Bird of Paradise Draperies Phone Book Yellow Page Listings

Here is a list of Yellow Page ads and listings for Loretta Wolnik's business under Drapery and Upholstery. Illinois Bell contracted with the Donnelley Ad Agency to publish the Yellow Pages each year. A business phone number included just a basic listing of the business name, address and phone number. There was a deadline for submitting an ad months in advance, along with full payment. Loretta did not keep regular shop hours, so the business depended on the Yellow Page ad to attract new customers.

Donnelley made mistakes and forgot to include the Bird of Paradise ad in some years. There was also at least one instance where they forgot to include even a listing, which was definately their mistake because the phone number was the same from 1973-2004.

When the phone book listing and ad was left out, Loretta had to resort to newspaper ads and signs in front of the store to generate new business. Donnelley refused to compensate her for the extra cost, they only refunded her payment because their contract refused to accept any liability for mistakes, even theirs. After that, Loretta stopped paying for ads since she could not depend on them to include it. She also received a growing amount of word-of-month referrals for new customers.

These ads were scanned from phone books archived at the Palatine Historical Society and the Palatine Library.

Shop History Timeline in Palatine, Illinois

  • 1974? started Sea Sewing out of the Palatine TV shop rented by her husband, Emil Wolnik, at 2301 Rand Rd. (buildings now gone) sign had logo of a mermaid sewing
  • 1976 rented her own shop next door at 2307 Rand Rd. under Bird of Paradise name, hired an artist to create a new logo
  • 1977-1978 TV shop and Drapery business both moved to 20457 Rand Rd., old house that is now gone
  • 1979-1980 address listed back at 2307 Rand Rd.
  • 1981-1989 address: 1856 Rand Rd. (next to Morke's Chocolates)
  • 1989 bought camper storage property at 854 W. Northwest Hwy.
  • 1990-2004 ad address: 854 W. Northwest Hwy. (building torn down in 2005)


1976 Palatine Phone Book Cover


1976 Bird of Paradise Ad (first shop address, same as Palatine TV)


1977 Palatine Phone Book Cover


1977 Bird of Paradise Ad (new address)


1978 Palatine Phone Book Cover


1978 Bird of Paradise Ad


1979 Palatine Phone Book Cover


1979 Bird of Paradise Listing (back to previous address)


1980 Palatine Phone Book Cover


1980 Palatine Yellow Pages (example of the full page)


1980 Bird of Paradise Ad


1981 Palatine Phone Book Cover


1981 Bird of Paradise Ad (new address)


1982 Palatine Phone Book Cover


1982 Bird of Paradise Ad


1983 Palatine Phone Book Cover


1983 Palatine Yellow Pages (no listing or ad, Donnelley ad agency mistake)


1984 Palatine Phone Book Cover


1984 Palatine Yellow Pages Listing


1985 Palatine Phone Book Cover


1985 Palatine Yellow Pages Listing


1986 Palatine Phone Book Cover


1986 Palatine Yellow Pages Listing


1987 Palatine Phone Book Cover


1987 Palatine Yellow Pages Listing


1988 Palatine Phone Book Cover


1988 Palatine Yellow Pages Listing


1989 Palatine Phone Book Cover


1989 Palatine Yellow Pages (mini ad in listing)


1990 Palatine Phone Book Cover


1990 Palatine Yellow Pages Listing (new address)


1992 Palatine Phone Book Cover


1992 Palatine Yellow Pages Ad


1993 Palatine Phone Book Cover


1993 Palatine Yellow Pages Listing


1999 Palatine Phone Book Cover


1999 Palatine Yellow Pages Listing


2002 Palatine Phone Book Cover


2002 Palatine Yellow Pages Listing


2004 Palatine Phone Book Cover


2004 Palatine Yellow Pages Listing

In the early days of the internet, Loretta's husband, Emil Wolnik, paid someone $25 to get Bird of Paradise listed "on the World Wide Web." Their daughter Ginger always thought it was a scam because Emil was not able to provide an internet web address where this listing could be found, or a contact name for her to find out what the money was collected for. However, this printed directory of an early online phonebook database was in the collection of the Palatine Historical Society and the listing was there, so apparently Bird of Paradise really was added to an online database! For some reason, it was listed under Drapery & Curtain Cleaners instead of Draperies & Curtains - Retail & Custom Made.

The website was www.planetpages.com, however the original online directory business is gone and that domain is now owned by another type of business. The Wayback Machine has the original interface archived, click on the following link to see what the Planet Pages website home page looked like in 2002:

https://web.archive.org/web/20020929222948/http://www.planetpages.com/


2002 Planet Pages Phone Book Cover


2002 Planet Pages Listing (under Cleaners, not Retail)

End of found phone book ads