We’re standing inside the tiny popcorn stand at the corner of Second Street and Lincoln Highway. Barely an arm’s span wide, the stand is lined on one side with a display shelf, sink, freezer, counter space and shelves for napkins, plastic cups and forks. It is cramped but warm.

Denes Stellatos, the owner, opens up a display-pack of candy and sets it on a shelf already lined with chips, gum, cigarettes and other sundries. He explains, very simply, his outlook on his job: “If you enjoy something, you do it.”

He moves his chair over to make some room and then wipes down a counter. A white freezer hums with electric life.

The 65-year-old came to the United States from his native Greece in 1947, after serving for four years each in the Merchant Marine and Greek Royal Navy, where he was a gunner. He washed dishes in a restaurant in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he met Beatrice, whom he married shortly thereafter. Stellatos stayed in New York until 1949 and then moved to Chicago, where he was a waiter at the Hilton Hotel.

He puts some ice in an orange cup, fills it with lemonade, and tells his visitor there’s no charge. He speaks of work at the Hilton.

“It was hard work there. I not only was a waiter, but also got rooms ready for conventions that were held there,” he said.

During this time, Stellatos’ younger brother, Harry, had been running the Uptown Restaurant in DeKalb. Stellatos left Chicago in 1966 and joined his brother at the Uptown. Both were now the owners of the restaurant.

In 1984, Denes and Harry sold their restaurant and Harry went on to own the Wasco West Restaurant in Sycamore. That was the year Denes Stellatos bought the popcorn stand.

The popcorn stand was originally built as shoe-shine shop in 1912 and Stellatos says he hasn’t changed or refurbished it except for the purchase of a small white freezer.

He picks up an old blue atlas and points to the island of Cephalonia, which lies west of the mainland. Here he was born in 1923. His mother, Amalea, died when he was very young but Stellatos says he still has memories of his father, Peter, working on the farm next to the family’s home. He also remembers the trips his father made to the United States to visit him, Harry, and their sister Tasea and brother Jerry, both of whom live in New Jersey. Stellatos’ other two sisters and brother still live in Greece.

It’s been 15 years since Stellatos has been back. With a hint of sadness in his voice he says he remembers his first home being leveled by an earthquake a couple of years before his trip.

He pauses to prepare some hot dogs and barbecue beef and then looks out the tiny slide-window for any prospective customers. For Stellatos it’s a Monday through Saturday, 9 to 6 job. It also is not the “sit-down” job it may at first appear.

But if you enjoy something, you do it…