06.08.2010
Who's the Boss?
A few years back, we designed a great sales office for Toll City Living in Hoboken, NJ. Though the sales office was eventually closed, when Kate and I were in Hoboken last month we decided to stop by and see what's happening at the property now. Sadly, it has become one of the thousands of non-descript cell phone stores that blight much of the American architectural landscape. However, you can imagine our surprise when it turned out that the shop next door was none other than Carlo's City Hall Bakeshop, of Cake Boss fame.
I just knew we had to get solid proof of our little brush with fame. It was a ridiculous hassle getting a passerby to take our photo, but it all worked out in the end. Enjoy!
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04.13.2010
The Rink
Some of the best of my childhood memories revolve around the place that I grew up. It was a development of 205 single family homes built around a small lake in the western suburb of Hinsdale. My parents built their three bedroom, two bath yellow brick ranch home in The Golfview Hills neighborhood for $17,500 in 1959. After the sixth child was born, we moved up to a four bedroom, two bath on the lake.
The great memories for the most part are comprised of the times we spent on or in what we lovingly referred to as 'The Lake' and its adjacent park. Winters were filled with hockey games, ice boating, 3 wheeler races, the winter carnival, and dreams of being Peggy Fleming. Summers were for fishing, sailing, regattas, canoeing and paddle boating. The Lake and park were always buzzing with activity.
As I drive through the community today, at least a third of the little houses we all grew up in with four, five, and six kids have been torn down and replaced with McMansions. Sometimes two or three of the old houses have been combined to make just one home for a family of today with just two children. As these bigger homes attempt to bring community inside with home theaters, billiard rooms, and spas, what happens is the dismantling of the actual community. The Lake and park are mostly empty now. No skaters, no sailors, no fun!
This year, my husband and I decided to give our own children a taste of what we enjoyed as kids, and built an ice rink in our yard. We live in the city, where 50 ft. wide lots are the norm. Four years ago, our next door neighbor passed away and her home went up for sale. We bought the house, and tore it down, believing at the time that we would eventually add on to our already 5,000 sq. ft. home. With three kids and two active adults in the house, however, the empty lot and our existing yard soon became more of a sports pavilion.
A couple of years later, after having exciting seasons of volleyball and croquet and the extremely popular Labor Day father/kid campout in the summer, and an ice rink filled with the smiles and friendly competition in the winter, there's no way I'd ever think about building more house. So many of the great memories of the lake have come flooding back as I've watched my kids and their neighborhood friends skating for hours and hours of fun. No family room or interior space could ever host the kind of community fun the side yard has given us. Next year, the plan is to enlarge the rink by 4 feet in width and 10 ft. in length so we can try our hands at curling.
Several of our immediate neighbors are empty nesters that raised their kids in the neighborhood, and it's easy to tell that at this stage of their lives, they have a clear view on the real priorities of life. Quite a few of them have commented on what fantastic memories we are creating for our kids. Of course that was always the goal, but somewhere along the way our yard has changed our lives, too. It's funny to think that something as simple as a little plot of land can bring people together in such a big way. I think we'll keep the yard and scrap the bigger house.
