Doctor Jazz?

Hey guys, anyone remember DR. Jazz on Chicago Ave. in Evanston(just north of Main)? I remember having a great time as a child there. My memory is fading, was it just a ice cream shop or did they have food too?

I think it was in the same location where Crossroads is now. BTW Crossroads has the best burgers in Evanston. DR. Jazz used to have a really cool atmosphere with a player piano and other vintage toys. Anyone else have any memories from this place?

Dr. Jazz was strictly ice cream as I recall. Their signature "dish" was the peanut butter milkshake. The original location was on Montrose near the Albany Park neighborhood. Both locations were owned by the Bortz brothers who later went on to open Sally's Stage on Western, the ill concieved roller skating, theatrical pipe organ, nightly talent show, pan pizza place. Gosh, with all that excitement going on, it's hard to understand why it failed.

Buddy

P.S. Joe Bortz originally tried to pull Burt into a partnership before opening Sally's Stage. This was when Burt still owned Pequod's in the late 70s. Obviously, Burt turned him down, but Joe kept a close eye on how Burt made the pizzas as they stood back in the kitchen talking business. Guess he didn't keep a close enough eye on the process.

B.

I remember Sally's Stage on Western! That place was weird, I couldn't remember anything about the place other than it had a mechanical bull. Like you said, I remember alot of chaos going on in there.

I remember the Dr. Jazz on Montrose. We would beg to go there...moaning and groaning how sick we were and we had to go see Dr. Jazz.
I dont remember any food... we always went for ice cream.
That was a long time ago.

The original location was in the 1600 block of Montrose.

Thanks for bringing back some great memories! I remember going to both Sally's Stage and Dr. Jazz in my youth. Anyone remember the exact location of the Dr. Jazz on Montrose or Sally's Stage? I would love to drive by and see what those places have become (condos, I'm sure!).

Sally's has become a very large Indian restaurant. Haven't been around the 1600 block of Montrose lately.

Buddy

I also remember that Dr. Jazz in Evanston played old silent films and one of the booths moved sideways at seemingly random times. It was a great place to hang out for high schoolers (us) who weren't interested in drinking.

A Dr. Jazz Memory: We went to see Steve Martin at Amazing Grace, which was on Main St. just east of Chicago Ave. (I seem to recall the audience actually sat on the floor.) Martin himself was as Amazing as the venue, with a capital A. The wild 'n' crazy dynamo that was Steve Martin was overwhelming, awesome. For an audience member, it was like being ravished by humor. So, after the show, we walk across to Dr. Jazz for a sundae or peanut butter shake or whatever. And there he was, alone, at a booth on the opposite wall from ours, a complete "black hole" of energy if ever there was one--instead of giving any out, now it was like he was sucking all the room's available energy into his vortex. A study in complete and utter exhaustion sipping a peanut butter shake. No one dared approach him. We didn't begrudge him his near-death blackness, because there was probably no way any human being could have put on the show he had just put on and end up any other way. We had nothing but gratitude for his sacrifice, and not a snarky thought between the four of us as to the contrast with the Steve Martin we had just seen.

You might think the vibe he was giving off was "Yes, I'm Steve Martin, and I just want to be left alone." But it was more than that--or rather, less than that. I've never seen anyone so depleted in all my life. Such was the nature of the show he put on back then. Good thing that peanut butter shake gave him the strength to go on.

It's getting cold out there. When I was young, my dad would take me out for ice cream during the coldest days - I have no idea why. One place that we would go every once in a while was a place called Doctor Jazz. They had old coin operated devices and a sort of back in the 20's/30's atmosphere. Does anyone remember where it was located? Does anyone else remember it?

See this post

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.ph ... 51b#157004

BTW I loved Dr. Jazz & Sallys Stage too

There were two Dr. Jazz locations. One, as mentioned in the link, in Evanston, and another on west Montrose. Both stores, as well as the above mentioned Sally's Stage, were owned by the Bortz brothers.

Buddy

The Dr. Jazz in Evanston was replaced by Cross Rhodes which is still there today

We must have gone to the Montrose location.

If you want more information on Doctor Jazz (Please note Dr is spelled out Doctor)
you can visit the Doctor Jazz Chicago website for lots of photos and articles

http://doctorjazzchicago.com/

Also there is a website for

http://www.sallysstage.com/

xxx