My daughter writes her own blog and hopefully you've read it. It's called "When You Put it That Way" by Teppi Dachman Jacobsen and she writes about topical happenings. She suggested that I talk more about Chicago Then as part of Chicago Now. So that's what I plan to do.
When she was a little girl, we used to watch The Honeymooners with Jackie Gleason and Audrey Meadows as Ralph and Alice Kramden (we now watch the DVD's). If you have ever watched, you'll notice they had an ice box in their kitchen. Alice made some great cutting edge comments about their luxurious appliances. It always struck me as funny because my parents and perhaps yours too had an ice box.
They were decorative but useless in keeping anything cold for more than a few days. Frozen foods weren't discovered until the 1950's and even if they were there was no storage in the ice box for freezing. When I mentioned the ice box on my facebook page as a future blog I was surprised at the comments even before I sat down to write. Some dear friends sent messages about their own experiences. The one I enjoyed the most was near and dear to my heart. That when the ice man did cometh, out of sight he would go into the back of his truck, chop off a piece of ice, and suck on it like a popsicle on a hot summer day. Ah such sweet memories.
One message said all she could remember was the ice box was too small and it was a pain in the neck to remove the dripping tray from the melted ice. Our own gang of boys would wait for the ice man to catch us so we could run while he was yelling "stay away from my ice".
So to keep the ice box in perspective, today when you want a glass of water you go the modern refrigerator and press the button and out comes water. If you want ice you press another button. You want something from the freezer you casually select something and no doubt microwave it as per directions.
Think about the space you have. Room for a weeks worth of groceries or more if so desired. Spoilage is rare, self defrost refrigerators are the vogue and life is easier due to this marvelous invention. Now let us return to the days of yesteryear. Although somewhat decorative the space inside was small. They had several shelves and one large space where the ice was placed with a drip pan under it. Mr. Banks, a name I will always remember was our ice man. He would deliver it to our second floor walk up apartment. He took a block of ice with a hugh scissors like pliers. He then placed the ice on his shoulder that was covered with leather so the ice would not freeze or drip on him. Those of us that remember those days found it exciting. And while the boys grabbed the ice chunks and ran he favored the girls and always had a sliver of ice for them.
Since you had to purchase groceries on a steady basis due to a lack of space and spoilage problems our Mother's had to plan their meals very carefully Yet here was a positive side to the endless shopping. Unlike today's super markets we had any number of grocery stores in our Chicago neighborhoods. On our block alone which was from 15th and Trumbull to 15th and St. Louis, we had 4 family owned stores, a bakery and even a corner deli. They were all limited in selection and tried to keep an inventory of their customer's needs.
Now in those grand olden days our grocery store looked like the one on Little House On The Prairie run by the Olsen's. Each item requested was brought to the counter by the owner while he patiently listened to the customer and all her problems. With the order completed he would count the number of items, take a grocery bag and list all the prices on it. What was always amazing was the speed in calculating the final price. And he was rarely to never wrong in his addition. That was step one.
Now what to do about chicken, fish or meat. You went to a neighborhood meat market and just like the grocery store the customer had their list of needs and if he had the item it would be cut to your specs and wrapped. Sometimes our Mother would send one of her four boys with the "list" and money to purchase her items. Hopefully you would be the only customer, as each one would take up to at least 30 minutes. That's how you learned patience.
So now you brought the groceries and meat products home to the ever faithful ice box. Then Mom would have to figure out how to place the items in there. That tiny little square only cooled by a melting block of ice. The meat you had to use that day or the next or it would spoil. But dear readers, that's just the way it was in Chicago Then.
Now chuckle if you must but remember these are memories, good memories for all of us who lived in Chicago at a time when things were very different. Now go enjoy your modern appliances in Chicago Now. Bon appetite.
Memories light the corners of my mind and I hope yours too.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Tags: Honeymooners, Ice Box, Iceman, Refrigerator
Norm
4 days, 3 hours ago