By Stuart J. Faber

It was called the Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee Railroad. The short name was the North Shore Line. Every few hours, a train departed from Milwaukee to Chicago. It clickity-clacked south from Milwaukee toward Racine and Kenosha, then through Zion Illinois, Waukegan Great Lakes Naval Station, Highland Park, Evanston, Lake Bluff, North Chicago and into the city. On arrival, the train twisted its way through the Loop (Chicago’s downtown), along the elevated tracks (called The L). There were other stops, the names of which I can’t recall. But I can still hear the conductor announcing each stop with a raucous, song like cry, such as, “WAAL-KEY-GUN, SKOOO-KEY, KEE-NOSH-A, RAAAAY-CINE!

A North Shore Railroad Car. This inter-urban line hummed along from 1916 until the early 1960s when oil executives decided that the U.S. rail system was cannibalizing the gasoline industry. However, the Chicago L continues to operate over 100 miles of tracks from the Loop to points north and south.

From the late 1930s through the mid-1950s, our family took countless trips from Racine, Wisconsin to Chicago. The train was not our only means of transportation. We used airplanes, automobiles, and one time, friends and I skippered a sailboat along Lake Michigan’s waterfront.

Before the advent of the Interstate system, the driving routes were 2-lane highways dotted with numerous villages. We would depart Racine along Highway 32, head south past Kenosha after which we would cross the state line where roadstands popped up selling margarine-a product embargoed in Wisconsin, America’s Dairyland.

After about an hour along Sheridan Road, the highway widened, the traffic increased and the buildings grew taller. Sheridan Road merged into Lake Shore Drive-an expansive boulevard with Lake Michigan to the east and majestic, mid-century buildings to the west. Within moments, a huge, bright red neon sign appeared: DRAKE HOTEL.

The Electroliner, a later version.To this day, that iconic sign is the town crier to travelers: “You are approaching the Magnificent Mile!” The “Mag” Mile is a strip of Michigan Avenue that originates near the Drake Hotel and runs south to the Chicago River. Along its route are the Wrigley Building, The Water Tower, Tribune Tower, the Ritz-Carlton, the Four Seasons and the 100-story John Hancock Center.

Throughout the day and night, the neighborhood bustles with locals and tourists.

To me, The Drake was, and still is, the gateway to the Magnificent Mile. This street, about one mile long, holds bundles of memories for our family. Before WWII, as little kids, my sister and I would accompany our parents on sojourns to Chicago. Often we would stay at the Drake, dine at the Cape Cod Room (it’s still there), or thePump Room in the Ambassador East Hotel.

These places were too fancy for me. I always begged to go to the Ontra Cafeteria, a 1200-seat restaurant built in 1919. Right after the war, as a teenager, my buddies and I would gather the 60-cent fare and mount the North Shore Line for a day in Chicago.