Hi there! I am chicago born,lived there for my first 15 years of life and then we moved to CT,partly because gangs had started infiltrating our neighborhood.(I used to live on Estes st.,off clark-right across where the old Adelphi Theater used to be) ANYWAY! A good majority of my mother’s family still lives in chicago and Oak Park and my aunts and uncles that live in other states,visit pretty frequently.(I,myself,for financial reasons,have not been back for a visit in 18 years! Yes people,you heard it right! Though I sure would love to go and am sure gonna try in the near future!)
Well,awhile back,I asked my aunt and mother if they went to Ideal (Candies) while they were in town and I was shocked to find out that they had closed down! Why? That was an awesome place! We used to go there frequently when my sisters and I were kids,not only for the awesome ice cream and sodas,but also the ambiance;when you walked in,it was like going back in time to the '40’s or '50’s.Not to mention they made the most incredible handmade candies(hence the name? LOL!) My dad was so fond of their chocolate buttercreams,my mother would get him some every year for his birthday.
I was really bummed because I always loved this place and had hoped to one day be able to take my own family there for a visit-anyone know why they closed down?
From the Chicago Tribune:
Candy Store Demise May Bring Sequel
January 04, 1987|By Rick Kogan.
Peter Vasilakos stood over the caldron in the back of Ideal Candies, spinning a huge wooden spoon gracefully through a bubbling brew.
This is it, he said. The last batch of caramel. We close on the 31st.…
Next April, Ideal Candies would have been 50 years old. Vasilakos`
father, Nick, opened the store in 1937, a couple years after the family moved into the apartment upstairs. When he was 13, Pete started making candy.
I`ve made a lot of candy in the last 45 years, he says.
But he had triple bypass heart surgery a few months ago. And the man who helped him make candy had health problems of his own. With no time to make enough candy for Valentine`s Day and Easter, and no longer inclined to put in the hours selling it in the shop, Vasilakos decided to call it quits.
Margie’s is still there on Western and Milwaukee, if that’s any consolation.
After closing the family sold the building to chef Scott Harris who opened Mia Francesca, an Italian restaurant in the space. It’s still there.
My mom used to go there now and again and chat with the owner, and she said his kids weren’t interested in taking over the family business. I miss that place too - he used to let us walk around in the back when we were little. I can still picture the huge vats of molten chocolate.
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