For those of you who were unable to attend the Peterson Centennial in May 2025, it was an incredible event — pure joy to talk with so many people all from the same neighborhood.

The hallway outside the gym was a popular place to mingle and view class photos through the years. (The two photos below are from Catherine Korda via Facebook).

Inside the gym, classes from each decade were photographed, and you can see (and download) these photos on The Friends of Peterson group website homepage. And, sorry, we didn’t identify who’s who in the photos.

Don’t miss the incredible video that is also on the Friends home page, just above the class photos. It runs 16.5 minutes. The student AV club produced the video. I’m one of the interviewees, along with other current and former Peterson students.

The Program

Axios Chicago reporter and Peterson graduate Monica Eng moderated a panel of class representatives from each decade. Seated from left, Zalman Usiskin (1950s); Lynn Sweet (1960s); Danny Miller (1970s); Monica Eng, standing (1980s); Josh Schukas (1990s); Linley Erickson (2000s); Joseph Zanca (2010s, Monica’s son); Nazarin Iskandarova (2020s).

The photo below is of the program audience (Catherine Korda via Facebook).

Before the alumni panel presentation, a number of school officials spoke. The recording from this portion of the program is here.

As a reminder, there is a website devoted to the Peterson centennial. Include among the photos are memorabilia provided by former students and 8th grade class photos going back to the 1920s — about 80 percent of the class are represented. This website will remain active for at least another year.

Sign up even if you can’t attend in person to learn about the launch of the website and how to share photos of your Peterson memorabilia and your recollections. Class photos, report cards, graduation ribbons — we know a lot of you saved everything and have amazing memories to share!

You can also follow group updates on these Facebook event page, Peterson Elementary School 100th Anniversary Celebration and on this group page Mary Gage Peterson Elementary School.

As part of our Von Historians Club project to research WWII veterans who attended Von Steuben, we were fortunate to meet with a local stage actor who attended our school, Myron “Mike” Nussbaum. We went to his condo with our teacher, Ms. Meghan Thomas, on a Saturday to discuss his experiences in WWII and Albany Park, but we ended up learning so much more.

Talking to someone who went to our high school over 80 years ago is an amazing, mind-blowing experience. In today’s day and age, calling high school stressful is an understatement, especially to students who take all honors and AP classes. According to Mike Nussbaum, high school back then was all about fun — at least that’s the impression we got from him.

Mike is by far one the most interesting, let alone successful, men we’ve ever had the opportunity to meet. He has gone through several careers in his lifetime, from starting a company with his brother-in-law as an exterminator, to working as a salesman at his father-in-law’s department store, to taking part in WWII and, most importantly, a stage actor.

When we first met with Mike, we didn’t know exactly what to expect, but we did hope to gain new insights on exactly how Von Steuben differed from our day and age. Mike Nussbaum graduated from Von just before the United States entered WWII. We were most curious to know what high school life was like for teens in his era. Mike described an image of Von Steuben in the 1940s that was lively and full of fun. We realized that even though much time has passed since Mike went to Von, we aren’t so different from those who came before us — we’re all just Von students.

Mike had the role of party planning events and described how students would go to the auditorium to dance to records on stage during their lunch period. The neighborhood had everything that was needed for hanging out after school and on weekends. Movie theaters populated almost every corner, making it near impossible to not have fun. We believe teens at Von still have just as much fun as former students did, regardless of era.

After he left Von Steuben, Mike went to the University of Wisconsin and then enlisted in the army. He never saw combat, but he was a teletype operator who delivered messages from the front. He was on duty the night the war ended!

We learned it was common for young men to join up and they even saw it as an honor. Mike was no different. He said there was no question back then for young men, but that they would join the war effort. It was considered unpatriotic not to. He said it was also expected in the neighborhood, as so many of the residents of Albany Park at that time were Jewish and had family in Europe and were personally affected by the war.

According to Mike, even though high school life was light, students were glued to newspapers and radios listening to news of the war. There was constant fear for the safety of friends and family. His perspective was so interesting and provided us with firsthand information about the school and the neighborhood as we study veterans who attended Von Steuben.

Recently, we had the opportunity to see Hamlet at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, where Mike played a gravedigger, a role that was hilarious and added some light-hearted fun to the very serious play.

Mike told us that he loves acting because it gives him an opportunity to be a character other than himself. Seeing him on stage, we quickly noticed how full of energy and excitement Mike appeared, compared to how calm he was when we interviewed him.

It has been an honor to talk with Mike and see him act on stage. He has lived such a full and exciting life, and it’s so inspiring to know his interests began at Von Steuben. His classmates, knowing how he loved literature and acting put “Myron, our Lord Byron” by his senior photo in the 1941 yearbook. People age and some things change, but others stay the same.

If we’re lucky, we future Von Steuben grads will live as long and fulfilling a life as Mike Nussbaum.

On March 25, Forgotten Chicago presented a program on Lincolnwood history to a packed house at the Lincolnwood Public Library. Presenter Patrick Steffes touched on the founding of the suburb and its name change from Tessville, but focused his talk on period starting in 1920, when development began to heat up, slowly at first.

Patrick shared many interesting historic, little-seen plans and photographs documenting the growth of Lincolnwood. In the mid-1920s, when the population boomed, real estate developers introduced wildly ambitious projects — many of which remained empty lots well into the 1930s due to the Great Depression. Despite the slow start, a number of remarkable, historically significant buildings and businesses were established in Lincolnwood.

Perhaps the most famous of all Lincolnwood buildings is the Hyatt House Hotel, or as it was popularly known, the Purple Hotel. Built by the Pritzker family in 1960 and demolished in 2013, the hotel is fond memory for many people who lived in the area and attended dinners, bar mitzvahs, graduations, weddings and other events at the hotel.

I recall being fascinated as a young child by how different the structure looked from anything else I had ever seen, and I passed the building a million times, but I never went inside. Patrick spent some time talking about the architect, John Macsai, who designed many Chicago buildings I love.

A highlight of the program was the raffle held by the Lincolnwood Library. The prize was a cherished piece of history, a brick from the Purple Hotel. Guess who brought home the prize?

An imaginative, innovative picture book that will awaken a love of Chicago in kids of all ages, Chicago Treasure, by Larry Broutman, Rich Green and John Rabias, defies categorization. Like a cabinet of curiosities, its pages delight the reader with their many wonders.

Chicago Treasure also is a kind of community project, organized around the concept of seamlessly embedding photographs of Chicago children into images that fall into one of three categories. While diverse Chicago youth from all walks of life populate Chicago Treasure, many are students at the Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Disabled’s preschool.

In the first section, “Just Imagine,” starry-eyed youngsters become the heroes of their favorite fairytales, folk tales, and nursery rhymes brought to life through Rich Green’s lush illustrations.

In the second section, “Now Showing,” photographs of contemporary kids are digitally placed in paintings by Norman Rockwell, Edward Hopper, Grant Wood, Paul Gustave Fischer, Jean Beraud, Gustave Caillebotte, and others.

In the final section, “Sightings,” Chicago youth, often accompanied by exotic animal sidekicks, explore their city’s cultural landmarks in bold ways
that may not be possible in the boring confines of reality.

At a hefty 168 pages long, this lovely book will enchant young and old alike for years to come. You can purchase Chicago Treasure on Amazon, BN.com and everythinggoesmedia.com. All author proceeds are donated to the Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Disabled, and Access Living, Chicago-based nonprofit service agencies.

(Disclosure: I received a review copy from the publisher, Everything Goes Media, LLC.)

North River Commission and the Albany Park Chamber of Commerce are partnering with Albany Park Dines (a project of Albany Park neighbors), Chicago for Chicagoans, Brick of Chicago, Nighthawk Chicago, and The Kedzie Inn for Tastes and Tours of Albany Park, a weekend filled with organized tours and activities highlighting the great community of Albany Park over the weekend of May 3-5. Please visit the North River Commission website event listing for complete information.

The Tastes and Tours weekend encourages neighborhood residents and visitors to Albany Park to explore the neighborhood’s rich history through walking tours, food tours, history events, neighborhood trivia, and more, all led by various community partners.

I’ll be involved in two events. The first is the North Side History Roundtable on May 3 at 6:30 pm at the Kedzie Inn, 4100 North Kedzie. The event is free, but registration is required. I’ll be joining moderator and organizer Patti Swanson of Chicago for Chicagoans, Jacob Kaplan of Forgotten Chicago; Joel Bookman, former director of the North River Commission and current board treasurer; Anthony Casimir Alfaro, historian and blogger.

The second event I’m doing is technically outside of Albany Park but included in the weekend events. I’ll be leading a North Park Village walking tour to explore the former grounds of the Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium, on Sunday, Mary 5. The program will include a talk with slides and a 45-minute guided walk. I’m thrilled to announce a special guest, Will Quam, whose Brick of Chicago project is fabulous. Once you’ve seen the former Sanitarium buildings, you’ll appreciate the deep knowledge and insights about brickwork that Will brings to our exploration of this site.

The walking tour of the North Park Village is free, but limited to the first 35 people who register in advance. Registration opens on April 19, so mark your calendars now. Donations will be accepted on behalf of the Friends of North Park Village Nature Center.

I hope to see some of you at one of these events, so we can looking back at our old neighborhood together. If you can’t make it, I’ll post photos so you can enjoy the sights.

Mark your calendars now and plan to join us for a blast from the past!

What: 45th Reunion of the Von Steuben High School Class of ’74

When:  Saturday, October 26, 2019

Where: The Warehouse Eatery, Deerfield, IL.

Please use the contact form to provide your email address or physical address if you would like to receive more information about this event.

If you’re on facebook, like our reunion page and let us know if you plan to attend!

When Jerry Jacover was 11 years old, his parents did the unthinkable. Jerry fought it with everything he had, but it happened anyways. In 1956, the Jacover family moved from 5748 N. Christiana to Skokie.

More than sixty years ago he moved and Jerry still remembers Hollywood Park vividly, right down to his old phone number: JUniper 8-7911. He recalls playing miniature golf at Dwarf Golf (which was renamed the Bunny Hutch); buying baseball cards and his favorite candy, Snaps, at the Hollywood Bowl; getting after-school treats at the Bryn Mawr Bakery; borrowing books from the Chicago Public Library branch on Bryn Mawr for the summer reading required by his mother; breaking a basement window playing baseball in the street; getting injured playing football on the gravel at Peterson School; going to Shaare Tikvah four days a week; eating at Lerner’s Hot Dogs; and switching to the wrong L line on the way home from Wrigley Field.

Jerry’s family moved away from Hollywood Park seven years before my family moved in. The difference in years makes no difference; we remember the same things. Miss Reid was the kindergarten teacher at Peterson, and we both had Mr. Kaz (short for Kazmarek) for gym and Mrs. Geib for sixth grade. In the playground girls played hopscotch and jumped rope, boys played pinners, dodge ball and kickball and everybody played Red Rover.

Jerry lived for sports and was a good athlete. He played football and baseball and remembers the first question you’d ask a new kid in school was, Cubs or White Sox? If the kid said, “White Sox,” he was a traitor.

He remembers hitting a ball down the street and breaking a neighbor’s basement window. He did the right thing: he rang the doorbell and said he would fix it. The homeowner and Jerry measured the window, then Jerry headed over to the Bryn Mawr Hardware, which is the same hardware store I went to with my mother when I was young.

Store owner Maury Munson, or whoever was minding the store that day, taught 10-year-old Jerry how to replace a pane of glass and sold him the necessary supplies. He returned to the building and, for the first time, he fixed a broken window by himself.

Jerry also remembers playing football on the gravel playground at Peterson School. He was the quarterback, and the guys were in a huddle when someone told Jerry his mouth was bleeding. Jerry had bit through his tongue and the tip was falling off. The boys walked Jerry across Bryn Mawr to Plotkin’s Pharmacy. Of course, Mr. Plotkin knew who Jerry’s mother was and called her to pick him up. Somehow, his mother borrowed a car and took him to the doctor’s office, where the doctor stitched together Jerry’s tongue. The next day, Jerry was back in school.

In 2008 Jerry wrote a novel, Merkle’s Curse: Why the Chicago Cubs Have Not Won a World Series Since 1908. Although the subtitle is outdated, the book is not. Tracing the curse to its Old Testament origins, the book follows two die-hard Cubs fans who hope to solve the mystery so their team can at last win the World Series.

Jerry’s memories of Hollywood Park inspired several scenes in the book. Here’s how the young boys picked sides:

“One threw a bat in the air, which the second boy caught one-handed with the nub of the bat facing up. The captains alternated putting a hand, then a finger, up the bat handle until the second boy called ‘crow’s feet.’ He then gripped the handle nub, talon-like, with the tips of his fingers. When his counterpart failed to kick the bat out of the second boy’s hand, the second boy had first pick in selecting his team.”

I remember countless times I stood in the gym or on the playground, waiting “to be picked.” Here, Jerry calls the Hollywood Bowl “Plotkin’s candy store,” borrowing the name of the real pharmacist who had helped out when Jerry bit off his tongue:

“Then he went to ‘Plotkin’s’ candy store and bought a ‘six-pack’ of baseball cards. He placed a nickel on Mr. Plotkin’s glass counter. ‘Hope you get a Hank Sauer,’ Plotkin said with a distinctly European accent as he reached for the coin.”

Thanks to Jerry Jacover for bringing our old neighborhood back to life through his memories and his novel. And, a shout-out to Jerry’s friend, Dr. Kotler, for remembering my father, Dr. O’Cherony.

Guest blogpost by Charles “Chuck” Bordo

I was a member of the Deborah Boys Club, and an active member of the Top Hats in 1961 and 1962. Where I lived in Budlong Woods was a relatively new neighborhood, and Mather High School had recently opened, so I had the choice of going to either Amundsen or Mather. I chose Mather because it was a bit closer.

My sister Renee, who was six years older, attended Senn High School. She lived with my aunt and uncle around Foster and Kimball avenues, while the rest of the family was attempting to move from the West Side, which had become a dangerous place to live.

At the Deborah Boys Club, I found I shared common ground with the boys from Von Steuben and Roosevelt high schools. I related to them better than the Mather kids, who tended to be more – let me say, fashionable and money-conscious.

We hung out at Deborah as well as River Park, where we met and became friends with guys who lived at Lawrence and Chapin Hall. Lawrence Hall was a shelter for homeless boys, and Chapin Hall was an orphanage for boys and girls. Those guys were tougher, mainly due to their upbringing and situation they found themselves in; however, it was easier for me to relate to them.

Of Top Hats I hung out with that I can remember were John Oshana, Larry Schwab, Larry Goodman, Bob Kanter and Gene Litberg. Bob’s father owned Lou’s Flower Shop on Western Avenue, and he hired many of us who had driver’s licenses to deliver flowers, mostly during the holidays. It was sometimes a real treat (not a treat at all) to deliver flowers to funeral homes, where some owners found it fun to take us to where the embalming was done.

On the opposite side of the spectrum was Gene Litberg’s father, who owned Litberg Bagel Company [according to a 1970 news article, “Noshing at the Deli,” Leonard Litberg, a third-generation bagel baker, owned Litberg Bagel Company, located at 1519 West Devon) where we could help unload trays of bagels coming out of the ovens at 4:00 am. Taking warm bagels off and eating them while really warm left a lasting impression on me. There were many times Gene would bring bags of bagels to some of our get-togethers. We would often find ourselves sleeping in Bob Kanter’s basement by the fireplace to keep warm. After eating our fill of bagels, we had bagel fights.

Our club jackets were reversible: the side that was white with black stripes and black collars with Top Hats emblazoned on the back and a Top Hat and cane on the front was for social events, while we would wear the black side with the white stripe and Top Hats on the back and the top hat and cane on the front when we were anticipating an altercation

We bought our jackets from Ned Singer and we wore them proudly. Most of us also wore 3/4 length leather jackets and with our collars up and our hair greased back, we thought we looked pretty darn tough. If any of us were in trouble or felt we were in trouble we could call Lawrence Hall and we would have cars full of guys coming to the rescue. I really don’t remember any real fights, but more posturing than anything and the other guys backing down.  

Around 1963 and 1964, we got more involved with other things, like trying to save money for college or worrying about going to Viet Nam. Many of my friends after graduation either were drafted or enlisted in various parts of the service. In the late sixties we would sometimes hear of someone we knew being killed over there. 

We had a great group of guys who shared a common bond, and overall I consider it a more memorable time in my life. 

Article cited: Savela, M. (1970, Mar 29). NOSHING AT THE DELI. Chicago Tribune (1963-Current File) Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/169029632?accountid=3688

If you graduated from Von Steuben High School in 1969, this is your 50th reunion. Join your former classmates for a party on August 31 at the East Bank Club in Chicago.

For information, send an email to: reunion1969 (at) yahoo (dot) com. Note that I’ve written the email address as text to avoid spam. If you email the organizers, please be sure to use the correct punctuation to send your email.