Transcript

Location: 1119 Caledonia Street

Tamra Dickinson: The space is empty now; it’s an empty lot, but what I recall of the building, the Maid-Rite, is that it is at 1119 Caledonia Street, which was directly across from the church that I attended, which is St. James Catholic Church. It wasn’t a very big building, and it had storefront windows, and when you’d enter, there was a U-shaped counter, and that was our favorite place to sit. But there were a few booths, but it was kind of nice to sit at the counter because you could watch them making this specialty sandwich that they made. It would’ve been a Sunday date day with myself and my husband, so we usually went somewhere, but it was really nice to be just across the street. 

So, my kids were occupied, we could have a nice meal together, talk a little bit about things, but just, really just to enjoy the food. That would’ve been the early 1990s, roughly ten o’clock in the morning, but it was a good time to come, and I loved people-watching. I think I would be surprised if there were a dozen people in there. You could tell there were some that were regulars ‘cause of the banter between themselves and the cook’s chef. I think I remember doing the loose meat sandwich, which is the Maid-Rite special. It’s a memory that I have that I carry with me even now. The gentleman would take a mixer, an electric mixer like you make cookies with, and he would be breaking up the meat with that inside this heating unit. And I still use that same method myself when I make my own taco meat to date. 

My name is Tamra Dickinson, and I think it’s always valuable that we have businesses on the North Side. And I think there are plenty of other businesses that are continuing to thrive, but we all have really good memories about experiencing those businesses on the North Side.