Hey there, it's Curious City reporter Monica Eng. In a recent episode, I answered a question about the history of a Chicago Christmas tradition, visiting the State Street Marshall Fields, which is now a Macy's. We talked with people about their memories of viewing the windows and having lunch at the

walnut room.

Lots of you wrote to us with your own happy memories of Fields at Christmas and how much

those memories meant to you.

But we also heard from other listeners who told us they had a very different memory of what

it was like to go to Marshall Fields, not just at Christmas, but year-round.

We talked to one of them to find out more.

The minute you walked into Marshall Field, you knew you were not welcome. There was a coldness.

That's coming up.

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at WBEZ.org slash donate. Joyce Miller Bean is a born-and-bred Chicaguan, who grew up on the southwest side in Beverly Morgan Park.

She was an English professor at DePaul University, and today is a professional storyteller,

who's in the process of writing a collection of ghost stories

called Midnight Coffee. Joyce is also African American, and she was one of a few black

listeners who wrote to us. She emailed us to say she didn't doubt that many Chicagoans had

genuinely sweet memories of visiting Marshall Fields and the Walnut Room as a kid.

But for her, as a person of color growing up in Chicago in the 50s and 60s, she had a, quote,

...