| Restaurants | Stores and Businesses | News Media |
| Films | Chicago Trivia | Links |
Klas Restaurant (north side of street between Central and Austin)
5734 W. Cermak Rd.
Cicero, IL 60804
Tel: (708) 652-0795
Note: Nice Bavarian-like exterior and interior
Moldau (north side of street)
9310 Ogden Ave.
Brookfield, IL 60513
Tel: (708) 485-2155
Note: Family atmosphere, off the beaten path
New England Inn
6855-59 W. Irving Park Rd. (extra parking at Newcastle).
Chicago, IL 60634
Tel: (773) 685-7155
Note: All customers seem Czech
L&J Lounge (really a bar, not so special)
6513 Cermak Rd.
Berwyn, IL
Tel: (708) 788-9570
Dumpling House - SORRY, CLOSED DOWN
4109 Harlem Ave. (east side of street around Ogden Ave)
Stickney, IL 60402
Tel: (708) 484-6733
Note: Nice looks, no beer! I guess that's why it closed?
These other ones I got from a friend:
Bohemian Crystal
639 N. Blackhawk Dr.
Westmont, IL
Tel: (708) 789-1981
Corner Restaurant
9201 Broadway (Eight Corners)
Brookfield, IL
Tel: (708) 485-5660
Czech Plaza
7016 Cermak Rd. (across from Cermak Plaza)
Berwyn, IL
Tel: (708) 795-6555 Open: Daily 11 am - 8 pm
Little Europe
9208 Ogden Ave.
Brookfield, IL
Tel: (708) 485-1112
Pilsner Restaurant - I fear this one closed down
6725 Cermak Rd.
Berwyn, IL (708) 484-2294
Many more, especially in the suburbs, to be found at the Czech Embassy website.
Czech Tempo Thanks go to Mark Pisaro.
6040 W. Irving Park Rd.
Chicago, IL
Tel. (773) 685-9030
Fax (773) 685-9490
Second Store/Cafe
6710 W. Belmont Ave
Chicago, IL
Tel. ?
Bohemia Trading Corp. Czech bakery!! plus all the above.
3113 N. Central Ave. (next to it is a Slovak eatery)
Chicago, IL
Tel. (773) 205-5380
Moravia Kvit
3213 1/2 S. Cicero Ave
Chicago, IL
Tel. (773) 545-3595
Czechland Bookstore
3416 N Harlem
Chicago, IL 60634
Tel: (773) 889-2530
Impuls
6621 W. Archer Ave. (between Nashville and Natoma)
Chicago, IL
Tel. (773) 788-0520
Fax (773) 788-0545
Open M-Th 12pm-10pm, F-Sun 10am-8pm
CSR
5608 W. 63rd St. (at Central)
Tel. (773) 582-6604
Fax (773) 582-6605
Open M-F 6am-9pm, Sat 6am-8pm, Sun 10am-8pm
Then there are Polish stores that run Czech and Czech-like foods, e.g., beer
and Becherovka ;-)
Bobak's
5275 S. Archer Ave. (east of Cicero, south side of street)
Chicago, IL
Tel.: (773) 735-5334
Wallys
6601 W. Irving Park (between Narraganset and Oak Park, parking and entrance
from the south)
Chicago, IL
Tel.: (773) 427-1606
3256 N. Milwaukee Ave
Chicago, IL
Tel.: (773) 736-1212
Outside Chicago: Little Europe Tavern
(Becherovka et al.)
southeastern end of Racine, WI, just off the I-94
Tel: ?
WCEV 1450 AM, Sundays 9-10
am and Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays at 9:30pm
WPNA 1490 AM - Czech Line, Sundays 11-12pm, tel: (773)-213-4327
Czechoslovak Daily Herald - Denni Hlasatel
5906 W. 26th Street
Cicero, IL 60804-3102
Tel.(708)863-1891
Fax (708)863-1893
Q. Where did the Czechs/Bohemians go after moving out of Pilsen?
A. They moved west and somewhat south to Berwyn/Cicero, along Cermak
Avenue. A Catholic church (St. Mary on the Mount), Sokol meeting hall,
Masaryk School and a few restaurants (see above) remain from that era but
Czech-Americans have mostly moved further out west into the suburbs. Read
more about Pilsen and Czech neighbourhoods on theVranys and Viseks of
Chicago page by Paul Dierks.
Q. Why are you intermixing Czech and Bohemian? Which one is correct?
A. Bohemia is a historical region, a kingdom since the Middle Ages, now
forming the bigger western part of the Czech Republic (see map). The
Czech nation lives predominantly in Bohemia and Moravia (eastern and
smaller part of the Czech Republic). Older generations of Czech immigrants
call themselves Bohemian.
Q. What is bohemian about the Bohemians?
A. The second meaning of Bohemian (Merriam-Webster a : VAGABOND, WANDERER;
especially : GYPSY b : a writer or an artist living an unconventional life
usually in a colony with others) originated in 19-century France, where
the word was first used to describe Gypsies (coming to France
from the East, perhaps via Bohemia) and later by authors and playwrights to
refer to the disaffected and impoverished young artists and students of
Paris. Sources: La
Boheme,
The France of Victor Hugo.
Q. Where in Hyde Park is Masaryk's Memorial Monument?
A. On the east end of Midway, close to the Metra tracks. Sculpted by Czech
Albin Polasek, the
Monument's bronze horseman represents the knights of Bohemian legend who
slumber inside the Blanik Mountain ready to ride out and help in times of
distress. The horseman also recalls a real-life defender of his country: Thomas Garrigue
Masaryk (1850-1937), the philosopher turned political leader who was
Czechoslovakia's first president. Whether as statesman or as professor,
Masaryk never shied away from hard issues; as a philosopher, his first
major work was entitled Der Selbstmord als sociale Massenerscheinung der
modernen Civilisation (Suicide as a mass phenomenon of modern
civilization). T. G. Masaryk's name has also a special significance to the
University of Chicago. He lectured here in 1903 and 1908 and was honored here
during his triumphant visit in Chicago in 1918. (Source: M. Rechcigl's
Czech-American Page).
Q. Where on The University of Chicago campus is this Masaryk's portrait?
A. In the Classics Cafe, in the second, south-facing room. A little plaque
to the right explains Masaryk's relationship to the University of Chicago and
how the painting got there (The donor was Tomas Bata, son of the founder of the
originally Czech Bata shoe company
, now headquartered in Toronto).
Q. Did any other Czech president visit The U. of Chicago?
A. Yes! The second Czech president, Edvard Benes lectured at the U. of
C. in 1939. (Source: The Library of
Congress)
Q. Wasn't Anton J. Cermak, the famous Chicago mayor, Czech?
A. Yes! Born in 1873 in Kladno, Bohemia, now the Czech Republic, he was
brought to America by his family as a child. In 1931, he was elected mayor
of Chicago. In February of 1933, Mayor Cermak traveled to Miami, Florida
to meet with President-elect Franklin Roosevelt. They arrived on February
15th to be in a parade. The parade car moved slowly down the street as
President-elect Roosevelt and Mayor Cermak smiled and waved. The car
stopped and President-elect Roosevelt gave a speech while sitting on the
back of the car. A man named Guiseppe Zangara pushed through the crowd. He
fired five shots at the President-elect. The bullets hit four people and
Mayor Cermak. The mayor fell out of the car and called out "The President,
get him away!" But Roosevelt ordered his car to stop and that Mayor Cermak
be put in with him. President-elect Roosevelt held Mayor Cermak all the
way to the hospital. Mayor Anton J. Cermak died three weeks later, on
March 8, 1933. His body was taken back to Chicago and buried in the
Bohemian National Cemetery. (Read more at M. Rechcigl's
Czech-American Page).
Q. How about Antonin Dvorak and Chicago?
A. Dvorak came to Chicago for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Here
he met one of his significant student, Cook, an African-American. Dvorak
then spent the summer in Czech-settled Stillville, Iowa. Within five days
of his arrival, Dvorak composed his "American" String Quartet. At the end
of the summmer, he completed his most famous work, "The New World
Symphony". He also composed other works there, and left enough to merit a
little museum in the building that was his home (now Billy Clocks
Museum). Stillville still has a Czech kitchen and a Czech-style church (St.
Wenceslaus, where Dvorak played the organ for daily mass during his stay in
the village). (Source: Chicago
Tribune Travel, Minnesota Public
Radio).
Q. Why is Antonin Dvorak's music so popular in the States?
A. Dvorak lived in the States between 1892 and 1895, teaching and writing
some of his best known works, including the Symphony in E Minor,
"From the New World". Dvorak was called to New York to direct the newly
instituted National Conservatory but was also given the daunting task of
creating a distinctly American musical character for a young nation
boundlessly confident in its resources, but still looking to Europe for a
sense of identity. When he pronounced that there already was a source -
"based on Negro melodies" - he not only sparked controversy but invigorated
the burgeoning community of African-American musicians. He inspired - and
was inspired by - his African-American composition students. The Czech
composer also found inspiration in the music of Native Americans. None of
Dvorak's students became a notable composer, though they went on to teach
and influence a generation of American composers: Gershwin, Copland,
Ellington. (Source: PBS).
Q. Any famous Slovaks in Chicago?
A. Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan was commander of the Apollo 17 lunar mission
and the eleventh man to walk on the moon. Cernan was born in Chicago, in
1934, to a Czech mother and a Slovak father. After the end of the manned
lunar missions, he acted as senior U.S. negotiator in discussions with the
Soviet Union on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. Visit the Cernan Earth and
Space Center, on the campus of Triton College, River Grove, IL. (Source:
The Library of
Congress)
To be expanded...
Go back to my homepage
