Hundreds of community members lined up in front of Old Fashion Donuts & Café and Hibbing’s Hot Dogs to receive free donuts and hot dogs for the grand opening celebration of both restaurants on Monday, June 1.
Burritt L. Bullock, known as “Mr. B.,” the owner of the original Old Fashioned Donuts location in the Roseland neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side, mentored Flossmoor resident Joe Peters on making and selling donuts.
Peters owns the Hibbing’s Building at 18121-18123 Harwood Ave. that houses both restaurants. He named Hibbing’s Hot Dogs after the building.
Homewood Mayor Rich Hofeld, right, holds the blue scissors with Old Fashioned Donuts Chicago owner Burritt L. Bullock, center and Old Fashion Donuts Homewood owner Joe Peters, as they cut the blue ribbon to open the new donut shop. (Nick Ulanowski / H-F Chronicle)
Inside Old Fashion Donuts and Hibbing’s Hot Dogs, antiques and Chicago memorabilia that Peters has collected over the years line the walls and cover the furniture. Peters said some of the décor is meant to pay homage to life before smartphones.
Between the two restaurants, the décor features an old payphone, a Chicago Sun-Times vending machine, a record player, a gumball machine, a Chicago Loop street sign and a sign for Gately’s People’s Store, a department store that was in Roseland from 1917 until 1994.
In the donut shop café, customers can have a seat on couches and other cushioned seating, enjoy board games and use a phone charging station. Customers can sit and read from selected books. Peters encourages customers to take a book home or leave one for other customers, like a book exchange.
After village officials helped cut the grand opening blue ribbon, community members enjoyed a variety of free donuts and lemonade from Old Fashioned Donuts and chips and hot dogs from Hibbing’s Hot Dogs.
Homewood Village Trustee Phillip Mason, who’s originally from the Chatham neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side, described Old Fashioned Donuts as “an institution” and “a bit of nostalgia.”
“Where this location was in the Roseland community was an epicenter of shopping and activity for a lot of the African American community on the South Side of Chicago back in the ’70s and ’80s,” Mason said. “You see friends. You meet people. It was one of those gathering places in the community that brought everybody together.”
“I grew up without a father. So, a lot of times, seeing Mr. B. in the window, that was epic,” Peters said, recalling his childhood nostalgia for Old Fashioned Donuts. “Other fathers were CTA bus drivers, post office workers, steel workers – the safe jobs you’d think a man would be working, not a man making donuts.”
Homewood-Flossmoor High School culinary teacher LaTasha Scott was among the community members lined up around the block to get free donuts at the grand opening celebration.
“I’m just excited to see the expansion,” Scott said. “I remember my grandfather bringing these donuts home. So, to have this staple, a little bit of history here in Homewood, is grand.”
“It’s a long time coming, but they did it right. When you come over here, you’ll find the donuts are good,” Mayor Rich Hofeld said, adding that the café looked great. “My favorite is the apple fritter donut.”
