Mt. Prospect pulls Jake’s Pizza liquor license

Mount Prospect trustees have eliminated the liquor license for Jake’s Pizza, 302 N. Northwest Hwy., which closed last summer. Mayor Arlene Juracek said a village ordinance mandates that when a business has been closed for a period of time, the license disappears.

The action spurred nostalgic reflections by some trustees.

Trustee Michael Zadel remembered listening to the Blackhawks play for the Stanley Cup in the 1960s on the radio in the small storefront Jake Flowers and his family had opened on Route 83.

“All through high school it was a place to go. Teachers went there. It was just a well-received place, a very family-oriented place through the years. It’s missed and it will continue to be missed,” he said.

“It goes back even before I was married,” Trustee A. John Korn said. “My wife and I would go to the show across the street, and we would go on over to Jake’s and get some pizzas. We have been married almost 49 years.”

Jake’s Pizza at one time had more than 50 franchises in several states, but the company franchising the restaurants went bankrupt and lost its stock listing in the mid-1990s.

The Mount Prospect property has been for sale for several years. On Aug. 9, the Daily Herald reported that a recording at the pizzeria stated the business was temporarily closed for “personal reasons” and will reopen in the “very near future.”

“Jake just decided to retire, and the business is for sale,” Juracek said. “But we need to follow protocol here and remove the license.”