Tinley Park Seeks Vendor for 80th Avenue Train Station Café

Artist's rendering of the new Tinley Park Metra station on 80th Avenue.

By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

Tinley Park is seeking proposals from vendors interested in operating the café that will open in the 80th Avenue Metra train station after construction winds up early next year.

The new station is expected to open in mid-February and will be one of the busiest on Metra’s Rock Island line. Its café will serve an estimated 2,400 daily commuters along with nearby residents and visitors, according to the village.A look at new businesses coming into town and a fond farewell to those that have, for whatever reason, called it quits.

According to the village, the station will feature a clock tower, full kitchen and Internet cafe, a great hall, a covered drop-off area and veranda, interior booth seating, two restrooms and a fireplace.
A second phase of construction, to be completed next summer, will feature reconfigured parking stalls, native landscaping and a pedestrian underpass.

Interested parties can register at the village’s new website http://www.tinleypark.org/ or pick up a copy of the Request for Proposal at Village Hall, 16250 S. Oak Park Ave. For information, call marketing director Donna Framke at 708-444-5045.

The deadline to submit a proposal is 10 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 30.

Yana’s Café Closed

Not sure when it actually closed its doors, but Yana’s Café recently shut down at 8005 W. 183rd St. in Tinley Park’s Plaza of Tinley Crossings shopping center. The restaurant’s sign is still up at entrances to the plaza but its signage has been taken off of the building, and its phone number has been disconnected and its website has been taken down. The eatery had been operated by new owners since August 2010.

Rand’s Hallmark Closes

The Rand’s Hallmark store closed recently at 16030 S. Harlem Ave. in Tinley Park, though Charter Fitness (formerly Cardinal Fitness) recently opened in the space next door after moving from Oak Park Avenue.

Making Spirits Bright Campaign

Homewood Disposal is conducting its sixth annual Making Spirits Bright campaign food drive for Together We Cope in Tinley Park.

The campaign runs through Dec. 9 and non-perishable food items can be dropped off at the following three locations:

• Homewood Disposal, 1501 W. 175th St., Homewood, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Star Disposal, 30 South St., Park Forest, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• NuWay/Heartland Disposal, 17726 S. Oak Park Ave., Tinley Park, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Odyssey Fun World Plans to Light Up for Christmas

The light show at Ni Miele's house last Christmas.


By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

Odyssey Fun World in Tinley Park wants to shed light on Christmas this year. Sorry, make that, shed 100,000 lights on the holiday.

The arcade is putting together a light show on the side of its building that will start at 6 p.m. tonight and last through the first week of January.

“We hope it will be the first Christmas lights display for many years to come,” said Clint Paraday, general manager of the family arcade at Oak Park and Harlem avenues.

The lights will twinkle and dance to music as part of a light show designed by Nic Miele, who has been putting on light shows at his home in Batavia for the past three years.

The arcade will remain open as usual when the light show is on and the show will run even on nights the arcade is closed, Paraday said.

“The show will start out about 15 minutes long,” said Miele. “But it will get longer through the season as we add more songs.”

“The lights will move to Christmas music as well as some top 40,” said Miele. “Each song takes about eight hours to program into the computer.”

Paraday said people will be able to stop and watch the show and listen to music on outdoor speakers or tune in to 87.9 FM and listen to the music on the radio.

“There will be LED bars that will display messages, show the lyrics of songs playing and broadcast videos,” said Miele.

The lights are the same kind that you would put on your house, said Paraday.

“We got them at a nice discount from Lowe’s in Orland Park,” said Paraday.

The lights and music are controlled by computers.

“We came out with a big Halloween display,” said Paraday, referring to Odyssey’s recent Fun Farm and Corn Maize. “We decided to do something big for Christmas. Nobody else around here does anything like this. We hope everyone enjoys it.”

Stacked Opens in Oak Lawn

Papa John's opened Thursday in Frankfort.

By Bob Bong

Southland Savvy

Tom Demacopoulos is back in the restaurant business in Oak Lawn with the opening today of Stacked at 5237 W. 95th St. in the former Baja Fresh Mexican Grill.

Demacopoulos owned the Plaza Café in Orland Park from 2005 to earlier this year when he was forced to close because the village plans to tear down the Orland Plaza mall he was in as part of its Main Street Triangle project.

When he shut down the Plaza Café, Demacopoulos said he was probably going to open a new restaurant in Oak Lawn.

Stacked is open daily from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. and features most of the favorites from the Plaza Café but there are some new dishes including a Red Velvet French Toast with Cream Cheese, which sounds positively decadent.

For information, call Stacked at 708-422-5555.

Papa John’s Opens in Frankfort
Papa John’s Pizza opened today at 21114 S. LaGrange Road in the Frankfort Crossing shopping center in Frankfort. The restaurant is open daily from 10:30 a.m. to midnight for carryout and delivery.

For information, call 815-464-2222 or visit them online at http://www.papajohns.com/.

New Home for My Bike of Tinley
My Bike of Tinley Park, which has been selling and servicing bicycles in Tinley Park since 2006, recently moved into a new home at 17210 S. Oak Park Ave. (formerly Flora Bella).

The shop started at 171st Street and Oak Park Avenue. It later moved to a storefront that was larger but also was farther from downtown Tinley. Most recently, the store moved back to a downtown location.

For hours and information, call 708-444-2453 or visit http://www.mybiketinley.com/.

Homewood Holiday Lights and Market is Friday
Homewood kicks off the holiday season in style Friday with the lighting of the village Christmas tree at 6 p.m. at Irwin Park.

Then the action moves to Downtown Homewood for the Hickory Road Holiday Market from 6-9 p.m.

Among the vendors will be Foundation 153 selling premium-grade Fraser firs from Michigan with easy pick-up and loading assistance. Sales will begin at 3 p.m.

The Homewood Rotary will be selling fresh caramel apples.

Students from Homewood-Flossmoor High School will have cinnamon roasted almonds, popcorn and hand warmers for sale.

The Homewood Parent Music Association will be selling decadent chocolate.

Girl Scouts will be selling hot chocolate and handmade scarves.

The Infant Welfare Society will sell luminaria kits for $6.

South Suburban Family Shelter will sell warm apple cider.

The Downtown Homewood Business Association will be selling mulled wine in a new Holiday Lights souvenir mug, $5 for the mug, $7 for the mug and mulled wine, and $3 for refill.

For information, visit http://www.homesweethomewood.com/.