For no reason at all, looters and arsonists destroyed the historic Central Camera Co. store, 230 S. Wabash during the May 30 Chicago protests following the murder of George Floyd. Not long after the store was ruined, third-generation owner Don Flesch began a personal journey to see if there was anything he could salvage from his upstairs office.
Maybe he would find a lost letter from his grandfather Albert Flesch.
Or, a family photograph, of course.
Instead, he found sweet music hidden in a distant shelf.
During the early 1900s, Central Camera had a record label. Flesch discovered a cracked, smoke-tinged 78 by Peluso’s Orchestra. It [...]
Chicago’s oldest camera store 5/30/20 (Andy Pierce photo)
I was at the historic Central Camera Co., store, 230 S. Wabash on Friday afternoon.
I waited outside the door to pick up some prints at Chicago’s oldest camera store. My friend and long time clerk Timothy Shaver came out. We did an elbow bump and I gave him condolences towards the recent passing of his mother at age 99. Third generation store owner Don Flesch arrived next. He offered me a piece of candy as he does with most of his customers. He pulled his face mask down a bit to reveal a smile that would never be denied.
We began [...]
Bill Griffin, Chicago vendor, 1980. (Courtesy of Lloyd Rutzky)
The world has been changing and Bill Griffin likely wanted no part of it.
“Griff” was the gruffest vendor at Wrigley Field and Comiskey Park in Chicago. He was proud to say that no one had worked the ballparks longer than him. His vendor life began in 1952. Bill spoke in an outlaw drawl that came from his native Oklahoma and he had the face of a postage stamp left out in a western rain. Bill died May 16 of COVID-19 at the Astoria Place senior home in Chicago. He was 88 years old.
Bill died the day after they started playing live organ [...]
“Classic” John Prine stamp by Michael Hernandez de Luna
The idea was to get John Prine on a postage stamp.
He wrote some of the best songs about the American condition while on his late 1960s U.S. mail route. And it’s been assumed the little ranch house I bought in near west suburban Westchester, Ill. was on the postal path of the Maywood native. Since the COVID-19 pandemic kicked in, the volume of mail delivered by the U.S.P.S. has declined. The agency is asking Congress to keep the postal service going. President Trump has refused to sign a new bill that includes postal service [...]
