Staycation: Exploring Homewood

Often when I go to an estate sale in a farflung suburb I'll take the opportunity to explore the downtown area, stroll down their Main Street and search out the local cafe, bakery, used bookstore or thrift/antique shop. Sometimes I'll only encounter chain stores or Starbucks and Panera bread companies but often I'll find a slice of history preserved in the form of diners, movie palaces or shoe cobblers on my adventures.

This weekend I took advantage of the $5 Metra pass (usually only on weekends but also applied this Friday) and journeyed down to the South Suburb of Homewood. It's a 40-minute ride from downtown (take the Metra Electric, University Line from the Millennium Station on Randolph & Michigan Ave) to the downtown area of Homewood. Prior to visiting I had no prior knowledge of this area but upon doing some research found out that it's represented by Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. and his office is also there. Additionally, it used to be an important railroad depot and flourished in the 1920s when it transformed from a farming community to a suburb.


I was surprised to find architecture and signage from the Mid-Century still in use, often for the original businesses. The above sign is likely newer but I couldn't resist the image of Bogart (I wonder how he became the logo for a steak house?)






The Family Video obviously is a newer tenant of this original 1950s building, don't you love the glass cubes?


I fancy the numbers on this row of mailboxes I found outside a business complex.


Probably the oddest structure I found, it's in a tiny park and presumably is meant as some sort of shelter for park patrons? Definitely is Brutalist in style.


I couldn't resist stopping into Tom's Family Restaurant for lunch. These types of restaurants in the Chicago suburbs are always the same-- salmon pink vinyl-covered booths, extensive menus offering "hot" and "cold" sandwiches, meatloaf and fish and chip baskets and soup AND fries/salad/cole slaw with anything you order. There are also always the regulars there who have been eating their tuna on rye every Sunday for the past three decades or so.


The back of a super kitschy nature-themed bench. Love it!


My lunch-- chicken salad on wheat toast, battered fries and cole slaw with Coca- Cola. They also had a salad bar & an ice cream sundae bar which I did not partake in (looked good though).

Hope you enjoyed this little visual tour of Homewood-- as you can tell by the blue skies in my snapshots the sun made a surprise guest appearance in Chicago Friday & Saturday! Next up will be photos of my finds at the estate sale and a tiny resale shop I discovered in Homewood.