W E D N E S D A Y
Fenwick shuts down St. Ignatius Sports, page 48
JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest I N
Cider biz could be headed to North Ave.
February 7, 2018 Vol. 36, No. 22 ONE DOLLAR
@oakpark @wednesdayjournal
M E M O R I A M
2 Fools Cider hopes to open second location in Oak Park By TIMOTHY INKLEBARGER Staff Reporter
A long vacant, village government-owned parcel on North Avenue might become a second location for a Naperville-based hard cider manufacturer and retailer. Oak Park’s village board Monday unanimously OKd the proposed sale of the site at 6641-43 North Ave. to 2 Fools Cider for just $1,000. Monte Summer, a co-owner of 2 Fools, is an Oak Park resident. The village has been working for the last few years to find a buyer for the North Avenue site since it took possession of the property in 2014. That parcel was formerly occupied by a derelict building left vacant after it went into foreclosure. The village spent about $207,000 to demolish the building and clean up the site, and has since issued two requests for proposals (RFP) for developers to rebuild on the property. The first RFP was issued in May 2016 with a listing price of $145,000, but the village did not receive any responses, according to a village memo. Two proposals were received in the most recent RFP, one from 2 Fools Cider and the other from the nonprofit MAGIC Foundation for Children’s Growth, an advocate for children with rare endoSee CIDER BIZ on page 15
File photo
LOCAL GUY: John Mahoney at one of his favorite Oak Park haunts, people-watching outside of Poor Phil’s on Marion Street.
John Mahoney, actor and Oak Park booster, 77 By KEN TRAINOR Staff Writer
John Mahoney was a fixture — on TV (as the father in “Frasier” for 11 years), in films (Moonstruck, Say Anything, Eight Men Out and Dan in Real Life, where he wore an “Oak Park High” sweatshirt), and at Steppenwolf, where he performed in The Rembrandt as recently as last fall.
But he was also a fixture in the Oak Park-Forest Park area, where he lived for at least three decades, most of that time in a condominium on Maple Avenue near Poor Phil’s, one of many local restaurants he frequented. As recently as last fall, we spotted him at George’s Pancake House with a group of friends. On Sunday, Feb. 4, Mahoney died in Chicago, reportedly of a “throat ail-
ment.” He was 77. Born in England in 1940, he had “lost” his accent by the time he started acting, somewhat late in life, joining the Steppenwolf troupe in 1979. He loved Oak Park, he said, because people didn’t make a fuss over him. A loyal customer at Val’s halla ReSee MAHONEY on page 16
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