LIVING HERE

Speedo’s hangout.
Take a map of the local area, stick a pin in its very center and you will find that place called the Harborside Grill is where your metaphorical pin is stuck.  This gathering place, located on the corner where Wrigley Drive and Broad Street come together is quite something, indeed.  Former cops and firefighters hang out there from time to time, usually early in the morning.  Speedo himself is almost always there, cooking, but also coming out of the kitchen to talk about local politics and almost anything else that’s going on.  Customers pack the place on weekends, up from Chicago and other more distant locales.

Locals of almost any pursuit show up but usually either in the early morning or late in the evening.   The place is like old times in that it’s open from before you are going to want to show up and closes at eight at night.  Speedo has a full liquor license and makes pretty mean Bloody Marys for breakfast fare and Brandy Old Fashions for dinner.  Speedo, former mayor of the city and current member of the Police and Fire Commission is a wonder of a man and a tremendous fount of information.  Any newspaperman’s dream.  If something’s not being discussed at Speedos, then it’s probably not happening or about to happen.

Speedo plays old rock and roll all the time.  The other day, when sitting there, one of the GSR reporters penned down the lyrics to a Judy Collins song that seemed to be truly fitting of Speedo and his wonderful haven for and against humanity: “I’ve looked at life from both sides now, from win and lose and still somehow, it’s life’s illusions I recall, I really don’t know life at all.”