Some of the greatest drums built in this century came from Chicago or one of its suburbs. Rebeats publishes a location guide so you can find the various locations of Ludwig & Ludwig and Slingerland and the Oaklawn address of Camco.

The two sites to find and at which to pay homage are just a few miles, but many stoplights apart. The Niles factory of Slingerland was located at 6633 N. Milwaukee Avenue. It opened in 1960 and for over twenty years, its skilled workers built drums for Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich and a host of other famous and lots of non-famous drummers. Today, the building is the home of a janitorial supply company. But if you look at it, you can see the familiar site almost as pictured in most of the 60s Slingerland catalogs. The speeding Oldsmobile isn't there, the traffic is heavier, but there's still the grassland across the street. In all the years I saw that picture, I never noticed the details about the grassland. Go back and look and you can see tombstones. Slingerland was built across the street from a cemetery... and that's one item that has not changed.

Back at 1728 N. Damen Avenue, you can see a condo project that was formerly the WFL and, then, later, the Ludwig Drum Company. Evidence of additions to the original building is noticeable. Bill Ludwig Sr. bought the original building in 1936 and the company kept outgrowing the facilities.

I visited the Ludwig factory about 1966 and remember a friendly tour. There were also regular pictures in issues of the Ludwig Drummer to encourage readers to come to Chicago and see the departments.

There's more information on these great drum companies in my book for Modern Drummer called The Great American Drums ! E-mail us today or call our order line at (888) 594-3786 and we'll make arrangements to send you an autographed copy.