As anyone who grew up in Kensington, Roseland and Pullman knows, all you have to do is mention one of the many names we all loved, and the memories come flooding back. Let’s start with a walk down “The Ave” (Michigan Avenue) from 111th Street. A few of the meaningful names are Giovanni’s and Nino’s for pizza and Thom McAn’s, Bovenkirks, Malings and Robert Hall for clothing of varied sorts. For real variety, the name that reigns supreme is Gately’s.

Gately’s was basically our Marshall Fields, where we could find everything for we need for our school and social lives, even the organizations we belonged to, like the Brownies, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. With numerous different departments from the basement bakery and grocery store to the first-floor sales aisle and glass sales display cases to the men’s resting balcony and shoe department, with the restaurant in the back, Gately’s was a one-stop shop for many Roseland families.