08/23/2026
This is a very short compact version of the story of how I came to own the alley in Woodfield mall. It was a wild time in 1976 while still in Catholic High School for a 17 -year-old kid to go into his motherβs drawer and take out his college saving Bonds because I wasnβt going to Harvard and I didnβt want to go to Harvard and my parents were having a horrible divorce so nobody paid my private school tuition. I think when I ended up owning The Alley, I think I hit the lottery. Business has had it ups and downs, and it was never easy, but I have lived the life that very few people in the world get to live.
Because of all of my followers and my customers Iβve traveled 4,000,000 miles around the world. Iβve met tons of people who love my Store and I get to spend time with them and Iβve had a lot of great past employees who still come back to visit me. So I know most of you assumed I started The Alley and the answer is I was there within the first year of it getting started, but you will see a longer version of this in a book weβre getting ready to publish, which is the history of The Alley Chicago