. Irene played electric guitar for a Lithuanian dance-music trio throughout his college years. The other musicians were our contemporaries; their families were part of the Chicago Lithuanian network. One, an accordionist, was lead singer, and the other, a drummer, sang harmony and managed the bookings. The trio played waltzes, tangos, and polkas. They also substituted Lithuanian lyrics in pop tunes. Mr. Irene remembers many quaint translations and arrangements; "King of the Road," "Besame Mucho," and "Spanish Eyes" were popular numbers. A lively rendition of "Mack the Knife" or "Proud Mary," sung in English, usually closed out a night's performance.

 
For New Year's Eve 1978, the accordionist's parents contracted the group to perform for an annual gathering of Chicago snowbirds near Juno Beach, Florida. Mr. Irene packed up the drummer's van and departed for the 22-hour drive on a snowy December morning, just before Christmas Eve.

Juno Beach, Florida, December 31, 1978. Mr. Irene accompanies his band mates on guitar as the revelers prepare to take the dance floor.

Union Pier

Union Pier, Michigan is a short drive from Chicago. Its sandy dunes attracted Chicagoans for many summers. The area underwent a slump in the late 1950s. Beginning in the 1960s, Lithuanian DPs played an important role in the area's revival.

Lithuanians living in Chicago found the Union Pier beaches resembled the white sands of Palanga. The dunes reminded the DPs of better times back in the homeland. Union Pier was to Lithuanian immigrants what the Catskills were to Jewish immigrants.

My Parents had friends who owned cottages—or multiple complexes of cottages—in Union Pier. These were small, unpretentious places; some did not have indoor plumbing. Nonetheless, it was a thrill to visit a cottage, change into a swimsuit, and be in the waters of Lake Michigan. Mr. Irene remembers staying at a Lithuanian resort at Union Pier. Guests at the resort ate family-style meals of Koldūnai, Cabbage Rolls, Kugelis, Cepelinai, and Zrazai. There was a bakery to which visitors could walk on weekend mornings to buy hot, fresh bacon buns. Mr. Irene also recalls that on Sundays, his Dad took him to a corner shop to buy a comic book.

My Parents favored Wisconsin over Union Pier. A couple of factors played into that preference. First, Dad did not like driving through Gary, Indiana. The pollution generated by the steel mills in northeastern Indiana was horrific, and in the pre-air-conditioned car days, the trip could be miserable. Dad wanted the drive to be as pleasant as the destination. Second, I suspect Dad rejected Union Pier for the same reasons he vetoed living in Marquette Park. He found Union Pier heavy with "DP camp culture." Dad was something of a loner, and he shunned situations in which group think prevailed.

Today, Union Pier, like many Lake Michigan shore towns, has been gentrified. It nonetheless retains strong Lithuanian ties. One of the best Midwestern Lithuanian food market is in Union Pier, and Lithuanian artists often exhibit their work in Union Pier. The town still has a number of lovely Lithuanian resorts.

I remember good times in Union Pier.

Union Pier, Michigan, August 1962. I am in the foreground, on the far left, with a friend. You get a sense from this shot of how close the cottages were to the dunes.

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Union Pier, Michigan, August 1962. I enjoyed Lake Michigan because it seemed like an ocean.

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Union Pier, Michigan, August 1962. My friend and I collect beach treasures.

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Union Pier, Michigan, August 1962. I've had enough of the water.

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Union Pier, Michigan, August 1964. It's time to enjoy the sand.

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Union Pier, Michigan, August 1962. My Mom keeps a close eye on everyone.

Lietuvių Jaunimo Centras

The "Lietuvių Jaunimo Centras," or "Lithuanian Youth Center," was the South Side hub of cultural activities in the 1960s.

"JC's," as we called it, was close to the neighborhood occupied by the Marquette Parkers. JC's featured art exhibits at which the Displaced-Persons generation selected modernistic paintings for their homes. Each fall, the center hosted a "Madų Paroda," or fashion show. Expert knitters like my Mom and her friend, Donna, sometimes featured their pieces at the show. Children of the Marquette-Park DPs attended Lithuanian School every Saturday at the center.

JC's also sponsored a Lithuanian choir for teenage singers. I belonged to the choir for a couple of years. The choir practiced every Wednesday night. For me and three of my suburban friends—childhood pals from our satellite, Lithuanian School—choir practice was an opportunity to get out of the house during the middle of the week. Choir practice also served as a pretext when we decided to engage in other mischief. We played hooky so often from choir that the choir master once barely recognized us when we showed up in full folkdress for a performance. (Hi, Mom!!)

Jaunimo Centras is the place at which Lithuanians greeted Simas Kudirka when he finally emigrated to the United States. I sang at the reception that welcomed Kudirka to America.

Finally, JC's organized many stimulating historical conferences for the older set:

Gage Park, Chicago, December 1967. My paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, joins others for a presentation at JC's.

Echoes of DP Culture

My Parents moved away from Brooklyn, New York in the mid-1950s. Mom secured an Illinois medical license and a job in Chicago, so the family resettled in the Midwest. Many Displaced Persons who landed in Chicago made homes in Marquette Park, a community in the heart of the south side that historically was home to many Lithuanians.

My Dad vetoed setting up a household in Marquette Park. He announced that he'd lived in a DP camp long enough, and he did not want to duplicate that experience.

My Parents instead chose to live in a small suburb about nine miles outside of the loop. There was a nest of Lithuanian families in that suburb. Despite their presence, those of us who grew up outside of Marquette Park never were immersed fully in the motherland's culture. It's true that I didn't speak English until I started Kindergarten. But many of the Marquette Park kids continued to speak English with a Lithuanian accent into adulthood. Although the Marquette Parkers could go around the corner and get a plate of Kugelis whenever they had a craving for it, I don't think many of them met a non-Lithuanian—or a non-Catholic—until they started college. Many of those first-generation children seemed themselves displaced, not quite assimilated into American culture.

We sometimes visited the "Lithuanian core." Dad occasionally exhibited photos at the Lithuanian Youth Center, and, during the holidays, we shopped at the Lithuanian delis that carried the foods served at Kūčios. We never, however, were knitted into the social fabric of Marquette Park.

The suburbanites ensured that their children connected with their Lithuanian culture. We attended Lithuanian Saturday school. There, we learned to read, write, recite poetry, and folk dance. In the autumn, our Lithuanians hosted a formal dinner dance. In the summer, they organized picnics at which we ate Lithuanian food and played Lithuanian games.

Finally, the Lithuanian families in our suburb took turns hosting the annual New Year's Eve party and Christmas Day dinners.

Suburban Chicago, December 25, 1961. The suburban Lithuanians gather at my Parent's home for a Christmas Day celebration. My paternal Grandmother Tatjana, sitting at the front, on the left, seems quite satisfied with the affair. My Mom, standing on the right, probably is checking to see if anyone needs anything. Of the persons visible in this photo, my Mom now is the only survivor.
 

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The suburban Lithuanians did a good job. I married Mr. Irene—who grew up in the same suburb—and we still speak Lithuanian at home.