Ira Glass

My dad was miserable working there. So was his brother. His mom, my grandma Frida, got out of the store. Went to college. Taught Latin in junior high school. But then got dragged back into the family business against her will like Michael Corleone when her dad Isidore got sick. I visited 1119 Bayard, I don't know, maybe half a dozen times in my life. A dozen times.

My dad was miserable working there. So was his brother. His mom, my grandma Frida, got out of the store. Went to college. Taught Latin in junior high school. But then got dragged back into the family business against her will like Michael Corleone when her dad Isidore got sick. I visited 1119 Bayard, I don't know, maybe half a dozen times in my life. A dozen times.

Usually it would happen when my Uncle Lenny came to town. He and my dad would drive us all downtown. We'd stand outside 1119 Bayard. And the two of them would marvel at the place. At the fact of it. I think at the distance they'd come from there. My dad with his accounting firm out in the suburbs. My uncle, who became a surgeon and moved to San Diego.

Usually it would happen when my Uncle Lenny came to town. He and my dad would drive us all downtown. We'd stand outside 1119 Bayard. And the two of them would marvel at the place. At the fact of it. I think at the distance they'd come from there. My dad with his accounting firm out in the suburbs. My uncle, who became a surgeon and moved to San Diego.

Their kids raised in the kind of middle-class comfort that we ate all the chicken we could ever want. I always found those trips disappointing. We'd take a picture and hang around there on the sidewalk. It's not a store anymore. It's just somebody's house. It doesn't look like anything. A row house in a block of row houses.

Their kids raised in the kind of middle-class comfort that we ate all the chicken we could ever want. I always found those trips disappointing. We'd take a picture and hang around there on the sidewalk. It's not a store anymore. It's just somebody's house. It doesn't look like anything. A row house in a block of row houses.

Somewhat a few years ago, somebody painted a cheerful Christian mural on one side of the building. The quote from the book of Mark. Every time I've gone to 1119 Bayard and stood on the sidewalk, I've tried to picture it. My family there long ago. Frida in her 30s at the cash register against her will. My dad as a little boy opening boxes and putting stuff on shelves.

Somewhat a few years ago, somebody painted a cheerful Christian mural on one side of the building. The quote from the book of Mark. Every time I've gone to 1119 Bayard and stood on the sidewalk, I've tried to picture it. My family there long ago. Frida in her 30s at the cash register against her will. My dad as a little boy opening boxes and putting stuff on shelves.

I'm not great at that kind of thing. It's like trying to summon ghosts with a Ouija board and the little pointer refuses to budge. We've all got these spots from our family's past. We go to them. They're like Civil War battlefields that have been washed of blood long ago. We pause there and look at the trees and the grassy fields. And we want what? Some connection to something.

I'm not great at that kind of thing. It's like trying to summon ghosts with a Ouija board and the little pointer refuses to budge. We've all got these spots from our family's past. We go to them. They're like Civil War battlefields that have been washed of blood long ago. We pause there and look at the trees and the grassy fields. And we want what? Some connection to something.

I am who I am partly because of this place. But now it's mute. So we take a selfie and try to tune into the past like a distant radio station whose signal we can just barely make out. Today on our program, we have a story of somebody else who heads out to a place like that from his family's history, looking for answers.

I am who I am partly because of this place. But now it's mute. So we take a selfie and try to tune into the past like a distant radio station whose signal we can just barely make out. Today on our program, we have a story of somebody else who heads out to a place like that from his family's history, looking for answers.

And he gets so much more out of it than I ever did at 1119 Bayard about who he is. From WBEZ Chicago, it's This American Life. I'm Eric Glass. Stay with us.

And he gets so much more out of it than I ever did at 1119 Bayard about who he is. From WBEZ Chicago, it's This American Life. I'm Eric Glass. Stay with us.

It's just American life. Okay, so we're devoting today's entire program to this one story. Today's show is a rerun, by the way. It's by Bowen Wong, who we've had on our show before. He's a producer whose work has its own very distinct sound and feeling. That's one of the things that we on our staff really like about him. Here's what he put together today for you.

It's just American life. Okay, so we're devoting today's entire program to this one story. Today's show is a rerun, by the way. It's by Bowen Wong, who we've had on our show before. He's a producer whose work has its own very distinct sound and feeling. That's one of the things that we on our staff really like about him. Here's what he put together today for you.

Bowen Wong. Coming up, Bowen flies home and considers the question, maybe it wasn't Christianity that messed him up as a kid. That's in a minute on Chicago Public Radio when our program continues. This is American Life from Ira Glass. Today's program, Children of Dave, Bone Wong's pilgrimage to finally understand why his parents decided to become Christians when they arrived in America.

Bowen Wong. Coming up, Bowen flies home and considers the question, maybe it wasn't Christianity that messed him up as a kid. That's in a minute on Chicago Public Radio when our program continues. This is American Life from Ira Glass. Today's program, Children of Dave, Bone Wong's pilgrimage to finally understand why his parents decided to become Christians when they arrived in America.

Today's show is a rerun. We pick up our story where we left off before the break.

Today's show is a rerun. We pick up our story where we left off before the break.