Here’s to Nostalgic Ties and Fresh Beginnings

By James Banakis

November 11th, 2026

There’s something about a perfect spring day, and while it’s certainly loved and appreciated we tend to not really recognize its true worth. Why? Because it’s a harbinger of many more to come. Once it reveals itself, we come to expect its glory. In spring we’re impatient if a beautiful day is followed by a rainy day. When I was young, I was always refurbished by spring, and I still am, yet in a more thoughtful way. Each year spring feels further away than it once did once fall arrives. There is a fleeting nature to autumn. It’s the opposite of spring. It acts as a rare, peaceful, short-lived hiatus before winter. Because of this we savor it more sincerely.

This morning ushered in the second perfect autumn day this week. Three friends have called to ask if I was going to play golf. I will tomorrow, but today I took a walk. Walking in autumn always reminds me of crossing the campus on the way to class. I always get nostalgic and deeply introspective on a perfect autumn day.

John Keats celebrated this mood by addressing autumn as the “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.” 

Those of you who play golf and tee off early on a fall morning know it’s usually 45 degrees and misty. By the third hole you peel off the first layer and put on your sunglasses. The high will reach 70. The next 12 holes are a magnificent throwback to summer. At hole 15 your jacket goes back on as the wind has shifted and the temperature has dropped back into the 40’s.  A perfect autumn day then is like thematic bookends, representing the perpetual cycle of life. You find yourself so grateful to have been part of that cycle. You hope you’re able to squeeze a few more rounds out of the proverbial toothpaste tube.

Spring is the season we most associate with falling in love. For me though, autumn has always been the season I’ve always felt most aware of being in love and being loved. For some unexplainable reason it’s the season I most associate with being married and nurturing children.  It’s the season I’ve always associated with being so happy to come together with family and old friends.

Speaking of old friends, it was in the autumn 3 years ago when my dear friend John Kass announced at dinner with a group of friends that he was bringing on a person to write restaurant reviews for John Kass News. I had just retired myself and unbeknownst to me he said it was going to be ME. Shocked I replied, “John if I write restaurant reviews, I’ll lose all the friends I have in the business. We all despise the bastards” John shrugged, took a bite of his spaghetti aglio e olio, and said, “Then write whatever you want, but write for me.” At the time I felt that he was trying to soften my transition of retiring, just acting as a good friend.

My plan was to write something about retirement and move on. Three years and many columns later it has been one of the privileges of my life to have shared my thoughts with this extraordinary community. I’ve told John and Betty that I didn’t understand how and why it happened.  It was almost spiritual, as if there was some power interceding.  I’ve come to understand that the power was the relatable talent and deep human understanding of John Kass.

For me writing one column a month was fun and stimulating. Writing 4 or 5 a week under a deadline must have been all consuming. John Kass is going to learn to appreciate moving on to his next chapter. Take it from this retired guy who keeps turning pages.

In a perfect world John would have become editor-in-chief at the Tribune. As things turned out he became an entrepreneur, another thing he was born to do.  I know many of you like me realize he wrote some of his best work answering only to his own conscience. He has enriched all our lives by letting us be part of his. That is what set him apart from all the rest. He will always be synonymous with Chicago,  its history and its newspapers. He is a generational talent.

Years ago, I was at a wedding, and someone came up to me and asked if I was John Kass. Flattered I answered no but we are brothers with different mothers. The woman walked away completely confused, but I perfectly defined the bond to myself.

Now as John Kass News is winding down, we’re all a little sad. I’ve discovered we all need to keep reinventing ourselves. This is our purpose, but we still hate to see things we love end. When they do we need to turn to the next chapter. It’s part of the adventure.

For years John has been for obvious reasons compared to Mike Royko. Royko had a wonderful sense of humor but rarely allowed us to see his personal side. The few times he did he was very good. I remember when the Daily News shut down in 1978, he wrote a final column.  Royko likened the newsroom and its readers to a sandlot baseball team being forced to break up as darkness fell. I think the ending to that column is how you the readers and I feel this autumn.

“C’mon. C’mon. Let’s play one more inning. One more time at bat. One more pitch. Just one? Stick around, guys. We can’t break up this team. It’s too much fun. But the sun always went down. And now it’s almost dark again.”

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Jimmy Banakis is a life-long restaurateur.  He was an honorary batboy for the White Sox in 1964. He attended Oak Park River Forest High School, Nebraska Wesleyan University, and Chicago-Kent Law School.  He claims the kitchen is the room he’s most comfortable in anywhere in the world. He published an extremely limited-edition family cookbook. He’s a father and grandfather, and lives in Downers Grove Il.

Comments 26

  3. Sir I have greatly appreciated your contributions to JKN. There’s been a few of you that have filled in splendidly for the man. Today’s piece is another good example.

    Fall always causes me to ask myself how many more Autumns will I get to enjoy. I like Spring for sure, but Fall is that mixed bag of nice to holy crap weather and I love it. Keep writing somewhere sir. You, like JK also have a gift.

  7. Mr. Banakis, thanks for your letters.

    Royko and Kass, while dramatically different in tone, and style both had/have that uncanny gift to cut through bullshit and con jobs with their intellects and what I affectionately call “dick streaks” – biting sarcasm. Beautiful sarcasm which for me revealed the best nature of Chicago as a city too busy, and too real to put up with it.

    Kass’s only swing and a miss is his deliberate ignorance of Southern culture. Just brutal. But JKNews has led me home, now to the Sons of Confederate Veterans who are hands down the finest Patriots I could imagine.

    Like you Jimmy 🙂

  9. There’s got to be an outlet for guys such as Franklin, Ledwith, Houli, and yourself. Not to mention John himself. Please keep JKN alive. I mean c’mon now. Seriously?

  13. This column is naturally wise and eloquent, as James Banakis’ writing has been through JKN. He appreciates the “perfect autumn” gift in tandem with the lifetime gift of John Kass’ work: his talent and understanding always improving an imperfect world that seldom produces the right editor-in-chief.

    We could give some thought to James’ note of the value of turning “. . . to the next chapter.” Like the triumph of John Kass News over the Tower’s demise, we should keep such strong values and great reporting intact.

  14. Efxaristo Jimmy,
    Well said about our mutual pal, John Kass. I remember meeting John at a UHAC dinner dance years ago, and Greek danced with him. What a night. Followed him along both of our career paths, although mine was filled with potholes having been thrust into a family business dominated by older cousins – a story for another time….. Oh well, we live and learn, and we’re both still standing! We appreciate all you’ve done for Yianni, and we’re with you and him till the last day, and last posting.

  16. Thank you James.
    Even with John’s announcement of leaving, the disastrous results of the recent elections, the falling of autumn leaves, the chill in the air and the early evening darkness, take some time and listen to “It Was a Very Good Year” by the Chairman of the Board and soak in the wonderful melancholy of this season and praise the “Lord of the Dance” for all the blessings abound.

  18. I have always loved reading John Kass, whether it was in the now despicable Tribune, or on his web. His columns are a must-read and I can relate to every one of them. There are so many contributors here that are also must-reads as well. I want a few more innings myself. God Bless.

  19. Thanks James Banakis for an uplifting column.
    It’s true, Kass readers are feeling the blues lately, in a way that Chicagoans endure too often.
    We remember his reports from the E-2 tragedy, when 21 young lives perished. In early-morning haze, John advised a self-inflated young politician named Barack it would not benefit his career to hang around as the mainstream press showed up.

    We recall John’s courage reporting the murder of CPD Commander Paul R. Bauer on a freezing February night. Kass was there to cover the grief.
    His subscribers loved learning about John’s family, and the men who fought fascism in Greece followed by civil war against communists.
    Those were real fascists, not Pritzker-type hallucinations fabricated to fool gullible voters.

    On his “Chicago Way” podcast, John discussed socialists who attack Chicago police officers while destroying statues of Columbus. DSA stooges who enjoy throwing rocks at Tesla owners on Ogden Avenue, and inciting riots in Berwyn.
    Podcast guest Tom Bevan offered a ray of sunshine by inviting John to write for Real Clear Politics, if he finds the time.
    Illinois needs John’s work, more than ever.

    Happy Veterans Day to all Kass readers. God bless our veterans.

  20. I don’t golf so my perfect autumn day is fishing – wading in a river. Meeting the fish in its own element. Which is what I was able to do yesterday with my brother. It’s a blessing for the weather and river level to allow for wading in early to mid-November. And a bonus because it’s around the time of my birthday and my preferred way to celebrate. It may be the last time I get in the water until late April. So yesterday as the sun set behind the trees along the river shore, it was “C’mon, let’s move down the shoreline just a few more yards. C’mon, just a few more casts.”

  21. First, it’s a beautiful Father & Son picture for this autumn themed article. Yes, autumn is the most beautiful season for me too – not only for it’s most beautiful colors but for its short life which might end at any moment due to frost or early snow.
    And that’s one of the reasons the old geezers are revered in most of the cultures – not necessarily for their wisdom, like me but they could fall any time!
    nambi

  23. Well, someone had to be the bad guy and deliver the unwelcome news that John’s decision is final. But done in a kind and heartfelt way.

    Thanks for the memories!

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