Clarendon Hills Kid

<p>An idyllic childhood examined from the viewpoint of a boy growing up in the western suburbs of Chicago during the 1950s and 60s. Clarendon Hills was part of the suburban boom that occurred in post-WWII America when the country was ascendent. The author looks at what shaped his life as the village was growing; the wealth distinctions the transformation of a wild peat bog into a park the teacher whose words he can still recall the all-consuming love of baseball his family's background the characters and personalities present in daily life. Readers will go on a toboggan ride with a future criminal; find out about the prostitute rumor; re-live a bank robbery; sneak into the Hinsdale movie theater; visit Lucy's to buy some candy; re-live an era that will never again exist.</p><p>During my youth wealth competitiveness had not seemed to infect Clarendon Hills. Not yet. Unlike some towns there was no proverbial <em>wrong</em> side of the tracks although those on the south side I have come to learn believed themselves to be superior. Ha ha ha.</p><p>...a brief time when you could just enjoy life without too much social pressure to upscale your property and possessions.</p><p>Growing up I had no idea what secrets might be lurking within the modest homes of the community...</p><p>Girls dancing in socks always got the hormones raging.</p>