My Lincolnwood Story- Kamran Hussain and Howard Lee
Item
Title
My Lincolnwood Story- Kamran Hussain and Howard Lee
Subject
“I think if you lived in [Chicago], or the north side, you might have dealt with a lot more minorites. A lot more differnt races as opposed to Lincolnwood and the northern suburbs.”
Kamran Hussain and Howard Lee, friends since the 2nd grade, talk about and reflect on their childhood in Lincolnwood. They discuss the changing ethnic demographic of Lincolnwood and the various changes the village has undergone since the early 1980s.
The views and opinions expressed in interviews do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Lincolnwood Public Library, including its Board of Trustees and staff.
TRANSCRIPT:
Howard Lee 0:00
Hello, my name is Howard Lee and I'm interviewing my friend for 35 years Kamran Hussain, for My Lincolnwood Story.
Kamran Hussain 0:11
So, funny thing about my name, my name is actually pronounced Kamran. And, Howard, you probably already know that because you probably heard my mom or my sister say that. But the funny thing is, it is kind of like a Lincolnwood story, it's just been like an insecurity of mine. Probably when I was in kindergarten, that's what they called me. And I was just probably too young and too insecure to really make any corrections. Can't I just let it be? And so, what's funny is that my son, who's now nine years old, his name is Obeid. And he's totally not insecure. And he goes to a school that kind of reminded me of Lincoln Hall and Todd Hall when I was growing up, and he corrects people left and right, if they pronounce his name. The principal pronounced his name wrong, and he corrected him. I was kind of surprised the principal even knew his name. I don't think our principals ever knew our names. Well, Mr. Zyks knew your name. [laughs]
Howard Lee 1:10
Well, the statute of limitations is probably too late. So we'll stick with Kamran.
Kamran Hussain 1:14
Yeah, I was insecure about it and now I'm not. Now I just let it go. Now it's like, if I tried to correct it then I knew that I'd get into a long conversation and the teacher would take forever to kind of correct it. And then I'd get into a conversation about correcting it so, my insecurities just let it go. And it is what it is.
Howard Lee 1:35
Well, Kamran, how old are you?
Kamran Hussain 1:37
I am 42 gonna be 43 in a couple months. Oh no, shoot, in a month. You're gonna be 43, too, right?
Howard Lee 1:44
Yeah, you're gonna be 43 in like two weeks.
Kamran Hussain 1:47
Yeah, three weeks, yeah.
Howard Lee 1:50
And what years did you live in Lincolnwood?
Kamran Hussain 1:53
So I was born and raised in Lincolnwood. My mom and my parents and my two sisters moved here in 1975. I was born in '76. So they literally- I don't know if my mom was pregnant when they moved here. But I was born at Illinois Masonic and born in Lincolnwood.
Howard Lee 2:14
Okay, and you lived in Lincolnwood until you went off to college, correct?
Kamran Hussain 2:19
Yeah, I mean, let's just say I lived in Lincolnwood until I was 25 years old. I'm Indian and Muslim. So I kinda have to stay home until I moved on with my life. So I went to college. I went away for college for a few years, and then grad school for a couple years and then... once I started working I was back in Lincolnwood.
Howard Lee 2:39
Okay, now you have three sisters, correct?
Kamran Hussain 2:43
Yes.
Howard Lee 2:43
And you have two older sisters and one younger sister, correct?
Kamran Hussain 2:47
Yeah. Two of my older sisters. And then I have a younger sister, four years younger than me.
Howard Lee 2:52
So your sisters were not born in Lincolnwood?
Kamran Hussain 2:55
No. So my oldest sister was born in India. And she came here, maybe in 1970 when she was like one or two years old. And then my other sister was born in Chicago in '71. But they essentially went to Lincolnwood schools because they- we moved in '75. So my oldest sister was about six or seven. She started second grade. And then my youngest sister started, I think, preschool or kindergarten. At Rutledge Hall.
Howard Lee 3:22
Okay. Now you attended Todd Hall, Rutledge Hall, Lincoln Hall, and Niles West, correct?
Kamran Hussain 3:26
Yup, I did it all.
Howard Lee 3:28
And uh-
Kamran Hussain 3:30
And we met in what, second grade?
Kamran Hussain 3:31
Second grade, yup.
Kamran Hussain 3:32
You moved in second grade, right?
Howard Lee 3:33
I moved to Lincolnwood in second grade.
Kamran Hussain 3:34
I can probably name all my teachers from preschool to eighth grade. But I'm kind of forgetting my first grade teacher's name.
Howard Lee 3:44
Well, we'll get to the school part.
Kamran Hussain 3:45
[laughs] Okay.
Howard Lee 3:46
So how is it your family ended up in Lincolnwood, specifically Lincolnwood?
Kamran Hussain 3:50
Yeah. So my dad came here, I believe in '68.
Howard Lee 3:55
To Illinois?
Kamran Hussain 3:56
To Chicago. And he had a residency at Illinois Masonic.
Howard Lee 4:01
Your dad's a physician?
Kamran Hussain 4:02
Yeah. My dad was a surgeon. And then he... So he came here. And my mom didn't come at that time. My mom was still in India. So I assume my sister was born around that time in '68, or whatever. So my dad came here. He kind of got settled and then my mom moved here. So my parents lived on Devon Avenue, close to the hospital and close to the lake, too. And then they lived there for a couple years in a couple of apartments. Couple different apartments. I'm not exactly sure where. And then I think the story goes is that my dad, just you know, we're obviously- the family is getting bigger and he wanted to move. Once he's finished his residency, he they were looking for a house and he drove around Lincolnwood and he actually fell in love with the neighborhood. And Lincolnwood is an awesome city- an awesome suburb- just because it's like the closest suburb to the city. Literally gets to downtown in 10 minutes if no traffic. So they found a house in Lincolnwood. And that's it.
Howard Lee 5:09
Now, overall, would you say that you had a positive upbringing in Lincolnwood?
Kamran Hussain 5:16
Yeah, I think definitely. When I look back on it, definitely positive. But when I also look back on it and analyze it, probably when I was going through that time, definitely there was a lot of insecurity that was going on when I was growing up. I mean, when I look back on it all seemed fun to me. And I enjoyed my time when I was in school. But I do kind of recall being quite a bit insecure about my place in school. You know, you're Chinese. I'm Indian. We grew up in Lincolnwood when there was hardly any minorities. It was kind of changing, the dynamics were definitely changing in the 80s. And it definitely was changed in the 90s. But we were kind of like the few minorities. Well actually, looking back now at it now our classmates, a lot of them were actually minorities. It's just, I didn't really realize it. Until now, you know. First generation kids. I wouldn't say minorities, but more first generation kids. Their parents were also from a different country. But I just didn't know that. I just assumed they were white.
Howard Lee 6:20
So growing up in Lincolnwood in the 80s and the early 90s. You know, just looking back on it, what would you say is the racial makeup of the community? And then a follow up question would be what would you say the racial makeup of the school population was at that time?
Kamran Hussain 6:37
I mean, from my understanding, and I wasn't paying attention to it too much. I always knew that I was different because of the darker skin than most people there. From my understanding, Lincolnwood was very Jewish at that time. I just remember every other weekend kids would come back with the T-shirts from going to someone's Bat Mitzvah. And granted, I wasn't invited to many of them.
Both 7:06
[laughs]
Kamran Hussain 7:08
So when I look back at it, I remember a lot of our friends being Jewish. And so that's what I kind of got out of it. And there was a few minorities sprinkled here and there. And you know, you could tell just whenever it was Christmas time, our neighborhoods weren't all lighted up with Christmas trees. Because there was a lot of Jewish people in Lincolnwood.
Howard Lee 7:31
Were Asians relatively commonplace, or were African Americans or Latinos?
Kamran Hussain 7:36
African Americans, zero. Latinos? You know, when I look back on it, I realize that there were a couple people that were Latino that I just didn't know that they were Latinos. Asians? You can kind of answer that, probably not? I mean, there were a couple Indians in our grade- me, Himanshu Patel, Manisha Patel, Daruk, and a couple more here and there. Chinese? I mean, I wouldn't say Chinese. Asian, there were a lot more. You and then I can name quite a few more.
Howard Lee 8:08
Yeah, I think there were a lot of Koreans in Lincolnwood at one point.
Kamran Hussain 8:10
Yeah, so definitely there. There was.
Howard Lee 8:15
Well, let me ask you. You kind of alluded to this. That, you know, as a person of color and a racial minority. Did you ever feel like part of the community in Lincolnwood? Or did you feel like an outsider?
Kamran Hussain 8:27
I don't know, I mean, I think that when I was living through it, it just kind of- it is what it is. I thought that my role in school was just, you know, being friends with the kids at school. And then, when school was over, I kind of had my own, you know, social and family life. I had a cousin that we'd hang out with, and then people- my dad was very involved in the mosque in the area. So I had friends that were Muslim that were involved that I would hang out with on the weekends. So school had school friends, and I thought, you know, that was my- that was normal for me. I didn't realize that all the kids were doing all this other stuff on the weekends without me. But yeah, I definitely felt it. I mean, you know, I was embarrassed when my mom would come for being the lunch lady. My mom had a nose ring at that time. And you know, I got asked by so many kids, "Oh, why's your mom wearing a nose ring?" And you know, those same kids that made fun of me were like all grungy in the 90s and they all had nose rings in high school.[laughs] So yeah, I mean, those things I could definitely feel. But yeah.
Howard Lee 9:43
Well, I mean, so growing up in Lincolnwood in that particular period. You'd mentioned you had friends- Indian friends and Muslim friends as well- in other communities. What was your experience in comparison to theirs when you heard about what their experience was in their respective communities?
Kamran Hussain 10:01
Well I think Chicago at that time was still kind of, you know, the minority... there wasn't that many minorities in Chicago. Especially on the north side at that time. Or just anywhere in Chicago, right? So I think we all kind of had similar experiences. I think if you lived in the city or the north side, you might you might have dealt with a lot more minorities, a lot more different races. As opposed to Lincolnwood and the northern suburbs. It was primarily white. And you know the Asian population, whether it be Indian, or from East Asia, they were growing, but we were still kind of considered a minority. Now, when I see- when I walk around Lincolnwood now, or Skokie, or you know any of these suburbs around here, if I see an Asian person I don't even bat, I don't even do a double take. Where I could see 30 years ago, if I saw an Asian I'd be kind of surprised.
Howard Lee 10:55
Did that change as you got older? Cuz I feel like Lincolnwood, certainly by the time we were in high school, it was not as much of an issue was it was when we were [inaudible].
Kamran Hussain 11:06
Oh, yeah. Once we hit high school- by the time I think we graduated high school, I mean, dude, there was a lot of minorities.
Howard Lee 11:13
Cuz I feel like Niles West at that point was probably 20-30% Asian.
Kamran Hussain 11:20
Maybe. You know, my wife teaches at Niles West now. And she could probably tell you that it's probably over 50% minority.
Howard Lee 11:28
Oh, interesting.
Kamran Hussain 11:30
Yeah.
Howard Lee 11:31
Well, so your two older sisters, were not born in the United States-
Kamran Hussain 11:37
No my oldest sister was.
Howard Lee 11:38
Oh, sorry, your older sister was born in India. And you and your two other sisters were born in the United States. And your sister's older, too. Your oldest sister is quite a bit older. Do you feel like their experience in Lincolnwood was different than your experience?
Kamran Hussain 11:56
So me and my sister Ramana, who we're like four or five years apart, I think we had similar experiences. So she was probably going to junior high and high school, early 80s. We were kind of like mid to late 80s. So we kind of had similar experiences. My oldest sister who is about nine, eight years older than me, she definitely had a different experience. So there was even less minorities there. And there was a lot more, I don't know if she necessarily got harassed, or had, you know, physically got made fun of. I think I probably got made fun of here and there, but it just kind of like-
Howard Lee 12:34
Well look at you, I mean- [laughs]
Kamran Hussain 12:35
[laughs] That's true. But I know that from talking to my oldest sister, her experience of growing up in high school was not necessarily a positive one. I mean, I think when we all look back on it, it's all, you know, that's our childhood. We always had positive experiences, but it wasn't like something that she was so excited about. I know she didn't go to her 10 year reunion because she didn't really feel like going to it. Whereas, opposed to me and my sister Romana, who's four years younger than me, and my younger sister- four year older than me. And my younger sister was four years younger than me. We all had more positive experiences growing up.
Howard Lee 13:19
Okay. Well, I mean, you're about to turn 43. So reflecting back, you know, 30 years later. Do you feel that in retrospect your childhood Lincolnwood was a positive one?
Kamran Hussain 13:36
Yeah. I mean, I look at all my experiences as positive. Even if when I was going through it it was negative. I mean, you know, I guess everyone can take experiences a little bit differently. So for example, I remember once I posted this on Facebook. And [laughs] you know, it got a good reaction. And you realize that when you get older, all these little stupid things that you think are a big deal back when you were a kid, wasn't a big deal. And everybody was kind of going through these same experiences and insecurities and issues growing up as an adolescent. So for example, there was a store called Zayre. On Lincoln and McCormick-
Howard Lee 14:20
By the Lincoln Village Theater.
Kamran Hussain 14:22
-it was kind of a cheap store, right? And it was kind of like, maybe like at Kmart. And I [laughs] I remember I'd be embarrassed to go there with my mom. My fourth grade teacher was Mrs. Kistra-
Howard Lee 14:37
Oh, yeah. Adia's mom.
Kamran Hussain 14:38
-yeah. Everybody that grew up in the 80s and 90s kind of knew who Mrs. Kistra was. She was kind of the cool teacher at that time. Fourth grade. You wanted to get her.
Howard Lee 14:48
Yeah.
Kamran Hussain 14:48
And her daughter was also our age. Adia.
Howard Lee 14:52
Yeah.
Kamran Hussain 14:53
And so, I always thought of Adia as, you know, being one of the cool kids. And it was kind of funny, because I went to Zayre with my mom and we were buying some, whatever we were buying. You know, bedsheets or something like that. [laughs] And it was embarrassing, but I saw Adia Kistra's mom shopping at Zayre. And I always thought, you know, losers shopped at Zayre. And people that were poor or whatever shopped at Zayre. Or, you know, people that- that my mom was cheap. But it was kind of interesting. You know, once I saw her at Zayre. I was embarrassed at the time but then looking back at it, I was like, dude. It's nothing to be embarrassed about. It is what it is. If Adia's mom can shop at Zayre so can I.
Howard Lee 15:40
Looking back, do you think... I mean, just thinking back on your friends that you grew up with and the friends you hung out with when you were a kid. What would you say the racial breakdown of your childhood friends were?
Kamran Hussain 15:55
In school?
Howard Lee 15:56
In school, yeah.
Kamran Hussain 15:56
So basically, it's like I said, I had two different lives. I had one life that I'd go from eight o'clock to about 3:30. And that was school. And my friends kind of just lasted until there. Other than two, or three of my friends. One was Jason Trolovich, Mark Youngstead and Danny McCluskey. They lived- Mark didn't live near us, but he would always come to Jason's house. Jason lived right behind us. So our backyards connected. So Jason, Mark, Danny. Danny lived around the block on Kilbourn. And we would always hang out. After school we would play baseball in our backyards, we would hang out. It was funny, because we would just kind of hang out in our backyards or whatnot. So that was kind of like the extent to my friendships with kids outside of school. Once I started playing baseball in third or fourth grade, then it kind of expanded a little bit. But once again, it kind of was confined to those timings. On the weekends, I would hang out-
Howard Lee 16:59
All those three guys are white, by the way.
Kamran Hussain 17:01
Yeah, I mean-
Howard Lee 17:02
So, I mean, was race a consideration for you at that point?
Kamran Hussain 17:05
No, not really. It's kind of funny. Initially when I talked about my name- so I have a nickname at home it's Kamoo. Short for Kamran or whatever, right? So you know, Jason would come to my house all the time. And Danny would come to my house all the time. And they would hear my mom and dad, "Kamoo, Kamoo" or whatever, right? And they would hear it. And then you know, I don't know if they couldn't pronounce it properly, but they would call me Gamoo. And then from there, they would tell everyone at school. And so everybody kind of knew. Then everyone started calling me, "Gamoo, Gamoo, Gamoo".
Howard Lee 17:40
I remember that. Yeah.
Kamran Hussain 17:41
And it went on to high school. And the funny thing is, once again, because of my insecurities, I could not just tell them, "Hey, at least pronounce it properly." You know, it's not that hard. But I just let it go. And honestly, I see some guys around now and they still call me that. But yeah, that was mostly because they were my friends. Because of proximity. You know? My mom wasn't socially- my mom didn't socially hang out with any other parents. I mean, nowadays, my kids and my kids' friends and parents, I know them. So they have their little get togethers. But my mom never really socially knew anybody's parents. So I never went to anybody's house. I think yours is the only house I actually went to. So Danny, Jason, and then when Mark would come over, we would all hang out together throughout the summer and stuff like that. After school.
Howard Lee 18:36
Okay. Well, then, as you got older and entered high school, and you know, I think when you're young race doesn't really factor into things. As you got older, was that more of a consideration? Or again, it just- race didn't play a role in who your friends were and who you hung out with?
Kamran Hussain 18:51
No, I mean, in high school and school, it didn't. I hung out with- there wasn't too many Indians that I wanted to hang out with. Or they were there, you know-
Howard Lee 19:03
Well, Himanshu, of course.
Kamran Hussain 19:05
-Himanshu, being one. Now, when I hear stories about Niles West and Niles North or Lincoln Hall, there's so many minorities that you can kind of become part of a clique and hang out with, you know, your minority friends. I don't think we were like that when we were growing up?
Howard Lee 19:21
I mean, as I look back, I don't think there were, quite honestly, enough minorities to form cliques.
Kamran Hussain 19:28
Yeah, there wasn't. And I'm kind of glad that it was like that, because I was just able to get along with everybody. And we all kind of probably tried to be white to some extent, too. We kind of all tried to assimilate.
Howard Lee 19:40
Well. So, you'd mentioned that you grew up, your backyard was adjacent to Jason Trolovich's-
Kamran Hussain 19:48
Yeah.
Howard Lee 19:48
-backyard. You grew up by Proesel Park, you grew up around the block.
Kamran Hussain 19:51
Yeah, oh yeah.
Howard Lee 19:51
Yeah, two blocks from Proesel Park. From the time you grew up to- and the fact is, your mom actually is still in the house that you grew up in.
Kamran Hussain 19:58
Yeah.
Howard Lee 19:59
So you have a lot of opportunity to come back to Lincolnwood.
Kamran Hussain 20:01
Yeah.
Howard Lee 20:03
Has Proesel Park changed a lot from the time you were a kid to now? And then the follow up question would be has the community as a whole changed a lot since you were a kid?
Kamran Hussain 20:12
Yeah, the park has not changed in the way it looks. But you know, they've added different basketball courts. The basketball court used to have tennis courts. Where the tennis courts are now this tennis was still there with the basketball courts was on the south side of the tennis courts. And there was a big, just one basketball court. Now they moved the basketball courts to the west side. But you know, they still have the shelter. The outline of the park is essentially the same. The baseball fields are exactly where they are. They kind of added some new equipment and stuff like that. But the cool thing about that park is that it looks similar to what it looked like in the 80s.
Howard Lee 20:52
Is it crowded nowadays, or?
Kamran Hussain 20:53
No, it's still crowded. I remember when- probably it's not as crowded as it used to be. I think even after when we graduated. Probably, when I was in college, it used to get really crowded. Kids would be playing basketball. They have volleyball courts, now. People playing volleyball, you know, up until 11 o'clock at night. But the cool thing about that park is that it still has a very nostalgic feel to it.
Howard Lee 21:17
Okay, how about Lincolnwood as a whole? Do you feel like it's changed a lot?
Kamran Hussain 21:20
It's changed quite a bit. I mean, you can see the Purple Hotel is gone now.
Howard Lee 21:25
[laughs] Oh, yeah.
Kamran Hussain 21:26
McDades. I used to- grew up walking to McDades to buy toys. I'd go with my mom. McDades was where the condos are now on. On Touhy, right across the street from the Purple Hotel.
Howard Lee 21:37
Oh, really? Okay. I don't remember that.
Kamran Hussain 21:38
Bones used to be an awesome restaurant, still is. L.Woods is still a great restaurant. I personally liked it when it was Bones. But yeah, I mean, there's some different things. I mean, they have a little bridge on Touhy and a few different things here and there. The schools look different. They tore down- they basically made Lincoln Hall and Todd Hall- Rutledge Hall- a lot bigger. But yeah, I mean, you know, every time I come back- granted I come back quite often because I live close to here- it always gives me a nostalgic feeling.
Howard Lee 22:13
Do you feel that Lincolnwood is- the changes are for the better for the worse? You feel like Lincolnwood was more quaint back in the day, or?
Kamran Hussain 22:21
I mean, I probably think it was better back then just because I was a kid back then. So it gives me good memories. It's funny, all my neighbors were really old when I was growing up. My neighbor next to me, you know, they passed away. But, you know, when we moved in, he told us to call them grandpa and grandma. And that's what we used to call them. And they were awesome. They were our neighbors- when I would miss school and I was scared to ask my parents, they would take me to school.
Howard Lee 22:48
Oh.
Kamran Hussain 22:49
You know, that kind of stuff doesn't happen anymore. He would take me to school. When they were getting old and they would get sick they'd call us in the middle of the night my dad would go over and check up on them and stuff like that.
Howard Lee 23:03
Well, you had alluded to the fact that you live close by. So you live in Wilmette now with your wife and your kids.
Kamran Hussain 23:07
Yeah.
Howard Lee 23:09
Now your kids are younger. But when you were growing up in Lincolnwood, how did you get to school? How'd you get to Lincoln Hall, Rutledge Hall, [inaudible]?
Kamran Hussain 23:17
Bus. So funny story about that is when I started preschool, first day of school, I cried. So my mom had to come on the bus. The next thing I remember about that day at school was- that's probably my earliest memory- the next thing I remember about that day at school, was I just woke up and my mom picked me up. I think I just fell asleep the whole day. Yeah, I took the bus.
Howard Lee 23:42
Did you ever bike to school? Did you ever walk to school?
Kamran Hussain 23:44
I walked to school when I would miss school. When I'd miss the bus. And that happened quite often.
Howard Lee 23:49
Is that something that you would feel- you know, when age appropriate here- you'd feel comfortable letting your kids walk to school? Or take the-
Kamran Hussain 23:55
Yeah, we live close to school. I definitely would be open to my kids walking to school. And they're a little bit further away. And there's a couple more busy streets. But yeah. I think my son, he's nine and a half, I think he would be okay with that.
Howard Lee 24:08
Okay. So you had mentioned hanging out in the backyard and playing baseball at Proesel Park. So just, if you could describe a typical summer day when you were, you know, 11, 12, 13 years old.
Kamran Hussain 24:22
Yeah, so probably in third grade. I started playing baseball. I got into baseball. Baseball was obviously the popular sport at that time in the 80s. And I started playing. And, man, I liked playing baseball. So I started playing summer leagues, too. So that was kind of one thing that helped me kind of assimilate a little bit better, and be friends with a lot of the other kids. And granted, you know, we would play summer leagues, and we'd play in like, travel- well not necessarily travel- but we'd go to different towns and play. And that was a lot of fun. So I got to know a lot of the kids from our school. So that was kind of good because, you know those kids I played from like third grade all the way up until high school. And you know, it was cool, the coach- Jeff Pax's dad, Wally Pax- he would- literally every game we would travel to, whether it be Buffalo Grove or Palatine- he would take us to Barnaby's on Caldwell afterwards and all the parents would feed us pizza. So during the summer day, it would be- you know, my mom, I don't think my parents believe in summer school. But we never went to summer school. I never went to day camp. So I would wake up late, watch the Cubs game on channel 9, and probably, usually, go to baseball afterwards. And play baseball either play one game or two games and then come back home in the evening. And then usually go to my aunt's house on the weekends. My mom's sister lived in Skokie. So we would go there like every other weekend or people'd come over.
Howard Lee 25:54
Okay.
Kamran Hussain 25:54
Yeah.
Howard Lee 25:55
What are some of the stories you remember growing up that really stood out in your mind in Lincolnwood [inaudible]-
Kamran Hussain 25:59
Oh, man, I have so many stories. You know, me and Mark Youngstead, and then there was JJ Volchenbaum, who we all grew up with. We connected on Facebook maybe 10 years ago. And then we just had a side chat session where we just kind of mentioned like every single story growing up. But I was just thinking about this as we were getting ready for this. You remember Gaybba- [laughs] Gaybba was a character. He probably was maybe, two, three years older than us. Maybe, maybe not. No one knows him. He's very mysterious. He was- you know now that I look back on it and gave it to someone I kind of admired. You know, he didn't really like school, he was kind of a misfit.
Howard Lee 26:41
I think Gaybba was smoking in like, third grade.
Kamran Hussain 26:44
Yeah. I think his cousin, Lucca, was driving to school in the eighth grade. [laughs] So Gaybba was hilarious. He'd get off on the same bus stop as me. He lived on the other side of Pratt. And he just hated school, he would get off the bus and he would just run home. Like a 100 meter dash sprint, just run home every single day. Funny thing about Gaybba was, if you remember in Lincoln Hall, we had square dancing or line dancing.
Howard Lee 27:13
Yeah.
Kamran Hussain 27:13
I hated it. I just didn't want to, I just never wanted to participate. Maybe I just, I didn't want to touch girl's hands or whatever, but it just kind of- I didn't realize why gym had to- we had to do square dancing in gym. Gaybba was also someone that hated square dancing. And he refused. And he once tried to get a teacher's note, like a parent note, to get him to be out of square dancing. And I don't think the teachers bought it. I don't think Mr. Lussier or Mr. Mao bought that excuse. So they made him square dance. So he came to school the next day with rubber gloves. [laughs] Because he didn't want to touch the girls hands. Oh, man. He was a character. I mean, there were a lot of funny things. How 'bout stories about you?
Howard Lee 28:02
You know, well, we'll take a step back for a second.
Kamran Hussain 28:06
Okay.
Howard Lee 28:06
Do you remember any stores that kind of stick out in your mind about-?
Kamran Hussain 28:10
Stores?
Howard Lee 28:10
Yeah.
Kamran Hussain 28:11
Oh, man, eighth grade to when we got into high school, I'd be able to ride my bike places. We'd go to West Coast Video all the time.
Howard Lee 28:20
Oh, yeah.
Kamran Hussain 28:21
And rent movies. West Coast video was, it's where the... where was it?
Howard Lee 28:26
Well the-
Kamran Hussain 28:27
It's right- it's where the library is.
Howard Lee 28:28
Yeah, it's right down the street from the library where- originally it was Video King. And then Video King went out of business and it became West Coast Video. And then it moved over to where-
Kamran Hussain 28:37
Where [inaudible]'s Furniture is.
Howard Lee 28:39
I think of it as where the pet store is. But yeah.
Kamran Hussain 28:43
Yeah, West Coast Video was a staple of Lincolnwood. And we'd go there to rent movies quite a bit. It was kind of a sleazy place, too.
Howard Lee 28:53
I remember the owners.
Kamran Hussain 28:55
I'm sure you did. [laughs]
Howard Lee 28:57
Now did you and your family ever go out to eat in the neighborhood?
Kamran Hussain 29:01
Not in the neighborhood. It's funny cuz we used to- Pizza Hut was the big family outing. And then one of our neighbors once got pizza from Lou Malnati's.
Howard Lee 29:13
Oh, yeah.
Kamran Hussain 29:13
When I was young. And me and my sisters were all kids then. And we were like, "Dude, what is this pizza with the sauce on top of the cheese?" Like, "What's going on here?" But ever since then, ever since we eat that, we've been getting Lou Malnati's like once a week. But yeah, as a family we honestly never went out that often. I mean, going out had to be a special occasion. Like a really special occasion.
Howard Lee 29:38
Did you guys ever go out for Indian food? Or if you went out it was like, pizza?
Kamran Hussain 29:42
Nah, not too often. My mom was a stay at home mom. So she basically, very traditional, so she basically cooked everyday.
Howard Lee 29:51
Okay. Do you remember where your mom bought groceries?
Kamran Hussain 29:54
Yeah. So Devon obviously is where a lot of Indians are. Now it's crazy, but back in the 80s it was still, you know, a couple different stores. Like Patel Brothers, which has become huge.
Howard Lee 30:06
Which, on a side note, I didn't know that Susan Patel's parents owned Patel Brothers grocery store.
Kamran Hussain 30:11
Yeah. Yeah, that's like a national company. So now, you know where the Toys R Us is in Niles, on Golf and Milwaukee- it used to be a Toys R Us.
Howard Lee 30:18
Mm.
Kamran Hussain 30:19
Right across the street from Golf Mill Mall. Toys R Us went out of business. But now it's a huge Patel Brothers store. So anyway, there was a lot of stores on Devon that would sell Indian food and stuff that was imported. Now, you don't have to go to Devon to get Indian food, you can go anywhere to get Indian groceries. It's all over the place.
Howard Lee 30:41
You know, you had mentioned this before that your mom didn't really have a lot of interaction with other kids' parents. Do you have any sense of what your parents' experience was like growing up in, well, I mean, while you were growing up in Lincolnwood?
Kamran Hussain 30:56
I have no idea. My parents were probably more insulated from the outside. From like, school culture that I was part of. My parents had no clue- I think they still have no clue- on how the school system works. They just wanted us to study. They didn't know how to do homework with us. They didn't know how to do anything with us. So they basically expected us to study the way they studied, which was basically independent. But they had their own social circle with the few Indians that lived in the area. And so that was their kind of social circle.
Howard Lee 31:31
Okay.
Kamran Hussain 31:33
But in terms of social circle with the school community, not really.
Howard Lee 31:39
Well you'd mentioned that your dad was big into the mosque, where did you go to mosque?
Kamran Hussain 31:45
So there's a mosque on Albany Park. It's called MCC. It's Muslim Community Center. It's on Elston Avenue. Funny story about that is that Jason Trolovich's dad owned a company or worked for a company called Heart Electric.
Howard Lee 32:01
Okay.
Kamran Hussain 32:01
Which is actually right down the street from the mosque. So that was about four miles away from us. It wasn't too far from our house. So we would go- my dad was heavily involved with that. And we would go there for evening schools and Sunday schools.
Howard Lee 32:19
Okay. Then you play'd basketball there as well?
Kamran Hussain 32:23
No, so there was- so then in the late 80s and early 90s, that same mosque bought a building in Morton Grove. And that had a gym that we would go play basketball with on Friday nights.
Howard Lee 32:33
Okay.
Kamran Hussain 32:34
Yeah.
Howard Lee 32:34
So, I'd mentioned at the start that you went to Todd Hall, you went to Rutledge Hall, you went to Lincoln Hall, you went to Niles West.
Kamran Hussain 32:40
Yeah.
Howard Lee 32:40
What were some of the teachers that kind of stand out in your mind?
Kamran Hussain 32:43
Oh, man, there was a lot. I mean, I can name all my teachers. Miss Micucci was preschool. Miss Barker, not many people remember her. Miss Wicks, she was awesome. Miss Kistra was an all time favorite. Miss Yokes, fifth grade. Miss Rudnik, sixth grade. Miss Kasper who's now, Dr. Mao, I think? She married Mr. Mao. Mr. Mao was our gym teacher. And Mr-
Howard Lee 33:11
That astounds me, by the way.
Kamran Hussain 33:13
Well, you know, I think they had a little fling. [laughs] When we were in school.
Kamran Hussain 33:18
I remembered that that was [inaudible].
Kamran Hussain 33:19
And then a few years later, we found out her name was Mrs.- my sister was in school there. And she was like, "Yeah, I have Mrs. Mao for social studies." I'm like "Mrs. Mao?" And then I'm like, "Oh, yeah, they got married." And still happily married. Good for them.
Howard Lee 33:31
Yeah. Good for them.
Kamran Hussain 33:32
Yeah. Mr. Mao, Mr. Lethy, Miss Fugate where our gym teachers. You know, Mr. Zyks was the vice principal.
Howard Lee 33:42
We'll get to Zyks.
Kamran Hussain 33:43
Okay, we'll get to Zyks in a little bit. Mr. Mao was our gym teacher. I don't know why I just never liked the guy. Not because he was a bad person, but there was just something that rubbed me the wrong way about him. And you know, he's probably a nice guy. But always in gym class, he'd always pick Sashi Mamba to do the demonstration of the drills.
Howard Lee 33:47
Oh, yeah.
Kamran Hussain 33:51
And it just really pissed me off.
Howard Lee 34:01
Well, I mean, overall, did you- would you say that you had a positive experience with the teachers, they were good teachers?
Kamran Hussain 34:11
Yeah, I think they were all pretty good teachers. I mean, I think there was some that I didn't like. But I think, from what I remember, Mrs. Wicks and Mrs. Kistra, I had really positive experiences. I think Mr. Lessing- eighth grade- I was getting a little bit more... You know, I was kind of becoming- getting into my own at that time. Miss Kistra- another good story about her was in the middle of the winter, my dad decides to take me to India. For two weeks. So I missed school for two weeks. And I come back and- so my dad gets gifts to give to my teachers- so I come back and I give a purse from India, a very traditional looking purse, to Miss Kistra. And I didn't realize Miss Kistra was kind of a hippie-
Howard Lee 35:00
Hm.
Kamran Hussain 35:00
-back then. [laughs] And I was so embarrassed to give it to her because I'm like "Oh, this [inaudible] India. It smells, it stinks, it's ugly. All these kids are gonna make fun of it because it's Indian. And she looked at it and like, she was almost in tears crying because she was so happy she got a gift from India. But I was kind of embarrassed to give it to her.
Howard Lee 35:20
You didn't- did you ever have any sense of racism on any part of the teachers? Or ever get a sense that you were treated differently by any of the teachers?
Kamran Hussain 35:33
Um, no. I mean, I remember back in the day- even like, friends that I remember- I remember even Danny McCluskey once called me Gandhi. And it was just kind of random, you know. We were friends. But like, it was just so easy for them to call me Gandhi or, you know, make fun of me because I'm Indian. And then like, I remember I'd go tell my dad like, "Dude, they're calling me Gandhi". And my dad would be perplexed. He's like, "Yeah, so what? Gandhi was a great guy." I'm like, "Yeah, but-" I don't think he got it. The fact that, you know, calling someone Gandhi in the 80s was kind of a mean- In high school, once again, this goes to my insecurity- it would be me and Daruk played football freshman year. We were on the B-team.
Howard Lee 36:16
[Inaudible]'s your cousin.
Kamran Hussain 36:17
Yeah. So we were close family friends and stuff like that growing up. So we knew each other. We tried out for football, because that was a cool thing to do when you started freshman year. And, you know, we played football on the B-team. And the coach, he started calling me and-
Howard Lee 36:34
Gustason?
Kamran Hussain 36:35
No, no, no, his name was Lacom, I think. Coach Lacom.
Howard Lee 36:37
Okay.
Kamran Hussain 36:38
Gustason was cool. I had no problem- even though he was kind of racist, too. He was cool. He said a couple racist things, too.
Howard Lee 36:47
Yeah, I actually-
Kamran Hussain 36:47
Jimmy Ong.
Howard Lee 36:47
I actually do remember that.
Kamran Hussain 36:47
But I did call him out on that and he apologized. He called Jimmy Ong Jim Foo. Just for the hell of it. I mean, there was no reason why he called him. His name was Jimmy Ong, right? That's what you call- his name was Jim Feng Ong, right?
Kamran Hussain 36:59
Jim Feng Ong, yeah.
Kamran Hussain 37:00
But he just called him Jim Foo for whatever reason. Now when I'm looking back at it I'm like, "That's kind of racist". And I remember I did tell him that. And then he got he kind of got startled by it and he was like, "No, I wasn't trying to be racist". But anyway, freshman year football. We just started freshman year. So high school is something new to us. It's in the summer. And the coach Lecom started calling me and Daruk 7-11.
Howard Lee 37:22
Mm.
Kamran Hussain 37:23
And, you know, people giggled about it and stuff like that. And you know, and he kept calling us that. And like I said, once again, with our insecurities, we were new to the school, all the other kids were new to us, except the kids that went to Lincoln Hall. And you know, we didn't say anything. And like I said, that's a difference that I'm glad that my son and my kids are taken differently. I mean, if someone calls my kid- just accidentally mispronounces the name- he corrects them. And he did get pissed off about that a couple times when it happened. So I was insecure as a kid and I just let it go, just because I didn't want to start controversy about it.
Howard Lee 37:59
Right.
Kamran Hussain 38:00
But, you know, calling- you know, in high school, and a high school teacher- coach- calling someone's two kids 7-11. I mean, dude, if I was older I would have done something about it at my time, right?
Howard Lee 38:14
Well, let me ask you. You'd mentioned Zyks, before and you know, as I'm sitting here, I'm actually thinking another big story from, regarding school when we were kids, was Mr. Schultz. Mr. Schultz, the art teacher when we were in Rutledge Hall. He- a letter got sent home to all the parents that one of the teachers had been diagnosed as having AIDS.
Kamran Hussain 38:35
Yeah.
Howard Lee 38:35
And Mr. Schultz disappeared from school shortly before that. And then obviously, the big story when we were in high school was that Mr. Zyks, the Vice Principal of Lincoln Hall, was arrested for child molestation.
Kamran Hussain 38:48
Well Mr. Zyks was arrested when we were in junior high. Because it was on the news.
Howard Lee 38:53
Yeah, okay.
Kamran Hussain 38:54
He left when we were still in junior high, but then he got arrested soon after that.
Howard Lee 39:03
Okay.
Kamran Hussain 39:04
Probably had something to do with it.
Howard Lee 39:05
So what are your memories-
Kamran Hussain 39:05
And the reason why he got arrested was I think he went to another school and got busted for the same thing.
Howard Lee 39:05
Okay. Well, so what were your memories of Mr. Schultz? When were younger and then Mr. Zyks when we were a little bit older?
Kamran Hussain 39:05
Mr. Schultz was actually a really good art teacher.
Howard Lee 39:05
Oh, I loved Mr. Schultz. Mr. Schultz was by far my favorite teacher of all time.
Kamran Hussain 39:13
But you know, it's funny, because I didn't know what being gay or homosexual was, you know, when I was that young. But I knew that he was a little bit different. I knew that, you know- when I look back at it I'm like, "Oh, it kind of all made sense". Right? But he was awesome. I just remember him being a really good art teacher.
Howard Lee 39:31
Yeah, he was good [inaudible].
Kamran Hussain 39:32
And some of the things that I remember learning, I still remember, in our class that he used to do. And he was such a nice guy. When did he pass away? Probably- we were still in junior high or after that.
Howard Lee 39:46
Yeah, yeah.
Kamran Hussain 39:46
Yeah. So, this is kind of in the 80s when AIDS was a huge thing at that time. But I just remember him being- You know, the funny thing is, that when things happen in the 80s and 90s, you realize it now you're like, "Oh, that might have been a little inappropriate". I remember once- you know those, they had these little art things with little paper that you lick and it would stick.
Howard Lee 40:10
Okay.
Kamran Hussain 40:10
It was just like little string paper or whatever.
Howard Lee 40:14
Okay.
Kamran Hussain 40:14
And you'd lick and you stick and you'd make decorations on poster board or whatever. Okay, and for once he licked it and sticked it on a kid's butt [laughs]. But I remember that, it still sticks with me, but it was just kind of funny.
Howard Lee 40:25
What are your memories of the whole Zyks incident?
Kamran Hussain 40:29
Yeah. So funny thing about Mr. Zyks was-
Howard Lee 40:33
Everyone- he was like, the cool principal. Everybody wanted to-
Kamran Hussain 40:36
He was Mr. Cool principal. So the two things about Mr. Zyks was that he was always considered the cool principal. I remember, I was at Daruk's house, he lived right by Todd Hall. And it was really weird. It was a Saturday, I was just hanging out at his house. Our family were friends- our families were friends. So I'd hang out his house a lot, sleep over at his house once in a while. One day, someone threw eggs at the door. And that happened. And then, this is a Saturday afternoon, mind you. And then Dar's dad went outside and tried to chase the kid- it was a kid that threw it out, right? It was just probably some kid doing a stupid prank, right? I don't think it was anything racially motivated or whatever, right? Because the kid that did it was Filipino. So anyway, three hours later, Mr. Zyks comes with the kid to the house. And he made the kid apologize to Dar and his family. Which, you know, it happened, whatever, no big deal. But then like when you think about it, like, dude, why is the vice principal coming to a kid's house on a Saturday afternoon with another kid? Right. And anyway, that that happened or whatever. And the funny story is that we used to talk about this even when this was going on. Howard, you had a little incident with Mr. Zyks as well, back in school, you know, for some reason you lived in the Lincolnwood Towers, which is close to Devon. And you used to somehow, you know, this is back when they had newsstands, used to somehow be able to get access and buy playboys. So why don't you tell us about that story?
Howard Lee 42:17
We don't have to get into that. But-
Kamran Hussain 42:21
Anyway. Well, you'd sell them to other kids in school, right? You'd buy 'em, and then you'd sell them at a higher price to kids and you got busted. And it's kind of funny, but like, nothing happened to you. You didn't get detention, you didn't get after school detention or get in trouble. You just gotta let off the hook, which is kind of interesting.
Howard Lee 42:41
Yeah. Well, do you have any remembers of when you know, Mr. Zyks got arrested there was the ensuing trial? I think, at that point, we were probably- when the trial happened I think we were freshmans in high school, I think.
Kamran Hussain 42:53
No, I don't have any memories of that. It just kind of- so I didn't know Mr. Zyks that well. I don't think he even knew me. I just knew him, of him, because he's our vice principal. I don't think any of the principals actually even knew who I was.
Howard Lee 42:53
Okay.
Kamran Hussain 42:53
I didn't have him. I mean, I think in high school, the only person that I know, remember, is when David Chereck got murdered.
Kamran Hussain 43:12
Oh, yeah.
Kamran Hussain 43:13
And just recently, they convicted his killer.
Howard Lee 43:17
Right, right. And you actually run into his mom around, time to time.
Kamran Hussain 43:19
Yeah, it was kind of funny, his mom used to be a nurse with my dad. So-
Howard Lee 43:24
Oh, wow, I didn't know that.
Kamran Hussain 43:25
So it just so happened that I ran into her maybe about 10, 15 years ago, right after my dad passed away. And then we kind of kept in touch ever since. And she would tell me about the stories about what happened and the guys that were with him and how they were treated by the, you know, the detectives and stuff like that. But I'm glad that you know, she, you know- he was adopted. And you know, her husband died recently, a few years ago.
Kamran Hussain 43:48
Oh, wow.
Kamran Hussain 43:49
So that was their only child. And you know, it's been- and she would be at the court case every time that the person that was convicted- when he got arrested.
Howard Lee 44:03
He actually just got convicted. I think he just got convicted a month or two ago.
Kamran Hussain 44:06
A few months ago. Yeah, yeah. So that's one thing we keep in touch about, yeah.
Howard Lee 44:12
Okay, so my last question would be, you know, mentioned earlier, that you currently live in Wilmette with your wife and your kids. Was that a conscious decision? Or did you ever consider raising your kids in Lincolnwood? And if you did, or didn't, I mean, is that something you feel like would be a positive one?
Howard Lee 44:31
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, we were looking around for homes. We wanted to stay obviously near the north side. My mom lives, you know, my mom's a widow now. And so I wanted to be close to my mom. You know, if she ever needs me. But we were looking. We actually were looking at a home that one of our friends used to live in in The Towers. And it was kind of cool because it was listed and I was looking at it and then I really realized it was one of our friends homes. And-
Howard Lee 45:03
Which friend?
Kamran Hussain 45:03
Do you know Javin and Pravez Siddiqui?
Howard Lee 45:06
Yeah!
Kamran Hussain 45:07
Yeah. So they lived right by you.
Howard Lee 45:08
Okay.
Kamran Hussain 45:09
They're literally maybe three blocks away from you, right?
Howard Lee 45:12
Okay.
Kamran Hussain 45:13
On Sauganash. And the house is totally renovated. Has totally- it's amazing. Their house when they used to live in is very like 70s.
Howard Lee 45:21
Okay.
Kamran Hussain 45:21
Kind of like a swingers 70s house.
Howard Lee 45:23
Okay.
Kamran Hussain 45:14
Colorful basement and stuff like that. But this house was totally renovated. It's a really nice house, but just kind of way out of our price range. But yeah, we were looking at Lincolnwood. My wife teaches at Niles West, and she actually wants her kids to go to Niles West because of how diverse the school is. And you know, we found a house in Wilmette. So we're living there right now, but definitely not out of the realm of possibilities of moving back to Lincolnwood.
Howard Lee 45:24
Okay.
Kamran Hussain 45:24
But we're happy where we're at. It's funny because Wilmette and its school reminds me of the way Lincoln Hall and Rutledge Hall was when we were growing up.
Howard Lee 45:24
Okay.
Kamran Hussain 45:28
In terms of its racial diversity. The only difference is my kid, my kids, are a lot more secure in their upbringing than I was when I was a kid.
Kamran Hussain 46:06
And what would you attribute that to, you think?
Kamran Hussain 46:16
Uh, you know, I think I was embarrassed that my parents, you know, had an accent. They were more traditional. I'm not saying that I'm cool. [laughs] Definitely not cool, but-
Howard Lee 46:26
[laughs] You definitely shouldn't say that.
Kamran Hussain 46:28
You know, I was born and raised here. So, I was embarrassed. I would never ask my parents to come to a field trip with me. My kids, they want me to go. I don't really want to go. But I think they're probably just more secure. I mean, I think being insecure, though, when you're growing up, I think I kind of take that as a positive. Because it did make me feel a little bit more distinct and different. And- which is always a good thing. Sometimes I feel with my kids is that, you know, they have assimilated well, which is a good thing. But I kind of still want them to know that, you know, hey, they're still- maybe, not necessary in a bad way, but they're different. You know, they might be different. You know, whether it be a different- I think they know that. But they have a lot more confidence in how they interact with their classmates, their teachers, and even just having us around.
Kamran Hussain 46:26
Okay, yeah. Well, I think that wraps it up for My Lincolnwood Story. Kamran, is there anything else you'd like to say?
Kamran Hussain 47:06
No, I'm glad that you were able to interview me. Me and Howard have known each other since 1982 maybe, right? When you started second grade? '82?
Howard Lee 47:43
Yeah, '82, '83? '84, something like that.
Kamran Hussain 47:44
Yeah, '83. And we've been friends ever since. He came to my wedding. Howard's not married, but I went to a sister's wedding.
Howard Lee 47:55
Oh, yeah, that's right.
Kamran Hussain 47:56
His uh-
Howard Lee 47:58
I went to your sister's wedding actually.
Kamran Hussain 47:59
You went to my sister's wedding. And you know, we've been friends since. Petty cool.
Howard Lee 48:06
All right, thanks.
Kamran Hussain 48:07
Cool.
Kamran Hussain and Howard Lee, friends since the 2nd grade, talk about and reflect on their childhood in Lincolnwood. They discuss the changing ethnic demographic of Lincolnwood and the various changes the village has undergone since the early 1980s.
The views and opinions expressed in interviews do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Lincolnwood Public Library, including its Board of Trustees and staff.
TRANSCRIPT:
Howard Lee 0:00
Hello, my name is Howard Lee and I'm interviewing my friend for 35 years Kamran Hussain, for My Lincolnwood Story.
Kamran Hussain 0:11
So, funny thing about my name, my name is actually pronounced Kamran. And, Howard, you probably already know that because you probably heard my mom or my sister say that. But the funny thing is, it is kind of like a Lincolnwood story, it's just been like an insecurity of mine. Probably when I was in kindergarten, that's what they called me. And I was just probably too young and too insecure to really make any corrections. Can't I just let it be? And so, what's funny is that my son, who's now nine years old, his name is Obeid. And he's totally not insecure. And he goes to a school that kind of reminded me of Lincoln Hall and Todd Hall when I was growing up, and he corrects people left and right, if they pronounce his name. The principal pronounced his name wrong, and he corrected him. I was kind of surprised the principal even knew his name. I don't think our principals ever knew our names. Well, Mr. Zyks knew your name. [laughs]
Howard Lee 1:10
Well, the statute of limitations is probably too late. So we'll stick with Kamran.
Kamran Hussain 1:14
Yeah, I was insecure about it and now I'm not. Now I just let it go. Now it's like, if I tried to correct it then I knew that I'd get into a long conversation and the teacher would take forever to kind of correct it. And then I'd get into a conversation about correcting it so, my insecurities just let it go. And it is what it is.
Howard Lee 1:35
Well, Kamran, how old are you?
Kamran Hussain 1:37
I am 42 gonna be 43 in a couple months. Oh no, shoot, in a month. You're gonna be 43, too, right?
Howard Lee 1:44
Yeah, you're gonna be 43 in like two weeks.
Kamran Hussain 1:47
Yeah, three weeks, yeah.
Howard Lee 1:50
And what years did you live in Lincolnwood?
Kamran Hussain 1:53
So I was born and raised in Lincolnwood. My mom and my parents and my two sisters moved here in 1975. I was born in '76. So they literally- I don't know if my mom was pregnant when they moved here. But I was born at Illinois Masonic and born in Lincolnwood.
Howard Lee 2:14
Okay, and you lived in Lincolnwood until you went off to college, correct?
Kamran Hussain 2:19
Yeah, I mean, let's just say I lived in Lincolnwood until I was 25 years old. I'm Indian and Muslim. So I kinda have to stay home until I moved on with my life. So I went to college. I went away for college for a few years, and then grad school for a couple years and then... once I started working I was back in Lincolnwood.
Howard Lee 2:39
Okay, now you have three sisters, correct?
Kamran Hussain 2:43
Yes.
Howard Lee 2:43
And you have two older sisters and one younger sister, correct?
Kamran Hussain 2:47
Yeah. Two of my older sisters. And then I have a younger sister, four years younger than me.
Howard Lee 2:52
So your sisters were not born in Lincolnwood?
Kamran Hussain 2:55
No. So my oldest sister was born in India. And she came here, maybe in 1970 when she was like one or two years old. And then my other sister was born in Chicago in '71. But they essentially went to Lincolnwood schools because they- we moved in '75. So my oldest sister was about six or seven. She started second grade. And then my youngest sister started, I think, preschool or kindergarten. At Rutledge Hall.
Howard Lee 3:22
Okay. Now you attended Todd Hall, Rutledge Hall, Lincoln Hall, and Niles West, correct?
Kamran Hussain 3:26
Yup, I did it all.
Howard Lee 3:28
And uh-
Kamran Hussain 3:30
And we met in what, second grade?
Kamran Hussain 3:31
Second grade, yup.
Kamran Hussain 3:32
You moved in second grade, right?
Howard Lee 3:33
I moved to Lincolnwood in second grade.
Kamran Hussain 3:34
I can probably name all my teachers from preschool to eighth grade. But I'm kind of forgetting my first grade teacher's name.
Howard Lee 3:44
Well, we'll get to the school part.
Kamran Hussain 3:45
[laughs] Okay.
Howard Lee 3:46
So how is it your family ended up in Lincolnwood, specifically Lincolnwood?
Kamran Hussain 3:50
Yeah. So my dad came here, I believe in '68.
Howard Lee 3:55
To Illinois?
Kamran Hussain 3:56
To Chicago. And he had a residency at Illinois Masonic.
Howard Lee 4:01
Your dad's a physician?
Kamran Hussain 4:02
Yeah. My dad was a surgeon. And then he... So he came here. And my mom didn't come at that time. My mom was still in India. So I assume my sister was born around that time in '68, or whatever. So my dad came here. He kind of got settled and then my mom moved here. So my parents lived on Devon Avenue, close to the hospital and close to the lake, too. And then they lived there for a couple years in a couple of apartments. Couple different apartments. I'm not exactly sure where. And then I think the story goes is that my dad, just you know, we're obviously- the family is getting bigger and he wanted to move. Once he's finished his residency, he they were looking for a house and he drove around Lincolnwood and he actually fell in love with the neighborhood. And Lincolnwood is an awesome city- an awesome suburb- just because it's like the closest suburb to the city. Literally gets to downtown in 10 minutes if no traffic. So they found a house in Lincolnwood. And that's it.
Howard Lee 5:09
Now, overall, would you say that you had a positive upbringing in Lincolnwood?
Kamran Hussain 5:16
Yeah, I think definitely. When I look back on it, definitely positive. But when I also look back on it and analyze it, probably when I was going through that time, definitely there was a lot of insecurity that was going on when I was growing up. I mean, when I look back on it all seemed fun to me. And I enjoyed my time when I was in school. But I do kind of recall being quite a bit insecure about my place in school. You know, you're Chinese. I'm Indian. We grew up in Lincolnwood when there was hardly any minorities. It was kind of changing, the dynamics were definitely changing in the 80s. And it definitely was changed in the 90s. But we were kind of like the few minorities. Well actually, looking back now at it now our classmates, a lot of them were actually minorities. It's just, I didn't really realize it. Until now, you know. First generation kids. I wouldn't say minorities, but more first generation kids. Their parents were also from a different country. But I just didn't know that. I just assumed they were white.
Howard Lee 6:20
So growing up in Lincolnwood in the 80s and the early 90s. You know, just looking back on it, what would you say is the racial makeup of the community? And then a follow up question would be what would you say the racial makeup of the school population was at that time?
Kamran Hussain 6:37
I mean, from my understanding, and I wasn't paying attention to it too much. I always knew that I was different because of the darker skin than most people there. From my understanding, Lincolnwood was very Jewish at that time. I just remember every other weekend kids would come back with the T-shirts from going to someone's Bat Mitzvah. And granted, I wasn't invited to many of them.
Both 7:06
[laughs]
Kamran Hussain 7:08
So when I look back at it, I remember a lot of our friends being Jewish. And so that's what I kind of got out of it. And there was a few minorities sprinkled here and there. And you know, you could tell just whenever it was Christmas time, our neighborhoods weren't all lighted up with Christmas trees. Because there was a lot of Jewish people in Lincolnwood.
Howard Lee 7:31
Were Asians relatively commonplace, or were African Americans or Latinos?
Kamran Hussain 7:36
African Americans, zero. Latinos? You know, when I look back on it, I realize that there were a couple people that were Latino that I just didn't know that they were Latinos. Asians? You can kind of answer that, probably not? I mean, there were a couple Indians in our grade- me, Himanshu Patel, Manisha Patel, Daruk, and a couple more here and there. Chinese? I mean, I wouldn't say Chinese. Asian, there were a lot more. You and then I can name quite a few more.
Howard Lee 8:08
Yeah, I think there were a lot of Koreans in Lincolnwood at one point.
Kamran Hussain 8:10
Yeah, so definitely there. There was.
Howard Lee 8:15
Well, let me ask you. You kind of alluded to this. That, you know, as a person of color and a racial minority. Did you ever feel like part of the community in Lincolnwood? Or did you feel like an outsider?
Kamran Hussain 8:27
I don't know, I mean, I think that when I was living through it, it just kind of- it is what it is. I thought that my role in school was just, you know, being friends with the kids at school. And then, when school was over, I kind of had my own, you know, social and family life. I had a cousin that we'd hang out with, and then people- my dad was very involved in the mosque in the area. So I had friends that were Muslim that were involved that I would hang out with on the weekends. So school had school friends, and I thought, you know, that was my- that was normal for me. I didn't realize that all the kids were doing all this other stuff on the weekends without me. But yeah, I definitely felt it. I mean, you know, I was embarrassed when my mom would come for being the lunch lady. My mom had a nose ring at that time. And you know, I got asked by so many kids, "Oh, why's your mom wearing a nose ring?" And you know, those same kids that made fun of me were like all grungy in the 90s and they all had nose rings in high school.[laughs] So yeah, I mean, those things I could definitely feel. But yeah.
Howard Lee 9:43
Well, I mean, so growing up in Lincolnwood in that particular period. You'd mentioned you had friends- Indian friends and Muslim friends as well- in other communities. What was your experience in comparison to theirs when you heard about what their experience was in their respective communities?
Kamran Hussain 10:01
Well I think Chicago at that time was still kind of, you know, the minority... there wasn't that many minorities in Chicago. Especially on the north side at that time. Or just anywhere in Chicago, right? So I think we all kind of had similar experiences. I think if you lived in the city or the north side, you might you might have dealt with a lot more minorities, a lot more different races. As opposed to Lincolnwood and the northern suburbs. It was primarily white. And you know the Asian population, whether it be Indian, or from East Asia, they were growing, but we were still kind of considered a minority. Now, when I see- when I walk around Lincolnwood now, or Skokie, or you know any of these suburbs around here, if I see an Asian person I don't even bat, I don't even do a double take. Where I could see 30 years ago, if I saw an Asian I'd be kind of surprised.
Howard Lee 10:55
Did that change as you got older? Cuz I feel like Lincolnwood, certainly by the time we were in high school, it was not as much of an issue was it was when we were [inaudible].
Kamran Hussain 11:06
Oh, yeah. Once we hit high school- by the time I think we graduated high school, I mean, dude, there was a lot of minorities.
Howard Lee 11:13
Cuz I feel like Niles West at that point was probably 20-30% Asian.
Kamran Hussain 11:20
Maybe. You know, my wife teaches at Niles West now. And she could probably tell you that it's probably over 50% minority.
Howard Lee 11:28
Oh, interesting.
Kamran Hussain 11:30
Yeah.
Howard Lee 11:31
Well, so your two older sisters, were not born in the United States-
Kamran Hussain 11:37
No my oldest sister was.
Howard Lee 11:38
Oh, sorry, your older sister was born in India. And you and your two other sisters were born in the United States. And your sister's older, too. Your oldest sister is quite a bit older. Do you feel like their experience in Lincolnwood was different than your experience?
Kamran Hussain 11:56
So me and my sister Ramana, who we're like four or five years apart, I think we had similar experiences. So she was probably going to junior high and high school, early 80s. We were kind of like mid to late 80s. So we kind of had similar experiences. My oldest sister who is about nine, eight years older than me, she definitely had a different experience. So there was even less minorities there. And there was a lot more, I don't know if she necessarily got harassed, or had, you know, physically got made fun of. I think I probably got made fun of here and there, but it just kind of like-
Howard Lee 12:34
Well look at you, I mean- [laughs]
Kamran Hussain 12:35
[laughs] That's true. But I know that from talking to my oldest sister, her experience of growing up in high school was not necessarily a positive one. I mean, I think when we all look back on it, it's all, you know, that's our childhood. We always had positive experiences, but it wasn't like something that she was so excited about. I know she didn't go to her 10 year reunion because she didn't really feel like going to it. Whereas, opposed to me and my sister Romana, who's four years younger than me, and my younger sister- four year older than me. And my younger sister was four years younger than me. We all had more positive experiences growing up.
Howard Lee 13:19
Okay. Well, I mean, you're about to turn 43. So reflecting back, you know, 30 years later. Do you feel that in retrospect your childhood Lincolnwood was a positive one?
Kamran Hussain 13:36
Yeah. I mean, I look at all my experiences as positive. Even if when I was going through it it was negative. I mean, you know, I guess everyone can take experiences a little bit differently. So for example, I remember once I posted this on Facebook. And [laughs] you know, it got a good reaction. And you realize that when you get older, all these little stupid things that you think are a big deal back when you were a kid, wasn't a big deal. And everybody was kind of going through these same experiences and insecurities and issues growing up as an adolescent. So for example, there was a store called Zayre. On Lincoln and McCormick-
Howard Lee 14:20
By the Lincoln Village Theater.
Kamran Hussain 14:22
-it was kind of a cheap store, right? And it was kind of like, maybe like at Kmart. And I [laughs] I remember I'd be embarrassed to go there with my mom. My fourth grade teacher was Mrs. Kistra-
Howard Lee 14:37
Oh, yeah. Adia's mom.
Kamran Hussain 14:38
-yeah. Everybody that grew up in the 80s and 90s kind of knew who Mrs. Kistra was. She was kind of the cool teacher at that time. Fourth grade. You wanted to get her.
Howard Lee 14:48
Yeah.
Kamran Hussain 14:48
And her daughter was also our age. Adia.
Howard Lee 14:52
Yeah.
Kamran Hussain 14:53
And so, I always thought of Adia as, you know, being one of the cool kids. And it was kind of funny, because I went to Zayre with my mom and we were buying some, whatever we were buying. You know, bedsheets or something like that. [laughs] And it was embarrassing, but I saw Adia Kistra's mom shopping at Zayre. And I always thought, you know, losers shopped at Zayre. And people that were poor or whatever shopped at Zayre. Or, you know, people that- that my mom was cheap. But it was kind of interesting. You know, once I saw her at Zayre. I was embarrassed at the time but then looking back at it, I was like, dude. It's nothing to be embarrassed about. It is what it is. If Adia's mom can shop at Zayre so can I.
Howard Lee 15:40
Looking back, do you think... I mean, just thinking back on your friends that you grew up with and the friends you hung out with when you were a kid. What would you say the racial breakdown of your childhood friends were?
Kamran Hussain 15:55
In school?
Howard Lee 15:56
In school, yeah.
Kamran Hussain 15:56
So basically, it's like I said, I had two different lives. I had one life that I'd go from eight o'clock to about 3:30. And that was school. And my friends kind of just lasted until there. Other than two, or three of my friends. One was Jason Trolovich, Mark Youngstead and Danny McCluskey. They lived- Mark didn't live near us, but he would always come to Jason's house. Jason lived right behind us. So our backyards connected. So Jason, Mark, Danny. Danny lived around the block on Kilbourn. And we would always hang out. After school we would play baseball in our backyards, we would hang out. It was funny, because we would just kind of hang out in our backyards or whatnot. So that was kind of like the extent to my friendships with kids outside of school. Once I started playing baseball in third or fourth grade, then it kind of expanded a little bit. But once again, it kind of was confined to those timings. On the weekends, I would hang out-
Howard Lee 16:59
All those three guys are white, by the way.
Kamran Hussain 17:01
Yeah, I mean-
Howard Lee 17:02
So, I mean, was race a consideration for you at that point?
Kamran Hussain 17:05
No, not really. It's kind of funny. Initially when I talked about my name- so I have a nickname at home it's Kamoo. Short for Kamran or whatever, right? So you know, Jason would come to my house all the time. And Danny would come to my house all the time. And they would hear my mom and dad, "Kamoo, Kamoo" or whatever, right? And they would hear it. And then you know, I don't know if they couldn't pronounce it properly, but they would call me Gamoo. And then from there, they would tell everyone at school. And so everybody kind of knew. Then everyone started calling me, "Gamoo, Gamoo, Gamoo".
Howard Lee 17:40
I remember that. Yeah.
Kamran Hussain 17:41
And it went on to high school. And the funny thing is, once again, because of my insecurities, I could not just tell them, "Hey, at least pronounce it properly." You know, it's not that hard. But I just let it go. And honestly, I see some guys around now and they still call me that. But yeah, that was mostly because they were my friends. Because of proximity. You know? My mom wasn't socially- my mom didn't socially hang out with any other parents. I mean, nowadays, my kids and my kids' friends and parents, I know them. So they have their little get togethers. But my mom never really socially knew anybody's parents. So I never went to anybody's house. I think yours is the only house I actually went to. So Danny, Jason, and then when Mark would come over, we would all hang out together throughout the summer and stuff like that. After school.
Howard Lee 18:36
Okay. Well, then, as you got older and entered high school, and you know, I think when you're young race doesn't really factor into things. As you got older, was that more of a consideration? Or again, it just- race didn't play a role in who your friends were and who you hung out with?
Kamran Hussain 18:51
No, I mean, in high school and school, it didn't. I hung out with- there wasn't too many Indians that I wanted to hang out with. Or they were there, you know-
Howard Lee 19:03
Well, Himanshu, of course.
Kamran Hussain 19:05
-Himanshu, being one. Now, when I hear stories about Niles West and Niles North or Lincoln Hall, there's so many minorities that you can kind of become part of a clique and hang out with, you know, your minority friends. I don't think we were like that when we were growing up?
Howard Lee 19:21
I mean, as I look back, I don't think there were, quite honestly, enough minorities to form cliques.
Kamran Hussain 19:28
Yeah, there wasn't. And I'm kind of glad that it was like that, because I was just able to get along with everybody. And we all kind of probably tried to be white to some extent, too. We kind of all tried to assimilate.
Howard Lee 19:40
Well. So, you'd mentioned that you grew up, your backyard was adjacent to Jason Trolovich's-
Kamran Hussain 19:48
Yeah.
Howard Lee 19:48
-backyard. You grew up by Proesel Park, you grew up around the block.
Kamran Hussain 19:51
Yeah, oh yeah.
Howard Lee 19:51
Yeah, two blocks from Proesel Park. From the time you grew up to- and the fact is, your mom actually is still in the house that you grew up in.
Kamran Hussain 19:58
Yeah.
Howard Lee 19:59
So you have a lot of opportunity to come back to Lincolnwood.
Kamran Hussain 20:01
Yeah.
Howard Lee 20:03
Has Proesel Park changed a lot from the time you were a kid to now? And then the follow up question would be has the community as a whole changed a lot since you were a kid?
Kamran Hussain 20:12
Yeah, the park has not changed in the way it looks. But you know, they've added different basketball courts. The basketball court used to have tennis courts. Where the tennis courts are now this tennis was still there with the basketball courts was on the south side of the tennis courts. And there was a big, just one basketball court. Now they moved the basketball courts to the west side. But you know, they still have the shelter. The outline of the park is essentially the same. The baseball fields are exactly where they are. They kind of added some new equipment and stuff like that. But the cool thing about that park is that it looks similar to what it looked like in the 80s.
Howard Lee 20:52
Is it crowded nowadays, or?
Kamran Hussain 20:53
No, it's still crowded. I remember when- probably it's not as crowded as it used to be. I think even after when we graduated. Probably, when I was in college, it used to get really crowded. Kids would be playing basketball. They have volleyball courts, now. People playing volleyball, you know, up until 11 o'clock at night. But the cool thing about that park is that it still has a very nostalgic feel to it.
Howard Lee 21:17
Okay, how about Lincolnwood as a whole? Do you feel like it's changed a lot?
Kamran Hussain 21:20
It's changed quite a bit. I mean, you can see the Purple Hotel is gone now.
Howard Lee 21:25
[laughs] Oh, yeah.
Kamran Hussain 21:26
McDades. I used to- grew up walking to McDades to buy toys. I'd go with my mom. McDades was where the condos are now on. On Touhy, right across the street from the Purple Hotel.
Howard Lee 21:37
Oh, really? Okay. I don't remember that.
Kamran Hussain 21:38
Bones used to be an awesome restaurant, still is. L.Woods is still a great restaurant. I personally liked it when it was Bones. But yeah, I mean, there's some different things. I mean, they have a little bridge on Touhy and a few different things here and there. The schools look different. They tore down- they basically made Lincoln Hall and Todd Hall- Rutledge Hall- a lot bigger. But yeah, I mean, you know, every time I come back- granted I come back quite often because I live close to here- it always gives me a nostalgic feeling.
Howard Lee 22:13
Do you feel that Lincolnwood is- the changes are for the better for the worse? You feel like Lincolnwood was more quaint back in the day, or?
Kamran Hussain 22:21
I mean, I probably think it was better back then just because I was a kid back then. So it gives me good memories. It's funny, all my neighbors were really old when I was growing up. My neighbor next to me, you know, they passed away. But, you know, when we moved in, he told us to call them grandpa and grandma. And that's what we used to call them. And they were awesome. They were our neighbors- when I would miss school and I was scared to ask my parents, they would take me to school.
Howard Lee 22:48
Oh.
Kamran Hussain 22:49
You know, that kind of stuff doesn't happen anymore. He would take me to school. When they were getting old and they would get sick they'd call us in the middle of the night my dad would go over and check up on them and stuff like that.
Howard Lee 23:03
Well, you had alluded to the fact that you live close by. So you live in Wilmette now with your wife and your kids.
Kamran Hussain 23:07
Yeah.
Howard Lee 23:09
Now your kids are younger. But when you were growing up in Lincolnwood, how did you get to school? How'd you get to Lincoln Hall, Rutledge Hall, [inaudible]?
Kamran Hussain 23:17
Bus. So funny story about that is when I started preschool, first day of school, I cried. So my mom had to come on the bus. The next thing I remember about that day at school was- that's probably my earliest memory- the next thing I remember about that day at school, was I just woke up and my mom picked me up. I think I just fell asleep the whole day. Yeah, I took the bus.
Howard Lee 23:42
Did you ever bike to school? Did you ever walk to school?
Kamran Hussain 23:44
I walked to school when I would miss school. When I'd miss the bus. And that happened quite often.
Howard Lee 23:49
Is that something that you would feel- you know, when age appropriate here- you'd feel comfortable letting your kids walk to school? Or take the-
Kamran Hussain 23:55
Yeah, we live close to school. I definitely would be open to my kids walking to school. And they're a little bit further away. And there's a couple more busy streets. But yeah. I think my son, he's nine and a half, I think he would be okay with that.
Howard Lee 24:08
Okay. So you had mentioned hanging out in the backyard and playing baseball at Proesel Park. So just, if you could describe a typical summer day when you were, you know, 11, 12, 13 years old.
Kamran Hussain 24:22
Yeah, so probably in third grade. I started playing baseball. I got into baseball. Baseball was obviously the popular sport at that time in the 80s. And I started playing. And, man, I liked playing baseball. So I started playing summer leagues, too. So that was kind of one thing that helped me kind of assimilate a little bit better, and be friends with a lot of the other kids. And granted, you know, we would play summer leagues, and we'd play in like, travel- well not necessarily travel- but we'd go to different towns and play. And that was a lot of fun. So I got to know a lot of the kids from our school. So that was kind of good because, you know those kids I played from like third grade all the way up until high school. And you know, it was cool, the coach- Jeff Pax's dad, Wally Pax- he would- literally every game we would travel to, whether it be Buffalo Grove or Palatine- he would take us to Barnaby's on Caldwell afterwards and all the parents would feed us pizza. So during the summer day, it would be- you know, my mom, I don't think my parents believe in summer school. But we never went to summer school. I never went to day camp. So I would wake up late, watch the Cubs game on channel 9, and probably, usually, go to baseball afterwards. And play baseball either play one game or two games and then come back home in the evening. And then usually go to my aunt's house on the weekends. My mom's sister lived in Skokie. So we would go there like every other weekend or people'd come over.
Howard Lee 25:54
Okay.
Kamran Hussain 25:54
Yeah.
Howard Lee 25:55
What are some of the stories you remember growing up that really stood out in your mind in Lincolnwood [inaudible]-
Kamran Hussain 25:59
Oh, man, I have so many stories. You know, me and Mark Youngstead, and then there was JJ Volchenbaum, who we all grew up with. We connected on Facebook maybe 10 years ago. And then we just had a side chat session where we just kind of mentioned like every single story growing up. But I was just thinking about this as we were getting ready for this. You remember Gaybba- [laughs] Gaybba was a character. He probably was maybe, two, three years older than us. Maybe, maybe not. No one knows him. He's very mysterious. He was- you know now that I look back on it and gave it to someone I kind of admired. You know, he didn't really like school, he was kind of a misfit.
Howard Lee 26:41
I think Gaybba was smoking in like, third grade.
Kamran Hussain 26:44
Yeah. I think his cousin, Lucca, was driving to school in the eighth grade. [laughs] So Gaybba was hilarious. He'd get off on the same bus stop as me. He lived on the other side of Pratt. And he just hated school, he would get off the bus and he would just run home. Like a 100 meter dash sprint, just run home every single day. Funny thing about Gaybba was, if you remember in Lincoln Hall, we had square dancing or line dancing.
Howard Lee 27:13
Yeah.
Kamran Hussain 27:13
I hated it. I just didn't want to, I just never wanted to participate. Maybe I just, I didn't want to touch girl's hands or whatever, but it just kind of- I didn't realize why gym had to- we had to do square dancing in gym. Gaybba was also someone that hated square dancing. And he refused. And he once tried to get a teacher's note, like a parent note, to get him to be out of square dancing. And I don't think the teachers bought it. I don't think Mr. Lussier or Mr. Mao bought that excuse. So they made him square dance. So he came to school the next day with rubber gloves. [laughs] Because he didn't want to touch the girls hands. Oh, man. He was a character. I mean, there were a lot of funny things. How 'bout stories about you?
Howard Lee 28:02
You know, well, we'll take a step back for a second.
Kamran Hussain 28:06
Okay.
Howard Lee 28:06
Do you remember any stores that kind of stick out in your mind about-?
Kamran Hussain 28:10
Stores?
Howard Lee 28:10
Yeah.
Kamran Hussain 28:11
Oh, man, eighth grade to when we got into high school, I'd be able to ride my bike places. We'd go to West Coast Video all the time.
Howard Lee 28:20
Oh, yeah.
Kamran Hussain 28:21
And rent movies. West Coast video was, it's where the... where was it?
Howard Lee 28:26
Well the-
Kamran Hussain 28:27
It's right- it's where the library is.
Howard Lee 28:28
Yeah, it's right down the street from the library where- originally it was Video King. And then Video King went out of business and it became West Coast Video. And then it moved over to where-
Kamran Hussain 28:37
Where [inaudible]'s Furniture is.
Howard Lee 28:39
I think of it as where the pet store is. But yeah.
Kamran Hussain 28:43
Yeah, West Coast Video was a staple of Lincolnwood. And we'd go there to rent movies quite a bit. It was kind of a sleazy place, too.
Howard Lee 28:53
I remember the owners.
Kamran Hussain 28:55
I'm sure you did. [laughs]
Howard Lee 28:57
Now did you and your family ever go out to eat in the neighborhood?
Kamran Hussain 29:01
Not in the neighborhood. It's funny cuz we used to- Pizza Hut was the big family outing. And then one of our neighbors once got pizza from Lou Malnati's.
Howard Lee 29:13
Oh, yeah.
Kamran Hussain 29:13
When I was young. And me and my sisters were all kids then. And we were like, "Dude, what is this pizza with the sauce on top of the cheese?" Like, "What's going on here?" But ever since then, ever since we eat that, we've been getting Lou Malnati's like once a week. But yeah, as a family we honestly never went out that often. I mean, going out had to be a special occasion. Like a really special occasion.
Howard Lee 29:38
Did you guys ever go out for Indian food? Or if you went out it was like, pizza?
Kamran Hussain 29:42
Nah, not too often. My mom was a stay at home mom. So she basically, very traditional, so she basically cooked everyday.
Howard Lee 29:51
Okay. Do you remember where your mom bought groceries?
Kamran Hussain 29:54
Yeah. So Devon obviously is where a lot of Indians are. Now it's crazy, but back in the 80s it was still, you know, a couple different stores. Like Patel Brothers, which has become huge.
Howard Lee 30:06
Which, on a side note, I didn't know that Susan Patel's parents owned Patel Brothers grocery store.
Kamran Hussain 30:11
Yeah. Yeah, that's like a national company. So now, you know where the Toys R Us is in Niles, on Golf and Milwaukee- it used to be a Toys R Us.
Howard Lee 30:18
Mm.
Kamran Hussain 30:19
Right across the street from Golf Mill Mall. Toys R Us went out of business. But now it's a huge Patel Brothers store. So anyway, there was a lot of stores on Devon that would sell Indian food and stuff that was imported. Now, you don't have to go to Devon to get Indian food, you can go anywhere to get Indian groceries. It's all over the place.
Howard Lee 30:41
You know, you had mentioned this before that your mom didn't really have a lot of interaction with other kids' parents. Do you have any sense of what your parents' experience was like growing up in, well, I mean, while you were growing up in Lincolnwood?
Kamran Hussain 30:56
I have no idea. My parents were probably more insulated from the outside. From like, school culture that I was part of. My parents had no clue- I think they still have no clue- on how the school system works. They just wanted us to study. They didn't know how to do homework with us. They didn't know how to do anything with us. So they basically expected us to study the way they studied, which was basically independent. But they had their own social circle with the few Indians that lived in the area. And so that was their kind of social circle.
Howard Lee 31:31
Okay.
Kamran Hussain 31:33
But in terms of social circle with the school community, not really.
Howard Lee 31:39
Well you'd mentioned that your dad was big into the mosque, where did you go to mosque?
Kamran Hussain 31:45
So there's a mosque on Albany Park. It's called MCC. It's Muslim Community Center. It's on Elston Avenue. Funny story about that is that Jason Trolovich's dad owned a company or worked for a company called Heart Electric.
Howard Lee 32:01
Okay.
Kamran Hussain 32:01
Which is actually right down the street from the mosque. So that was about four miles away from us. It wasn't too far from our house. So we would go- my dad was heavily involved with that. And we would go there for evening schools and Sunday schools.
Howard Lee 32:19
Okay. Then you play'd basketball there as well?
Kamran Hussain 32:23
No, so there was- so then in the late 80s and early 90s, that same mosque bought a building in Morton Grove. And that had a gym that we would go play basketball with on Friday nights.
Howard Lee 32:33
Okay.
Kamran Hussain 32:34
Yeah.
Howard Lee 32:34
So, I'd mentioned at the start that you went to Todd Hall, you went to Rutledge Hall, you went to Lincoln Hall, you went to Niles West.
Kamran Hussain 32:40
Yeah.
Howard Lee 32:40
What were some of the teachers that kind of stand out in your mind?
Kamran Hussain 32:43
Oh, man, there was a lot. I mean, I can name all my teachers. Miss Micucci was preschool. Miss Barker, not many people remember her. Miss Wicks, she was awesome. Miss Kistra was an all time favorite. Miss Yokes, fifth grade. Miss Rudnik, sixth grade. Miss Kasper who's now, Dr. Mao, I think? She married Mr. Mao. Mr. Mao was our gym teacher. And Mr-
Howard Lee 33:11
That astounds me, by the way.
Kamran Hussain 33:13
Well, you know, I think they had a little fling. [laughs] When we were in school.
Kamran Hussain 33:18
I remembered that that was [inaudible].
Kamran Hussain 33:19
And then a few years later, we found out her name was Mrs.- my sister was in school there. And she was like, "Yeah, I have Mrs. Mao for social studies." I'm like "Mrs. Mao?" And then I'm like, "Oh, yeah, they got married." And still happily married. Good for them.
Howard Lee 33:31
Yeah. Good for them.
Kamran Hussain 33:32
Yeah. Mr. Mao, Mr. Lethy, Miss Fugate where our gym teachers. You know, Mr. Zyks was the vice principal.
Howard Lee 33:42
We'll get to Zyks.
Kamran Hussain 33:43
Okay, we'll get to Zyks in a little bit. Mr. Mao was our gym teacher. I don't know why I just never liked the guy. Not because he was a bad person, but there was just something that rubbed me the wrong way about him. And you know, he's probably a nice guy. But always in gym class, he'd always pick Sashi Mamba to do the demonstration of the drills.
Howard Lee 33:47
Oh, yeah.
Kamran Hussain 33:51
And it just really pissed me off.
Howard Lee 34:01
Well, I mean, overall, did you- would you say that you had a positive experience with the teachers, they were good teachers?
Kamran Hussain 34:11
Yeah, I think they were all pretty good teachers. I mean, I think there was some that I didn't like. But I think, from what I remember, Mrs. Wicks and Mrs. Kistra, I had really positive experiences. I think Mr. Lessing- eighth grade- I was getting a little bit more... You know, I was kind of becoming- getting into my own at that time. Miss Kistra- another good story about her was in the middle of the winter, my dad decides to take me to India. For two weeks. So I missed school for two weeks. And I come back and- so my dad gets gifts to give to my teachers- so I come back and I give a purse from India, a very traditional looking purse, to Miss Kistra. And I didn't realize Miss Kistra was kind of a hippie-
Howard Lee 35:00
Hm.
Kamran Hussain 35:00
-back then. [laughs] And I was so embarrassed to give it to her because I'm like "Oh, this [inaudible] India. It smells, it stinks, it's ugly. All these kids are gonna make fun of it because it's Indian. And she looked at it and like, she was almost in tears crying because she was so happy she got a gift from India. But I was kind of embarrassed to give it to her.
Howard Lee 35:20
You didn't- did you ever have any sense of racism on any part of the teachers? Or ever get a sense that you were treated differently by any of the teachers?
Kamran Hussain 35:33
Um, no. I mean, I remember back in the day- even like, friends that I remember- I remember even Danny McCluskey once called me Gandhi. And it was just kind of random, you know. We were friends. But like, it was just so easy for them to call me Gandhi or, you know, make fun of me because I'm Indian. And then like, I remember I'd go tell my dad like, "Dude, they're calling me Gandhi". And my dad would be perplexed. He's like, "Yeah, so what? Gandhi was a great guy." I'm like, "Yeah, but-" I don't think he got it. The fact that, you know, calling someone Gandhi in the 80s was kind of a mean- In high school, once again, this goes to my insecurity- it would be me and Daruk played football freshman year. We were on the B-team.
Howard Lee 36:16
[Inaudible]'s your cousin.
Kamran Hussain 36:17
Yeah. So we were close family friends and stuff like that growing up. So we knew each other. We tried out for football, because that was a cool thing to do when you started freshman year. And, you know, we played football on the B-team. And the coach, he started calling me and-
Howard Lee 36:34
Gustason?
Kamran Hussain 36:35
No, no, no, his name was Lacom, I think. Coach Lacom.
Howard Lee 36:37
Okay.
Kamran Hussain 36:38
Gustason was cool. I had no problem- even though he was kind of racist, too. He was cool. He said a couple racist things, too.
Howard Lee 36:47
Yeah, I actually-
Kamran Hussain 36:47
Jimmy Ong.
Howard Lee 36:47
I actually do remember that.
Kamran Hussain 36:47
But I did call him out on that and he apologized. He called Jimmy Ong Jim Foo. Just for the hell of it. I mean, there was no reason why he called him. His name was Jimmy Ong, right? That's what you call- his name was Jim Feng Ong, right?
Kamran Hussain 36:59
Jim Feng Ong, yeah.
Kamran Hussain 37:00
But he just called him Jim Foo for whatever reason. Now when I'm looking back at it I'm like, "That's kind of racist". And I remember I did tell him that. And then he got he kind of got startled by it and he was like, "No, I wasn't trying to be racist". But anyway, freshman year football. We just started freshman year. So high school is something new to us. It's in the summer. And the coach Lecom started calling me and Daruk 7-11.
Howard Lee 37:22
Mm.
Kamran Hussain 37:23
And, you know, people giggled about it and stuff like that. And you know, and he kept calling us that. And like I said, once again, with our insecurities, we were new to the school, all the other kids were new to us, except the kids that went to Lincoln Hall. And you know, we didn't say anything. And like I said, that's a difference that I'm glad that my son and my kids are taken differently. I mean, if someone calls my kid- just accidentally mispronounces the name- he corrects them. And he did get pissed off about that a couple times when it happened. So I was insecure as a kid and I just let it go, just because I didn't want to start controversy about it.
Howard Lee 37:59
Right.
Kamran Hussain 38:00
But, you know, calling- you know, in high school, and a high school teacher- coach- calling someone's two kids 7-11. I mean, dude, if I was older I would have done something about it at my time, right?
Howard Lee 38:14
Well, let me ask you. You'd mentioned Zyks, before and you know, as I'm sitting here, I'm actually thinking another big story from, regarding school when we were kids, was Mr. Schultz. Mr. Schultz, the art teacher when we were in Rutledge Hall. He- a letter got sent home to all the parents that one of the teachers had been diagnosed as having AIDS.
Kamran Hussain 38:35
Yeah.
Howard Lee 38:35
And Mr. Schultz disappeared from school shortly before that. And then obviously, the big story when we were in high school was that Mr. Zyks, the Vice Principal of Lincoln Hall, was arrested for child molestation.
Kamran Hussain 38:48
Well Mr. Zyks was arrested when we were in junior high. Because it was on the news.
Howard Lee 38:53
Yeah, okay.
Kamran Hussain 38:54
He left when we were still in junior high, but then he got arrested soon after that.
Howard Lee 39:03
Okay.
Kamran Hussain 39:04
Probably had something to do with it.
Howard Lee 39:05
So what are your memories-
Kamran Hussain 39:05
And the reason why he got arrested was I think he went to another school and got busted for the same thing.
Howard Lee 39:05
Okay. Well, so what were your memories of Mr. Schultz? When were younger and then Mr. Zyks when we were a little bit older?
Kamran Hussain 39:05
Mr. Schultz was actually a really good art teacher.
Howard Lee 39:05
Oh, I loved Mr. Schultz. Mr. Schultz was by far my favorite teacher of all time.
Kamran Hussain 39:13
But you know, it's funny, because I didn't know what being gay or homosexual was, you know, when I was that young. But I knew that he was a little bit different. I knew that, you know- when I look back at it I'm like, "Oh, it kind of all made sense". Right? But he was awesome. I just remember him being a really good art teacher.
Howard Lee 39:31
Yeah, he was good [inaudible].
Kamran Hussain 39:32
And some of the things that I remember learning, I still remember, in our class that he used to do. And he was such a nice guy. When did he pass away? Probably- we were still in junior high or after that.
Howard Lee 39:46
Yeah, yeah.
Kamran Hussain 39:46
Yeah. So, this is kind of in the 80s when AIDS was a huge thing at that time. But I just remember him being- You know, the funny thing is, that when things happen in the 80s and 90s, you realize it now you're like, "Oh, that might have been a little inappropriate". I remember once- you know those, they had these little art things with little paper that you lick and it would stick.
Howard Lee 40:10
Okay.
Kamran Hussain 40:10
It was just like little string paper or whatever.
Howard Lee 40:14
Okay.
Kamran Hussain 40:14
And you'd lick and you stick and you'd make decorations on poster board or whatever. Okay, and for once he licked it and sticked it on a kid's butt [laughs]. But I remember that, it still sticks with me, but it was just kind of funny.
Howard Lee 40:25
What are your memories of the whole Zyks incident?
Kamran Hussain 40:29
Yeah. So funny thing about Mr. Zyks was-
Howard Lee 40:33
Everyone- he was like, the cool principal. Everybody wanted to-
Kamran Hussain 40:36
He was Mr. Cool principal. So the two things about Mr. Zyks was that he was always considered the cool principal. I remember, I was at Daruk's house, he lived right by Todd Hall. And it was really weird. It was a Saturday, I was just hanging out at his house. Our family were friends- our families were friends. So I'd hang out his house a lot, sleep over at his house once in a while. One day, someone threw eggs at the door. And that happened. And then, this is a Saturday afternoon, mind you. And then Dar's dad went outside and tried to chase the kid- it was a kid that threw it out, right? It was just probably some kid doing a stupid prank, right? I don't think it was anything racially motivated or whatever, right? Because the kid that did it was Filipino. So anyway, three hours later, Mr. Zyks comes with the kid to the house. And he made the kid apologize to Dar and his family. Which, you know, it happened, whatever, no big deal. But then like when you think about it, like, dude, why is the vice principal coming to a kid's house on a Saturday afternoon with another kid? Right. And anyway, that that happened or whatever. And the funny story is that we used to talk about this even when this was going on. Howard, you had a little incident with Mr. Zyks as well, back in school, you know, for some reason you lived in the Lincolnwood Towers, which is close to Devon. And you used to somehow, you know, this is back when they had newsstands, used to somehow be able to get access and buy playboys. So why don't you tell us about that story?
Howard Lee 42:17
We don't have to get into that. But-
Kamran Hussain 42:21
Anyway. Well, you'd sell them to other kids in school, right? You'd buy 'em, and then you'd sell them at a higher price to kids and you got busted. And it's kind of funny, but like, nothing happened to you. You didn't get detention, you didn't get after school detention or get in trouble. You just gotta let off the hook, which is kind of interesting.
Howard Lee 42:41
Yeah. Well, do you have any remembers of when you know, Mr. Zyks got arrested there was the ensuing trial? I think, at that point, we were probably- when the trial happened I think we were freshmans in high school, I think.
Kamran Hussain 42:53
No, I don't have any memories of that. It just kind of- so I didn't know Mr. Zyks that well. I don't think he even knew me. I just knew him, of him, because he's our vice principal. I don't think any of the principals actually even knew who I was.
Howard Lee 42:53
Okay.
Kamran Hussain 42:53
I didn't have him. I mean, I think in high school, the only person that I know, remember, is when David Chereck got murdered.
Kamran Hussain 43:12
Oh, yeah.
Kamran Hussain 43:13
And just recently, they convicted his killer.
Howard Lee 43:17
Right, right. And you actually run into his mom around, time to time.
Kamran Hussain 43:19
Yeah, it was kind of funny, his mom used to be a nurse with my dad. So-
Howard Lee 43:24
Oh, wow, I didn't know that.
Kamran Hussain 43:25
So it just so happened that I ran into her maybe about 10, 15 years ago, right after my dad passed away. And then we kind of kept in touch ever since. And she would tell me about the stories about what happened and the guys that were with him and how they were treated by the, you know, the detectives and stuff like that. But I'm glad that you know, she, you know- he was adopted. And you know, her husband died recently, a few years ago.
Kamran Hussain 43:48
Oh, wow.
Kamran Hussain 43:49
So that was their only child. And you know, it's been- and she would be at the court case every time that the person that was convicted- when he got arrested.
Howard Lee 44:03
He actually just got convicted. I think he just got convicted a month or two ago.
Kamran Hussain 44:06
A few months ago. Yeah, yeah. So that's one thing we keep in touch about, yeah.
Howard Lee 44:12
Okay, so my last question would be, you know, mentioned earlier, that you currently live in Wilmette with your wife and your kids. Was that a conscious decision? Or did you ever consider raising your kids in Lincolnwood? And if you did, or didn't, I mean, is that something you feel like would be a positive one?
Howard Lee 44:31
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, we were looking around for homes. We wanted to stay obviously near the north side. My mom lives, you know, my mom's a widow now. And so I wanted to be close to my mom. You know, if she ever needs me. But we were looking. We actually were looking at a home that one of our friends used to live in in The Towers. And it was kind of cool because it was listed and I was looking at it and then I really realized it was one of our friends homes. And-
Howard Lee 45:03
Which friend?
Kamran Hussain 45:03
Do you know Javin and Pravez Siddiqui?
Howard Lee 45:06
Yeah!
Kamran Hussain 45:07
Yeah. So they lived right by you.
Howard Lee 45:08
Okay.
Kamran Hussain 45:09
They're literally maybe three blocks away from you, right?
Howard Lee 45:12
Okay.
Kamran Hussain 45:13
On Sauganash. And the house is totally renovated. Has totally- it's amazing. Their house when they used to live in is very like 70s.
Howard Lee 45:21
Okay.
Kamran Hussain 45:21
Kind of like a swingers 70s house.
Howard Lee 45:23
Okay.
Kamran Hussain 45:14
Colorful basement and stuff like that. But this house was totally renovated. It's a really nice house, but just kind of way out of our price range. But yeah, we were looking at Lincolnwood. My wife teaches at Niles West, and she actually wants her kids to go to Niles West because of how diverse the school is. And you know, we found a house in Wilmette. So we're living there right now, but definitely not out of the realm of possibilities of moving back to Lincolnwood.
Howard Lee 45:24
Okay.
Kamran Hussain 45:24
But we're happy where we're at. It's funny because Wilmette and its school reminds me of the way Lincoln Hall and Rutledge Hall was when we were growing up.
Howard Lee 45:24
Okay.
Kamran Hussain 45:28
In terms of its racial diversity. The only difference is my kid, my kids, are a lot more secure in their upbringing than I was when I was a kid.
Kamran Hussain 46:06
And what would you attribute that to, you think?
Kamran Hussain 46:16
Uh, you know, I think I was embarrassed that my parents, you know, had an accent. They were more traditional. I'm not saying that I'm cool. [laughs] Definitely not cool, but-
Howard Lee 46:26
[laughs] You definitely shouldn't say that.
Kamran Hussain 46:28
You know, I was born and raised here. So, I was embarrassed. I would never ask my parents to come to a field trip with me. My kids, they want me to go. I don't really want to go. But I think they're probably just more secure. I mean, I think being insecure, though, when you're growing up, I think I kind of take that as a positive. Because it did make me feel a little bit more distinct and different. And- which is always a good thing. Sometimes I feel with my kids is that, you know, they have assimilated well, which is a good thing. But I kind of still want them to know that, you know, hey, they're still- maybe, not necessary in a bad way, but they're different. You know, they might be different. You know, whether it be a different- I think they know that. But they have a lot more confidence in how they interact with their classmates, their teachers, and even just having us around.
Kamran Hussain 46:26
Okay, yeah. Well, I think that wraps it up for My Lincolnwood Story. Kamran, is there anything else you'd like to say?
Kamran Hussain 47:06
No, I'm glad that you were able to interview me. Me and Howard have known each other since 1982 maybe, right? When you started second grade? '82?
Howard Lee 47:43
Yeah, '82, '83? '84, something like that.
Kamran Hussain 47:44
Yeah, '83. And we've been friends ever since. He came to my wedding. Howard's not married, but I went to a sister's wedding.
Howard Lee 47:55
Oh, yeah, that's right.
Kamran Hussain 47:56
His uh-
Howard Lee 47:58
I went to your sister's wedding actually.
Kamran Hussain 47:59
You went to my sister's wedding. And you know, we've been friends since. Petty cool.
Howard Lee 48:06
All right, thanks.
Kamran Hussain 48:07
Cool.
Collection
Citation
“My Lincolnwood Story- Kamran Hussain and Howard Lee,” Lincolnwood Historical Collection, accessed June 9, 2026, https://lpld.omeka.net/items/show/42.
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