Paving Paradise: Iconic Wrigleyville hobby shop Yesterday is getting torn down

Tom Boyle’s iconic hobby shop “Yesterday” is getting torn down, and Chicago sports history is getting bulldozed along with it.

If you are a fan of Chicago sports you have probably heard of Tom Boyle the owner of a beloved hobby shop near Chicago’s Wrigley Field.

Just four years ago Boyle was sharing his love for sports and his neighborhood with FanSided readers from “Yesterday” at 1143 W. Addison St. At that time he was sitting on prime real estate right outside Wrigley Field, but had a firm grip on history and refused to sell.

Unfortunately, Boyle passed away in 2019 and now his (and everyone’s) beloved shop is being turned into a three-story flat.

Memories of Boyle and Yesterday that go beyond what was captured will live on, even as the yellow walls of his shop are bulldozed for yuppy marble countertops and walk-in closets.

The estimated cost of destroying a piece of Chicago sports history: $716,100 and a lifetime of memories.

FanSided’s Mark Carman was lucky enough to talk to Boyle and his shop back in 2016 during the Cubs World Series journey:

Boyle died in Dec. 2019, before the coronavirus hit the United States and shut down businesses worldwide. His shop opened in 1976 and soon became a staple of the neighborhood and of Chicago sports as a whole. You couldn’t go to a ballgame without stepping inside the time capsule at least once.

Boyle’s nephew, Max Zelenka, knew when his uncle died the shop he loved so much wouldn’t last much longer either. Like a couple who has been married for half their life, when one leaves the earth the other soon follows.

Yesterday will soon be a thing of the past, but the memories of Boyle and his little yellow shop of joy will never be paved over.

Next: The historian of Wrigleyville

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