My Lincolnwood Story- Oliver Hintz

“Lincolnwood represents so much goodness and happiness for me.”

Oliver Hintz was born in Germany, moved to Chicago in 1964 with his family, and to Lincolnwood in 1972. Oliver is a professionally trained chef, and recently published his memoir, “Journaling Through Bipolar Disorder”. In his story Oliver recalls his childhood, meeting his wife, and adjusting to life in the United States.

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:

Lev Kalmens  0:00  
My name is Lev Kalmens. I'm an Information Services Librarian here at Lincolnwood Public Library. Today is April 10, 2019, and I'm speaking with Oliver Hintz. Oliver, hi, and what is your Lincolnwood Story?

Oliver Hintz  0:15  
Hi, good morning. My name is Oliver Hintz. I was born in Germany, raised in the United States. We came here in 1964 of April; we lived in Ravenswood. And my father decided that we wanted to live in a house. So we moved to Lincolnwood in 1972, with my brother, my mother, and I went to District 74, which is currently on the other side of the library. I had many friends at the time, neighbors to my left and my neighbors to my right. There was Ron Smith, Paul Smith, Martin [inaudible], the Urhausens. Mrs. Smith was my neighbor. She was also my rock and my, like den mother, you know, she helped me with the Scouts and stuff. And I would frequently go to their house for help because at home we spoke German, not English. And she was a true American patriot. And she helped me with my math, with my English, with the Constitution test twice. She would also cook for me. Brian and Paul were friends that I had. We played in the neighborhood with GI Joe, you know, games that we played in the past from the 70s. So I moved to Lincolnwood in '72, and I went to -- I think I started in second grade. I had Mrs. Wonzong. She was my teacher and at Todd Hall, which is the smallest of the three schools. Then I would play with the Urhausens. There was a greenhouse, tomato house, on East Prairie and Lunt. They were called the Urhausens, and they had benches where there was dirt; we'd play with our Tonca trucks. There was Gerard Urhausen, and we played on the trucks, you know, and then we would pack tomatoes, sometimes we would make boxes for the tomatoes; get a penny a box. After we made 100 boxes, we would take our money and buy tomatoes and eat them. So it was a win win for everyone. My parents actually divorced in 1977. So it was just my father, my brother and I, and I had an interest in cooking. I was seven years old and I made my first crepe called Grand Marnier crepes. I started cooking more often at home, my father said, "hey, he's going to be a good little chef". I started cooking for my friends and family. I learned a lot when I went over to the Smiths; how to make really good spaghetti. And basically, I just grew with the family. Mrs. Smith, like I said, she's a mentor to me because she showed me a lot in life, told me a lot how to do things. She's like a second mother. And she knows that, and she always will be and she's a true, true person.

Lev Kalmens  3:15  
So you were -- you said you moved? What year did you move from Germany?

Oliver Hintz  3:19  
We moved to Germany in '64 -- from Germany. And we moved to the United States; we were living in Ravenswood in the '60s.

Lev Kalmens  3:27  
And where we are in Germany are you from?

Oliver Hintz  3:29  
Essen, E-S-S-E-N, which means to eat, which really fits well with my profession.

Lev Kalmens  3:36  
What do you remember from Germany growing up?

Oliver Hintz  3:39  
Well, we moved back and forth three times. So it was really hard. I did a lot of studying. I tried to learn English, but it was very hard. It was very difficult. First, I didn't have anyone in Germany to teach me English. So I stayed with the German language. And so then my mother said, "let's move back to the United States to see your father". They were like, away from each other, still married but they were away from each other. Parents got back together and my brother moved out at 17. My parents got divorced around 1977. Then it was just me and my father. And he had a girlfriend who was a lot my age than more his age. But going back to Mrs. Smith, I wrote a book on bipolar disorder, which I'd suffer. My first illness came at age 29. I was a chef at many hotels in Chicago. I could not complete the work because of the bipolar; it interfered with my work. It interfered with how I was able to train other chefs. It was just -- it let me down. And I was very disappointed that I had to give up the trade. I mean, I tried and tried, but I knew I couldn't do it. So, if it wasn't for Mrs. Smith, who taught me the proper English I needed, I couldn't have wrote this book. I've been trying to write this book for 20 years. I had many accidents that caused interference, preventing me from writing the book. But I wrote this book last year, and it came out by Archway Publishing this year, March 26, 2019. And I hope many readers out there will take a look at the book. It's for everyone from 18 to 64. It's about my life's journey. And I hope everyone enjoys it. Is there anything else I should -- ?

Lev Kalmens  5:44  
Yeah, I mean, we can talk a bit more about growing up in Lincolnwood. What Lincolnwood was like in the 70s. Where did you go to college? How did you train to become a chef? 

Oliver Hintz  5:56  
Oh, yes. Well, I went to Niles West in 1983. I was in track and field. I was running. I got 10th place in an invitational run of 150 students. I got 10th place. I got a medal. I got a plaque. My father couldn't come to track and watch me run. So Mrs. Smith came often to see me run; she would support me. And that was kind of my rock, the person that I can fall on. Of course, it was Mr. Smith, that's her husband, who told many great stories. He was like -- he knew everything on everything. He was a veteran as well. And he's, he'll be sorely missed. He died a few years ago. But basically --

Lev Kalmens  6:51  
Do you remember how you first met Mrs. Smith? What your first memory of her is?

Oliver Hintz  6:54  
Yes. Actually, Paul Smith, who is now in Minnesota, who is remarried, he came to my house. I lived at 6918 North Hamlin, next to Lunt, in Lincolnwood. He came, he showed up my door one day says, "Hi, I'm Paul. I'm your neighbor." I said, "Hey, come on in." And we became good friends. His name is Paul Smith. And we are about the same age. I was held back one year because of the age differential. So I mean, I actually graduated in 83, which I really don't mind at all. But we played GI Joe; we played cops and robbers in the neighborhood, we ran around the houses, we had fun. I mean, the Urhausens was there since the early 1800s. That's a five acre lot. 

Lev Kalmens  7:31  
(overlapping) Yeah, it's still there too.

Oliver Hintz  7:46  
It's still there. They don't do tomatoes anymore. They do herbs, plants, perennials, annuals; so they're very successful. They lost a lot of members of family, like the two parents, the uncle and the father became deceased. But the children run the property; Urhausens run the property. I'm still friends with Gerard, who's the oldest. He sends me a card once a year for Christmas. But it was -- I did work at Northtown Bussing at age 16. I got a job. I just had to check -- they had a lot of buses; they had about 30 buses. I had to check to see if all the fuel was full. I mean, I wouldn't drive them because I wasn't of age yet. I had to make sure the oil and the water was in there; they paid me I think $4.50 hour.

Lev Kalmens  6:58  
Was this a Lincolnwood business?

Oliver Hintz  8:47  
Yes. It was just down on Lunt towards the railroad tracks. It was East from our home on Hamlin. Our side was residential and the other side which is towards the east was industrial. And we had gone into factories. There were lots of factories there, and then we found tools from Client Tools. They were partially bad, but you can still use them. So we bought, you know we got tools, and we found a candy company. We found candy in the garbage. I mean, at 16 you're not gonna to think that you're not going to eat the candy. We ate the candy. We had gone to several factories, and we just found stuff that was amusing for us. You know at 16, you think you're going to live forever. And if I go back a few years, I was trying to play on the tracks of the Skokie Swift. I wanted to squish a quarter. And, of course, after the cop told me, he says "you could derail the train because of a quarter". I walked into the back end; I got electrocuted on the third line of the track. The policeman came over, took a suitcase, hit me hard so he would knock me off the track because if he would touch me, he was grounded, he would be electrocuted like I was. But -- so basically, Lincolnwood was my second home in America for me. Mrs. Smith, like I said she is -- I know I bring her up often, but she is one that my life wouldn't be complete without her. Like I said, she was my mom; she helped me with my schoolbooks. My friends were there. So I am --

Lev Kalmens  10:44  
What was it like growing up in the United States, but not being born here? There were difficulties?

Oliver Hintz  10:50  
Oh, it was very hard. It was very hard. I couldn't get the T, THs [sound]. I had hard. They gave me special teachers in sixth grade and seventh grade that helped me with my English. I had such a hard time -- I had such a hard time trying to learn the language. I still took German in school. I mean that we spoke German at home. My mother's English was very poor. My father would ask me for English terms that he couldn't understand. And he had his own business. So the only person that you know -- as I would read, I would read as much as I could, you know, like children's books, read as much as I could. Again, Mrs. Smith was always there. Other than that, I really didn't have anybody except for Mrs. Smith. My father didn't get married again. He had girlfriends and stuff. But no -- no one that really cared about me. I was kind of lonely. If I didn't have Mrs. Smith, I wouldn't know what I would be doing.

Lev Kalmens  12:01  
Do you remember what kind of books you were reading?

Oliver Hintz  12:03  
Yes, children's books. I also won a contest in seventh grade. By Random House publishing. I had to finish to end of a story. And I won first prize. I won $500.

Lev Kalmens  12:15  
Oh, wow. What was that? What was the contest?

Oliver Hintz  12:17  
It was a contest; you had to finish the end of a story. I don't remember the story. It's over 30 years now. But I remember I won a contest, and Mr. Wilson, who was my sixth grade English teacher, said that I'll be a good author one day. And this is perfect, because as a result of what he said came true.

Lev Kalmens  12:40  
Do you remember coming to the library at all?

Oliver Hintz  12:42  
Yes, I came. We came to the library frequently. The library was different. Back in the 80s. Back in the 80s. And that it was smaller. And it was -- all our friends; we came here we met, and we were, you know, goofing around. We came to library. Yes. So we goofed around; we really didn't read the books. We did more just hang around. But there was one place that we hung around. I think it's still in Lincolnwood, it's called Bunny Hutch.

Lev Kalmens  13:10  
Yes it is.

Oliver Hintz  13:11  
Yes, it's on Lincoln and Devon, and they had a batting cage. They had game rooms, and my dad would say, "Here's $20, don't come back until the evening." Twenty dollars got me a long way in quarters, and I was good at some of the games. So, I played the games. Bunny Hutch had a restaurant where you can go eat hamburgers, or hamburgers and fries. And we hung around there. It was really a great place to meet, you know, after school.

Lev Kalmens  13:38  
Would kids come to -- because I know right now, after school a lot of the kids come to the library. Was it always like that even back in the 80s?

Oliver Hintz  13:45  
Yeah, we came to the library. We really didn't come to read the books; we were more interested in just goofing off and roughing around and --

Lev Kalmens  13:53  
It's still the same.

Oliver Hintz  13:53  
It's still the same. It never changes. I didn't have my girlfriend till I was 16. I went to Niles West from '83, no, '79 to '83. I apologize. I'm thinking about when I went to hotel chef school in Europe, which was in Munich from 1983 to '86. And I got my culinary degree, and then five years later I got my masters in culinary. Went back to Germany. I failed the first time because I didn't take it to heart, the study, because everything is verbal. I made my master's degree my second year in Germany in a town called Bielefeld. I lived many times in Germany. I traveled to different parts - Hamburg, Munich, Berlin, Bielefeld, Augsburg - which was my first residency of the city of Munich where I lived. I learned how to cook different methods, different ways. So, culinary is actually my strength. Writing is my secondary. So, I really am blessed with everything that's happened to me so far. I met my wife 20 years ago; we're married 20 years in January. We met in the Tribune. Before it was online dating, on a computer. And I when I left a message to her, I forgot to leave my name. So, she called me back. Somehow she got ahold of me, and we dated. We actually met at the Ritz Carlton, where I used to work in the 1990s. I worked at the Ritz Carlton in Chicago. I would take the train from the Howard El down to State Street and walk over to the Ritz Carlton, which then was safe. I wouldn't recommend walking there anymore, taking the train, because a lot of robberies have been happening in the city.

Lev Kalmens  14:09  
Tell me more about your path as a chef; your training, how you got interested in it in the first place.

Oliver Hintz  16:09  
My inspiration came from when I was -- when my parents were divorced. And my father, you know, said, "just make a box of macaroni and cheese". That wasn't food. It's just a filler. So I came up with dishes.  I was doing maybe Duck a l'Orange at age 16. At 16 years of age, I was doing hard meat entrees, you know that nobody does. It's, you know, back then we didn't have Chef Jr. This was like 1977, 1978, 1979. That's why we'd go to Mrs. Smith's house, next door. Mrs. Smith, she always had something to eat. And she knew when Oliver was coming, he'd be hungry. So that was really phenomenal that she was there for me. And I really wish that I can see her more often, you know, and have our talks. And I do meet her on Facebook, and talk to her there. And her sons, Paul and Ron are on Facebook as well. But there's nothing like meeting them face to face, and sitting down and talking about the old days when we used to be together.

Lev Kalmens  17:22  
And what takes up your time these days? 

Oliver Hintz  17:24  
I'm not cooking anymore. I have a slipped disc in my back. So, it makes it very hard to stand. I wrote the book; it came out March 26 of 2019. It's called "Journaling Through Bipolar Disorder". I have a pen name, which is named Max Joseph, which is the name of the book, and it's a memoir about my life in America and the present time. I encourage everyone to read it. It's a book from the bottom my heart, and it's about the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Other than that -- cooking I still try at home; my my wife is actually a better cook than I am, even though she didn't take cooking skills. But I always tell her how to use a knife because knowing how to use a knife is the most important thing else you wind up with cut fingers.

Lev Kalmens  18:22  
Tell me about some of the people you met in high school.

Oliver Hintz  18:25  
I met Walter, who was a second friend in junior high, at Niles West, which is over in Skokie. I met him in junior high school, in gym class. We were playing a game; one of those little electronic computer games. And I asked if I can play, and we became good friends and his parents were very good to me. They were from Yugoslavia and Germany. His dad was from Yugoslavia and his mother was from Germany. And Walter spoke some German, some English, not really good. But he did the best he could. And I praise him for that. We went to a lot of the German functions in the German areas like the Dank Haus; we went to Schwab Center, different German places to go where we would meet and speak German. Shopping was very popular over in Buffalo Grove. It's called the Schwab Center, and they would have a late Oktoberfest in August. We're still friends today. He lives in Prospect Heights. He works for American Airlines. I'm really blessed that I have so many good friends that I can relate to and we always talk about the past. We also lost a lot of friends recently. We lost David Woodfield from Lincolnwood. He was a Wooder. A Wooder is a person that's from Linclnwood and we call them Wooders. And we call them Grovers if they are from Morton Grove. I just want to let the parents know that he will be missed. Dave Woodfield was his name; he was in the army. He lived in the Philippines with his wife and two kids. And we just had spoken on Facebook a few weeks ago, and it's very sad to see someone pass at such a young age.

Lev Kalmens  20:23  
Looking back on your life so far, how has it been different from what you may have thought it would be when you were growing up? Or when you were little?

Oliver Hintz  20:31  
I actually had no idea. You know, at eight months old, you know, I didn't know much, but 1967 came around. That was the big snowstorm in Chicago, and I remember living on Southport near Cubs Stadium.

Lev Kalmens  20:53  
Southport and Addison?

Oliver Hintz  20:54  
Yes. I know we lived by a huge ballpark. And then it later came out to be Chicago Cubs. And I'm always a big Cubs fan. Always will say, "hey, go Cubs". We had a big snowstorm in '67. And the snow was taller than me because I consider myself tall at 6'4". I was probably only three feet tall, and the snow was higher than I was. I remember the big snowstorm. Buses were left in their tracks. Taxi cabs were all over the place. And if you can bring a taxi cab back to the station, you could get $50. But I did not know how to drive. I was eight years old. But I had a great life living in the States. I know we moved several times in Ravenswood. But my best memory was Lincolnwood. Even when I'm at home in Rolling Meadows. I listen. "Lincolnwood? What are they talking about Lincolnwood? What's going on?" It's just that name represents so much; so much goodness, and so much happiness for me. So I am happy to share my story with Lev, and hope that other people will enjoy my story. And thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Lev Kalmens  22:12  
You're welcome. And thank you for sharing your Lincolnwood story with us. 

Oliver Hintz  22:15  
Thank you.