For all you fans of This American Life, you might remember their broadcast of 24 Hours at the Golden Apple way back in 2000. For me, this was quite possibly the episode that got me obsessed with the radio show and I couldn’t wait to some day visit Chicago and eat at the diner myself. Not that that’s why I moved here…
And now that we are moving again (this time back to North Carolina), the only thing on my bucket list was to have a super late night dinner with my closest Chicago buddies at the Golden Apple. Thankfully I have friends who understand such geeky fantasies and are more than happy to oblige. 15 years later, not much has changed about the diner except there is no smoking allowed inside and Donna has since retired (according to our waitress Donna worked the night shift for 40 years ). And ironically the pie display wasn’t revolving on the particular night that we were there, not that it stopped us from ordering a slice from each of their pies and cakes. It’s hard to explain how a radio show, or a diner for that matter, can mean so much.
Here in this picture it sums up all that I loved about Chicago before and all that I have gained from having lived here.
That was a fun episode – my favorite was all about a Peter Pan play that went horribly awry. Some of the best travel adventures are sparked by something like a radio show or book or stories from a friend. Glad you got to experience the diner for yourself.