Hello everyone. Today I will be writing about The Magikist Rug Cleaning Company. The company was first called Austin Rug Cleaners and founded by a man named Bill Gage. The company’s official motto was called “The Kiss of Beauty.”Those red lips were so iconic that it stuck in everyone’s pleasant memories for years. Its established headquarters were at 750 South Cicero Ave in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago. By the 1960s, they were at least ten convenient locations in the Chicagoland area.
Magikist is equally famous for its striking signs that were alongside three expressways in Chicago. The expressways were the Dan Ryan, Kennedy, and Eisenhower. The Magikist sign on the Dan Ryan was gone by in 1992. The Eisenhower one disappeared a few years later, and The Kennedy sign lasted until 2003. Those visible signs were fun to see, and the eager anticipation of the red lips gently kissing that lit up and instantly flashed was sheer joy. If you were driving on the expressways, you knew exactly where your closest destinations would be.
I remembered the commercials on television for Magikist, and its spokeswoman was actress Carmelita Pope. She was from Chicago and also did commercials for Pam Cooking Spray. She was a lovely lady and passed away on April 3, 2019. I remembered seeing all kinds of products that came from Magikist for their sale promotions on radio, television and, newspapers. They were keychains, toy trucks, piggy banks, pillows, pot holders, ashtrays, yardsticks, and tumbler drinking glasses. They also had their kitchen cleanser brand. I saw the Magikist brand at some National Food Stores that carried S&H Green Stamps.
My family never used Magikist. They weren’t any local stores in our old neighborhoods in Chicago. The other rug and carpet cleaning company that was famous in Chicago was Boushelle Rugs. It included its fondly remembered telephone number Hudson 3-2700. I reasonably believe it is still in business. I seemed to recall two Magikist signs in downtown Chicago. North Michigan Avenue and East Lake Street, and at West Randolph Street and North State Street. There was a store named Shoppers Corners located there.
When my family lived in the Roseland neighborhood in the 1970s, we boarded the South Suburban Safeway Lines Bus at the corner of East 112th Street and South Michigan Avenue, where Gately’s Peoples Store was there. The bus would drive on The Dan Ryan Expressway, and would we see the Magikist sign at East 85th St. I never saw it at night, but I wished I did.
It’s a shame that the classic signs are gone. I know the business left Chicago a long time ago, but I wished they were salvage. I heard a few years ago a man possesses one of the signs from the Eisenhower Expressway location. I don’t know if he still has it. Please submit your comments here and on my social media accounts of your fondest memories of Magikist. Thank you. Pete Kastanes. Admin for Vanished Chicagoland Facebook Page.
Very nice, thanks for the story.
Thank you very much!
Loved those signs every time we went in to the city there they where
Miss them a lot now
Boushelle is definitely still around, and their number is still HUdson 3-2700 (or, as they say now, 483-2700).
Didn’t Magikist give away Green Stamps? Seems to me they did, along with National and Wieboldt’s. They’re all gone now…
Yes they did.
This brings back many memories for me!
My father was a Magikist Manager at a branch of the company in Highland Park.
I remember as a kid going with him on Saturdays to “help” him at work running the carpet cleaner machines, and some were extremely large, they took in fully rolled, large carpet and i watched all the stages of the cleaning and rinsing through till the end.
As a kid, it was extremely cool!
Sadly, dad passed ten years ago, going through his things we found some old patches he saved so I have a large sew on patch of the famous “lips”, maybe I should sew it on a jacket soon.
Also found a bunch of the “lips” drinking glasses as well as his Magikist business cards.
Thanks for the story!
You’re welcome. That a beautiful story about your father.
I totally forgot about those signs! Thank you for bringing those images back to me. Are you of Greek descent, Pete? I lament many lost businesses of Chicago, especially since I worked at Marshall Field’s Water Tower, State Street and Oak Brook from 1983-1987. Speaking of Oak Brook Mall, I cannot believe what the owner’s did to that mall, eradicating all of the sumptuous fountains there! If you have any old time photos of Oak Brook Mall, or Marshall Field’s, I would love to see them. Thank you for what you do!
Yes. I am Greek. I post my photos on my Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
My family grew up in Hoffman Estates, but my grandparents lived in Chicago on Berenice Ave.so when we drove in on the Kennedy, my siblings and I (or maybe just I) looked for that sign.
Milwaukee had a plant too……1844 w Foud Du Lac Av I worked there from 1958 to 1961!
I worked at Magist Rug Cleaners as a carpet Repair person from about 1962 until about 1966. I loved everyone there. It was a friendly group and leadership. I learned so much. Great memories.
I also fondly remember the Big 💋 Lips along side the Dan Ryan Express Way! Having grown up on the South Side my family frequently drove the “Dan Ryan” both day and night. I also vividly remember the radio commercials with a catchy tune singing out 🎶Hudson 3 Two Seven Hundred🎶! It is amazing but after more than fifty years I still remember that song and commercials. Now that is certainly a successful marketing campaign!
Thank you for your posting!!