Connie's Pizza, Al's Beef close in Orland

By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

Connie’s Pizza closed recently at 16310 S. LaGrange Road in Orland Park.

All other Connie’s locations remain open and the manager of the restaurant in Bridgeport said she had heard the Orland store was being remodeled. So, we’ll wait and see if it reopens.

You would think that it had a great location being right next to the Marcus Cinemas and all.

It’s not the only restaurant in that area to close, however, Al’s Beef across the street at 16255 S. LaGrange Road also closed recently.

But Al’s owners are planning on reopening later this year in a smaller location farther north on LaGrange, near Orland Park Place.

In the meantime, all other Al’s Beef locations remain open.

And the building won’t be vacant for long. Fat Ricky’s, a local Italian restaurant chain featuring pizza, burgers and sandwiches, is coming soon. “Hopefully, by Father’s Day,” said the manager at the Romeoville location.

The Orland location would be the fourth for the chain, which has eateries in Romeoville, Elmwood and Shorewood.

For an idea of what to expect when it opens, check out www.fatrickys.com

Shannon’s Landing to close
Shannon’s Landing, the pub at the Lansing Municipal Airport, 3820 Glenwood-Lansing Road, is closing this weekend. The pub will stay open until Sunday night or when the food and liquor runs out.
The Irish-themed pub is out of corned beef but has supplies of shrimp, burgers and beef. Drink specials in its final hours include $2 imported pints.

Village officials told the Times of Northwest Indiana that the closing had been planned, and that they want the pub to reopen after repairs are made to the building.

Party planner open house
Princess and Prince Parties, which opened last month at 6000 W. 159th St. in Oak Forest, is holding an open house from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday. The shop plans parties for children and offers catering, character appearances, face painting and bounce houses. For more information, visit www.princessandprinceparties.com. The phone number is 708-532-0400.

Bowling deal of the summer
Kids Bowl Free is being offered this summer at Burr Oak Bowl in Blue Island, Castaways in Calumet City, Strike n Spare in Lockport, Thunder Bowl in Mokena, Oak Forest Bowl in Oak Forest and Orland Bowl in Orland Park. Sign your children up at www.kidsbowlfree.com. Each child will get passes good for two free games per day. There also is a family pass available for $24.95 that allows up to four adults two free games per day.

Jake Peavy to sign autographs in Frankfort

White Sox pitcher Jake Peavy will sign autographs from noon to 1 p.m. Saturday at Phillips Chevrolet in Frankfort. There also will be registration for a chance to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the July 30 Sox vs. Oakland A’s game. The winning name will be drawn July 17 at the dealership.

Mercury demise should be no big thing

By Bob Bong

Southland Savvy

Back in 1939, Ford decided it needed a brand to bridge the gap between its regular-guy Ford models and its luxury Lincoln models. Voila, Mercury was born.

Trouble was, with some notable exceptions over the years such as the Mercury Cougar XR-7 specialty coupe, most of the time Mercury models were fancified Fords rather than Lincoln wannabes.

Mercury sales have been declining steadily for almost 20 years. So it should come as no surprise that Ford announced this week that it is pulling the plug on Mercury and will stop production of Mercury models in the fourth quarter. Aside from the Grand Marquis (pictured) I couldn't name one of the four Mercury models being sold this year. I had to look them up on Google. The others are Mariner, Milan and Mountaineer.

Sad to say, but I doubt anyone will miss Mercury and certainly not for long. Ford has fiddled with Mercury enough over the years that the brand long ago lost whatever identity it might have had. Most Mercury models for the past 30 years or so were built on Ford platforms and except for minor changes and Mercury nameplates looked much like their Ford counterparts.

The Cougar started out looking like the Mustang and later looked exactly like a Thunderbird. The Bobcat was the same as a Pinto. The Comet first looked like the Fairlane and ended up looking just like a Maverick. The Sable was a Taurus. You get the idea.

The joke used to be that the car came down one assembly line and became a Ford or Mercury depending on what door it emerged from.

The good news is that the demise of Mercury should not lead to dealership closings. I don't know of any Mercury stores that don't also carry Lincolns or Fords and possibly other brands. They should be able to survive.

But it's sad anyway to think of another fabled American auto brand biting the dust.