I took this photo in March of 1987, at the intersection of Cermak Road and Oak Park Avenue in west suburban Berwyn Illinois. Although I had only ate here at the Greek owned Seneca restaurant with My family a handful of times during the 1980's, My dinnertime visits here were quiete pleasant and appetizing.
I photographed the building prior to it's demolition, after a grease fire had destroyed this beautiful 1920's era sand colored brick store front building. Buildings like this were once plentiful along Cermak Road in Berwyn Illinois, before the glut of small strip malls took over the local commercial landscape around the greater Chicagoland area.
Today, this is the site of a Burger King fast food restaurant.
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I remember this day well. It was Saturday morning, February 28, 1987Several fires were set at the same time that day. The Remax near Ridgeland and Cermak, fire destroyed the second floor. It was later converted to a one story, the Berwyn Fruit Market at 39th and Harlem had a dumpster fire set as did Copperfields Restaurant on Windsor near Oak Park. The theory was to have raging fires at other locations first so the BFD would be too busy to get to the Oak Park building(built in 1922), which was set about half an hour after the other fires. What happened was the two dumpster fires were spotted before they got out of hand. What was the real reason for the whole day of fire? A cover-up at the now defunct Washington Inventor Sevice on the second floor. Rumour had it that Burger King was looking for land to build a new restaurant on because McDonald's had a restaurant at Cermak and Harlem, and another one at Cermak and Ridgeland. With no space along this stretch of road to plant their store, they worked with a real estate agent who happened to have friends at the inventor service who eeded to get rid of some evidence. A deal was struck, and so was a match, and the rest is history. Burger King corporate never knew (allegedly) that the fire was deliberately set, just that the realtor happened to find "the perfect property" for them. Within a few monthes the new location was open. It was a shame as the Oak Park Building was a beautifully preserved property.
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