I remember the apt. where we lived at 5119 S. Wentworth, Chicago. There was a business at street level with four apts on the second and third floors. We lived on the second floor with 5 or 6 rooms. We had cold heat (early 1940's), with a coal bin in one corner of the kitchen closest to the back door.
We had a cozy stove in the kitchen, and one in a front bed room. (ash pans to empty) We took winter baths in a tin tub in the front bedroom. We also had an Ice Box where a block of ice was put in the top compartment. Mr. Foster was the Ice Man, and we had a card with different sizes of Ice blocks that was put in the window so that he would know what to bring up the stairs. I can still see him with that leather (?) thing on his shoulder where he held it with the ice tongs. Someone had the job of empting the pan under the icebox so that it would not overflow. which it did sometimes. We could sit in the front window and watch the world across the street. There was a grocery store and a tavern that I remember.

We lived with our Aunt Willie, ( my mother's oldest sister),and Uncle Bill. I had an older brother and two older sisters. At this time I was the baby of the family. Aunt Willie outlived all of her sibling, dying at 92 years.

After the war with housing at a premium. We had to move as many apts like ours were converted into kitchenettes. The apt. we had would become rooms with one kitchen & one bathroom for several folks. So was life in the big city.

Alberta