Dziadek and Babcia Gogolewski owned a Zenith multi-band (broadcast, shortwave and police) floor model radio similar to the circa 1936 model 10-S-160. (It has been almost 50 years since I have seen the radio, so for all I know, it might have actually been a model 10-S-160.)
Often when we visited my grandparents, I would fiddle around with the Zenith and try to hear what I could hear. The radio probably needed some work because I did not hear much, but what I did hear stimulated my budding interest in radio.
Dziadek died in 1965 and Babcia decided to sell the house. When she was moving out, she entrusted the radio to a neighbor for safe keeping until she settled into her new digs.
After the dust settled, my grandmother tried to reclaim the radio, but the neighbors claimed she gave it to them. Babcia spoke Polish and very little English, so there may have been a failure to communicate or her neighbors were thieves. In either case, that radio was never handed down to me. Too bad because it was a beautiful piece and held a lot of memories.
The Chicago Zenith store is now approximately the site of the Chicago Apple Store.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I loved sitting in front of that radio and playing with the dials, too! . Think of all the great radio shows Mom and the family to in the 30's and 40's!
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