A "Peculiar" Velveteen Rabbit , 1949

Often on a Sunday afternoon when Elaine was little, she would take a ride “out west” with her parents making stops along North Avenue.  There were three locations she most looked forward to enjoying: Russell’s Barbecue in Elmwood Park for the best thinly-sliced, dripping-in-barbecue-sauce, pork sandwich you can image; Kiddieland in Melrose Park which had “kids only” rides and the very adult The Little Dipper roller coaster; and, Amling’s Flowerland in Maywood with its steamy greenhouses, beautiful displays of exotic plants and flowers bursting with color.  So when Dad would say they were going for a ride “out west,” she'd get all excited.   

But then there was a time each spring that she would dread.  Every year her parents seemed to need to have a photo of her taken with the Easter Bunny.  Their photographic place of choice was Amling’s Flowerland.  She'd be so excited they were going for a ride until she realized she was going to have to climb onto the lap of a rather scary-looking rabbit.  If you look at the rabbit with the dangling eyes, you can tell that Disney was not the designer of the costume!  There was nothing warm and fuzzy at all.

In 1949, Helen, framed this photo of Elaine with the “peculiar” bunny and the photo sat on Helen's bedroom dresser until she died in 2008.

Article reproduced from the June, 2010, CAGGNI Newsletter