THE TIMES OF OUR LIVES

Al Koch
March 2025

The TIMES OF OUR LIVES: the moments, memories, adventures, people, places, events, milestones, beginnings, and goodbyes are like grains of sand that fall through the hourglass of life. Every now and then we mindfully tilt the hourglass to slow the passage of grains to capture and savor what has been. What follows is a brief snippet of the Times of Our Lives for those familiar with the communities of Whiting and Robertsdale, the Calumet Region, the Little City by the Lake, and the years of the 40s, 50s, and 60s.

One of the fringe benefits of growing up is keeping a scrapbook of the times of our life.  For those of us lucky to grow up in Hammond’s Robertsdale and Whiting, the Little City by the Lake in the 40s, 50s, and 60s, those scrapbooks burgeon with memories and moments of the way we were.  Early on, black & white photographs shared pages with newspaper clippings, ticket stubs, birthday cards, and personal notes.

In concert with personal mementos, the geographic location of one’s hometown’s neighborhoods, businesses, friends, classmates, townspeople, and youthful years from child to grown-up, serve to compliment and embellish those times.

There is no specific moment when one becomes aware of time and surroundings.  Regardless of when one’s memory switches on “record,” we come to treasure the mysterious way past times are captured, stored, inventoried, and retrieved by thought processes within the brain.  As we age, our memory becomes vitally important because we draw upon our storage of experienced life for reference, reflection, and review. Over time, stored memories marinate and age like fine wine. Regardless of the number of years, recalled moments often arrive with wistful aches and depart with a pensive melancholy afterglow. Like an unrequited love, a yearning for a do-over, a chance to do better.

Our childhood and adolescent days occurred during less complicated times. Whiting-Robertsdale was a free-range recreational paradise. Our hometown provided safety, security, short-cut alleys, neighbor’s yards, street corners, teen hangouts, and a Community Center where kids could gather for impromptu seminars and informal get-togethers. We fed coins to jukeboxes, auditioned new 45’s in listening booths at Neil Price’s, and celebrated being young. 

We enjoyed hula-hoops and sock-hops, five cent candy bars; cruisin’ 119th Street in cars filled with youthful energetic classmates and fueled with Standard Oil’s Red Crown gasoline at 23 cents a gallon.  Gals wore ponytails, and saddle shoes. Teen guys sported flat tops and, at times, haircuts resembling the north end of a south bound duck. With neatly combed lanolin-greased hair, we were ready for rock ‘n’ roll; Bill Haley and Elvis never let us down. After school, we watched Dick Clark’s American Bandstand, and Disney’s Mickey Mouse Club on 17” black & white televisions. Rooftop TV antennas became neighborhood status symbols.

Teen girls featured poodle skirts, crinoline petticoats, shirtwaist dresses, blazers, Jantzen sweaters, bobby socks, and angora wrapped class rings. Guys sported Levi’s and loafers, white socks, Oxfords, and leather jackets. The sundry of fads and fashions showcased high school classes at both GRC and WHS. Classrooms pulsed with teenaged energy as students worked to earn credits toward graduation and formed life-long friendships.

Thinking back on those days one always recalls the adventures, people, places and businesses that sustained the lifeblood of our community.  Youthful adventures are now memories, and many of those establishments are now part of our community’s history; others continue to serve residents to this day.  Each remembrance sets off a “mind movie” recalling snippets of days gone by. Over the years, these ordinary places and events became extraordinary steppingstones.  Here is a partial random list of hometown businesses, services, merchants, and places of the heart from the 40s, 50, and 60s.

Phil Smidt and Son, Inc…Chicago’s Last Department Store…Lovasko Studio…Puntillo’s…Weiner Foods…Winsberg’s…Lake County Motor Sales, Inc…Whiting Lumber and Coal Co…The Whiting Store…Kinnane Cleaners…Colonial Food Store…Delores Beauty Shoppe…Josephine’s Style Shop… Curosh’s…John Johnson Illiana Shoe Repair Shop… Doran’s Food Shop…Dr. J. R. Kabat…DDS., Dr. Thornton Courtice, DDS…Thomas J. Wagner Insurance Company…Grenchik’s  American Trust and Savings Bank…Standard Oil Company…Morris Bollhorst State Farm Insurance Company…Hoosier Theater…John A. Ciesco…Bank of Whiting…Bezan’s Whiting Studio…State Bank of Whiting…Condes Grocery…Condes’ Brothers Restaurants…Whiting Lumber and Coal Company…Radio Center…Madura’s Danceland…Dr. M. J.  Ritter… Whiting Drug Store…George’s Steak House…Jack and Jill Children’s Store…Margaret’s Geneva House…Gatto Brothers…Spies of Chicago—“The Best Class Rings Made.”.. Pepsi Cola Bottling Co….Vogel’s…Tri-City Roofing & Sheet Metal…Brown’s Apparel…John A. Ciesco…Inland Steel…American Maize Co…Wm. R. Siltanen, Jeweler…Topper Formal Wear…Orr’s Radio and Television…Lever Brothers…Justak & Sons Trucking Co… McCreary  Barber Shop…Dave’s Tolchinsky’s , Whiting Rexall Drugs…Kinkade’s Bicycle & Fixit Shop…Murad’s Restaurant…R & S Shoes…Carthcart’s Dairy Queen…Illiana Hotel…Richard’s Pharmacy…Standard Hotel… Seifer Furniture…The Hammond Times…Ciesar’s Chrysler-Plymouth Dealer…Neal Price’s The Firestone Store…NIPSCO… Whiting Shoes…Brown’s Women’s Fine Apparel…Bialon Accordion Studio…Lewin & Wolf…Sherman’s Indiana Supply…Hoosier Flower shop…Richard’s Pharmacy…Ed & Paul’s Sportsman’s Club…Rupcich’s Restaurant…Whiting Flower Shop…France Ford…Kubacki Stores…White Star Grocery…Wm. Vater Coal Company…Schlater’s Funeral Home…St. Nicholas Greek Catholic Church…Parkview Florist…Central Drugs…Whiting Elks Lodge No. 1273…Gyure’s Recreation…Parkview Super Mart…Henry Eggers Co., Inc…Baran Funeral Home…Victory Restaurant…Hot Dog Louie’s…Gambini’s…St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church…Western Tire & Auto Store…Andre’s Beauty Box…Aronberg & Kissen Jewelers…Ayre Shoe Repair… Baker Boy Pizza…Bercik’s Filling Station…Boulevard Bakery…Brozovich Food Store…Bubala Food Market…Buksar Sundries…Standard Oil/AMOCO Credit Union…Dr. Ritzi…Dr. Fary….Lever Brothers Credit Union…Calumet Cab…Liberty Savings…City Sales, T. F. Clohessys, Inc… Dernay Filling Station…Fashion Shop…Whiting Police Department…Whiting Fire Department…Gansinger’s Jewelers…Glenn’s Shoe Store…Gold’s Service Station…Golub’s Super Market…Dr. Myron Gordon…Hair Craft Studio…Helen’s Beauty Shop…Dick Hoyt “The Typewriter Man,”… Illiana Florist and Nursery…Hot Dog Louie’s Indiana Red Hotsl…Kurtz Children’s Store…Marcie’s Ladies Store…McLaughlin’s Standard Station…Dr. H. O. Moriarity…Novotny’s Tavern…Owens Funeral Home…Dr. M. D. Picklin…Five Points Super Market…Prairie View Dairy…Rudolf’s House of Beauty…Sam the Barber…Salmon’s Barber Shop…Slack’s Barber Shop…Sandrick’s Sports &  Hardware…Stillwell Furniture…Kroger’s Food Store…National Tea Food Store…A & P Supermarket…Seliger’s Electric…Times-Grafic…Walgreen’s… Sylvester’s Electrical Service…West Park  IGA Grocery…Whiting Surplus Store…Miner-Dunn Diner…Wiener’s Food Store…J. J. Newberry’s…F. W. Woolworth’s…Capitol Theater…Kozacik Hardware Store…Whiting Community Center: Andy Yanas, Hardy Keilman, Albert Koch, Catherine Yakish, Joe Wilson,…Whiting Church of Christ…Cheap Joe’s (Clark Street) Neighborhood Store…Ida’s New Location…41 Outdoor Theater…Jewel Food Store…The Spot…Swarthout Chevrolet…Hansen Buick…Spanburg Funeral Home…Schlatter Ford…State Bank of Whiting…Burton’s Store for Men and Boys…Hoppe’s Drive-In…Steak & Shake—Art’s Drive-In Restaurant…St. John the Baptist Catholic Church and School…St. John’s Panel Room…Slovak Dom…St. Mary’s Hall…Peter & Paul Catholic Church…St. Mary’s Church…Sacred Heart Church and School…McGregor School…South Side School…McHale’s Tavern…Nardi’s Tavern…Moose Hall…Immaculate Conception Church…St. Adalbert’s Church and School…MacGregor School…South Side School…Whiting High School…Masonic Temple…Jansen’s Fruit Market…Calumet Cleaners…Community Bible Church…Whiting License Bureau…Whiting Laundry…Whiting Post Office…Whiting Plumbing…VFW Hall…American Legion Hall…Whiting License Bureau…Whiting News Company…Whiting City Hall…Whiting Primary Building…Andy Kubeck, Whiting Crossing Guard…Whiting Public Library… Whiting Park…Standard Diamonds…Geffert’s Hardware…Sokol Club…Star Sales…Fraternal Order of Eagles…Knights of Columbus… Shimala’s Grocery…George Rogers Clark High School…First Church of Christ…The Chatter Box…Campbell’s Bicycle and Lawnmower Repair…Whiting’s Cigarette Service…Jewel Food Store…Al Knapp’s…Lever Brothers…Amazio…Daly Hall…Ande’s Pizza…Forsythe Park…Ingie’s Drugstore…Latiak’s Standard Station…Federated Metals…Hajduch’s Standard Station…Robertsdale Lumber Company…Northern Indiana Lumber Company…Globe Roofing…Dr. Lynch, DDS… Illinois Bell Telephone Company…Illiana Garage Automobile Repair…Ralph’s Restaurant…Nick’s Poolroom and Snooker Emporium…Jewish Synagogue…Assembly of God Church…Towne House Lanes…Parkview Lanes… Vrabel Photography Studio…Corman Plumbing and Heating…Whiting Clinic…Kosier Funeral Home…Rose & Onnie’s  “ Four Deuces,” …Roosevelt Club… Spebar’s…Konya’s Main Cigar Store… Diamond Tap…Dusty’s Tap…Dottie’s… Hoosier Lounge…Cellar Tap… Supreme Cleaners…National Dairy Co…Central State Bank…Surdy’s Grocery…Peggy’s Grocery…First Southern Babtist Church…Poppen’s Service Station…Bobby Beach…Hammond 41 Outdoor Theater…Wolf Lake…Diamond Tap…Immaculate Conception Grotto…George Lake…The Racetrack…Bairstow Mountains, Stieglitz Park, Goose Island…The Oil Can…Jansen Fruit Market…Leland’s Drug Store…Church of the Nazarene…Heisterberg’s Standard Oil Station…Kubacki’s Grocery…Illiana Garage…Mill’s Auto Supply…Whiting Shade & Awning Co…The Sugar Bowl…Schalcroff’s Drug Store…First Church of Christ, Scientist…Baloff’s Sugar Bowl…Whiting Park Lagoon…Frenchik’s Candy Store…Dr. Kudele…Green Lantern…Standard Drug Store…Dr. Peter Stecy, Dr. Kosior, Dr. McCarthy…Hob Nob Restaurant…Dentist, Dr. Cory…The Spot eatery…Whiting Cab Co…Shoreline Bus Company…Murzyn State Farm…Dimitri’s/Ralph’s  Restaurant…Standard Tap Room…Cozy Tap…Cafe Roosevelt…Curosh’s…Sprout & Davis Trucking…Bill’s Auto Supply…Whiting Laundry…Whiting Shade & Awning-Marvin Finkelstein…Riffer’s Men’s Wear…O’Drobinak Brothers Furniture...Saylor’s Paint Store…Supreme Cleaners…Standard Oil Company/SOCO…AMOCO…Miner-Dunn…McNamara’s grocery…National Diary…Zavesky Movers…Whiting Bakery…Plymouth Congregational Church...First Hungarian Reformed Church…Franklin School…Robertsdale Police and Fire Station…Russell’s TV Repair…The Tumble Inn, Louis Nye…Dr. Levin’s Eye Care Center…Spiccia’s Restaurant…White Castle…and…and…

Without a doubt, growing up in Whiting-Robertsdale in the 40s, 50s, and 60s, was the best thing that could happen to a youngster.

As high school teenagers, many had after-school, part-time jobs that provided spending money and served as foundation for self-reliance and independence.  Before one was licensed to drive, adolescents used the Shoreline bus to chauffeur them from Whiting-Robertsdale to downtown Hammond, East Chicago, and neighboring communities including Chicago’s Loop.   Teenagers always seemed to have the “student fare” of 15 cents, or the “grown-up” 25-cent fare, to feed the meter on the Shoreline bus.  However, treks to Chicago’s Loop via the bus were infrequent because of the fare.  A 1950s, a bus trip to Chicago cost 60 cents.

Regardless of whether one rode the bus or arrived by car, downtown Hammond beckoned and enticed shoppers and consumers with stores, entertainment, restaurants, and places of interest.  Once bus or automobile successfully navigated the lattice of railroad tracks that crisscrossed Hohman Avenue, shoppers could peruse, and purchase needed items at any number of establishments. Listed is a partial, random list of Downtown Hammond businesses, services, and places of interest.:

Goldblatt’s…Penney’s…Millikan’s…Woodmar Shopping Center…Edward C. Minas Department Store …Sears & Roebucks…Montgomery Ward…Rosealee’s Women’s wear…Jack Fox & Son…Joe Hirsch Clothing…Cousin’s Jewelers…War Surplus Store...Two-Legs Men’s Clothing…The Pig Restaurant…Morrie Mages, “Your Store for Sports”…Dick Hoyt- the Typewriter Man…Hank’s Auto Supply…Paramount Theater…Parthenon Theater…Leo P. Knoerzer Cadillac-Oldsmobile….Shaver Pontiac…Arthur Murray Dance Studio…Logan’s Formal Wear…Karmelkorn Shoppe…St. Joseph’s Church…St. Margaret’s Hospital…Kuhn Clinic…Indiana Hotel…Jupiter Store….and…

This writer transitioned from a teenager to grown-up at the speed of life. After graduating from high school in June 1958, at age seventeen, I entered the machinist apprenticeship program at Inland Steel Company in Indiana Harbor, August 1958.  Minimum wage was $1.95 per hour.

In April of 1959, at 18 years of age, I bought my first automobile, a used 1954, 4-door, white over green, Oldsmobile 88 sedan, for $740.00.  A couple of things needed immediate attention. I did not have a driver’s license, nor did I know how to drive.

Oddly, when I went to the license bureau for the automobile’s registration and plate, no one asked if I had a driver’s license.  I paid the fees, showed proof of insurance, and received a plate. On July 1st, 1959.  The steel industry went on strike.  The strike was not settled the until November 1959.  In the interim 116 days, I taught myself to drive and refined my driving and roadway skills, sans a driver’s license.

“The Times of Our Lives” during the summer of ’59, included cruising every evening with a carload of friends to the various drive-in restaurants throughout the Calumet Region.  With no having to go to work due to the strike, every day was a social adventure.  What savings had been accrued were rapidly depleted with each non-workday for recreational activities: Deficit spending for gasoline, burgers, fries, and Pepsi’s at local drive-ins. It wasn’t unusual to put 100 miles on the odometer during an evening’s carousing.  Gasoline was 24 cents a gallon and the 4-barrel, V8 Olds Rocket 88 consumed it with relish!   We devoured the1440 minutes of each day like penny candy, as if we had an unlimited supply.

Here’s a partial list of Calumet Region drive-ins:  Art’s Drive-In…Hoppe’s Drive in…A&W Drive-In…Son’s Drive-In…Drive-O-Matic…Fat Boy Drive-In…Kelly’s Drive-In…Serenade Drive-In…Pow-Wow Drive-In…Patio Drive-In…Frost Top Drive-In…Dog & Suds Drive-In…Blue Top Drive-In…Sammy’s Drive-In…Romano’s Drive-In…and….

With Labor Day approaching, and being out of work for two months, boredom set in. The routine sameness needed reinvigoration, a charging of youthful energy batteries—a new adventure.  One night, with two best buddies, enjoying burgers at the Pow-Wow Drive-In in Hammond’s Hessville section, one of the guys mentioned that Dick Clark and his American Bandstand Cavalcade of Stars would be appearing at the Michigan State Fair in Detroit, over the Labor Day weekend. On the spur of the moment the three of us decided to go.

Having watched teen idols on TV’s American Bandstand we were fired up to see them in person.  The program featured Frankie Avalon, Duane Eddy, The Coasters, Jack Scott, LaVern Baker, Anita Bryant, Freddy Cannon, Bobby Rydell, Rusty York, Skip and Flip, Jan and Dean, Santo and Johnny, and Johnny Ray.   For the three-dollar ticket price, it would be a teenager’s dream come true.

Arriving in Detroit we found being under 21 years if age, we could not rent a motel room.  The three of us slept in the car.  Fortunately, one of the guys had relatives living near Detroit and they were gracious enough and offered room where we could sleep and clean up.  It was quite a weekend. Today those escapades remind me of a favorite movie   Modified to fit the times of our lives, it would be titled: The Summer of ’59. 

Several years later, in 1973, the movie American Graffiti depicted teenaged coming of age antics.  For those who “came of age” during the 50s and 60s, it is easy to identify with the movie’s characters and shenanigans.   Customized cars, rag tops, street sleds, Radio DJs, drivers, and passengers all played major roles in the Times of Our Lives.

By the time the Strike ended, and the steelworkers called back to work, we had matured and reluctantly adapted to the transition from adolescent to adult.  After 116 days the “party” was over.  We went back to responsibilities, schedules, obligations, and the routine of a structured life.  Just before my 19th birthday, I went and procured my Driver’s License.  Thus, ending my nine months of operating a motor vehicle sans license.  There were days I still took the Shoreline bus to work, but driving to work became more frequent—especially when working 4 to 12 and midnight shifts.

 Unexpectedly, in July of 1960, Heaven’s angels arranged an opportunity for me to buy a pre-owned, like-new 1960 Oldsmobile 98, white over ebony, convertible.  Now a two-car owner, I drove the ’54 Olds to work, and the classic rag top when I went out and about.  Convertibles are dream machines during warm spring weather, and the extended daylight hours of summer and autumn.  Nighttime driving offers travelers a banquet for the senses.   This car turned out to be all that, and more.

Recalling a summer night in August of ’61, after sharing an enjoyable movie and dinner with my favorite lady in Chicago, we took a drive to Evanston. With the convertible’s top down and radio on, I headed north. After a brief cruise through the Northwestern University surroundings, we returned to Hollywood Boulevard and headed south. Driving homeward on Lake Shore Drive was like riding a velvet asphalt ribbon. Under a night sky quilted with stars, taillights of vehicles in front resembled a glowing undulating necklace of red jewels.  This was accompanied by a symphony of highly polished lacquered and chromed motorized piston chariots, that followed one another in a moving choreographed cadence gliding from lane to lane, toward their destination.

The light from the August moon danced atop the waters of Lake Michigan, reflecting its light on moored boats, buildings, and automobiles along Lake Shore Drive. Navigating the road, passed high-rise apartments, the 50th On the Lake Motel, elegant homes, and South Shore Country Club, we see in the distance the sky-glow of United States Steel’s south work’s open-hearth furnaces.

Cruising along, enjoying tunes from the WLS Silver Dollar Survey on Don Phillip’s east-of-midnight program, added to the poetry of the night.  Once past the Thunderbird Motel, the journey home seemed to quicken.  All too soon we rejoined Indianapolis Boulevard, passing by Chicago’s Last Department Store before crossing the state line into Indiana.   A few miles and moments later—Home.

When you get a chance to spend quiet moments thinking about the times of your life, do so without hesitation.  Welcome to your mind the thoughts and memories of days gone by. Treat yourself to a soothing beverage and recall the special people, places, and events of your life.

Within the gift of each day’s 1440 minutes is an abundance of green lights and blue skies, accompanied by a myriad of life lessons. Some are enjoyable, others challenge one’s spirit and resolve.  The way the lessons are learned determines the quality of one’s life and character. Reviewing the times and events of life is an opportunity to re-examine heartfelt feelings of progress, retreats, failures, bumps, bruises, scrapes, regrets, and the cloudy, dark, difficult days faced along the way.

Trying to capture and hold onto treasured life moments is futile-- like grabbing smoke. Those idyllic moments raced by, never to return.  The memories captured in our mind, however, are still vivid.  After more than seven decades, recalling those moments of our life still engenders peaceful, easy feelings that make the heart sing and the spirit smile with appreciation and affection for the Times of Our Lives.