Half Day Inn - Milwaukee & Rt 22 in Lincolnshire

Hi,

I'm sure bryan never quite realized how much a topic had legs when she started the thread All The Old Familiar Places (RIP) with 355 replies and 39446 views to date in June 2, 2004.

Vital Information has a certain fondness for roadhouses, which were the fast food stop over in the days of horse and carriage.

One of the region's oldest roadhouses, the Half Day Inn is closing September 1st, then demolished. Half Day Inn was the halfway mark between Chicago and Milwaukee.

If you have a sense of history and want to visit a genuine roadhouse relic before it becomes RIP, then you may want to visit before it closes. I have never eaten there, cannot begin to recommend anything on the menu, though I will be there at least once before bulldozer.

Half Day Inn
1270 S Milwaukee Ave. (at Route 22)
Lincolnshire, IL
(847) 634-8118

The food is terrible!

Cathy, just want to say... yes, it's true. I had no idea whatsoever. But I'm proud of my little post becoming threadnormous. And thanks for the mention.

The food is terrible!

Sometimes you do things which go beyond the food ... though thanks for the heads up.

bryan wrote:But I'm proud of my little post becoming threadnormous. And thanks for the mention.

It is a well deserved thanks to you.

Regards,

I was told that Half Day Rd. was the mid-point between the two cities when I first moved here years ago - and it's just not true. It's over 65 miles from Half Day to Milwaukee, and only about 30 to Chicago.

sundevilpeg wrote:I was told that Half Day Rd. was the mid-point between the two cities when I first moved here years ago - and it's just not true. It's over 65 miles from Half Day to Milwaukee, and only about 30 to Chicago.

It was a half a day's journey by horse from there to chicago.

No. It has nothing to do with travel times. Half Day was named after a Potowatomi chief named Half Day: Half Day. It is strange, but it is true. (And when I first moved up to that area in 1992, I heard all the stories, too. Eventually, I heard the right one.)

And Half Day in Potowatomi is Aptakisik, which is the name of another road in that area.

I'm sorry to hear that another historic landmark is biting the dust. But the way that area is growing, I guess it was just a matter of time.

I wonder how long ParKing will last (at Aptakisik Road and Milwaukee.)

Probably not too long, given the trend in that area. The mall at the southwest corner of Aptakisic and Milwaukee (the one that contains Bin 36, Big Bowl and Wildfire) was occupied, when I moved to the area in 1992, by a Harley-riders' roadhouse that had its greatest moments hosting D-List rock bands like the remaining members of Deep Purple, etc. Across the street was a tin can recycling center. Let's hope Par King can keep it together by offering something unique in the area. Hopefully, Ash Wipe will not get shut down during our lifetimes.

JimInLoganSquare wrote:No. It has nothing to do with travel times. Half Day was named after a Potowatomi chief named Half Day: Half Day. It is strange, but it is true. (And when I first moved up to that area in 1992, I heard all the stories, too. Eventually, I heard the right one.)

I'll be darned!

Food is poor at the Half Day Inn but something kept drawing me and buddies back to it for beers and chow while on our motorcycle trips.

I do miss the burgers/beers at Liekhams Tap which was just down the road west of Half Day Inn but has been closed for some time now. Tiny old joint that had been around forever.

--

I do miss the burgers/beers at Liekhams Tap which was just down the road west of Half Day Inn but has been closed for some time now. Tiny old joint that had been around forever.

I know the place, it is before the pet cemetary. I never went in there. My sister sold new construction not so far away about 10 years ago. The rumor was the owner of Laikom's owned most of the surrounding land. As the land was sold for corporate parks and subdivisions, he was quietly sitting on bundle of cash and still serving his customers.

BTW - where the Half Day Inn resides for the moment, used to be unincorporated Lake County before it became part of Lincolnshire. In the modest L-shaped business strip mall on the southwest corner used to be the notorious strip club: The Cheetah Inn.

Regards,

JimInLoganSquare wrote:No. It has nothing to do with travel times. Half Day was named after a Potowatomi chief named Half Day: Half Day. It is strange, but it is true. (And when I first moved up to that area in 1992, I heard all the stories, too. Eventually, I heard the right one.)

I knew Lincolnshire was once called half-day, but I have always heard the "half a day's travel" story. It always seemed to me that it would take longer than a half-day to get downtown from there by carriage. What a great bit of trivia.

The Half Day Inn is in Vernon Hills not Lincolnshire. It is being raised to build the new VH Town Center development. It's supposed to be high end shops and condos. Only the Gilardi's to the west will remain.

Liekhams Tap and its surrounding land has been sold for condo development too.

The things we learn by watching village board meeting on TV!

HI,

Is this location the southern edge of Vernon Hills? I associate Vernon Hills more west and north of there.

Regards,

Vernon Hills is west of Milwaukee and north of Old Half Day Road. This includes a couple of blocks south of 45.

Wayne

JimInLoganSquare wrote:Probably not too long, given the trend in that area. The mall at the southwest corner of Aptakisic and Milwaukee (the one that contains Bin 36, Big Bowl and Wildfire) was occupied, when I moved to the area in 1992, by a Harley-riders' roadhouse that had its greatest moments hosting D-List rock bands like the remaining members of Deep Purple, etc. Across the street was a tin can recycling center. Let's hope Par King can keep it together by offering something unique in the area. Hopefully, Ash Wipe will not get shut down during our lifetimes.

I beleive that you are referencing Shades??? We used to go there as kids to see bad Grateful Dead cover bands and B list 70's bands. One question though, before it was Shades it had been a country music roadhouse. The rumor had been that the roadhouse scene in the Blues Brothers had been filmed there. Does anyone know if this is true or not???

If Vernon Hills stretches that far south and east, it's news to me, but okay.

It's a prime location and I never understood why a business blessed with such a spot and such a reputation didn't try a bit harder at both food and service. For a long time it seems it's just been a place to get a late-night beer in a Solo cup.

For me and my generation, the Half Day Inn was also the only place serving food late at night after all the other north suburban restaurants and take-out places closed up their kitchens -- at what -- 9 pm? That's life in the suburbs. Out here, you can't be too picky about the quality, when it's the only place around still serving.*

(*Side note -- the thin-crust pizza at Emil's on Rte 45 in Mundelein is very good and they serve food and deliver til, I think, 1 am ... but I digress)

But for my parents, back when the food was better and dinner was more the point (as opposed to the late night sports-bar-ish place it turned into), the Half Day Inn was where they went for fish on Friday nights during Lent after stations of the Cross.

So I'm sorry to see it go, for their sake, although my parents are gone now, and frankly, the Half Day Inn they knew has been gone for quite a while too.

HI,

I haven't been over there yet. A friend who lives in Lincolnshire dropped in to learn they are open another 6 months. Instead I have been going to other roadhouses in the area with at least one having pretty good food. I just haven't had time to write it up. There are more roadhouses around there than I ever imagined.

Regards,

If there is anything that I can say about the Half Day Inn, is that it has a funky smell to it. Not sure if the piping of the establishment has something to do with it but it has a sewer-esque aroma once you get in the door.

The food is..."eh..." but nothing I've had from the menu is too memorable.

banner out front says they are taking reservations for 2006 christmas parties, so they should be open a bit longer.

BigDar wrote:The food is terrible!

yes it is..and overpriced too..

Sweet Willie wrote:

JimInLoganSquare wrote:No. It has nothing to do with travel times. Half Day was named after a Potowatomi chief named Half Day: Half Day. It is strange, but it is true. (And when I first moved up to that area in 1992, I heard all the stories, too. Eventually, I heard the right one.)

I'll be darned!

Food is poor at the Half Day Inn but something kept drawing me and buddies back to it for beers and chow while on our motorcycle trips.

I do miss the burgers/beers at Liekhams Tap which was just down the road west of Half Day Inn but has been closed for some time now. Tiny old joint that had been around forever.

--

Liekhams! with the manhole cover sized burgers,..and good too