Forgotten Chicago- Snappy Service Station restaurant.

     I drive by this everyday.
A few weeks ago we noticed that the facade had been stripped, revealing a gorgeous 1930's enamel- tiled original front.
And a beaming sign that reads

SNAPPY SERVICE SYSTEM
5¢.

A little google digging reveals:

Forgotten Chicago research department went to the Newberry Library to go through Chicago white and yellow pages from 1925 to 1959, looking for “Snappy Service System” restaurant locations. The Snappy Service System restaurant recently revealed at 1141 North Ashland was curiously not listed in any of the phone books examined. 

Following are the Snappy Service Systems restaurants listed from 1934 (the first time these restaurants are listed) until 1959 (the last phone books examined): 

• 6340 North Ashland, 1934 through 1939; restaurant and general office 
• 3229 North Ashland, 1935 only 
• 3757 North Broadway, 1935 and 1936 
• 57 West Chicago, 1935 and 1936 
• 3309 North Ashland, 1936 only 
• 21 South Ashland, 1936 and 1944 to 1946 
• 1156 North Western, 1945 to 1959 
• 1603 West Madison, 1947 to 1949 
• 5605 West Chicago, 1948 to 1955 
• 6351 North Western, 1948 only 


And- a little more digging revealed that the chain had their own plates:
(How cute are these?)

the Bird Apartment...

A project from Japanese design firm NENDO...

"A treehouse designed for the Ando Momofuku Center, a facility devoted to promoting and increasing access to nature activities. The facility is located in a forest in Komoro City in Japan's mountainous Nagano Prefecture. Our treehouse is collective housing for many birds and one person. On one side, the treehouse has entrances to 78 nest spaces for birds. The other side has an entrance for one person, who can look into the birds' nests from inside the treehouse"

My friend Shaun from stoneblitzer sent this to me...he was also the builder of our treehouse.

Thanks, Shaun!