The Club

“It was a glorious time.”

Vince Romano

PART ONE.

“Where are you going?”

“No place, ma…I’m just going to the club.”

During the 30s and 40s and on through the decades of the 50s and 60s, Taylor Street had clusters of Social Athletic Clubs (S.A.C.s). Growing up in Little Italy you were identified as a member of one of these clubs ,ore so than you were identified with the school you attended or the street you lived on. Like fiefdoms, they were spread throughout Taylor Street’s “Little Italy,” from Halsted Street on the eastern boundary of Little Italy to Western Avenue bordering its outer fringes. Clubs that proliferated our neighborhood bore names such as the Rat-Hals, Cecilia Boosters’ S.A.C., the Morgan Fads’ S.A.C., the Vernon Park S.A.C.s, the Survivors’ S.A.C., and a host of others too numerous to mention here.

 

SOCIAL CLUBS OR GAMBLING PARLORS

The clubs (licensed as a type of neighborhood social center) were actually “pool rooms.”  The social gathering of men, ages 15 (and oftentimes younger) through retirement age, had more to do with gambling than any social events. The athletic events were limited to shooting pool, tossing a pair of dice or shuffling a deck of cards. Most of our organized sports activities took place elsewhere; e.g., the CYO, the Duncan Y, Sheridan Park, or Hull House. Of course, there was also Cinder Stadium and Dante Schoolyard with their one-dimensional  (straight center field) softball fields. 

REMNANTS OF THE PAST

Today (vintage 2010) there exists, within the eastern vestiges of what remains of Taylor Street’s Little Italy, three “clubs.” Barely 25% of their members still reside in “the neighborhood.” The remaining 75% reside outside the neighborhood. Most, if not all of these men who return to the old neighborhood to be with their boyhood friends, are retired. Some make daily pilgrimages to the “old neighborhood” to spend a few hours with their friends. As predictable as the migratory habits of the Alaskan caribou, virtually all of those former residents are part of the weekend migration that returns to Taylor Street’s Little Italy. The “locals” (those still residing in the neighborhood), typically are daily visitors to the clubs. 

BLUE BOYS’ CLUB

Visit one of these clubs--specifically the Blue Boy’s Club at Polk and Aberdeen--on a Friday evening and the aroma of the traditional southern Italian dishes will fill your nostrils. The men use this opportunity to practice (more like show off) the culinary skills they acquired from their mothers. At the Blue Boys’ Club, you can always find a pot of pasta fasule on the stove. The aroma of freshly cooked homemade pizza (and all the childhood memories it conjures up) may also be present on any particular day.

 

OUR CULINARY SKILLS 

The club, priding itself on the culinary skills of its members, has a roster of chefs ranging from auxiliary chefs on through to the executive chef. Among the several culinary artists who are members of the Blue Boys’ Club are Johnnie Parise, the youngest of the Parise boys raised by Nick and Mildred Parise. Both emigrated from Santa Caterina Villarmosa, Sicily, in 1913, along with a multitude of others who had emigrated from the shores of Southern Italy at the turn of the century. They, the Parises,  chose to settle on Desplaines and Arthington Streets (the eastern fringes of little Italy) to raise their family. I mention Johnnie Boy’s name because he is recognized as the unofficial President and caretaker of the club. Oher members of the cadre of chefs include Marnell, Freddie, Horse, the Bad Vince, Duffy (he mostly collects the money), and whomever decides they want to give a demonstration on “real” Italian cooking. Stop by! Whether you were Taylor Street bred or not, you will, as part of the southern Italian tradition, be treated as an honored guest. 

OUR ATHLETIC SKILLS 

One the athletic side of the Social Athletic ledger, the legendary Taylor Street had its share of national and world renowned athletes.  Primary among them were our fist fighters who won Golden Gloves titles  and Olympic titles.  The article about Taylor Street’s renowned athletes can be found elsewhere in these Taylor Street Archives.  Be reminded that it was rare for any of our guys to have graduated high school…rarer even for any to have attended college.  Extrapolating, had the offspring of our immigrant parents had the educational opportunities of main stream America, our coffers would likely have been filled with more than our share of award winning athletes that excelled in college and professional sports.  

CONTINUE TO PART TWO.