Birthplace Of Walt Disney In Chicago - Where Wizard Of Oz Was Written / Family Matters House Is GONE
Chicago April 2022
Transcript
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today's adventure begins at this very
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impressive theater called the pickwick
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in park ridge
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illinois
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a suburb just on the outskirts of
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chicago
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as a recording of this wednesday april
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13th
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2022.
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it is windy welcome everyone adam the
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woo here i have acquired
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first stopped and purchased not only a
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piping hot
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caffeinated beverage
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but also
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an umbrella at the top of the store
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behind me
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is the leaning tower not a pisa
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but a half size
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replica
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about half the height
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as the one most are familiar with
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this one is in niles the leaning tower
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of niles
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one of the many spots i will be going by
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today i'm inviting you
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to join me on a very windy it's not
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really that cool and crisp but it's
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going to get there have the hoodie on
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have some caffeine
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have the leaning tide tower of niles
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behind me i'm inviting you
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to join me
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shall you at some point in my travels
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today not too far from this very spot
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is the birthplace of not only
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also i'm wearing an appropriate t-shirt
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i have my runaway railway mickey a mini
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shirt on
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because mickey would not exist if it was
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not for one certain man by the name of
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walt
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but also his brother roy
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they were both born
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in a house
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that his parents built
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back in the late 1800s early 1900s
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somebody head over there at some point
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too
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but i will also be featuring other
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things
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plane going by through the clouds that
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was me
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yesterday
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see it up there
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the leaning tower
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of niles whoa
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also there is a ymca right here called
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ymca
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this stands in front of it is gusty they
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do not call this the windy city
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for nothing technically this is a suburb
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of chicago
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by the greater chicago area i'm noticing
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this fire hydrant has an antenna of
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sorts on it
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probably the first antenna i've seen on
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a fire hydrant
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there's also a smaller version of the
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leaning tower of niles
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right here that almost looks like a big
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cake
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it's not made of sugary goodness
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but it kind of looks like it would be
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depicted in front
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they got the lean going good too
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seven bells ring at the top of the
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leaning tower of niles corresponding to
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the seven bells at our sister cities
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tower the leaning tower of pisa
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three bells were cast in italy by
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different founders in the 17th and 18th
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century
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very interesting
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they got the lean down
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circa 1932
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and it was also
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later placed on the national register of
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historic places
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which is good which means it'll be
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around
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for a long time and here are some
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comparisons and history of each
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over here on this side
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would be the one here in near chicago
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suburbs of chicago 94 feet diameter 28
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feet leaning at 7.4 feet year started in
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31
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completed in 32.
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wait wait whoa whoa
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you're completed 34.
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this says circa 1932
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so in between
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both of those
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1932. look at 1932-ish
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but then you got pisa
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which is 177
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versus the 94.
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and then a diameter of 56 feet so it's
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twice as thick
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and then leaning
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15.2 versus 7.4 so there's a little bit
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more of a lean
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versus this one here in chicago suburbs
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almost looks like a trapdoor of sorts i
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don't want to step on that
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there's two of these out front
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making your way in
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over here to the corner of trip avenue
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and palmer street
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an honorary
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disney family avenue
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take a look at that
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this was the very
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home but the disney family built
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it has been restored well it's under
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restoration it is not open at the moment
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but i did want to stop by
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there's a little library here
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one of the give a book take a books
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i believe this area is known as hermosa
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the suburb
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always fascinated with history and
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obviously
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i do have a love of the disney history
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very fascinating to think that not only
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walt and roy were both born
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inside these walls and without them not
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only would i have you know walt
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single-handedly revolutionized a lot of
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the entertainment industry
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still carries on to this day
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with snow whites in the in the seven
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dwarfs which everyone said was going to
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be a failure
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and then parlayed that money into other
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projects which eventually
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decided to open disneyland which
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everyone said well not everyone but a
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good percentage of people said it's not
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going to be successful it's going to be
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a failure
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you know how that turned out
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and then passed on
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and his brother roy also bill also who
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was born
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right inside this very home
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went on to complete walt disney world
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on this little suburb of chicago it all
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started right here a very quaint little
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neighborhood
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kind of tough to find parking
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honestly
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not a lot of parking through here
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there's a couple spots here and there
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but in front of the homestead
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there are some bricks that people have
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placed
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some folks from the disney archives a
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place to brick
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as well as many others here it says
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walt disney birthplace
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and of course roy birth place
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i always like to bring up roy's name
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because walt would not have been the man
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that he
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has known to be without roy
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and the bricks continue all
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through here
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even more bricks
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i would like to go inside there at some
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point but it doesn't look like today is
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going to be the day it's not open of
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course the family went on to move to
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marceline missouri when walt was four
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roy was a little bit older
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he was eight years older
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than walt was
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and of course marceline one of the many
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inspirations for main street usa
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so what really didn't have a major
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recollection
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of this house roy would have because roy
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was a little bit older and had that
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retention
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but won't be in four most likely not
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this is kind of peeking into the
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backyard there is a garage here
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i don't know if that's attached
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to the home's property or not but most
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likely because this is the backyard
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now those that are restoring it i was
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looking at their site online
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and they had a little bit more
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information
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probably a little more knowledgeable in
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the situation since they are the one who
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bought the property and are fixing it up
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and they state that it was
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purchased back on october 31st
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of 1891
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for 800
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was the cost of this and they're the
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ones restoring it
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walt was born on december 5th of 1901
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and also the disney's fifth child ruth
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was born on december 6 of 1903 here as
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well
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they sold the property in night february
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of 06 just after
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the birth the birth of ruth
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there it is
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as to what room walt was born in
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can't confirm
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or roy or ruth
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now roy was born in 1893 which made him
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eight years
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younger
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than his brother
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older
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than his brother 1893 was when roy
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was born right inside there
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there's also a photo of both of them at
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a very young age easily findable
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of them on the front porch
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and very similar to lafagram studios in
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marceline
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which is also under a restoration
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i still have not been in there either
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one day i would like to get in here
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as well as in
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lafogram and
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marceline it happen
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who knows
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now i did get in my rental car and drove
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a few miles away
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but i am now outside again
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on top of
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something i feel like i need to follow
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i should
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that's what i'm doing
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the same time frame
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late 1800s early 1900s in 1899
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the wizard of oz was written
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right here the wonderful
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wizard of oz
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in a house that stood right here
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now the house has been torn down
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but there is a tile mural here
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wrote the now famous
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piece of literature
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so another very notable spot
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here in this area of chicago
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so the yellow brick road goes down that
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way
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and
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goes down that way oh here's some
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on elf hell frank bomb
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lyman that was his first name lyman
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frank baum lived at
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1667 north humboldt boulevard in
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1899 when he wrote the most famous of
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his works the wonderful wizard of oz he
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was born in new york worked as an actor
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and in 1888 him and his wife maud
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moved to the dakota territory where he
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briefly ran a general store
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later in his life became an editor and a
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publisher
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in south dakota and then moved
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to the windy city chicago
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writing for the chicago post
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in his spare time
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wrote the wonderful wizard of oz
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enabled him to retire from his job and
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devote himself
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to writing
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full-time before moving
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to california and publishing over 60
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more books
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there and of course the book went on to
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be become the legendary film
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this is awesome
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yellow brick road starts there well ends
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there
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and then loops around
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this way
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stopped raining for the time being
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and here's a little info on the chicago
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tribune
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well this is who placed this little
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marker here
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was that he lived in
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when he wrote that story
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came the book
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became the movie
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and the rest as they say is history
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and there is no home here anymore so
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really you could
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you could put
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there's
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no home
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in this place well there is there's
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these homes but they're newer homes
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the old home the old home
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is gone
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just gotta follow the yellow brick road
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love that movie and of course
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makes me think of the great movie ride
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which is now gone a little tie-in
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oh here's an interesting fact let
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me turn this around the shirt i'm
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wearing
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mickey and minnie's
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runaway railway is in the same spot as
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the great movie ride at hollywood
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studios which i am wearing the hoodie of
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this is all italian
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that had one of the greatest spectacles
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when it came to
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presenting animatronics of
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the film
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that the book that was written here was
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based on
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tie-ins anyone
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and of course walt and roy's place okay
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starting at one end
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of the yellow brick road
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gonna walk it to
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the other end quite quite a tie-in
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great movie ride
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the shirt i'm wearing
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runaway railway in the same spot
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walton roy
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we have to thank for walt disney world
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driving around a little bit
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passing by this thrift store
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noticing this mural here looks like a
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hamburger
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but notice the genie though from aladdin
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right there and it's kind of the tourist
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genie at the end
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with the goofy hat on that's pretty neat
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ah
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love some aladdin
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also should mention
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gilbert passed away
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to the voice of iago oh
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of course robin's gone now gilbert
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a lot of comedians from that era that
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would definitely have a different breed
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are now gone
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saggett norm mcdonald
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robin
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gilbert
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i'm sure there's some i'm missing but
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i like this mural a lot
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i always like touristy
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genie
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who doesn't
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here's another old theater
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take a look at this
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one congress
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holy cow
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wow look at this
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with all
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all the genies pointing at him and
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laughing
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that is incredible
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it's about a block or two away from the
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other one i was just at
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that is a very impressive mural look at
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the size of that thing compared to the
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car that's parked in front of it
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i love it
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probably not going to make it all the
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way to downtown today just kind of
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staying on the outskirts but straight
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ahead is downtown you kind of see the
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skyline
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up there
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this dental center
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someone's up there brushing those big
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teeth
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oh it's the tooth fairy as well okay
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didn't notice the angel at first but
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there's an angel there which represents
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the tooth fairy
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over on that corner is a mural with a
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spaceship
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it's a record and collectible shot over
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there doesn't appear to be open though
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there's a spaceship there on the side
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i have traversed over to the corner of
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greenview and wrightwood
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in this neighborhood right along the
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sidewalk
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across the way
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is
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the spot of a
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former well the former spot i should say
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of a television house
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that i knew very very well in fact i
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paid a visit to it when it was still
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standing
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back in the year 2016 october 2016. so
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it's been well over five years
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and even though this brown house here
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looks very similar to the winslow's the
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winslow's house
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from the tgif show family matters
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used to stand on the other side of this
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tree and now there is a massive
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one two three
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four stories if you're including the
21:35
roof
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monumental looking building
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not
21:42
what once looked like the one next to it
21:45
that was the wind's lows
21:48
tree is still there
21:49
the urkel tree some would refer to it as
21:52
where urco climbed up there
21:54
to serenade
21:56
now this building when i was here five
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years five or six years ago
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this house had been torn down and they
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built this
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and now i am here to report i think this
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happened a year ago i haven't been by in
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a while half a decade
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now back then
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in 2016 when i was here i took my drone
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and i flew it up over the
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the field behind me
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and i got the op the
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outro credit sequence
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got it pretty good i kind of nailed it
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man this is kind of a bummer
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recently the ernest house from ernest
22:35
state's christmas was torn down in
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orlando
22:38
reported on that a little bit and i'm
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here to say that
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now the winslow house our family matters
22:42
is gone and just to give a little vinin
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now this is what it looked like in the
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show notice that tree there
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and the house right behind the tree
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still looks identical
22:52
with this kind of beige one
22:54
that was the winslows
22:56
that was then and this
22:59
is now
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right there
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and that closing credit sequence that
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happened at the end of every episode
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they had a helicopter
23:08
kind of went up that direction
23:11
kind of off you saw the baseball field
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and everything
23:14
and then it panned around
23:16
from this angle
23:19
i don't have a bird's eye perspective
23:20
this time but
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that's it
23:25
dang
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another piece of tv show history
23:29
erased
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from existence
23:33
love that show
23:35
one of my favorites
23:40
i would put it in my top five favorite
23:40
tv shows of all time three's company
23:42
being number one of course no it's kind
23:43
of interesting the only two well there's
23:45
there's there's five here but the only
23:47
two that are newer buildings would be
23:50
what would be considered the urkel house
23:52
which was next to the winslows and the
23:55
completely torn down but that over there
23:58
is original building
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this here is well i don't say original
24:02
but at least from the tv show guys and
24:04
then this one as well
24:06
this seems to be a newer one but if they
24:08
would have just
24:09
changed this one and this one it
24:11
wouldn't have made as much of a
24:12
difference to the
24:13
to the relics of the television show as
24:17
the winslow's
24:18
and the urkel house
24:20
but those are the two that are gone
24:21
that's just another little fact i want
24:22
to throw in there and according to this
24:24
it seems like all through here are going
24:26
to look like this
24:27
at some point
24:28
they tore another one down
24:30
that was right here
24:38
i figure i'll stroll past this house
24:38
that can be seen in the opening and
24:40
closing credits so this still exists on
24:42
screen
24:44
winslow's would have been here
24:47
there's that moment at the end in the
24:49
outro when they're all sitting around
24:51
the piano
24:52
and the camera goes out of the window
24:56
that was not the cast
24:58
the interiors were on a set and then
25:00
they panned
25:02
some extras that were playing the family
25:05
camera panned out
25:07
and the helicopter went up in the air
25:09
that way
25:10
and then
25:11
what we could assume was
25:13
steve's residence right next door
25:15
to laura's and the family
25:18
it's right here
25:26
carl and harriet
25:26
what's up big guy
25:29
i am glad the tree's still there for now
25:37
all right just wanted to swing by here
25:37
oh man
25:44
oh wow wow wow wow
25:44
i'm so glad i walked over here
25:47
no
25:48
freaking way
25:50
okay nice touch
26:04
all right that makes me feel better that
26:04
makes me feel pretty good
26:06
but they did that that's cool
26:16
kind of rough right rough roads
26:16
through this section a lot of bumps and
26:18
that's gonna do it for today from
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chicago and the outskirts of chicago
26:25
there's an airplane going over my head
26:31
i'll see you in the next video
26:31
the vlog
26:32
i believe tomorrow is supposed to start
26:35
dipping down even colder than it is
26:36
today i really didn't even need the
26:38
hoodie today
26:39
but once i put it on i figured heck it
26:42
keep it on it's kind of right on the
26:44
cusp of needing it and not needing it
26:52
i'll see the next video the vlog
26:52
what does the word cusp even mean