On Saturday morning February 5, 2022, Tom’s alarm went off at 5:20am and his groggy wife didn’t hesitate to question the earliness of the wake-up call. Vicki seemed to accept Tom’s rationale once my photographer told her we needed to arrive early at Franks’ Diner for breakfast because the place was small and it’s very popular. When Vic found out it was one of the first diners ever featured on ‘Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives’ with Guy Fieri, she couldn’t get out of bed fast enough.
Through our room’s window, it appeared the weather outside the Hampton Inn was ideal. The sky was blue over Kenosha, Wisconsin and there was hardly a cloud anywhere in sight. However, when we walked out to the Jeep, that’s when I realized the weather wasn’t as ideal as I originally thought – it was only two degrees above zero.
Kenosha had been the epicenter of national attention only three months earlier as the trial for 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse had concluded. Rittenhouse had killed two men and wounded another in August 2020 during protests and riots; however, a jury upheld Rittenhouse’s attorney’s position that he acted in self-defense. Vicki had been concerned about us visiting an area where such violence had recently occurred, but my photographer assured her that we wouldn’t be near the same area. Then it happened, and I think it surprised my photographer as well. Near the end of our eight-mile journey to Franks, I heard Tom say: “Hey, that’s the Kenosha County Courthouse where Rittenhouse’s trial was held. And there’s Civic Park, that’s where most of the protests originated from.” It turned out we were very close to where everything had unfolded in the recent past; but thankfully, that didn’t deter us from going to Franks.
Franks’ Diner has been a staple in downtown Kenosha since 1926 when the dining car was transported by railroad flatcar from New Jersey, where it was built, to its current location about three blocks from the shore of Lake Michigan. When we walked through the front door, the place was packed with patrons – which wasn’t a surprise as it only seats 55 people at a time. After a ten-minute wait, a booth opened up and we were instantly transported back in time. Although a ‘Who’s Who’ list of celebrities had all dined at Franks in the past, including The Three Stooges, Bela Lugosi, Duke Ellington, Liberace, and Peter Tork of the Monkees, the reason we had targeted that diner was because of Guy Fieri. On May 21, 2007, Franks’ Diner was featured on the fourth episode in the very first season of Fieri’s hit show ‘Diners, Drive-In’s, and Dives’.
As I stood on the table and watched my companions eat their breakfast, I wondered why the entertainers of the Winter Dance Party tour didn’t eat breakfast at Franks the morning after their show on January 24, 1959. After all, the Eagles Ballroom where they performed was only a block down the street. But the more I thought about it, Buddy Holly and the rest of the troupe likely left the Eagles Ballroom immediately after their show and headed by bus throughout the night to their next gig in Mankato, Minnesota, which was nearly 400 miles away.
The portions at Franks were generous to say the least; but I had to admit, Vicki’s French toast looked a lot better than Tom’s Garbage Plate. When he was about halfway through his meal, I heard my photographer complain to his wife that his Garbage Plate didn’t seem to have many onions or peppers mixed in, which may have been a deal-breaker for him. I knew for a fact that had Tom cooked up his own Garbage Plate, he would’ve had huge chunks of onion and pepper on the plate. Perhaps that same thing happened to Peter Tork when he ate there. Maybe, just maybe, his Garbage Plate didn’t feature enough onions and peppers either. When Tork complained, the staff at Franks referred to him as the “rude member of the Monkees whose last name rhymes with dork.”
Franks’ Diner in Kenosha, Wisconsin was a classic place and the three of us were happy we dined there. The staff seemed friendly, and the diner had an ambiance second-to-none. As a matter of fact, it seemed as though Larry, Moe, and Curly would walk around the corner at any moment and plop down at the counter for breakfast. Roughly 90 minutes after we arrived, my companions and I were back in the Jeep headed down the street towards the Eagles Ballroom.
In the early afternoon of January 24, 1959, the bus carrying the Winter Dance Party entertainers had arrived at the Eagles Ballroom in Kenosha after making the short 30-mile drive from their opening night gig in Milwaukee. After Ritchie Valens and Big Bopper lip synched their two biggest hits on WGN-TV with host Jim Lounsbury from 3:30 to 5:00pm, the Kenosha leg of the tour started at eight o’clock sharp.
The brisk morning air made my cracked resin legs ache during the few minutes I posed for images outside the Eagles Ballroom. At one point, Tom tried to get inside, but the doors were locked tight. The two of us had wanted to see, and maybe stand on, the historic stage where Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, Big Bopper, Dion and the Belmonts, and Frankie Sardo had performed a little over 63 years earlier. During our time outside the enormous structure that first opened in 1929, it was as though I could hear the performers “rockin'” the beige granite walls. From what we had heard, Ritchie was the star of the stage that night – the teenaged girls adored him.
Thanks to the quick thinking and amazing talent of photographer Tony Szikil, some of the best-known images from the Winter Dance Party tour had survived and been preserved. A glimpse through Szikil’s lens gave fans around the world a chance to see Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper one last time before they were killed in the plane crash on February 3, 1959.
The music of Buddy Holly slowly faded away as Tom and I made our way back to the Jeep. Instead of heading to Chicago, however, my photographer and his wife decided they wanted to see the Kenosha North Pier lighthouse first. Upon our arrival to Celebration Place at Harbor Park, which offered us the closest vantage point to the lighthouse, I was disappointed and surprised at the same time. The lighthouse was nothing special – it was a red, 50-foot-tall lighthouse, built in 1906, that looked similar to dozens of other lights situated all along the eastern and western shores of Lake Michigan. However, I was shocked to see a statue of Christopher Columbus erected in the middle of the park. Likenesses of the Spanish explorer have come under scrutiny in the recent past and a lot of statues have been demolished due to Columbus’ alleged treatment of natives during his explorations. Considering all of the recent protests and civil unrest in Kenosha, I was shocked to see Columbus proudly standing in the middle of the park.
At roughly 9:30am, we departed Kenosha for our 65-mile trek to the Chicago History Museum in the heart of the Windy City. As we neared the third largest city in America, I overheard my photographer mention to his wife that he also planned on going to the south side of Chicago to see Barack Obama’s mansion in his beloved Hyde Park neighborhood. When Vicki heard the word’s “South side of Chicago”, she immediately questioned Tom’s sanity; and quite frankly, I did as well. It’s no secret that Chicago has a high crime rate, and the south side of that city has a terrible reputation. All I could think about was running into ‘Bad, bad, Leroy Brown, who’s meaner than a junkyard dog.’ What in the world was my chunky camera guy thinking?
Getting to the history museum in Chicago was fairly easy, especially on a Saturday morning, but finding a place to park the Jeep proved to be a different story. As a matter of fact, we circled the museum at least three times before we stumbled upon a lot that was within walking distance of our destination. It must’ve been a very good lot, too – it cost my companions $25 to park. That seemed like a lot of money, especially when Tom figured we’d be in the museum for less than an hour.
Once the three of us made the short walk from our Jeep to the Chicago History Museum, my companions were forced to show proof of COVID vaccination to enter the building, which wasn’t a problem. I had been vaccinated as well, but the authorities didn’t seem to care about a bobble head’s status. As a matter of fact, I wasn’t required to wear a mask, either. Tom had one primary artifact in the museum in his sights – the original Petersen House bed where Abraham Lincoln died on April 15, 1865. There was nothing else in the museum my photographer had planned to see – it was the bed and that was it. Initially, I figured my cheap cameraman might ask the young guy seated at the ticket booth to cut him a price break; especially after Tom mentioned he was only there to see the Lincoln bed and we’d be gone. But that didn’t happen. He did get a two-dollar break from the normal nineteen bucks because of his age, but that was it. Vicki made a decision to wait for us in the museum’s North and Clark Cafe. My photographer’s wife didn’t want to spend 17 dollars to see an old bed – it didn’t matter to her who had died in it. That made me scratch my head. Was Tom’s thriftiness rubbing off on her?
Tom carried me up a flight of marble stairs to the second level of the Chicago History Museum. Before I could say ‘Emancipation Proclamation’, the two of us stood directly in front of a display area dedicated to our 16th President. There were four separate display cases – the two to my left were called ‘Lincoln Elected’ and ‘Civil War’, while the two cases to my right had been named ‘Assassination’ and ‘Our Nation’s Loss’. It was within the cramped confines of the latter that Tom immediately gravitated to, for that was the display that housed and protected Abraham Lincoln’s deathbed.
A short time after John Wilkes Booth fired his single-shot Philadelphia derringer into the back of President Abraham Lincoln’s head and then escaped out of Ford’s Theater, physicians Charles Leale and Charles Sabin Taft made their way into the Presidential box. Upon their arrival, the doctors found Lincoln unconscious and his breathing erratic and unstable. However, when Leale dislodged a blood clot from the head-wound, the President’s breathing improved. He was carried by seven men across the street, in the rain, to the Petersen House where he was placed diagonally in a bed in a first-floor room. It turned out the six-foot four-inch President was too tall for the small bed.
Throughout the night, numerous doctors arrived in the room, and all had agreed – Lincoln would not survive his wounds. Leale never left the President’s side and held his hand with a firm grip – Leale said he wanted to “Let him know that he was in touch with humanity and had a friend.” At one point, Mary Todd Lincoln was ordered out of the room by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton because of her uncontrolled sobbing. Mrs. Lincoln was allowed to return shortly before her husband’s death; but she was not present when he died. In his final moments, Abraham Lincoln’s face became calm and his breathing grew quieter. At 7:22am, the 16th President’s breathing had stopped; bystanders said a “look of unspeakable peace came upon his worn features.” Abraham Lincoln, our greatest President whose leadership saved our nation, was gone.
I stared at the bed behind the museum’s glass-enclosed display case, and it was as though Abraham Lincoln was lying there – completely motionless. A moment later, I could’ve sworn I heard a voice say aloud: “Now he belongs to the ages.” In my opinion, that was the most historically famous bed in America; I was proud and honored to see it and to pose for pictures in front of it. For a fleeting moment, I had wished I could stand on the bed as well, but I knew that wouldn’t likely happen anytime soon.
Before we left the museum, Tom spoke with the same youngster who sold him our entry tickets and he mentioned we were possibly headed for Barack Obama’s Hyde Park home; but only if the Presidential house was located in a safe neighborhood. The kid assured us we’d be “perfectly fine” anywhere in the Hyde Park neighborhood, although he did point-out a few other areas we should avoid at all costs. He didn’t have to tell us twice.
We were nine miles from Obama’s mansion when Vicki navigated our Jeep onto Lake Shore Drive just east of the museum. Chicago’s skyline was spectacular, and from an opening in the camera case I saw a handful of recognizable sites, including the 100-story John Hancock Building, Navy Pier, The Field Museum, and Soldier Field – home of the Chicago Bears. As soon as my photographer’s wife exited Lake Shore Drive, we were in the Kenwood neighborhood of South Chicago. Beautiful buildings and huge homes were abundant all along a three-block stretch of Greenwood Avenue. Upon getting a first-hand look at the area, I thought to myself: “The kid at the history museum was right – this neighborhood looks great and very safe.” We arrived at the intersection of Greenwood and East 50th Street but were forced to park and walk the remainder of the way to 5046 South Greenwood Avenue. The Secret Service had the entire block in front of Obama’s house closed to through traffic.
President Obama’s house was a site I had wanted to see for a long time; at least since my first trip to the Windy City in 2014 when he was still in the White House. Hopefully someday in the future, the Obama’s mansion will be converted into a museum to honor our 44th President and I’ll be able to see the interior.
Back in the Jeep, I heard my photographer mention to his wife we were headed to a “kiss site” that was a little over a half-mile away. In my mind, I knew that was right up Tom’s alley because he’s a huge KISS fan. But it turned out the next site had nothing to do with the make-up wearing band. Instead, my camera guy had his GPS set on the spot where Barack Obama kissed Michelle Robinson for the first time on their first date in the Summer of 1989. Once Vicki found a parking spot along South Dorchester Avenue, the three of us made the short hike through the ice and snow to the corner of East 53rd Street in front of a strip mall known as Dorchester Commons. Once there, Tom placed me on a rock that was nearly hidden by a huge mountain of snow. But that wasn’t just any rock, mind you. It was a historical marker that designated the exact spot where the future President kissed his future First Lady for the first time.
From my position on the granite boulder, I was able to read the bronze plaque that had been affixed to the surface. Not only did the plaque mention we were at the site where Barrack Obama first kissed Michelle Obama, it also contained a quote from the 44th President as well: “On our first date, I treated her to the finest ice cream Baskin-Robbins had to offer, our dinner table doubling as a curb. I kissed her, and it tasted like chocolate.” In the past thirty-some years, that “first date” Baskin-Robbins had been replaced by a Subway. I did notice a Baskin-Robbins in the same strip mall, but that one likely hung its shingle in Dorchester Commons after the Obama’s had become a nationally known “Power Couple”.
Tom placed me back into the warm confines of the camera case and the three of us headed on foot along an East 53rd Street sidewalk in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. It was hard to explain, but a sense of calmness overcame my resin body; and I could tell my photographer and his wife were at ease as well. For years, we had heard about the bad reputation associated with the South Side of Chicago, but we didn’t see any of that. To us, it seemed like a normal Saturday afternoon in the city; albeit the third largest city in the United States.
My photographer stopped in front of a building on South Blackstone Avenue, which wasn’t very far from the “Obama Kissing Rock”. From an opening in the camera case, I saw what appeared to be a barber’s pole affixed to the building’s exterior wall. Was my balding camera guy in need of a trim before we headed home? Was he taking me to the barber shop to have my ponytail styled or shaved off? It turned out that we were at the Hyde Park Hair Salon that’s known as the self-proclaimed “Official Barber Shop of the President of the United States Barack Obama.” While my photographer knew the 44th President wasn’t likely getting his hair styled on that particular day, he did know the classy shop had Obama’s personal barber chair on display; Tom and I wanted to see it.
Inside, we were immediately greeted by stylist A.C. Chandler, who had stopped cutting a customer’s hair to show us Obama’s chair. The place was packed with patrons, which made it difficult to see the images of some celebrities who’ve had their hair styled there. Besides Obama, Hyde Park Hair Salon has been visited by film director Spike Lee, former Chicago mayor Harold Washington, and the late great superstar athletes Muhammed Ali and Walter Payton. Tom set me on the floor in front of Barack Obama’s personal barber chair, which had been autographed and preserved beneath a protective case. As I posed for a few photos, I looked around the crowded shop in an attempt to spot Zariff the Barber, who was the President’s personal barber. It turned out Zariff had been cutting Obama’s hair since the future President first walked into the shop in 1998. When Senator Obama was elected President ten years later, Zariff made regular trips to the White House to work his magic with his signature style named “The Obama Cut”.
Although I never saw Zariff, nor shop owner Ishmael Coye, it didn’t matter; especially when A.C. posed with me for a photo near the historic chair. Chandler exemplified the ambience of Hyde Park Hair Salon and we could easily see why it was Barack Obama’s favorite place to have his hair styled. As we prepared to leave the shop, A.C. asked us to come back anytime we’re back in Chicago. I smiled to myself and thought: “The next time my ponytail comes off, I want A.C. Chandler to be my personal stylist. Obama can have Zariff, but A.C. is now “The official barber of Thomas Jefferson the bobble head.”
At 1:15pm, we left Chicago and headed for home, but not without a jump in our steps and a newfound passion in our hearts. The folks we had met throughout the entire trip, and especially in the Windy City, made the crisp, cold winter air a bit warmer for the three of us. That five-day adventure had once again provided me with the reassurance that 99% of all Americans are amazing and decent people, no matter their background or where they live. And quite frankly, I have the same sentiment for people all around the world – most folks simply want to provide a good life for their families and be treated with respect. That isn’t too much to ask for!
The five-plus-hour drive back to St. Clair was broken only by a stop at the Great Lakes Antique Mall in Coloma, Michigan. Can you guess what Tom had in his hands when he walked out of the place? He found a black top hat that he planned on using for the upcoming ‘Abraham Lincoln’ episode of our show ‘Hail to the Chief’. All I could do was roll my painted resin eyes. Hopefully he doesn’t make me wear that goofy Cheesehead during one of the episodes – that would be embarrassing.
We made it back safely at eight o’clock and it seemed good to be home. Thankfully we avoided the wrath of Winter Storm Landon during the trip, but Landon didn’t avoid our home while we were gone. I had to laugh to myself moments before we turned onto our street – Vicki asked the question: “Do you think the kids will have our driveway cleared for us?” My photographer quickly replied: “Are you kidding me right now? Our driveway will have five inches of snow still on it.” Sometimes it’s hard for me to admit, but that guy’s usually right. And that night was no different – the driveway hadn’t been touched. As Tom has said so many times in the past: “It’s a curse being right all the time. But I’ve gotten used to it!” All I could do was shake my head!
