Two Chicago Memories

Doug Severson

I have a couple of favorite Chicago memories. I've been in the area all my life, but I didn't live in the city until later. I grew up in Deerfield, which is some hoi-poloi place now, but was a cornfield in the fifties.

The biggest thrill I can remember as a little kid was going downtown to ride the elevator to the top of the biggest building in Chicago. No, it wasn't the Serious Tower (as my kids call it now). It wasn't the Hancock, or the Standard Oil building. It was the mighty Prudential Building, all of 35 stories tall. I remember the gleaming elevator with its uniformed operator - you even had to buy a ticket. And you had to have some gum ready to chew, because it was a real macho thing to get to the top without your ears popping. Then you got there and you had this amazing view of the city, looking south at this huge sea of cars at the north end of Grant Park (since there was no underground parking then), and looking down on all the rest of this beautiful city, from the celestial perch of the 35-story Prudential Building.

My other favorite recollection of Chicago was going to Riverview on a date with Linda Breuer in about 1964. Linda was the girl of our dreams for most of the eighth grade boys, and I had actually summoned the courage to ask her to go with me on a triple date to the legendary amusement park. But as soon as she, to my great astonishment, accepted, I started to panic. For I realized that not only was Linda a dynamite babe, she was fearless and I was not. What if she wanted to go on "The Bobs", the most terrifying roller coaster on earth (or at least north of Fullerton) ? My attitude about roller coasters then was the same as it is about airplanes now. I don't worry about dying, I just worry about getting sick. I could be in store for the ultimate humiliation: blowing my beads in front of the best piece of poontang since Annette Funicello. I'd be the laughing stock of the entire school for years to come.

As the fateful day approached, I could think of nothing else but how to prevent a gastrointestinal disaster. I filled my pockets with Dramamine, and I don't think I ate anything for 2 days, thinking the dry heaves could perhaps be disguised as big yawns if nothing spewed forth. When the time came, and we finally got to Riverview, sure enough, the first thing Linda wanted to do was to go on "The Bobs". I figured this was one of those moments in life when you just have to go for it (as they might say in a beer commercial).

I said, "Sure, that'll be cool! Let's try to sit in the front!" Well we took the ride, mind triumphed over mattter, and I walked away feeling fine. More than fine - in fact, I've never felt so happy and relieved in my life. I had ridden "The Bobs" without losing my lunch! I could conquer the world now!

Well 35 years later, Riverview is long gone, I don't know what happened to Linda Breuer, and I'm still waiting to conquer the world. But I'll always treasure that night in Chicago, when I was King of the Bobs!

-November 20, 1998