The Glenview House

The Glenview House has been a bar in my hometown of Glenview, IL since 1878.  It is located in downtown Glenview on Glenview Rd and has been a Glenview icon for a very long time.  The Glenview house has a big front porch that had picnic tables on it and after the park district summer softball league games would end you would see the teams celebrating or healing from the games.  As a kid, you could not wait to grow up and join the crowd on the Glenview House porch.  When I turned 21, that was one of the first things I did was go to the Glenview House to have an Old Style (Chicago beer and not that good but it was the thing to do!)  I also played summer league softball and was there plenty of times celebrating our victories or healing the wounds of losing and usually it was with the teams we had just played.  It was the local hangout that you could count on meeting someone you knew when you were back from college, in town for a visit, etc.  Last time I was there was in October 2009 where we met for the first night of my high school reunion.  It was fun to be with so many of my high school friends.  Since then the Glenview House has been remodeled.  The front porch now has tables and chairs on it instead of picnic tables.  Inside, the bar is still there but the rest of the place has been redone as a restaurant.  It really looks amazing.  A formal dining room was even added upstairs.  It was a great place to meet and have dinner with friends from my elementary school, Henking.  My best friend in elementary school was Glory and so we met at the Glenview House last night.  She had also invited an old friend, which I have not seen in at least 35 years, Edie.   Then a couple of hours later Glory's brother, Bill (who is a year younger than us) came and met us.  I have not seen Bill in over 40 years.  We had a great time talking about the days when we grew up together.   I had a great time last night and I know there is more to come while I am home and seeing family and old friends.  It is amazing that even when it's been years since you have seen a friend it is only a matter of minutes and those years disappear.