Stores along 1st St., Mundelein, c. 1958

Here's a lock-down fueled story relating to this photo:
We moved to a home outside of this town when I was in high school. Early in the town's history this was a main street. An abandoned railroad station stood on the opposite side. About the time we moved there the city fathers were trying to decide what to do with it. As an indication of the pace of things in Mundelein, the matter remained unresolved four years later when I left for college. The building on the near corner with the striped awning was the Rexall drug store that my first-true-love's father owned. She worked the soda fountain on weekends and during the summer. I used to borrow my mom's car most summer evenings, head into town and occupy a hard wooden stool at the soda fountain where I could nurse a root beer float and unabashedly moon at my beloved, gliding gracefully behind the counter, dishing up marvels of ice cream with flavored sauces and pouring perfect milkshakes into tall, frosty, glasses--it was a scene straight out of a Frank Capra movie. I'd hang around until closing in the hope of enticing her to let me drive her home--a distance of about four blocks. Eventually I found the courage to ask her to "go steady," she said "yes" and we spent most of my senior year as a couple. But alas, the course of true love... and she transferred her affection to my best friend. I'll stop here because I'm sure you've seen this movie before. I must add that as a father of four daughters I marvel at how patient her father was with my act as he filled prescriptions and observed it all. Submitted to the VPTP for this week's Store-fronts theme. I have no idea why that wagon is out front, although the flag on the corner may be a clue that a parade may have been held that day.