Taking A Tour of Morton Grove - Then and Now (Part Two of Three)

The four corners of Dempster and Waukegan had some interesting dining options back in the era now called "Mid-Century Modern". The “Dempster Café” was located where the Bank of America is now. “Ed Roberts’ Colonial Homestead” (serving Steaks & Lobster) and a place called “Campus” (dishing out Fried Chicken & BBQ) were on or near these corners and would last from when the Chicago Tribune erroneously printed the headline "Dewey Defeats Truman" through much of the Eisenhower "Happy Days" years and well beyond into the dawn of Kennedy's Camelot era.

Continuing our tour of Morton Grove as we amble down Dempster Street we're moving east from Waukegan.  “Ed O’Bradovich’s Restaurant & Cocktail Lounge later took the place of Val’s Tavern located at 6121 Dempster; where “Chinatown Express” is currently located. “Weller’s Restaurant” at 9001 Waukegan Road is now the site of “Crazy Jaws”. Just off Dempster at Lincoln was the famous "Morton House", now a condo complex.  And did you know Morton Grove had a connection to Miami Beach? “World Famous Kitty Davis,” which was a nightclub at 6000 Dempster (where El Sol Restaurant is today and "The Dells" was located in the "Roaring Twenties") also operated “Kitty Davis Airliner Night Club” in Florida. It featured an airplane theme before the era of jets (and both locations had really “spicy” histories too, but that's a story for another day)!

Now, with Dempster completely redone between Central and Lehigh (including
rebuilt pavement and a new water main replacing the one laid down the year that
the Titanic sank), you’ll find new light poles with the latest illumination technology, planters, benches, decorative cross-walks and several new public parking lots. There is much to explore along Dempster today as the street reflects our evolving and diverse population.  Ethnic markets offer a global mix of foods blended in with a variety of specialty stores and major pharmacies.  Pharmacies have evolved into today’s “general stores” offering a myriad of merchandise and services seven days a week. 

There are a number of interesting little restaurants offering sustenance from sushi to sandwiches, dumplings to doughnuts, pizza to pasta, dinners to breakfasts and just about everything else the palate desires. While restaurants are risky business ventures even in good economic times, new entrepreneurs continue to take a chance on Morton Grove and are opening new places today to serve us like The Studio, Weller's Oscar's, Vosnos' and the many others that have come and gone. I'm sure that if they keep building it, Morton Grover's and our surrounding community will keep coming to our village.  Look for the conclusion to our tour in Part 3 of this story.