History in Lakeview

Lake View High School opened its doors on May 4, 1874 at 4015 North Ashland Avenue.  Home of the Wildcats, it is the oldest operating public secondary school in the State of Illinois.  Its most famous alumni include actor, radio performer, and world famous ventriloquist Edgar John Bergen (father of actress Candice Bergen); early 20th century actress Barbara Bedford; actor Tom Bosley, who was best known for playing Howard Cunningham on "Happy Days;" Harlem Globetrotters founder Abe Saperstein; silent-film actress Gloria Swanson, who starred in "Sunset Boulevard;" and Illinois politician Sidney R. Yates, who was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1949 to 1963 and from 1965 to 1999.

The Rendez-vous Cafe was located at the northwest corner of Clark and Diversey in the street-front space presently leased by Jamba Juice.  In the 1920's, the cafe was the scene of some outstanding early jazz.  Bix Beiderbecke lived upstairs and frequently played the club, and Louis Armstrong recorded some records in a back room lined with burlap bags.  For a brief time, Red Nichols stayed with Beiderbecke, and in 1925 Glenn Miller played here with the Ben Pollack Orchestra.

Vincent “The Schemer” Drucci (born Lorveco di Ambrosia) was a member of the North Side Gang, rivals to Al Capone’s south side “Outfit.”  Drucci was involved in several efforts to kill both Johnny “The Fox” Torrio and Al Capone, was reputed to be one of the “drive-by shooters” in the death of mobster Angelo Genna, and was one of the two assailants who killed Samuzzo Amatuna in his barber’s chair.  Drucci was arrested on April 5, 1927, as he was leaving the Belair Hotel at 424 West Diversey Parkway.  The police were seeking him for ransacking of the offices of 42nd ward alderman Dorsey R. Crowe.  Eyewitness accounts differed on what happened next, but Drucci apparently started an altercation with the officers in the back of the squad car and, just as the vehicle reached the intersection of Wacker Drive and the Clark Street Bridge, Officer Danny Healy opened fire on the handcuffed mobster, hitting him in the arm, leg, and stomach.  Drucci died on the way to the hospital.