A great 1966 view of a new Jewel-Osco “Master Market” combination store, complete with rooftop parking to maximize customer draw in this Chicago city location, a place where free parking can’t always be taken for granted.
This store typifies the architectural style that Jewel (often affectionately referred to as “Jewel's” or The Jewel) used for decades – clean and simple, not flashy. But for those of us who grew up there – memorable.
Just wanted to let you know how truly awesome this blog is. I have added your blog to my links. Richard
ReplyDeletethe only other time I've seen rooftop parking was at a K-Mart in GUAM.
ReplyDeleteThat's great! I wonder if that's the one off of Elston and Addison?
ReplyDeleteAnyone have any idea where this was? Its probably in an outlying bungalow belt neighborhood, but I can't quite place it.
ReplyDeleteCould this be the Broadway/Addison Jewel?
ReplyDeleteI have said this before...but it is worth saying again...this blog is worth its weight in gold just from priceless photos like this one! And yes, we always had to stop at "The Jewel's" to see grandma working the old-fashioned cash register!
Richard - Thanks so much, and I'm a huge fan of your site! You cover a great many of my interests - Railroads, Disneyland, old ads, and on and on. Great Stuff!
ReplyDeletea-dawg - Scarce parking in Guam? I wouldn't have guessed. I have a pastor friend who lived there for a while and I'll have to ask him if his family shopped there.
Brandon - I looked up Elston and Addison on Windows Live Local and couldn't pick it out.
Jacob - I'm hoping someone will let us know.
Adrienne- I looked at that store on Windows Live Local and the current Jewel-Osco looks very different, and no rooftop parking. Maybe they tore the store down and totally rebuilt it. Jewel has done that a lot.
That's such a great story about your Grandma!
wow... bananas were 9 cents a pound!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid, we went to the Jewel on North Avenue just outside the city limits in Oak Park. It had the rooftop parking, but I don't think that one had an Osco/
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely not the Addison and Elston one since that one was built in the early 1980s, it doesn't date back to the 1960s. I don't think it is that old. It's possible that it is the one on Broadway but I have my doubt. it just doesn't look likt that one either.
ReplyDeleteChaosdaily - 9 cents a pound and 28 cents a gallon gas. Those were the days!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - a couple of folks have mentioned the Oak Park Jewel. Maybe-
Didi - I agree. Only possible case is if the stores were replaced.
In the window they are advertising the "Let's Go to the Races" promotion. Anyone remember this? They would give out tickets at check-out that were color-coded for the week. Then you would watch the re-broadcast of a horse race on Saturday night to see if your horse won.
ReplyDeleteThey would give you a ticket when your receipt. Your horse was always ahead until the last 15 seconds and drop off. I swear the race would start out sunny and end in a rainstorm. Jack Drees was the announcer, he also did the White Sox games around that time.
DeleteJohn Z. Thanks for filling us in on that! I was a bit young to remember any Jewel promotions at the time, but I'll have to bounce that one off of my folks to see if they remember it! Very Chicago indeed, what with its many racetracks. I've been gone for 20 years but let me see how many I can remember ...Hawthorne, Sportsman's, Arlington, Maywood, Calumet....wow.
ReplyDeleteWow! That's the same store design of the Jewel that my Mom shopped at when I was a kid. It was on Green Bay Rd. in Evanston and is now an Office Max/Depot (can't remember which one)...it may still use the rooftop parking. I don't think this is the same store in the picture because of: 1) The surrounding neighborhood looks like a bungalow area of Chicago. 2) The streetlight is not an Evanston streetlight. 3) I don't think the Evanston location had an Osco.
ReplyDeleteChris - Two or three people have informed me, with confidence, that it's the Oak Park North Avenue location.
ReplyDeleteI vaguely remember going to a Jewel Osco store just like this one as a kid, it was in Evanston so it was definitely there in the late 90s. We parked on the roof and there was an escalator down into the store. Later it became an office supply store we went in there to buy a computer mouse and it still had the roof parking but the escalator was replaced with stairs. Looking at google maps at some point they removed the roof parking access so its just the main building now, but the parking lot lights are still on the roof.
ReplyDelete