Oak Lawn IL Real Estate News

I don’t know what made me start thinking about the fun times I had as a teenager shopping at Evergreen Plaza, but a wave of nostalgia swept over me. Maybe it was because I was eating a mini burger rolled up like a ball that made me think of Wimpy’s Restaurant, named after the hamburger eating friend of Popeye.  Their burgers were typical flat burgers but as I was eating mine I somehow thought about the many laughs my friends and I shared eating at Wimpy’s.  I feel sorry for the waitresses, although I think we always left a tip.

I can’t remember the last time I shopped at The Plaza.  If we didn’t eat at Wimpy’s we would sometimes eat at Jansen’s Hot Dog Shop.  And we loved creating our own sundaes at, I think, Demmlers (or something that started with a D).

My Mom used to take me to The Plaza when it was an uncovered mall.  I barely remember the time my Mom and my friend’s Mom shopped there and we got lost and actually crossed a street.  Thank goodness we were found.

As a teenager living in Oak Lawn, we would take the bus, usually at 95th & Cicero or Kostner to the Plaza.  There were so many stores and I’ll always fondly remember the shoe store that had a slide to the downstair area that also had some kind of horses that you could sit on, like carousel horses without the carousel.

Then Ford City was built and became popular and I think we started going there more.  Again, it had many shops, especially when the lower level was opened.  We usually took a bus there, too, and it was a bit closer.

Over the years, other malls were built such as Westfield Mall in Chicago Ridge and Orland Park mall.  I still shop in Ford City Mall once in a while but I usually go to Westfield Mall since it’s closer.  In fact, I hate shopping so it’s no longer the thrill it used to be when I was much younger.

But the mall that invokes such happy memories is still The Plaza in Evergreen Park.  It’s a very popular piece of Evergreen Park real estate located at 95th & Western Ave.

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