July • 2006 IMSC students take a back seat - Irish American News

July 2006 IRISH AMERICAN NEWS 33
Get Your Irish Up
…North !
By James McClure
Baked in Alaska 24 Hours A Day!
Working in the television news
business has always allowed me to
indulge in my favorite fantasy...eating
really bad takeout food. Or as
they call it in London...takeaway.
In Anchorage, Alaska getting
your fi x for food has its own unique
aspect. One of the fi rst things that impressed
me was how late you could
get it. It could have something to do
with Alaska being the Land of the
Midnight Sun, especially this time
of year, when the dusk lasts until the
wee hours.
While there is much familiar, in
terms of food, in this most remote
corner of the United States (Denny’s,
Domino’s, Subway and Tastee-
Freeze), the 24-hour availability is
quite remarkable. The most prevalent,
surprisingly, is round-the-clock
delivery.
New York may have its thin
crust, Chicago its thick crust and
California its Hawaiian pineapple
and ham toppings, but Alaska has
it...always available. From the moment
you turn on a television set,
open the newspaper or listen on the
radio, you are inundated with ads
for Sicily’s Pizza, which delivers
all over metropolitan Anchorage
24-hours a day.
It may be catchy if not appropriate,
the ad jingle (and phone number)
is sung over and over to can-can music.
Perhaps French bread pizza will
one day be on the menu as well.
I was especially surprised having
moved from Chicago: home of the
not-open-until-4 p.m. neighborhood
pizzeria. Sicily’s Pizza is the home
team in Anchorage and though it has
multiple locations to serve the allnight
denizens of this city of nearly
300,000... after-midnight-Insomnia-
Central turns to a nondescript location
in down-at-the-heel Spenard.
This central area of the city, once a
separate town of 70,000 houses, is
the location of the one Sicily’s which
stays open overnight.
When I entered the facility one
night at 3 a.m. I expected to fi nd
one man asleep in the manner of the
Maytag Repairman. Not so. Five
dough-tossing pizzamen were hard
at it, answering the calls switched to
their location, while preparing fl atbreads
and salad en masse. Naturally
I asked the question, “Who the heck
is ordering at this hour?!!”
The manager gave a bit of a
lesson on the economy of Anchorage
and a populace that includes
people tied to the oil industry
and uncertain hours of when they
might return to the big city from
remote jobs in the bush. Add
in overnight workers, college
students, pilots (much of what
comes to Anchorage is fl own-in)
and you have a ready-made set of
consumers craving made-to-order
pizza at all hours. “Sometimes you
just want a pizza at 5 a.m.,” the
manager explained.
Which is funny because that is
usually about the time I am waiting
to buy Egg McMuffi ns for the
studio crew when I’m scheduled
to fi ll-in anchoring the morning
news. Other all-night options include
Irving’s 24-hour diner (like
certain White Castles the people-
Visit us at ....
watching can be entertaining if not
hazardous), Village Inn (an arctic
sister of Baker’s Square which
they never bothered to rename),
the expected Denny’s and the not
expected 24-hour McDonald’s
drive-thru. The McDonald’s is
noteworthy for having window
staff that patiently wait for you to
open your door up to pay for and
receive your order, given that it’s
not uncommon in January to have
the weather-stripping on your
window freeze shut.
If you don’t happen to feel like
pizza, pecan pie or pancakes in the
pre-dawn (which lasts from 4 p.m.
in the winter), one other continuous
delivery option is Chinese food. In
perhaps the most infamous television
commercial of Anchorage’s
restaurants, a white collar worker
is shown in his Anchorage highrise
when a earthquake of epic
proportions, rivaling the 1964 Good
Friday Earthquakes, rumbles forth:
the epicenter being his grumbling
stomach. He lunges for the offi ce
phone and shouts “China Garden!
It’s an emergency!”
I fought the urge to do the same
every time I called the all-night
provider for my breakfast time mu
Commissioner Terrence J. O’Brien, President of the Metropolitan Water
Reclamation District of Greater Chicago recently spoke before the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Worker Retirees, Local 134 at union headquarters,
600 W. Washington. O’Brien currently serves as Chairman of the Judiciary
and Real Estate Development Committees and Vice Chairman of the Federal
Legislation and Municipalities Committees.
(l to r): Don Mahoney, Secretary, and Bob Mersch, President of IBEW Retirees
Local 134, and Commissioner Terrence J. O’Brien.
SHAMROCK IMPORTS
Maureen O’Looney,
Serving You For Over
35 Years Now!
3150 N. Laramie, Chicago 773-286-6866
shu pork, but it did arrive amazingly
fresh and hot.
In a town that boasts reindeer
sausage, haddock fish & chips
and surprisingly, not very much
Alaskan king crab, when your
standards are low, the availability
of fast food, whenever you want
COUPLE TEAM NEEDED
FOR CHICAGO ESTATE
Single man w/ multiple properties needs couple team to care for his
Chicago Gold Coast home where he spends only 1/3rd of year. His
school age daughters visit w/ their nanny. You will care for the home,
cook when employer in residence, although he eats out a lot, do shopping,
some chauffeuring. A nice apartment within the home is provided,
plus health insurance, salary up to 100k. Since the employer is of Irish
descent, he would love to hear from Irish couples, especially retired
police offi cers.
Call Estate Staffi ng by Heartland at (800) 866-6266. Fax your resumes
to (406) 549-7304.
Robert J. Sheehy & Sons
Brothers James M. Sheehy and Robert J. Sheehy Jr.
continue the family business established in 1913
Dignity, Compassion, Caring Service
From Our Family To Your Family
Robert J. Sheehy & Sons has
tended to the needs of families in
their time of grief since 1913. Their
service to the south and southwest
neighborhoods of Chicago and
Suburbs has continued at their current
location at 4950 W. 79th Street
in Burbank since 1982.
This rich heritage continues with
the opening of the second Robert
J. Sheehy & Sons Funeral Home in
Orland Park. The facility is located
at 9000 W. 151st Street and can be
conveniently accessed by many
major streets and highways. Spacious
parking is available as well as many
other amenities. A walkout patio,
smoking area and large coffee room
are provided to make our visiting
families and friends as comfortable
as possible in their time of loss.
Perhaps, most importantly, Bob and
Robert J. Sheehy & Sons
4950 W. 79th St.
Burbank, IL 60459
(708) 857-7878
it, is as high as the mountains that
ring this unique land.
Jim McClure is a television news
reporter and anchor when not freelancing
for Irish American News,
and walking off all-night pizza and
Chinese. He may be e-mailed at
JimMcClure71@aol.com
Jim Sheehy will provide that personal
service which only involved and concerned
proprietors can off er.
For three generations, The Sheehy
Family has prided itself in the
service it has rendered to families
in one of their most difficult times.
As Bob Sheehy has said - “Many
families tell us that they never realized
that so much was involved. Death
is overwhelming for many people
and they need time to deal with
their grief. They put their trust in us to
help them.”
Put your trust in Robert J. Sheehy
& Sons. You will be pleased with the
detailed and sympathetic attention
to every specifi c need.
For more information regarding
our services or convenient pre-planning
arrangements, please call us at
1-708-857-7878.
Robert J. Sheehy & Sons
9000 W. 151st St
Orland Park, IL 60462