Curious Hair wrote:
Elk Grove Village might be the most placeless place in Illinois. I don't know where anything is in relation to anything. It just goes, it just is.
welp, from growing up there and spending my formative years there i can tell you how i always saw it:
first of all, the big divider was 53. anything on the schaumburg side of 53 was "elk grove in name only" because when you grew up nestled in the veritable armpit of THE INDUSTRIAL PARK (aka the reason that the CENTEX corp, the people who brought you dallas/fort-worth, created the town.... you know, so you could have all this industrial stuff right there and then there's a little modern-for-the-50s/60s suburb right there where ppl who worked in the industrial park could get an affordably-priced entry into the american dream)
AHEM. basically i'd say "traditional elk grove" is bordered by...
--------------------------53--------------------------
devon higgins
----------------elmhurst rd--------------------------
and i think that counts most of the industrial park over towards elmhurst rd, cuz for residential areas it pretty much ends around tonne or lively (cuz tonne ends at landmeier and then over by oakton residential stuff goes back towards lively, but by the time you get to lively it's all commercial stuff until you get to either busse/higgins, altho on the uhhh... south? side of higgins it technically goes back to elmhurst road. yeah.
that area there had 4 elementary schools that fed 1 junior high that fed elk grove high school, along with some imports/excess from des plaines (no dobut deemed unfit for maine east) that was bordered by like marshall from golf to oakton heading back towards elk grove -- you know, inuch the same way elk grove (in name only) kids on the schaumburg side of 53 would end up going to conant high schookl to become proto-schaumburgians, and our #1 rival over @ elk grove high school. by and large i think they kicked our asses at most everything cuz they dont call schaumburg "the mecca" for nothing. prolly a higher average property value and thus a higher class of ppl compared to our modest 50s/60s suburbia v1.0 centex corp dream homes, as i think a lot of other-side-of-53 elk grove was built up in the 70s/80s/90s.... i mean it always felt "newer" on the other side of 53 like those residential sub-districts were all built up in at least the 80s or something cuz it felt "new" and suburbs v2.0 or v2.5 by the time i'd discover it in the 90s. plus that side of 53 got the wal-mart and a lot of new stuff getting built up cuz there was just more space over there.
but yeah, basically the other side of 53 is wannabe-schaumburg IMO.
in terms of elk grove landmarks, arlington heights rd and biestrfield is basically the center of elk grove. "downtown" elk grove if you will.... and i'd say that arlington heights rd and biesterfield are like a perpendicular cross right through the heart of elk grove with their intersection being the center. that's where you've got your main supermarket, movie theatres, mcdonalds and burger king (for a long time anyways) and eventually library/pavilion (gym/civic center/etc) and the kids' theme park is there and erc. on the other end going up biesterfield i think once you cross meachem you're out of elk grove technically (altho there's that free playground/waterpark hybrid just across meachem that i think is an elk grove joint?), and from arl hts road once you cross devon you're out of elk grove, and then the other direction once you cross higgins you're out of elk grove (unless the industrial area between higgins/90 is elk grove, cuz i know the other side of 90 is definitely arlington heights)
so yeah i'd say that arl hts and biesterfield is the center of the elk grove universe.... and then the bowling alley @ arl hts rd / higgins is the only real landmark unless you wanna start pointing out stuff right along other borders like the motel 6 @ oakton/higgins and busse? or real time sports @ devon / rohlwing? or uhhhhh i guess pete's-a-pie/FATT MUSTARD(nee cuz's cafe) @ tonne/devon?
but yeah pretty much it's just downtown elk grove and the bowling alley. if you're on the schaumburg side of 53 going down biesterfield or nerge from meachem it feels more like schaumburg since it's all suburbs v2.0 (late70s/80s/90s developments) to our traditional elk grove suburbs v1.0 (50s/60s aka "sprang up with the interstates/highways/industrial-park) so i cant say there's any elk grove landmarks over there, unless you wanna count that one free playground/waterpark hybrid as an elk grove landmark.
and given all the banality i just typed out in an attempt to educate you about the layout of elk grove village (THE exceptional community!) and its "landmarks" ----- yeah, shit, that free playground/waterpark hybrid might as well be one, eh?
welp this certainly isn't my first pointless post here and lamentably i doubt it'll be my last so c'est la fucking vie, no?
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Curious Hair wrote:
Les Grobstein's huge hog is proof that God has a sense of humor, isn't it?