It all started when I was a little kid... Page 1
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I
was born May 25, 1951, so these pictures were taken when I was about 4
months old. My sister, Lisa, and I are in lots of these photos. (I
don't look to excited, do I? I look like a zombie in that first
picture.) My
sister, brother, and I grew up on the south side of Chicago during the
'50's and '60's. It was almost like living in the suburbs at that
time; lots of kids in the neighborhood, tree-lined streets, the
schoolyard at the end of our block, and Palmer Park just a half mile
walk from our home.
Palmer Park has quite a history, too. I'll tell you about my portion of it. It is quite a big park, by most people's standards. 1/4 mile on each side. If I remember correctly, it had three major baseball diamonds and three or four smaller diamonds in the center of the park. It was sort of like a bowl that dropped down about four feet from street level. At the top of the 'bowl' was the main asphalt path that circled all the diamonds and two sets of tennis courts. Connected to this circular path were other 'access' paths that led from the street corners and passed kiddy playgrounds with slides, teeter-totters, and swing sets (I just looked up teeter-totter on the 'net for spelling and found that it's spelled correctly! It's also known as a 'seesaw'. I forgot that.) At the north end of the park there are the administration buildings, olympic-size pool, kiddy (wading) pool, handball court and track. The handball courts reside inside one end of the track. The track was flooded each year in the winter to form an ice-skating rink. They even had a warming cabin with pot-belly stove, but as I remember it I still froze my butt off! Of course, the park has dozens of benches liberally sprinkled throughout and a park wouldn't be a park without trees. There were more trees of all kinds that I can remember counting. My
friends and I practically lived at that park, when we weren't at the
schoolyard playing ball. So many memories, too. Summers
swimming, playing baseball in the teen leagues. I was on the
Giants for my two years that I played. It was good to feel part of
something. Even when we were younger we had a great time swinging
on the swings and so forth. When I hear people's recollection of
their experiences at Palmer, it brings back memories for all.
Palmer Park has many memories for thousands of South-siders over the
years.
I was just thinking; it took me 50+ years
to get to this point in my life. It will take quite a bit of time
to tell all these stories that I know, too. I guess I better get
going!
Check out NEW pictures on the next two pages... Here are more pix for you to enjoy. I'll update the site, (hopefully), in the near future to continue the story... These pix were taken on Thanksgiving, 2003.
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My Dad, Angelo Cantele
My Mom, Frances Cantele
My sister, Lisa Baker
My brother, John Cantele
My brother-in-law, Chuck Baker