Last night I went with my school chums to a restaurant at Fullerton and California. My friend Trudy and I wound up driving around the side streets a few times and I thought: "Yes. Here is it. Chicago is a city of neighborhoods." Coming out of a sea of tiny houses was a mansion on the corner. (Modern architecture even.) There had to be a story there.
My late friend Marilyn, who lived on the Gold Coast and managed a store on the Southwest Side, knew all about the surprises to be found in the neighborhoods. She would say: "I found this marvelous bakery. Here, taste this!" Or, "there's a tailor down the street who does my pants for next to nothing!" This was way before it became chic to explore the neighborhoods and report back to the rest of us.
Thanks Art, the school chum who arranged the outing. And thanks Marilyn, for reminding me that there's always lots of explore.
As usual a great story behind the mundane! Not that I think exploring the neighborhoods is mundane--far from it it's one of my favorite things to do. However, you always have a story behind the story! Cheers
ReplyDeleteThis is what I miss about Chicago. One can just hop on a bus or El train and easily find endless sources of diversion and interest. All that is needed is a CTA pass for Chicago adventures.
ReplyDeleteI especially liked that you wrote a short meditation on the joy of discovering the myriad curiosities of Chicago's neighborhoods (before it was hip and now), and the photo you include is of a typical residential street. But making no direct mention of it in your blog, there it is: an airplane lodged right between the Smiths and the Joneses. That really tickled the sensibilities. Very clever placement.
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