The
twenty ninth annual 2008
National Sports Collectors Convention was held in Rosemont
Illinois Wednesday July 31 to Sunday August 3. Rosemont is a
suburb of Chicago and is where Chicago's O'Hare airport is
located. I arrived a few days early on Saturday the twenty sixth
to do some scouting around for antiques and to take in the
area. Boy the antiquing was tough! I drove all over heck and
hardly found a thing.
The
Sandwich Antiques Market
I landed
at O'Hare Airport at 12:45PM, rented a car and
drove about an hour west to the Sandwich Antiques
Market. The
Sandwich Market is a once a month affair. The dealers set
up on Saturday and open to the public on Sunday. I’d seen their ads in the antiques journals over the
last 20 plus years, and as far as I knew it was a major venue. I
saw on their website you could buy an early entry for $30.00, and
get in on Saturday while they were setting up. Plus the early
entry pass was good for Sunday. I canceled my reservation at the
Hyatt Regency O’Hare that night and reserved a room at the
Sandwich Best Western, the only
hotel in town.
As I approached the Sandwich area I
was taken back by the beauty of the country side. In one respect
it all pretty much looked the same; mile after mile of tall
cornfields. But it was so green and picturesque, I never got tired
of it. Each farmhouse was unique, and the whole area was so clean
looking. I stopped at sort of dreary looking convenience
mart/gas station near Hinckley, the town before Sandwich, to take a break and get directions. The store was a
little odd inside, in that there was more room for merchandise
than there was merchandise. The junk food was interesting;
seeing the brands of chips and things I’d never seen before in
California. Traveling's wild; In the morning you're on your
own familiar turf, in the afternoon you're 2000 miles away in cornfields!
I got some chocolate covered cashews and
milk and
went to pay. The east Indian clerk was so nice and genuine, It was
my welcome to the area, and I felt like I wanted to move there. He
asked where I was from but didn’t know where Napa Valley was. We
chatted a little before I went out to a picnic bench in front of
the store. Seemed like your all American family man, chipping out
a living with his little business.
From there I went a little further
before turning onto East Sandwich Road which took me straight into
town. I spotted an antiques mall on the main drag and went in. I wasn’t expecting it to be real big…but it was
one of those big ones that just keeps going and going. The quality
wasn’t bad but I didn’t see anything great. About the best
thing I saw was a Beatles pennant with all four illustrated for
like $60.00 as I recall. I thought about taking a chance and
putting it on eBay, but passed. I finally found the Sandwich
Antiques Market, which is held at the Sandwich Fairgrounds. Wow,
what a place for an antiques market; clean, all grass, with lots
of trees for shade. Trees are important on hot days. Fortunately the
weather wasn’t bad, about a perfect 85 degrees with little
humidity.
I got to the
fairgrounds around 3:30PM. I was
immediately taken at how it was all laid out. There were huge gaps
between dealer spaces throughout the whole market. Twenty minutes
in and I started getting the feeling that show had seen it's day,
and had, like so many, been torpedoed by eBay. I made a
point to ask a few dealers who looked like they'd been in the business
a while. Sure enough, they all said the same identical thing....In
the old days the place used to be packed with dealers! Some gave a
glimmer of hope saying it was hard to tell how many would still
arrive that night. But the next day it was about the same. I saw
lots of oak furniture, probably more than any other antiques show
I'd been to. But boy it was weak for collectibles. Every once in a
while I'd see something a little
interesting, but generally it was
pretty dismal. My one little find was kind of a cool c1950-60's College Club talcum
tin for $30.00 I think it was (views
1 / 2 /
3). At least it was in nice condition.
And that was the whole take, for renting a car and driving an hour
ten minutes one way, plus one night's hotel room. It probably only
took me an hour to go thru it. I came back the next day, and found
nothing again. But that's how collecting is; you turn over every
rock!
The
saving grace was seeing Dave Perry's collection. Dave lives in
Aurora, about 25 minutes from Sandwich. He was nice enough to pick
me up at my hotel, and take me to see his collection, then to
dinner at his favorite restaurant Wildfire in Oakbrook. Dave said
it's where he and his wife go for special occasions so I
was honered. What a great restaurant! I had the ribeye and
shrimp platter. And his collection was even better! Almost
all football, which I'll be featuring as a special bonus latter in
the story.
The
next day, after I went thru the Sandwich antiques market again, I drove back into downtown Chicago. There was
another
antiques show going on that day called the Chicago Antiques
Market; combined with the Randolph Street Market Festival. Being unfamiliar with the geography I dutifully mapped it
out and made my way all the way back into the inner city to see
what this show was all about. It billed it's self as "an
urban treasure hunt"....oh gosh!! back to back duds, and this
one was much worse than Sandwich. I guess if you're an Elaine
and Jerry Seinfeld urban dweller type and don't really know
antiques and just looking for wicker baskets/decorator things or
what ever, you
might enjoy it. But for serious antiquing, I wouldn't go back.
There
was one dealer though, Phil Allers from Cedar Rapids Indiana. Phil
had some antique
sports
things, which can be seen in the link under the photos below. Phil told me he only sets up there once in
a great while, and it didn't sound like he was coming back. I
didn't find anything in his booth I had to have but at least it
was a glimmer of hope. Below are a few shots I took there.
I
wanted to go to the Billy Goat Tavern on lower Michigan Avenue
anyway, so my trip downtown wasn't exactly wasted. The first time I ate at the Billy Goat was 1989 when
I went to my first National at McCormack Place, which is right in
the center of downtown Chicago. Now that's where you want to
have a National. The party's downtown not Rosemont! McCormack
Place is located in the lower level of the Hyatt Hotel, which I
stayed at in 89'. Staying right there in the same building was
super convenient. When you want to go to your room you just get on
an elevator and you're home. Then at night, the weather is perfect
in the summer, and there are lots of people out walking around
downtown. Right near the hotel are tour boats to take you out on
Lake Michigan, and lots of stores and restaurants. And the Billy Goat
Tavern is only about a five minute walk. I like the dives so it was my
kind of place.
Chicago's
Famous Billy Goat Tavern
downtown
on lower Michigan Ave. & Wacker
The
Billy Goat
Tavern
The
Billy Goat is a bar and grill that, from what I gather, has the iconic image of a
gritty place jaded newspaper reporters hang out; the Chicago
Tribune is just around the corner. It seems to have deftly kept up the
image by never remodeling and not changing the menu or
removing the bowling trophies. If I were to exaggerate, any more calculated and the
Ralph Lauren people would be there taking notes. It's location
which is part of Chicago's uniqueness, is on the lower level of
North Michigan Ave. at Wacker Drive. It's kind of dark
and dingy down there which is part of the no one knows it's here but you image. Except that's
exactly why everyone knows it's there. Good example; to get
down to lower Michigan from the upper level, there are metal
stairways, one each block I think. I took the wrong stairs, a
block up, so was a little lost, and finally asked someone where's
the Billy Goat? Just as I'm asking, here comes a group of
generation Y'ers coming down the stairs, one of them, a young lady
says to to me, "yeah we're looking for it too". It may be Chicago's not best kept secret.
I
would say that other than the super simple ribeye sandwich, and excellent
pickles, there is nothing special about the food, It's mostly image.
Saturday Night Live did a skit with John Belushi called Olympia
Restaurant, also referred to as the Cheezborger Cheezborger skit.
It was suppose
to have been based on the Billy Goat. Apparently, that skit,
which really doesn't resemble the Goat (you don't sit at the
counter), vaulted the place to such
fame that it
took on a life of it's own.
Anyway,
back to my excursion to the Billy Goat this trip. I don't know what happened but when I first ate there in 1989 the ribeye steak sandwich was great, and
cheap, but I was disappointed in the one I had that day. The bun wasn't heated and
browned enough (as seen in this photo
of it being prepared), thus didn't seem fresh. Plus the self serve pickles, which they are noted for
(and that sit out without a sneeze guard) tasted a little weird,
like maybe they weren't being rotated properly. Those kind of nuances
ruin things. Anyway, maybe I'll try it again another time
and see if it improves.
As
I was snapping photos outside I noticed an interesting thing. I
saw not one, but two separate families both with youngsters in tow
enter. Then when I was in there eating, I saw
another young mom and dad with little kids come in. I started
getting the picture that the place is a novelty stop. Moms and
dads probably saw the SNL skit with Belushi and now it's the perfect fun little place for the family on a
budget. I thought that was neat. I just wish they'd
focus on the food better.
Coincidently
when I got back home from the National and back to my job as a
hotel bellman, the first person I checked in was from Chicago,
lived right downtown. I asked him where to go in Chicago for a
good burger. He gave me three places to try; the Rockit
Bar and Grill on West Hubbard, Moody's
Pub on N. Broadway, and the Capital
Grill on North St Clair. Maybe the Goat is just for the
tourist now.
After
that I spent a little while shooting the area....I even took
some video of the street musicians.
I heard a couple of guys just warming up with Rock
Around the Clock. It sounded so good I tossed a couple bucks
in their tip box and asked them to play it again. That two bucks
went a long way, they jumped right on it. Towards the end of the
set a guy comes by with his family and starts watching. Next thing
you know the duo let him sit
in on the drums, while his wife and kids watched. That was
nice of them. Chicago's a cool town!
The next day I was going to
drive up to Milwaukee and stop along the way at antique malls,
then have dinner at the 5'oclock supper club in Milwaukee. However
the 5' o'clock club is closed Sunday and Monday. So I looked up on
the internet and saw an antiques mall in Volo Il, and decided to
drive there....whew, ANOTHER stinker, don't even! So after all
that bad luck, I was ready for the National! And then....even
after I left the National the dearth wouldn't leave. My last day
in Chicago, Saturday August 2nd, my plane didn't leave till 7:00
that night, so I drove to the Kane County Flea
Market....again practically nothing..but
I did have
my first funnel
cake there.
click
photos
Very
Rare c1910 Mission Oak Style
Rocking
Chair with Bowling Scene Engraving
found
at Kane County Flea Mark
Although I did see one pretty good piece, but it was
bowling! It was a c1910 mission oak style rocking chair,
that had a very nice bowling scene carved in the back rest. It
priced at $1,500.00. At least I finally saw something
great outside of the National!
One
highlight of the National was the Net54
Baseball Memorabilia Forum dinner.
It was staged on Thursday night July 31st right across the street
from the convention center at the Embassy Suites Hotel. You can't
beat free, and that included your choice of pasta bar or stir fry
bar, or just thee bar. Most of
the attendees were from the card forum, as opposed to the
memorabilia side. See link above for photos and details.