End of the line for famous Choo-Choo restaurant?
DES PLAINES | Owner fears city will 'take away' her restaurant
The owner of Des Plaines' famous Choo-Choo restaurant is afraid that her building may get knocked down to make way for a new police headquarters.
"The city wants to take this away from this town," said Jean Paxton, who owns the 57-year-old suburban landmark and has started an online petition to save it. "People come from everywhere for the Choo-Choo."
(Richard A. Chapman/Sun-Times files)
But Des Plaines Mayor Tony Arredia wants Paxton to relax -- there are no current plans to knock anything down because there's no money to build.
"There's no definite plans to do anything right now," said Arredia. "Could that change next year or the year after? Sure." But with money tight, a big building project is "not heavy on our menu," he said.
The Choo-Choo carries baskets of food to patrons on a model train. The burger and malt shop frequently appears on newspaper and magazine lists of "must-see" Chicago-area locations.
Paxton, who has owned the business for seven years, says she has reason to worry. She said her landlord told her the city contacted him back in December about the possibility of buying the property. She learned from the Des Plaines Journal that the city wanted the Choo-Choo property for a new police station.
A paper banner on the Choo-Choo's windows directs patrons to go to savethechoo choo.com to sign a petition. So far, 1,500 visitors have signed, Paxton said.
Arredia said the city was looking at three different places on which to build a new police station.
"Where she is right now could be part of the plan, but we don't have a plan yet," said Arredia.
Arredia suggested Paxton consider moving the Choo-Choo to the new Metropolitan Square development, but Paxton refused. "At Metropolitan Square, I'd be part of a strip mall," she said. "It just won't be the same."
The Choo-Choo was created by James Ballowe and his wife, Marilyn, in 1951-- four years before Ray Kroc opened another burger place called McDonald's a few blocks away.
A longtime favorite spot for birthday parties, the Choo-Choo is still a hit with kids. During a recent visit to the restaurant, a baby could be seen laughing and clapping every time the train circled the counter.
Paxton's now-17-year-old son David was such a fan of the restaurant that his mother used to joke with former owner George Doris that she wanted to buy it.
"I wrote it down on the list of things I wanted in my life," Paxton recalled. "Four years later, I had the keys."