“On the 4200 block of North Elston Avenue, a Chicago institution has a new tenant.
“‘Everybody knows Thillens,’ Chris Sears said.
“Sears opened the Pickleball Clubhouse in February inside the 19,000-square-foot warehouse previously owned by the Thillens company, the ubiquitous armored car service provider.
“‘One day, a couple years ago, I said to myself, someone needs to solve problem, why is there nowhere to play in city?’ Sears said.
“Sears paved that way by purchasing the property from the Thillens family and repurposing it for pickleball.
“Part of the location’s appeal for Sears was Thillens’ ties to local sports, specifically Thillens Stadium which opened in 1938 at West Devon and North Kedzie Avenues.
“‘It’s an incredible story,’ Sears said. ‘[The Thillens family] paid for it, they laid out their own money, purchased the land, constructed the field and operated it for free for the residents of the city.’
“The stadium sign, family pictures and other mementos from a bygone era were left for Sears to display at the Clubhouse, which he hopes fosters a similar culture of community, only now through pickleball.” (Frydman, WGN 9 Chicago, 4/30/25)