Chicago: a city of memories, old and new

This past summer, my son-in-law John Vicarel, grandson Jeff Vicarel and I drove to Chicago to revisit one of my favorite World War II stomping grounds. It was Navy Pier, jutting out into Lake Michigan and my home for two months in the summer of 1943. I attended a U.S. Navy Diesel Engine Training School there.
John and I walked a five mile stretch several mornings along Lake Shore Boulevard abutting Lake Michigan. Compared to good old Youngstown, it was a different world. At 7 a.m. people were walking, biking, jogging, roller skating and swimming in the lake.
Sticking out into the lake was a modernized Navy Pier, nothing like I remembered it. Now a huge mall complex, with a brightly lighted Ferris wheel serving as a beacon. At 82 I am too old to get excited about these attractions.
I had two other reasons to visit Chicago. The second was to visit the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in Chicago's Little Italy. The hall is filled with memorabilia of Italian American sports legends like Joe DiMaggio, Joe Montana, Rocky Marciano, Mario Andretti and others. Mario and Michael Andretti's race cars hang overhead. We were given top shelf treatment by both George Randazzo, founder and chairman of NIASHF, and Richard Policastro, the program coordinator.
Our third and final stop was at Tufanos, a premier Italian restaurant for 75 years. It is also in Little Italy and not far from NIASHF. Why Tufanos? Because the founder's grandson, Sammy Hall, was my grandson Michael Krieger's best friend at Ohio Wesleyan University. Sammy was a stellar third baseman and Michael a star pitcher on the University's 2006 division championship baseball team.
Family affair
My four grandchildren, Michael and Patrick Krieger, Jeff and Laine Vicarel have all dined at Tufanos this year.
Speaking of baseball, Laine was especially impressed with the baseball-size meatballs. They were reminiscent of my mother Carmella's Sunday meatballs.
Sammy's parents, Teressa and Ray Hall, treated us royally at the restaurant. Teressa, scurrying around like a spring chicken, served us. I had stuffed shells, also baseball-sized to match the meatballs.
It added up to an awesome Italian feast and a vacation to remember.
Lacivita is a Youngstown retiree and inductee of the Ohio Senior Citizen Hall of Fame and Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame.