Founded in 1949, Novelty Golf at 3650 West Devon Avenue in Lincolnwood, is still operating, hosting two-18 hole miniature golf courses.
1980s Novelty Golf TV Commercial
I lived about 2 miles from Novelty Golf and my friends and I would play either one of the courses often. The 19th hole was actually a golf ball return, in a one-hole pinball style game. From the hundreds of golf games I played, I won a free game only one time.
The ball return game is partially seen in the bottom left of this picture.
We'd spend almost all of our money in the game room. It was lit perfectly for a game room, with dim, indirect lighting. The "L" shaped room helped to keep the game noise down.
They had all the newest games, Asteroids, Space Invaders, Pac Man, Missile Command, Centipede, and a few Pinball machines. Later came more great games like Pole Position, Zaxxon, and Dragon's Lair which was the first arcade game to use cartoon footage.
Dragon's Lair Arcade Game - Full Play
Want to try Dragon's Lair? Click to download the Android game from Google Play. It is the original. What was your favorite arcade game?
After we were done, it was off to the Bunny Hutch, which is next door and shares a parking lot, for a Hot Dog and fries.
Lums was a casual restaurant chain known for its hot dogs steamed in beer and tantalizing Ollieburgers. Stuart and Clifford Perlman started Lums in 1956 in Miami Beach, and the brothers had four restaurants by 1961 and began aggressively expanding and franchising the company. The Florida-based chain peaked at about 400 restaurants nationwide, and the last one closed in 2017 in Bellevue, Nebraska.
Lums Restaurant's busiest Chicago location was in the Old Town neighborhood on the southwest corner of North Avenue and Wells Street.
Standard Lums Stand-A-Lone Building
Lums restaurants were in Bloomington, Chicago, on Touhy Avenue west of Caldwell Avenue and in Old Town, Chicago Heights, Des Plaines at Oakton (Rt 83) and Elmhurst Road, Glenwood on Halsted, Hill Crest, Kankakee,Niles, Oak Lawn at 87th & Cicero, Ottawa, Pekin in the Pekin Mall on Court Street, Peoria, Rockford, Rolling Meadows on Algonquin Road west of Wilkie Road, Schaumburg outside of Woodfield Mall, Tinley Park, Urbana, Villa Park at St. Charles and Euclid, and Wheeling.
A Standard Interior View
Lums offered Hot Dogs steamed in beer with Sherry-flavored sauerkraut and their famous chopped sirloin Lumburgers. Their huge Grilled Cheese sandwich was on a fluffy poppy-seed bun injected with American cheese and melty cheese slices between the bun for 45¢. Their $1.55 freshly breaded fried clam dinner was a best seller. Lums offered over 20 brands of beer, some on tap and others in bottles, but all served in ice-cold frosted glasses.
It was a sad day when the Miami-based Lums filed for bankruptcy and closed permanently in 1983.
