Before karaoke was king, there was the Big Banjo

Agreed. Great story. Herb Menke sounds like he was a really clever, enterprising man with a supportive family.

Good find.

Menke bought a home on North Main Street with no clear plans of how to make money. After noticing how attached people were to their dogs, he decided to create a nutritious dog meal, then began selling it door to door. Wealthy dog owners, especially in Elmhurst, became regular customers who eventually wanted more than dog meals -- they wanted Menke to care for their dogs when they were gone, Turley said.

Menke responded by building a kennel on his property, calling it Pinehurst Kennels. The kennels were a successful business for years, despite one major detail, Turley said.

That's pretty clever.

For the sign he dropped off his own banjo at a shop with orders to keep the instrument for the week and create a giant lighted version as big as possible. Turley remembered the day the sign-makers dropped off the giant banjo on a flatbed.

"It was kind of the talk of the town," she said. "Nobody had ever seen a sign like that."

The rest of Menke's vision came together equally haphazardly. He hired a man named Fred from Chicago who could make pizza. He hired another woman, Katie, who formerly worked at the fruit stand, to make Italian beef sandwiches. Menke's son and daughter, recent college graduates, took jobs as the Big Banjo's managers.

Sounds like he had a good eye for talent and for what people enjoy in life. The Big Banjo sounds like it was a fun place to go for dinner created by a guy who wanted people to have a good time there.

Here's the best part:

"What ever happened to ..." runs Fridays in the West Chicagoland Extra. ... Read past columns at chicagotribune.com/ vikki.

These are going to tough to top on Fridays from now on.

Woah... that is, uhm, a lot. Well, I know what I will be reading for a while.