Hey, it's Curious City editor Susie On.

It's that time of year when many of us are in that holiday haze between Christmas and New Year's.

While you might be rushing around returning gifts or getting ready to ring in the new year,

we're taking time to reach back in our archive for some holiday reflections.

Curious City listener Carolyn Cross wanted to know the history of the Walnut Room

Restaurant at the Marshall Fields Department Store downtown on State Street.

It's been a holiday tradition in her family.

The Marshall Field is now a Macy's department store, but the Walnut Room continues to be a Chicago tradition.

First, reporter Monica Eng takes us back to how it got its start

and the nostalgia it holds on many Chicagoans.

But the Walnut Room isn't all warm and fuzzy memories.

Later, we'll hear how those early decades of Marshall Fields

were actually painful

for many patrons. That's all coming up.

If you're already a WBEZ member, thank you. Right now, you have the power to do even more.

If every high fidelity member increase their monthly gift by just $3 or more, together we could

fully replace the $3 million in federal funding that's currently at risk. Your increased support

will help offset that potential loss and keep this people-powered

newsroom thriving for years. Start or increase your monthly gift by $3 today at wbiz.org

slash donate. Carolyn Cross's great-grandparents came to Chicago from Lithuania around the turn

of the century. And even as newly arrived immigrants, they started participating in a Chicago Christmas tradition,

visiting the Walnut Room restaurant at the Marshall Field's department store downtown on State Street.

...