Vol. VII No. 31 Veteran’s Art on display PAGE 2
Maywood gains cigar lounge from Forest Park
AUGUST 2, 2023
vfpress.news
Owner says new location will have more space, dedicated parking By IGOR STUDENKOV Staff Reporter
Casa de Puros, a cigar lounge that has been a mainstay of Madison Street in Forest Park for the past 15 years, is moving to Maywood. The staff was busy packing boxes and loading them onto a moving van when this newspaper interviewed co-owner Greg Walker on July 31. He insisted they were moving because the Maywood space at 1117 S. 1st Ave. is larger, has two outdoor patios and its own dedicated parking lot. The fact that it’s also a free-standing building that he and his co-owners bought outright, as opposed to leasing, helped as well. Walker said he expects to finish moving out of the Forest Park space by the end of the week. He plans to reopen at the Maywood location on Sept. 15. Casa De Puros, which means “House of Cigars” in Spanish, opened on the ground floor of a condominium building at 7410 Madison St. in 2008. Co-owner Tim Polk was interested in opening a shop where customers could buy and smoke cigars. Since then, the building has been modified, getting large display windows that are open during the summer. Polk previously described the shop as a “classic bachelor club style” establishment, with deep leather chairs, dark wood-paneled walls, a See CIGAR LOUNGE on page 6
FRANCIA GARCIA HERNANDEZ
Victoria M. Vann speaks at the Elevating Latin@/e/x Access & Equity Summit on July 27.
Westchester trustee sees homeownership as path to reduce Latinx wealth gap equity and access for Latino commu- ative connotation to it or stigma…” Vann Victoria Vann highlights on nities held at Malcolm X. College. On told Village Free Press. “But affordable the panel, she explained programs that homeownership is whatever you can affederal and state programs provide options to buy affordable homes ford at that time.” She believes everyone wants a home to through mechanisms like below-the-maravailable to assist ket rates, homes in revitalized areas and call their own in safe communities, but potential homebuyers don’t always have scattered site homes. homebuyers Vann was invited to speak at the panel the knowledge of programs that could
By FRANCIA GARCIA HERNANDEZ Staff Reporter
Victoria M. Vann, a Westchester village trustee, shared information on available federal programs designed to increase homeownership on July 27. She spoke to dozens of attendees at a summit focused
organized by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity for her knowledge of housing. She is a neighborhood and community investment specialist at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. “I believe that sometimes when people say affordable homeownership, it’s a neg-
help them obtain it. “It should just be available for all,” she said. “Because we don’t know, we miss the opportunities to be able to own our own home and build that wealth.” A proud Afro-Latina, Vann is commitSee WEALTH GAP on page 7