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  #31  
Old 09-02-2007, 08:04 PM
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Carmine Carmine is offline
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I'm glad to know that no one was eating or drinking when they built my TV sets.
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  #32  
Old 09-02-2007, 08:49 PM
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Original pictures from 2003

Not much has changed since 2003 when I took the first set of photos. Ive uploaded them again so you newer members can see them. I took photos of both old plant (6001 W Dickens) and the new plant an office (1900 N. Austin ave). The buildings are simply separated by railroad tracks. Dickens is E-W street, while Austin ave is N-S. Picture quality is not as good. I would have spent more time taking other photos but I had to get to an estate sale before it closed just up the road. I was able to get a nice zenith color set there too!

Here is a description of the photos, from left to right:
1: Looking SE at the Dickens Ave plant.
2: Looking SE at the Dickens Ave Plant.
3: Looking SE at the Dickens Ave plant.
4: Looking at the front facing north of the Dickens plant.
5: Same as 4
6: 6001 W. Dickens ave main enterance
7: Inside view through window of the main enterance
8: Looking SW down Dickens Ave
9: Intersection of W. Dickens Ave + N. Austin Ave looking SW.
10: Looking NW at the 1900 N. Austin Ave plant
11: Looking NW at 1900 N. Austin. The then new (around 1962) offices at the west end.
12: East side of the 1900 N. Austin plant
13: South end of 1900 N. Austin, truck loading. Zenith signs still present today on building!
14: Looking NW at the Austin Ave offices. Zenith built the new plant and offices as an expansion around 1961-1962. The new address took effect on service manuals around 1963.
15: Front enterance of 1900 N. Austin Ave
16: Looking NE, Dickens ave plant. Austin plant is just to the south of the tracks.
17: Another view looking NE
18: Both Dickens Ave plant to the north and the Austin Ave plant to the south.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg zp1.JPG (45.4 KB, 57 views)
File Type: jpg zp2.JPG (36.1 KB, 28 views)
File Type: jpg zp3.JPG (35.7 KB, 24 views)
File Type: jpg zp4.JPG (41.5 KB, 32 views)
File Type: jpg zp5.JPG (32.1 KB, 29 views)
File Type: jpg zp6.JPG (82.6 KB, 99 views)
File Type: jpg zp7.JPG (31.6 KB, 73 views)
File Type: jpg zp8.JPG (41.8 KB, 33 views)
File Type: jpg zp9.JPG (40.3 KB, 33 views)
File Type: jpg zp10.JPG (44.4 KB, 44 views)
File Type: jpg zp11.JPG (48.2 KB, 31 views)
File Type: jpg zp12.JPG (42.1 KB, 27 views)
File Type: jpg zp13.JPG (39.8 KB, 57 views)
File Type: jpg zp14.JPG (74.9 KB, 56 views)
File Type: jpg zp15.JPG (49.9 KB, 92 views)
File Type: jpg zp16.JPG (48.1 KB, 37 views)
File Type: jpg zp17.JPG (42.2 KB, 48 views)
File Type: jpg zp18.JPG (39.1 KB, 35 views)
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Last edited by drh4683; 09-02-2007 at 09:05 PM.
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  #33  
Old 09-02-2007, 08:57 PM
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Carmine Carmine is offline
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The clock moved!
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  #34  
Old 09-02-2007, 09:11 PM
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Never looked at that! Wow!
Also, Saginaw and Excel are no longer there. The signs obviously taken down.
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  #35  
Old 09-02-2007, 10:00 PM
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It breaks my heart.....

to see these pics. I am not much of a "free market" economies guy. Wished the government had stepped in and put stiff tarrifs on all foreign built TV sets to even the market and eliminate the unfair advantage they had. I still remember the sweet smell those Zenith TV's had coming out of the box at Chaiet TV in New Paltz NY. It was a real pleasure to work for this man. He taught me the basics of retail. It was small business at its best. Sales and service.

I have two Zeniths built in that plant. A Transoceanic 3000 and a AM only 710the later was a Ebay project for $10. Miss those days in the 60's. The quality of audio and electronics isnt the same now. We had lot of TV's too. Nice pics and I wish Zenith was stll there.

Eric
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  #36  
Old 09-02-2007, 11:03 PM
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I once worked in a place that used a lot of lead in the workplace. The business was very strict about smoking, eating and drinking because of the lead. Once ingested into your body, it is always there. We had to take hand washing lessons once a year. Also included were tips on spotting lead poisoning. I wonder if this was a policy to keep the Zenith workers safe from lead solder?

I would love to have the possessed clock above the door. I have been looking for one of those to install in my retro palace. There is a huge four foot round clock on a wall in a thrift store nearby. It still works and I do not think they will give it up.

polaraman
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  #37  
Old 09-04-2007, 04:42 PM
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Carmine Carmine is offline
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That makes good sence Polara man... The bodyshops in Chrysler plants are really strict about the "eating-near-lead" thing, (although nobody leads seams anymore ).

Here I was just thinking it was done to prevent somebody from toasting a ham sandwich on a HOT.
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  #38  
Old 09-05-2007, 09:15 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by drh4683 View Post
The buildings are simply separated by railroad tracks.
Did you know the plants are connected by a tunnel under the RR tracks? We used to walk under to go to the new building on Fridays because that was "superburger" day at the good cafeteria. The food at the Dickens cafeteria was your basic mystery meat in gravy kind of stuff. Many people bought lunch at the "roach coach" that came around on Dickens instead.

The Dickens building has several mismatched floor levels. I worked in an area that was 5 or 6 steps down from the main corridors - we called it the pit. It had one wall that backed up to the tracks, no windows, and a door in the back of the room with a long staircase down to the production floor and the tunnel.

(All this I recall from the one year I spent there approx Aug '74 - Sep '75 before we moved to Glenview.)
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  #39  
Old 09-05-2007, 09:34 PM
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Great to hear your memories Wayne. Thank you. Sounds like it was really quite a place to work back when it was still in operation. Id really like to get in touch with someone that owns the building. My goal is to tour the building without the fear of getting caught. I took a big risk walking in like I did, but it was not forced entry, simply an unlocked door (the grey door you see in the photos) off Dickens.
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  #40  
Old 02-28-2008, 07:19 AM
WA4GSR WA4GSR is offline
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I worked at the 1900 Austin Avenue plant in 1966-1967 repairing the 20XIC chassis. Had forgotten about the tunnel. We had air conditioners in the factory but we couldn't turn them on because you guys didn't have them!
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  #41  
Old 02-28-2008, 07:33 AM
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drknstrmyknight drknstrmyknight is offline
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WHen I was a kid we used to play along the freight racks in Chicago and 4245 N. Knox was on our list, we lived in the Montrose and Cicero area in the late 50's. We always found neat stuff in those dumpsters and I can remember some big cleanout where they put up some temporary fencing and had big dump trucks in and out. Did they make CRT's there?
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  #42  
Old 02-28-2008, 12:55 PM
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drh4683 drh4683 is offline
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Yes,

The plant at 4245 N. Knox was the original Rauland Tube plant. The plant is still there and is about 100 feet away from me as I type this on my break. Its owned by Dan Howard now, and insurance firm, and the building still looks exactly the same. There is a book from 1955 called "The Zenith story" and has pictures of the old plants around chicago, all of which still exist to this day. The company I work for moved to our new location at 4155 N. Knox back in october of '04, right next to the original rauland tube plant and across the street from the Admrial TV plant that just burnt to the ground last spring. The "ADMIRAL" boiler stack is the only thing that survived! The Admiral plant had an elevated walkway that crossed knox ave from the west plant to the east plant. The east plant was demolished for our new head office. We moved from 4455 W. Montrose, so it was only a couple blocks away. So I actually work at what was once property of the Admiral TV plant. The elevated train tracks are still there and very rarely do freights come down it anymore.

Also, to the new member, thanks for joining the forum. its great to hear that you worked for Zenith. Please tell what it was like durring the time you worked there. What was the difference between austin plant and dickens as far as what was produced? What did they build at the kostner ave plant? When you worked on the 20X1C38 chassis, was this production error corrections, or was this a service department? You probably recognize my avatar. The zenith water tower is still there at the dickens plant!

Im surprized zenith didnt want to keep the plant air conditioned. Ive spoken to a few ex Motorola employees and they enjoyed working for Motorola at the Grand Ave TV plant in Franklin Park, as it was always air conditioned and they played music over the PA throughout the plant for the assembly workers.
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  #43  
Old 10-19-2008, 07:07 PM
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Photos of a 1959 Christmas party at Zenith

The estate sale I went to yesterday was home of a former Zenith assembly line employee. I was fortunate enough to find a box of photographs which were for sale and I found some neat pictures. These are the only pictures I found with Zenith, but you can clearly tell the photos were taken at the assembly plant. The photos are all dated January, 1960, so its Chrismas 1959. You can see little tinsle hanging off the flourecent lights as the little tree in the back. Looks like this group was out in the corner someplace. The "boss" who was probably quality control looks like the only one who isn't having a good time. Everyone is smoking their cigarettes and having a good time.
The lady being huged in the picture is the one who just passed an was the woman who lived at the home of the estate sale. She was 40 years old at the time of this photo, almost 49 years ago! Pictures like these are gold to me, as it shows the real life of the Zenith employee. Some of these people here probably worked on the very sets we have today. I hope to be able to find more of them and be able to speak with more zenith employees from this time period before they all leave us.
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Last edited by drh4683; 03-14-2010 at 10:10 PM.
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  #44  
Old 10-19-2008, 09:30 PM
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Thanks for the photos. I get a kick out of old photos from the 50's and 60's even if I don't know who the people are. It's interesting to look at all the details in them, like TV's, Clothing, Furniture, Cars, and Watches (I collect old 50's and 60's wristwatches).
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  #45  
Old 10-20-2008, 01:13 AM
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Thanks for the interestings photos!!!!! wow wow wow
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