Gregg turned 50 at the Firehouse

and what a surprise it was

07/23/2010 2:36 PM

By Bonnie McGrath

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Gregg, in the middle, with his family; Kate, in pink, on the left (photo by Mary Ivory)



Peter Hastings and me (photo by Mary Ivory)

One of my neighborhood pals was really surprised last Saturday when he walked into the Firehouse at 14th and Michigan for dinner. “We’re going upstairs first to a new bar they have for a drink,” his wife Kate told him, explaining they had a coupon for a freebie.

They went upstairs, but when they opened the door to the “bar,” it turned out to be a banquet room where the wine was flowing and all Gregg’s family and friends were standing. Even Skip and Karen Dorn from Palm Springs.

“Surprise!” everyone yelled. And he was. He really was. His wife had really pulled a fast one. She pulled it off in honor of his 50th birthday. It wasn’t easy--she had to change her email password for one thing, so he wouldn’t inadvertently see the RSVPs. But a good time was had by all.

I had a great time talking to Gregg’s brother-in-law, Kate’s sister Laura’s husband, Peter Hastings, who opened--and made very successful--the first Potbelly on the 2200 block of Lincoln Avenue. (Such a good time, in fact, that I didn’t get anywhere near the number of crab cakes I would have had, had I not gotten involved talking about the past.) I used to go to that original Potbelly--and wrote all about it on the blog last year, which you can read here.

It was in 1977 that Potbelly started--as an antique store. Then Hastings decided to compete with some of the less than warm and fuzzy foodsellers in Lincoln Park and sell sandwiches, too. And one day someone came in to see him about selling him a sandwich warmer/griller contraption, that churned the sandwiches through--and the rest is history. (Occasionally, he still had to sell the sandwiches to boaters and picnickers unheated or else they would get soggy when they were ready to be served.)

Hastings sold out in the 90s (some would say both literally and figuratively) and now the original Potbelly is just a memory--for both of us. Although for Hastings, his whole lifestyle changed; he no longer has a sandwich shop to run. Just a nice life to live.

In any case, birthday boy Gregg got a lot of presents. A lot of booze, someone noticed, and so I was glad I got him a Starbucks gift card in case he needs to counteract the rest of the gifts.

As the party was ending, my friend and handywoman Janice Koerber asked me if I wanted to walk over to Millennium Park to see The Insects. We did, and the show from Spain was very interesting. It was made up of huge colorfully lit mechanical bugs driven by one person (or more) sitting below with the controls making the ant, the preying mantis and the spider move forward and backward, the antenna lilting here and there, while we onlookers ran back and forth to loud music, along the park’s plazas, being held off by city workers who pushed us away even though the Sarruga people just got through saying--by way of introducing the performance--to feel free to interact.


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By Bonnie McGrath from South Loop
Posted: 08/16/2010 6:02 PM

ironically, potbelly just sold its first franchise.. read all about it: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20100816/NEWS07/100819903/potbelly-sandwich-shop-serves-up-its-first-franchise