JakeParrillo.com

If you get a chance, take a walk by the Elmhurst Police Station on First Street and get a view of a newly installed/created 'demonstration rain garden' that they've recently built out front.  As of the past few days, the construction fence was still up around the project, but it appears that all of the work is complete and now they're just wrapping up the project.  The City of Elmhurst is - kind of - putting their money where their mouth is on this.  I say 'kind of' because they, ummm, didn't use their own money I don't think; they got a grant. 
Details on the garden can be found here on the Elmhurst Storm Water Plan site where they describe the project: The Project Involves the construction and maintenance of a rain garden, sized between 800 and 1,200 square feet, to include an engineered soil mix to promote infiltration, as well as a variety of native shrubs, grasses, and forbs, immediately south of the Police Station. The goal is to reduce the runof…

When we first moved to town, there was an Anderson's bookstore right in the Elmhurst City Centre.  For real.  Then they closed down, scurried back to Downtown Naperville and a weird hookah place opened up in the same location just north of Francesca's on York.  Today?  That tobacco/hookah place is now closed and gone with the windows paper'd over and a 'for lease' sign up in front.  We lose another retailer and the associated sales tax, but we get a brand-new opportunity for something great.  I would think that parking is one of the tough parts with this location, but with the new apartment buildings gaining occupancy just north of this, there should be some demand for the space, right?

But then again, right across the street from this is that other newly renovated set of storefronts (where the old Salt Creek Pottery was located on the east side of York, just south of City Hall) that are all totally vacant, too.  Perhaps, retail isn't in the Elmhurst City Cen…

What was Wok 'N Fire just six months ago is now an empty restaurant as Bok Choy has announced their closing in the Elmhurst City Centre.  The sign thanks customers for 15 years of support and asks them to visit the Addison location.  We only visited Wok n' Fire once during our 10 years in town and didn't make it into Bok Choy, so this is hardly a loss for the dining scene for our family, but it is a shame to see another place go in the City Centre.  New places have come (Red Arrow Tap Room) and are on their way (Beerheads) but we'll just have to add this to the long list of "So Long..." posts here on the blog about vacancies in the Elmhurst City Centre.

A few of the most recent:
So Long, Theatre History Society of AmericaSo Long, Salseria in Elmhurst City CentreSo Long, Cold Stone In The Elmhurst City Centre

Day three of showing off the various treasures from the Elkhart Antique Flea Market up in Wisconsin that we scooped up during our visit in May.  First there was the chandelier that Nat scored from these two sweet gentlemen.  Then there was the Schlitz beer glass pitcher.  And then yesterday was the vintage Santa and Mrs. Claus salt and pepper shaker sitting on a cute bench.  The last of the treasures is this Lionel Gateman accessory - item number 45N.  It is destined as a Father's Day gift for my Dad who is the original model train guy in our family.  He runs his early 1940's train set from his childhood and has a handful of vintage accessories.

This one was cheap - the guy took my $5 offer - and because it doesn't come with the box is probably priced close to right.  The reason?  There just aren't that many guys who want to buy vintage trains these days, right?  They either have them or they're gone.  I think that is driving the prices down a bit on vintage Lion…

At the Elkhart Antique Flea Market there were so many treasures that it was hard to focus.  It was colder than we thought and we weren't dressed for the wind and weather, so we were hustling around.  I posted about the Schlitz glass pitcher yesterday, but today comes a treasure that is closer to my sweetspot:  vintage Christmas stuff.

Above you see Santa and Mrs. Claus on a little bench giving each other a smooch - and it is pretty cute.  They're salt and pepper shakers and this is what I *think* is the first matching pair of vintage Christmas ones we have.  I posted about this "Merry" (without Christmas) one back in 2014.  And this spaghetti trim Salt shaker (no pepper) in 2015.

This new pair was in a booth that was close to the entrance and I picked them up and liked them right away.  But, it was like the 2nd booth we had visited, so I passed and moved on.  Just like the Schlitz pitcher, since it was on the way out, I stopped by and the vendor was packing up so …

Last week, I posted about our experience at the Elkhart Antique and Flea Market up in Wisconsin and how we scored a few items including a chandelier for our #newoldfarmhouse.  One of the other items I picked up was this beauty of a glass pitcher from Schlitz.  It has "The Beer that made Milwaukee Famous" written in a cute script and was a steal at just $5.00.  We were walking out and I was carrying - gingerly - the light fixture that Nat had scored in a box and it was awkward.  So, about every 100 yards or so, I had to put it down and re-adjust my hands on it.

One of those stops happened to be in front of a booth where the guy was packing up.  He had this pitcher on the table.  I picked it up, turned it around and looked at the price.  $15.  I set it back down and said.... "nice pitcher".  But it was too much for me.  The guy practically begged me to buy it.  He said it was a rough day for him and that he'd take anything for it.  I hemmed and hawed and finall…