IN THOSE DAYS, KENWOOD SCHOOL HAD AT LEAST TWO BRANCHES, THE OTHER WAS IN A JEWISH TEMPLE NORTH OF 51ST ON GREENWOOD.

I’M THE ROUND FACE IN THE DARK T-SHIRT NEAR CENTER WHO LOOKS LIKE A SLAVIC IMMIGRANT.

MOST NAMES UNKNOWN HERE. TALL GIRL, FIRST ROW, IN PLAID WAS GEORGEANN. COFFEE-COLOR GIRL IN SAME ROW WITH PIG TAILS WAS PRUDENCE.

OUR TEACHER WAS MRS. NOLAN, A VERY KINDLY YET STRICT WOMAN.

I HAD JUST RECENTLY MOVED FROM HYDE PARK AND THE DELIGHTS OF KOZMYNSKI SCHOOL, A TERRIBLE SCHOOL IN HYDE PARK WHICH FEATURED ABUSIVE TEACHERS AND BLACK GANGS.

ALL NAMES ARE SUBJECT TO THE VAGARIES OF MEMORY AND SPELLINGS ARE APPROXIMATE AT BEST.  NAMES GIVEN LEFT TO RIGHT:

BACK ROW:
BRUCE KAUFMAN/ ANN BLITZSTEIN/ GAIL SHAPIRO/ ? ?/ JAY GOLDENBERG/ CHARLEY “FLYING SAUCER CLUB” STREICH/ ? ?/ SARA SHOCKETT/ JOANNE KOZLOWSKI/ ELAINE LOTT/ ANN MARIE SANDBERG/ ? ?

THIRD ROW:
JOHN CHUCKMAN/ DAVE BUFFIN/ JANET “MY MOTHER IS PTA PRESIDENT” MARTIN/ ? ?/ KENT TAYLOR/ BARBARA SCHNITZ/ KARL ?/ SUZANNE ZEHME/ BOB PEARSON/ JUDY LUND/ RICHARD AUSTIN

SECOND ROW:
SHARON ?/ JANICE WELCH/ ? ?/ HENRIETTA “COOKIE” GERSTAL/ JUDY ANDERSON/ LORRAINE BORLAND/ PRESTON UNEY/ GEORGE CADDICK

FRONT:
PATRICK ?/ RONNY BANKS/ JOHN ROSS/ HOWARD SCHLESS/ ARTHUR STOIKEY

ALL NAMES ARE SUBJECT TO THE VAGARIES OF MEMORY AND SPELLINGS ARE APPROXIMATE AT BEST. NAMES GIVEN  LEFT TO RIGHT:

BACK ROW:
SHEILA HANSEL/ PRESTON UNEY/ RONNY BANKS/ JAY GOLDENBERG/ ? ?/ JOHN ROSS/ GEORGE CADDICK/ ANN MARIE SANDBERG/ ELAINE LOTT/ ARTHUR STOIKEY/ SARA SHOCKETT/ SUSAN LEWY/ RICHARD AUSTIN/ ADRIAN “CORKEY” JONES

THIRD ROW:
ANN BLITZSTEIN/ JOANNE KOZLOWSKI/ GAIL SHAPIRO/ BARBARA SCHNITZ/ FLORENCE “FLOSSIE” CHORLEY/ JILL SHAPIRO/ BOB PEARSON/ BILL HACHMANN/ JUDY LUND/ CAROL BACHENHEIMER/ ? ?/ EUNICE SCHULMAN

SECOND ROW:
JANICE WELCH/ LORRAINE BORLAND/ JUDY ANDERSON/ SHARON FRIEDMAN/ HENRIETTA “COOKIE” GERSTAL/ DAVE BUFFIN/ JANET “MY MOTHER IS PRESIDENT OF THE PTA” MARTIN/ JOHN CHUCKMAN/ CAROL BIERMAN

FRONT:
PAUL “DEUTCH’S PAINTS” DEUTCH/ HOWARD SHLESS/ PATRICK ?/ BRUCE KAUFMAN

RIGHT SIDE:
WALTER KAZMIEROWSKI – SHORTENED AT SOME POINT TO: KAZMIER.

AS HE STOOD IN, MR. KAZMIER PROMISED, WITH HIS WONDERFUL DRY WIT, THE PICTURES “WILL SELL LIKE HOTCAKES NOW.” HE WAS TRULY THE KIND OF MEMORABLE TEACHER YOU HAVE ONLY A FEW TIMES IN LIFE.

NOT IN PICTURE:
SQUEAKY THE DUCK, CLASS PET

AGAIN, ALL NAMES ARE SUBJECT TO VAGARIES OF MEMORY AND SPELLINGS ARE APPROXIMATE AT BEST.  NAMES GIVEN LEFT TO RIGHT:

BACK ROW:
CAROL BIERMAN/ JOHN CHUCKMAN/ BILL HACHMANN/ JANET “MY MOTHER IS PRESIDENT OF THE PTA” MARTIN/ MARIAN “I HATE ELVIS” CHAPMAN/ EUNICE SCHULMAN/ DAVID BUFFIN/ JUDY LUND/ CAROL BACHENHEIMER/ BOB PEARSON/ JILL SHAPIRO/ GAIL SHAPIRO/ ANN BLITZSTEIN/ SUZANNE ZEHME/ JOHN REDFERN

THIRD ROW:
KAREN MATTHEWS/ BARBARA SCHNITZ/ RICHARD WILLIAMS /LYNN RODGERS/ FLORENCE “FLOSSIE” CHORLEY/ JOANNE KOSLOWSKI/ BRUCE KAUFMAN/ SARA SHOCKETT/ ERIKA STRAHL/ GEORGE CADDICK/ ELAINE LOTT/ ADRIAN ‘CORKY’ JONES/ HARVEY PLAUT/ JAY GOLDENBERG

SECOND ROW:
SUSAN LEWY/ ANN MARIE SANDBERG/ LORRAINE BORLAND/ SHARON GOLDENBERG/ JUDY ANDERSON/ HENRIETTA “COOKIE” GERSTAL/ SHARON FRIEDMAN/ SHEILA HANSEL/ JANICE WELCH

FRONT:
PAUL “DEUTCH’S PAINTS” DEUTCH/ JOHN ROSS/ RICHARD AUSTIN/ RONNY BANKS

I CANNOT REMEMBER THE NAME OF OUR HOMEROOM TEACHER FOR THIS YEAR. MAYBE BERTHA BLUM?

NOTE: THANKS TO KAREN MATTHEWS FOR A NUMBER OF  CORRECTIONS & ADDITIONS

MRS. DENNISON WAS ANOTHER EXCELLENT TEACHER AT BRADWELL, MUCH LIKED AND RESPECTED. SHE TAUGHT MATH. I DO WISH MOST TEACHERS HAD STEPPED IN FOR CLASS PICTURES AS MR KAZMIER DID.

I WAS GROWING LIKE A WEED, A RATHER SKINNY ONE, AT THIS TIME.

I RECALL AT SOME POINT IN MY FIRST YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL HAVING REACHED MY FULL HEIGHT OF 6 FEET-4 INCHES AND BEING 140 POUNDS, JUST ONE OF THOSE ODD FACTS WHICH LODGE PERMANENTLY IN YOUR BRAIN.

ONE OF THOSE MACHINE PHOTO STRIPS. THIS ONE FEATURES BILL, JOHN, AND OUR MOTHER’S HAND TRYING TO CONTROL BILL’S MUGGING.

THESE MACHINES WERE IN THE RANDOLPH STREET IC STATION, AND A STRIP OF PICTURES COST TWENTY-FIVE CENTS.

GADS, LOOK AT THAT REGULAR-GUY LOOK WITH THE JACKET AND THE HAIR.

THIS WAS TAKEN AT A FAVORITE PLAYGROUND IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD, AN EMPTY LOT ON KIMBARK AVE. THE STONE MUST HAVE BEEN LEFT FROM THE BUILDING THAT ONCE OCCUPIED THE SITE. I LOVED THE WILD FLOWERS THAT GREW IN SUCH PLACES.

WE LOOK AS THOUGH THE DRILL SERGEANT HAD JUST BARKED ATTENTION, WHICH IS PRETTY MUCH THE CASE.

Tommy was my friend from Switzerland, and he doesn’t have an ice cream cone because this picture was taken when we met him coming from the other direction.

Mrs. Beau, the memorable woman whose house is behind, was very kind to me as a boy. She used to have me and my friend Georgeann come every few weeks to wash her windows. She paid us and set out a wonderful lunch on a little patio table in the backyard, a delightful thing for a kid who lived in a very small apartment.  We also were able often to spend time with her grown-up children’s games and toys stored in the basement. What was remarkable was the way we met. Georgeann and I were climbing garage roofs in the ally, something we called an “adventure” and often did. Well, we peeked down from one into Mrs. Beau’s yard one day, and there she was, gardening, and instead of being upset with our climbing, she invited us down.

I will never forget her kindness.

I BELIEVE THIS PHOTO WAS TAKEN BEFORE WE MOVED TO SOUTH SHORE ON A VISIT TO OUR AUNT’S APARTMENT.

TAKEN APRIL, 1967

ENTRANCE DETAIL FROM 5131 UNIVERSITY AVE, HYDE PARK. WE LIVED ON THE FIRST FLOOR JUST OVER DOOR.

THIS WAS A BACHELOR APARTMENT WITH NO BEDROOM AND A MURPHY BED IN THE SMALL LIVING ROOM. IT HAD BEEN OUR AUNT’S APARTMENT BEFORE SHE MOVED TO SOUTH SHORE.

DESPITE ITS SIZE, WE WERE HAPPY SINCE OUR PREVIOUS APARTMENT AT 1311 E HYDE PARK BLVD (A BUILDING LONG AGO TORN DOWN) WAS PRETTY MUCH A MENAGERIE OF MICE, WATERBUGS, AND OTHER CRITTERS. THERE WERE RATS IN THE AREA BEHIND THE BUILDING THAT WE SOMETIMES WATCHED FROM THE BACK WINDOW.

THIS WAS A MOVE OF JUST A FEW BLOCKS IN THE SAME NEIGHBORHOOD, YET THE POLICIES OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION THEN SAID YOU ABSOLUTELY HAD TO GO TO A DIFFERENT SCHOOL IF YOU CROSSED ONE OF THEIR ARBITRARY BOUNDARIES.

FOR THAT REASON, MY MOTHER HAD ME KEEP QUIET ABOUT THE MOVE AT SCHOOL (KENWOOD BRANCH IN TEMPLE AT 51ST AND GREENWOOD). BUT THEY SOON FOUND OUT, AND I WAS SHIPPED OFF TO KOZMYNSKI, A TERRIBLE SCHOOL THAT EVEN THEN HAD A BAD REPUTATION.

TAKEN APRIL, 1967.

A HANDSOME BUILDING, AN EXAMPLE OF THE BEST OF CHICAGO’S WONDERFUL APARTMENT ARCHITECTURE.

FOR PEOPLE WHO COULD NOT AFFORD A PRIVATE HOME, WITH ALL THE EMOTIONAL CONNOTATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH THE WORD “HOME,” THESE WONDEFUL BUILDINGS GAVE PEOPLE A REAL SENSE OF PLACE, EVEN A SENSE OF PRIDE.

COURTYARDS HAD GARDENS AND LANDSCAPING THAT WAS PLEASANT AND MAINTAINED BY JANITORS WHO OFTEN SERVED SEVERAL BUILDINGS AND LIVED IN ONE OF THEM. JANITORS ALSO HELPED WITH MINOR MATTERS LIKE LEAKING TAPS.

SOME INTERESTING PEOPLE LIVED IN THESE BUILDINGS – THIS IS, AFTER ALL, THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO. AT THIS ONE I HAD A SOMEWHAT OLDER FRIEND, VERY INTERESTED IN SCIENCE, I BELIEVE HIS NAME WAS QUISSENBERYY (SP?), WHO DID SUCH FASCINATING THINGS, WITH ME AS COMPANION, AS LOOKING FOR METEORITES IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD.

I ALWAYS THOUGHT OF THE WHOLE NEIGHBORHOOD – ITS EMPTY LOTS AND THE YARDS OF MANY HOMES – AS MY “YARD” IN THOSE DAYS, PEOPLE GENERALLY THOUGHT NOTHING WRONG ABOUT THAT. IT WAS EXACTLY THAT WAY IN SOUTH SHORE TOO, PERHAPS EVEN MORE SO.

TAKEN APRIL, 1967.

THIS WAS NICER THAN THE OTHER KENWOOD BRANCH ON 53RD , WHERE I ALSO ATTENDED FOR GRADE 1A, AND NICER THAN KENWOOD SCHOOL ITSELF, WHERE I ATTENDED 1B.

ONE OF MY FONDEST MEMORIES OF THE TEMPLE BRANCH, WHERE I ATTENDED JUST OVER A YEAR, WAS THE DISCOVERY OF THE JEWISH HOLIDAY OF SUCCOTH. I’VE ALWAYS LOVED THE AUTUMN AND HALLOWEEN AND PUMPKINS, AND AT THE SIDE OF THE TEMPLE ON THE SIDE STREET, I DISCOVERED ONE DAY THIS CHARMING HUT CONTRUCTED OF STRAW AND ALL THINGS AUTUMNAL, FILLED WITH SQUASHES, PUMPKINS, GOURDS, AND APPLES. DELIGHTFUL.

I GUESS IT WAS THE END OF THE HOLIDAY PERIOD WHEN THE MAN FROM THE TEMPLE TAKING THINGS DOWN GAVE ME AFTER SCHOOL AN ARMFUL OF SUCH DELIGHTS WHICH I CARRIED HOME, SMILING ALL THE WAY. 

WHEN I FIRST STARTED AT KENWOOD SCHOOL, THEY HAD US ON HALF-DAYS, THAT’S HOW SHORT AUTHORITIES WERE CAUGHT WITH FACILITIES BY THE POST-WAR BABY BOOM. THIS WAS PART OF THE UNDERSIDE OF THE POSTWAR BABY BOOM GENERATION WHICH IS SO OFTEN REPRESENTED ONLY AS HAVING EVERYTHING.

AND THEN THERE WERE THE ATROCIOUS POLICIES OF THE CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS. IF YOU MOVED EVEN AROUND THE CORNER, THEY MADE YOU DROP EVERYTHING AND GO TO A NEW SCHOOL.

MY MOTHER KEPT OUR SHORT NEW MOVE SECRET FROM THE SCHOOL WHEN I HAPPILY ATTENDED HERE, BUT THEY FOUND OUT AND SENT ME TO KOZMYNSKI SCHOOL, A MUCH GREATER DISTANCE AWAY – JUST LIKE THAT, DESPITE ESTABLISHED FRIENDSHIPS AND TIES IN THE SCHOOL.

THE POLICY WAS BRUTAL AND RUTHLESSLY ENFORCED AND THIS WAS IT NOT THE FIRST TIME I WAS UPROOTED, JUST THE WORST.

THE NAME ‘KOZMYNSKI’ IN THOSE DAYS RANG IN MY EAR LIKE ‘ALCATRAZ’ WITH THE WHISPERED LEGENDS OF OTHER KIDS. AFTER ALL, I HAD ACTUALLY STARTED SCHOOL AT SHAKESPEARE, NORTH OF 47TH, A TRUE HELL HOLE AT WHICH I WAS ONE OF THE FEW WHITE CHILDREN AND SUFFERED REGULAR RIDICULE AND ABUSE.

I CAN REMEMBER NOTHING ABOUT SHAKESPEARE BUT BEING LAUGHED AT, PUSHED AROUND, KNOCKED DOWN, AND READING THE WORDS ‘BLACKSTONE RANGERS’ OMINOUSLY CHALKED ON SIDEWALKS AND WALLS. YEARS LATER, I UNDERSTOOD EXACTLY WHAT IT FELT LIKE WHEN SOME POOR SOUTHERN BLACK KIDS WENT TO PREVIOUSLY ALL-WHITE SCHOOLS.

KOZMYNSKI WAS LIKE BEING SENT TO THE GULAG, AND INDEED IT WAS ALMOST THAT BAD. BROKEN WINDOWS EVERY DAY,SOMETIMES SHATTERED GLASS IN THE CLASSROOM FIRST THING IN THE MORNING (I HAVE A SLIDE OF THE SCHOOL FRONT FROM ABOUT 1967 WITH DOZENS OF BROKEN WINDOWS AND THE KIND OF MAKE-SHIFT PATCHES THEY DID WHEN I WAS THERE), GANGS RUNNING AROUND KNOCKING PEOPLE DOWN (A BLACK KID NAMED RAYMOND WAS THE TERROR OF THE SCHOOL YARD), THE CHARMING SOUTHERNER, MR. NEWMAN, WHO USED LITERALLY TO SLAP KIDS AROUND, AND THE PRINIPAL, MS. HOTCHKISS, WHO KEPT A BASEBALL BAT IN HER OFFICE AND DEFENDED TO MY MOTHER THE BEHAVIOR OF A SADIST LIKE MR. NEWMAN.

LEAVING HOME EVERY DAY FOR SCHOOL WAS SOMETHING TO BE DREADED – I’D LEAVE AT THE LAST POSSIBLE MOMENT TO MINIMIZE TIME SPENT WAITING IN THE SCHOOL YARD. AH, SUCH, SUCH WERE THE JOYS OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

MY POOR MOTHER, JUST TRYING TO RAISE TWO BOYS ALONE ON A SECRETARY’S SALARY, HAD TO WORRY ABOUT SUCH THINGS. VERY BRUTAL.

SO AFTER A COUPLE OF YEARS OF THAT WHEN MY MOTHER WAS ABLE TO AFFORD MOVING TO SOUTH SHORE (A RISING TIDE WAS RAISING ALL BOATS), AND I FIRST ATTENDED BRADWELL, I THOUGHT I HAD DIED AND GONE TO HEAVEN. IT SEEMED SO PEACEFUL AND WELL ORDERED.

TAKEN APRIL 1967.

TALK ABOUT A “FRIENDLY OBJECT,” THESE WONDERFUL OLD STOPLIGHTS WERE DISAPPEARING WHEN THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN.

TAKEN OCTOBER 11, 1968

THIS COMMERCIAL APARTMENT BUILDING WAS THE SITE OF OUR FIRST APARTMENT IN SOUTH SHORE. IT WAS A TINY PLACE WITH NO BEDROOM AND A MURPHY BED IN THE LIVING ROOM. I SLEPT ON A SMALL STUDIO BED IN THE DINETTE.

HERE WE GRADUATED FROM CLIMBING GARAGE ROOFS IN THE ALLEYS OF HYDE PARK TO CLIMBING STORE AND APARTMENT ROOFS AS PART OF OUR NEIGHBORHOOD “YARD.”

BOY, DID WE ENJOY CLIMBING THE ROOFS OVER 75TH. PLACES LIKE THE ROOF OF THE HIGH-LOW FOOD STORE WERE  SECRET CLUBHOUSES FOR US. MY BEST FRIEND AT THIS TIME WAS ANOTHER BOY FROM SWITZERLAND, NAMED JOHNNY HOEHNER WHOSE FATHER WAS THE JANITOR OF THE LARGEST COURTYARD BUILDING FURTHER UP THE BLOCK ON COLFAX. 

LOOKING DOWN FROM THE APARTMENT ROOF, ACCESSED FROM THE BACK PORCHES,  IN WINTER ON 75TH STREET WITH LARGE FLAKES TUMBLING DOWN AND THE STORE FRONTS GLOWING WITH NEON AND THE CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS ON SWAGS ACROSS THE STREET SWAYING IN THE WIND BELOW MADE AN UNFORGETTABLY CHARMING SIGHT THAT RATHER FIXED IN MY MIND THE IDEA OF URBAN VILLAGE.

AL’S DELI WAS ON THE CORNER OF THIS BUILDING AT 75TH IN THE RIGHT FOREGROUND OUT OF THE FRAME.  THE SAME BLOCK OF 75TH STREET HAD PETE’S BARBER SHOP AND A TOY STORE (I FORGET THE NAME).

THE STORE WINDOW IN THIS PICTURE, TO THE LEFT OF THE DOORWAY, WAS A TAILOR’S SHOP.

THE SHORE THEATER WASN’T FAR WEST FROM HERE. REMEMBER SHORE HILL BEHIND THE THEATER? ACTUALLY A LOADING RAMP, WE USED TO BUILD SOAPBOX RACERS WITH JUNK WE GATHERED IN THE ALLEYS AND ROLL DOWN SHORE HILL. BOYS DID THIS WITH BICYCLES TOO.

THE ALLEYS OF THOSE TIMES WERE GREAT PLACES FOR ADVENTURE, WHETHER SCROUNGING FOR PARTS OF SOME CONTRAPTION WE WERE MAKING OR FINDING POP BOTTLES WE COULD CASH IN AT THE STORE FOR PENNY CANDY OR PRETZELS.

I HAD MY FIRST PAPER ROUTE AT THIS TIME WITH CHUCK’S NEWS AGENCY ON 74TH & EXCHANGE, DELIVERING THE CHICAGO DAILY NEWS. SOMETIMES MY YOUNG BROTHER RODE ALONG IN THE FRONT OF A BIG YELLOW CART WITH BICYCLE WHEELS. I DELIVERED ALONG COLFAX NORTH OF 75TH, ALONG 75TH, AND DOWN COLES AVE.

ANOTHER ADVENTURE JOHNNY HOEHENER AND I HAD AT THIS TIME WAS GOING TO THE BEACH IN WINTER TO CLIMB ON THE “ICEBERGS.” OFTEN WE BROUGHT A COUPLE OF APPLES OR POTATOES WHICH WE ROASTED IN A FIRE WE’D BUILD IN A HOLE IN THE SAND – FUEL WAS LOOSE SLATS FROM THE BEACH’S SNOW FENCES – NEAR THE LOW WALL AT THE TOP OF THE BEACH.

TAKEN OCTOBER 11, 1968.

THIS WAS ANYTHING BUT A “PRESTIGE” BUILDING, INDEED ITS RESIDENTS WERE DEFINITELY HUMBLE PEOPLE, YET LOOK AT THE HANDSOME DETAIL BUILDERS USED BACK CLOSER TO THE TURN OF THE CENTURY.

TAKEN OCTOBER 11, 1968.

DEAR OLD MYRA BRADWELL. I BELIEVE THE WINDOWS AT THE CENTER OF THE FIRST FLOOR ARE THE LIBRARY’S.

I ALWAYS LOVED THOSE TALL WINDOWS LOOKING OUT ON THE NEIGHBORHOOD – THEY JUST GAVE YOU A LITTLE LIFT IN THE MORNING, AND AT BRADWELL THEY WEREN’T CONSTANTLY BROKEN AND LEFT HALF REPAIRED AS AT KOZMYNSKI (WHERE THE JANITORS TYPICALLY SWEPT THE GLASS AND PUT A NEW PANE ON THE INSIDE WITH PUTTY, LEAVING THE CRACKED PANES TO COLLECT AS A VIEW).

DO YOU REMEMBER THE TALL HOOKED POLES THAT HUNG IN CLASSROOMS FOR OPENING OR CLOSING THE TOP WINDOW FRAME? TEACHERS TYPICALLY WOULD ASK SOME BOY TO DO THE TASK, AND THE TRUTH IS THAT MOST KIDS LIKE BEING ASKED TO DO THINGS, A FACT OFTEN LOST TODAY.

I’VE SEEN CONTEMPORARY PHOTOS OF BRADWELL, AND OTHER SCHOOLS, AND WHILE SUPERFICIALLY THEY MAY BE SAID TO LOOK THE SAME, ACTUALLY MANY DETAILS HAVE CHANGED.

THE FIRST FLOOR WINDOWS AT BRADWELL TODAY AREN’T THESE LOVELY BIG WINDOWS, THEY ARE DARK SCREEN-LIKE STRUCTURES TO PREVENT BREAKAGE AND VANDALISM.

THE GARDENING AND TREES ARE NOW MISSING TOO. AND THE PLACE HAS BEEN RE-NAMED AS SOME KIND OF ACADEMY, CHICAGO’S FAVORITE TERM FOR FAILED SCHOOLS, USED I GUESS TO FOOL PEOPLE INTO THINKING SOMETHING GOOD IS HAPPENING.

IT’S THE SAME AT SOUTH SHORE HIGH WHICH NOW CONSISTS OF SEVERAL ACADEMIES, AS WELL AS SCHOOLS LIKE BRYN MAWR.

TAKEN OCTOBER 11, 1968.

JUST AROUND THE CORNER TO THE RIGHT – OUT OF THE FRAME – WAS THE FENCED AREA WHERE THE LITTLE KIDS PLAYED.

TAKEN OCTOBER 11, 1968.

NOTE THE DOORS WITH HANDSOME SMALL PANES OF GLASS. RECENT PHOTOS SHOW THESE MISSING. JUST LIKE THE GRACEFUL WINDOWS ON THE REST OF THE BUILDING, THEY’VE BEEN REPLACED BY HOMELY MORE VANDAL-PROOF STUFF.

TAKEN OCTOBER 11, 1968.

TAKEN OCTOBER 11, 1968.

SPEAKING OF TERRA COTTA, DOES ANYONE REMEMBER THE CURVED STRIP OF TERRA COTTA TRIM THAT RAN ROUND THE BACK OF THE SCHOOL? THE BOYS ALL CALLED IT A ‘PENNER’ AND PLAYED A BALL GAME ALSO CALLED PENNER.

YOU USED PINK ‘SKY-HIGH’ BALLS BOUGHT AT THE VERA SHOP (CORNER OF 79TH & BURNHAM), AND IF YOU WERE ‘UP TO BAT,’ YOU TURNED TO THE WALL AND THREW THE BALL AGAINST THE ‘PENNER.’

THERE WERE SEVERAL OTHERS IN THE ‘FIELD’ AT VARYING DISTANCES WHO TRIED TO CATCH IT. THERE WERE OUTS AND THEN SOMEONE ELSE WAS ‘UP TO BAT.’

THIS GAME WAS PLAYED ENDLESSLY AT RECESS, BEFORE AND AFTER SCHOOL. EVERYONE CARRIED A ‘SKY-HIGH’ IN HIS JACKET POCKET.

I WONDER WAS THIS A STRICTLY BRADWELL GAME? I NEVER HEARD OF IT BEFORE OR SINCE, AND OF COURSE IT REQUIRED THAT STRIP OF TRIM, THE ‘PENNER,’ TO PLAY.

 

THERE WERE MATURE TREES IN EARLY 1960s ALONG ESSEX AVE. THEY REACHED UP TO OUR THIRD-FLOOR WINDOWS.

ME IN A SUIT, MY FIRST FROM BONDS STORE, WITH CONTINENTAL TIE, NO LESS.

I SUPPOSE MOST PEOPLE WOULD HATE LIVING ACROSS THE STREET FROM WHITE CASTLE. MY MOTHER CERTAINLY DID, BUT I LOVED IT.

WE STILL HAD TREES OUTSIDE THE WINDOWS, BUT I LIKED THE BUZZ AND HUM OF EVENING URBAN COFFEE-AND-HAMBURGER SOCIETY.

SOMETIMES I GOT UP VERY EARLY ON A WEEKEND, AND TAKING A COUPLE OF WHITE CASTLES AND A COFFEE, WALKED DOWN TO THE LAKE WITH MY SKETCHBOOK TO DO A CHALK IMPRESSION OF THE SUNRISE. THE WONDERFUL POPLAR TREES THAT FORMED A WALL AT THE BEACH RATTLED AS THE BREEZE CAME UP. THE PARK CHANGED TONES AND LIGHT SATURATION SUDDENLY. WONDERFUL.

I WAS USED TO GETTING UP QUITE EARLY FROM DOING MY CHICAGO TRIBUNE ROUTE DURING FIRST YEAR AT SOUTH SHORE, 4:30 EVERY MORNING.

THE DOOR BEHIND THE CHAIR IS ONE OF A PAIR CONTAINING THE ‘MURPHY BED.’

THOSE WERE WONDERFUL CONTRAPTIONS – WE HAD GREAT FUN WHEN WERE YOUNGER SITTING ON THE FOLDING HEADBOARD AND MAKING THE BED FOLD US UP IN THE CLOSET OR LEANING AGAINST THE UPRIGHT BED TO SEND IT CRASHING TO THE FLOOR WITH US ON IT. MAYBE IT WAS THAT KIND OF THING THAT MADE MY POOR MOM HAVE TO FIND NEW APARTMENTS SO OFTEN? 

I GUESS THEY’VE MADE SOMETHING OF A COMEBACK IN SMALL DOWNTOWN CONDOS, BUT THEY ARE NOT BUILT-IN AND AS STURDY AS THESE WERE.

I DEARLY LOVED THAT MASK, BOUGHT AT A JUNK TRICK SHOP, THE TREASURE CHEST, ON RANDOLPH STREET DOWNTOWN, WEARING IT FOR HALLOWEENS UNTIL THE RUBBER BEGAN TO DECAY.

LATER, I FIXED UP FLASHLIGHT BULBS IN THE ‘ELECTRODES’ WIH WIRES RUNNING DOWN TO MY POCKET WHERE I COULD MAKE THE ELECTRODES LIGHT UP WITH BATTERIES.

PROBABLY WITH MY SIZE, AT 6’4″ BEFORE I WAS 14, NOT EVERYONE THOUGHT THIS AMUSING WHEN I CAME TRICK-OR-TREATING.

 

IN THE SATURDAY CHICAGO AMERICAN (LONG-DEFUNCT HEARST NEWSPAPER).
I WAS PRETTY PROUD, ESPECIALLY WHEN SOME TACHERS AT BRADWELL MENTIONED SEEING IT.

I KEPT THIS SET OF BOOKS UP UNTIL MY SECOND LAST MOVE. THEY WERE HOPELESSLY DATED OF COURSE.

HOW BEAUTIFULLY MAINTAINED WERE THE SHRUBS AND GRASS AROUND MOST OF THOSE OLD BUILDINGS, ALL THE WORK OF A CLASS OF HARD-WORKING RESIDENT JANITORS.

THE MANICURED COURTYARDS AND BOULEVARDS CONTRASTED SO NICELY WITH THE EXUBERANT GROWTH OF OVERHANGING TREES AND OCCASIONAL LARGE SHRUBS, AS YOU CAN SEE IN THIS PICTURE.

IT WAS A SPIRIT-LIFTING URBAN LANDSCAPE.

 

BILL BILL CHUCKMAN IN ONE OF THE BEAUTIFUL GNARLED CRAB APPLE TREES THAT STOOD AROUND RAINBOW GARDEN. I USED TO CALL THEM ‘VAN GOGH’ TREES.

WELL, JACK KRAMER NEVER WAS SERIOUSLY CHALLENGED, BUT THERE WERE MANY GOOD DAYS OF FUN AT THE COURTS.

RAINBOW BEACH HAD 8 WELL-MAINTAINED COURTS AND A LARGE “BANG BOARD” FOR PRACTICE. ALL FREE, FIRST COME-FIRST SERVE. IF A COURT WAS BEING USED, YOU HUNG YOUR RACQUET ON THE PEGS ON THE FENCE, AND IT WAS YOUR TURN NEXT HOUR.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF THE WONDERFUL PUBLIC FACILITIES FOR APARTMENT DWELLERS.

THE TRACKS SLASHED THROUGH SOUTH SHORE OBLIQUELY, PASSING COLFAX WELL NORTH OF 79TH. THEY MADE A CONVENIENT SHORTCUT FOR WALKING TO SOUTH SHORE HIGH, SOMETHING I DID MANY TIMES.

IN SPRING AND SUMMER, THE LAND AROUND THESE TRACKS WAS LIKE A PATCH OF GENUINE PRAIRIE, THICK WITH WILD FLOWERS, GRASSHOPPERS, AND BUZZING CRITTERS OF EVERY KIND. IT WAS AN ENVIRONMENT I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED.

THE FREIGHT TRAINS  USING THESE TRACKS – THE ELGIN, JOLIET, AND EASTERN RAILROAD (E J & E)  – SERVED THE SOUTH WORKS OF U.S. STEEL AND WERE NOT FREQUENT.
WE ALSO USED THIS LONG STRETCH TO BLAST OFF OUR HOME-MADE ROCKETS BACK IN THE EARLY 1960s. 

AT LEAST AROUND COLFAX, THIS LAND NOW HAS BEEN INFILLED WITH SOME SMALL, NOT-VERY-ATTRACTIVE HOMES. THE TRACKS AND PRAIRIE ARE GONE.

WHAT BEAUTIFUL VIEWS INTO THE TREES FROM THE THIRD FLOOR, ALTHOUGH THIS WAS NOT OUR VIEW AT THIS BUILDING.

MY MOTHER, NOW DECEASED, COMING OUT OF THE EQUITABLE BUILDING AFTER WORK.
BEFORE WORKING HERE, SHE HAD BEEN AT THE ORIGINAL PRUDENTIAL BUILDING FOR MANY YEARS.
HOW ABOUT THAT BIG-BUTTON COAT?

I POSTED THIS AT ANOTHER SITE FOR NOSTALGIA, AND SOME PEOPLE POSTED COMMENTS REMEMBERING THE SNOWMAN FORTY YEARS LATER.

THAT WAS A BUSY YEAR FOR SNOWMEN.

HE WAS ABOUT SEVEN-FEET TALL.

LATER I ADDED SOME HAIR.

THIS WAS MY LAST WINTER LIVING IN CHICAGO.

MY CARTOON OF, WELL ANYONE WHO WENT TO SOUTH SHORE SHOULD RECOGNIZE HER.

I PINNED THIS UP ONCE IN MR. SCOTTY’S ENGLISH CLASS, HE SMILED BUT TOLD ME TO TAKE IT DOWN.

MS. ROACH WAS ACCORDING TO HERSELF AN INTIMATE FAMILY FRIEND OF THE KENNEDYS AND SPENT MANY DAYS IN THEIR UPPER-CRUST ABODES.

AT ANY RATE, SHE SPENT MANY, MANY HOURS EVERY YEAR REPEATING THIS AND OTHER RUBBISH, SOMETIMES SPENDING ALMOST AN ENTIRE CLASS REMINISCING FROM IMAGINATION.

MY BROTHER WAS GETTING THE SAME STORIES FIVE YEARS LATER.

SHE TOOK GREAT PLEASURE IN MAKING HORRID COMMENTS TO 14 YEAR-OLDS, WHO OF COURSE WERE DEPENDENT ON HER FOR A GRADE. AND JUST LOOK OUT IF YOUR FACE EXPRESSED YOUR CONTEMPT OR DOUBT WHILE SHE REGAILED THE CLASS WITH NONSENSE ABOUT THE KENNEDYS.

NO ONE LEARNED ANYTHING IN HER CLASS, EXCEPT SOMETHING ABOUT HOW STRANGE HUMAN BEINGS CAN BE. NOW, WHEN I REFLECT BACK, I BELIEVE SHE ALMOST CERTAINLY WAS SCHIZOPHRENIC, AT LEAST MILDLY SO, NO LAUGHING MATTER AT ALL.

THANK GOD, SHE WAS NOT TYPICAL OF TEACHING AT SOUTH SHORE.

BUT IT GOES TO SHOW EVEN AT VERY GOOD PUBLIC SCHOOLS THEY HAD, AND STILL HAVE, A PROBLEM GETTING RID OF DAMAGING, USELESS TEACHERS LIKE THIS.

I DID CARTOONS OF SEVERAL TEACHERS I LIKED OR DISLIKED STRONGLY. THIS IS THE ONLY SURVIVING ONE.

RETURN OF THE NATIVE.
I LOVED THAT CORD COAT I HAD GOT AT A BARGAIN-BASEMENT PRICE IN MARSHALL FIELD’S MEN’S STORE (NO LONGER EXISTS –
BOTH THE STORE & THE COAT).

NOTE IN THE BACKGROUND, SOUTH SHORE HOLIDAY FLORIST.

 REMEMBER FLOWER DAY? ONCE EACH WEEK ON THE WAY HOME FROM BRADWELL, PRESTON UNEY AND I WOULD STOP AND PICK UP A FREE FLOWER.

I SUPPOSE IT WAS OLD STOCK, BUT MY MOTHER CERTAINLY WAS PLEASED.

This picture ends on the right side around 71st Street, the complex, low-rise building near the point into the lake being the old South Shore Country Club, now an institution called the Chicago Cultural Center.

The great bulk of my South Shore is out of this frame, to the right, the shopping streets 75th and 79th and the many blocks of apartments between them.

71st Street in its heyday was fairly elegant in spots with many nice shops, two big movie theaters (the Hamilton and the Jeffery), many restaurants, and professional offices.

The line of parkland to the left of the old South Shore Country Club denotes South Shore Drive. The buildings along the bottom of the Drive reflect Chicago’s days of grandeur in the early 20th century as a beach/vacation resort location (before Florida developed and in the wake of the amazing construction of Chicago’s 22 miles of parkland and beaches along the lake at the turn of the 19th century), including elegant old hotels and apartment hotels along the lake front, a kind of development which continued further north along the lake front. Some of these places were once the locations of ballrooms and fine restaurants.

The commuter station at 75th Street was called Windsor Park because when the Illinois Central commuter system was built that was the name of  part of what is today Rainbow Beach. The beach originally had several sections with different names, including Windsor to the north of 75th Street and Manhattan to the south.

These were all consolidated under the name Rainbow Beach after WWI, in honor of the Rainbow Division.

The parks and beaches in those early days of the 20th century were an important local amenity and a draw for tourists, drawing crowds as perhaps never since. That is a major reason there were so many grand hotels built along the shore on both the south and north side. Florida was still a swamp when the Burnham Plan created Chicago’s magnificent recreational shoreline, and people came in great numbers to use it.

Check below for images of vintage postcards over the years featuring the various names and crowded scenes.

 

Have the bricks been painted? I don’t recall them being such a dark red.

A fine example of the handsome, gracious apartment buildings which lined the streets of the neighborhood. It was possible for those of limited means to find a small apartment, while there were large apartments for more affluent people. The neighborhood thus had a naturally occurring mix of economic situations, the kind of situation contemporary planners in public housing attempt to achieve artificially with mixes of owned units plus subsidized housing.

I think that was only possible because of the huge stock of good quality apartments that neighborhoods like South Shore or Hyde Park had from an earlier time, a stock unlike anything I have observed in many other cities over the years. 

The last time I visted the old neighborhood, during the mid-1980s, I was surprised and pleased that the pleasant and graceful streets of apartment buildings mostly looked good. The notable change was black iron gates in front of many of them, something which didn’t exist in the 1950/60s, a reflection of soaring crime rates.

In the 1950s, every yard and courtyard and gangway was part of our urban playground. More than once we did things like building a snowman at another building where the snow was more favorable or run and hide somewhere around a building while friends tried to find you.

Many of these apartment buildings have been converted to condos, which in the long term is good since people preserve and care for what they own.

The good condition was not true of all the streets and buildings. There were buildings with boarded windows on some streets (I’ve chosen not to include any images of that nature). Also the modest individual homes on streets, say, from about Kingston Avenue going east are in bad condition, and some have disappeared entirely.

My old good friend Preston Uney’s house on Kingston just south of 79th, for example, had suffered a fire and had part of the roof missing. I noted recently on Google Earth that it had disappeared entirely for a parking lot.

Commercial streets – 71st, 75th, and 79th – were depressing, much like war-savaged zones with relatively few stores, home-made signs, store-front churches, iron grills over fronts, plus plenty of empty lots like missing teeth in a smile.

Even today, if you look at Google Earth or at some commercial real estate offerings on the Internet, you will see that the commercial streets have never recovered. Many fine old commercial buildings have been torn down to be replaced by the kind of ugly, cheaply constructed units you might find in far-flung suburbs. Others have simply rotted into slums. Haphazard-looking parking lots are in scores of lots where buildings used to be.

A perfect example of how handsome some of the old three-storey walk-ups could be. In Chicago the first floor is always up some stairs, the ground level typically being dedicated to a lobby and basement facilities for laundry and locker rooms.

The bowed windows were great for light, considering the time of these buildings’ construction, which in many cases was during the first two decades of the 20th century.

All services such as garbage collection were at the back, each block being intersected by alleys, a clever planning concept still not common today: here phone poles, garbage trucks, and (up to the early 1950s, before conversion to oil) coal trucks all ran. The alleys were also great places for boys to explore and climb the roofs of the garages which typically lined them.

The streets in front of such buildings were typically lined with gorgeous elm trees, which softened the streets appearance, shaded from the sun, and provided a partial screen to windows of apartments across the street.

Front outside doors of these buildings and the inside doors, which secured the access to the building from the lobby, were hardwood frames with bevelled glass (sometimes, stained glass) and brass handles.  Inside, the lobbies typically had handsomely tiled floors and brass mailboxes with buzzers and an intercom system on the wall. The stairs to apartments were carpeted and had hardwood railings which matched the color of the solid wood apartment doors on the “landing” of each floor.

Small apartments in such building typically included features like built-in cupboards and charming items like small ironing boards which folded into a door in a wall. Murphy beds, in small apartments, were standard, and folded into a pair of handsome hardwood doors in the living room, which also included storage space inside.

Altogether, having now lived in many cities, I regard the Chicago apartments in their heyday as the best such facilities ever offered to working people. Add the magnificent park system, free to all, and you know why Chicago, in the first half of the 20th century, was the “working man’s dream.”

 

I think urban design just does not come with more grace and serene qualities than this. Scenes like this were part of a number of Chicago neighborhoods in their prime (and still are in some cases) including Hyde Park, Kenwood, and several neighborhoods on the North Side.

My part of South shore was all apartment buildings and pretty humble homes, but further west and southwest were some beautiful and impressive homes, much like those you see in parts of Kenwood neighborhood, dating back to that neighborhood’s days of grandeur.

Nice to see there are still tree-lined streets. I understand that the even more impressive American Elms that once made streets like this resemble natural cathedrals died from Dutch Elm disease. 

The city also, in some neighborhoods, cut down massive old trees to reduce fear of crime when neighborhoods changed rapidly with the phenomenon of white flight.

The commercial building on the left was the Woolworth’s store. The building immediately after it was the High-Low Food Store.

The tall terra cotta-trimmed commercial/apartment building beyond that is at corner of Colfax Ave, and it was our first apartment building in South Shore, 1955, after moving from Hyde Park. 

 We lived on the top floor over some stores in a tiny no-bedroom apartment. At the corner of Colfax and 75th in that building was Al’s Delicatessen followed by a toy store and Pete’s Barber Shop.

On the right side of the picture, the terra cotta-clad building is at the corner of Exchange Ave. and was the Coronet Restaurant, a popular, inexpensive family restaurant run by Greeks.

In the foreground, just beyond the frame of this picture, were the I.C. tracks along Exchange Ave. At the left of that missing foreground was a Walgreen’s Drug Store, complete with lunch counter and soda fountain.

Cunis’s Candies – where the lady is standing looking at the window – was an important local institution. They made their own candies and ice cream, and there were tables inside where you could have a fountain treat.

They made some milkshakes – a very popular item in the 1950/60s – that were trademark items, including chocolate chip and orange, which tasted like something like a creamsicle and was my summer favorite.

The gift shop on the left of Cunis’s was a place for gift wrap and greeting cards.

On the far right, just out of the frame of the picture, was the Bon Ton Restaurant on the corner of Colfax and 79th, another of those inexpensive, family style restaurants run by Greeks.

This picture, more than most, captures the sense of South Shore neighborhood as what I call an urban village.

It was only years later that I fully realized what an excellent education we received at that time. While there were, even here, some poor teachers, there was a remarkable number of outstanding ones. I recall Mr Becker (World History), Mrs Coleman (Biology), Mrs McNamara (English), Miss Breslin (English), Mrs Long (Music Appreciation), and others who were quite gifted.

In my first year of high school, I delivered newspapers on streets near the school, Chicago Tribunes in the early morning. What a job, up at 5 AM to be picked up for the agency on 75th Street.

There you unbundled your newspapers, rolled as many as you had time for, and then headed out to your route with a big yellow wooden wagon on bicycle tires filled with papers, your big ring of address “tags” banging against the cart handle –  seven days a week, every day, even Christmas morning, for the Tribune. But the pay was exceptional for a young person, and the Christmas tips could be amazing.

See my short story, at the bottom, “The Cold Chill of Darkness,” which gives a vivid impression of delivering those papers on a winter morning.

Unfortunately, this image does not capture the romance and magic of the theater interior, the wide variety of colors and textures is missing as is the artful lighting. The Avalon had a sense of the Arabian Nights about it, making it a delightful place to see a show, which in those days was always a double feature, costing kids just twenty-five cents.

The Avalon – which still stands, although it has been much changed and defaced as a fundamentalist church – was the largest and grandest of our neighborhood theaters.

South Shore had a amazing variety of theaters – we called them “shows” – in those days. The east side of Exchange, just south of 79th Street, had the smaller Chelten, the west end had the Avalon (near Stony Island).

Stony Island Avenue had the Stony.

75th Street had the nice little Shore Theater – the site of raucus twenty-five cartoon shows on Saturday mornings complete with flying popcorn boxes and the odd sticky candy landing in the dark – and east from Exchange Ave, the little-known Ray, a tiny place to which I never went.

71st Street had the large and beautiful Jeffery (near the street of the same name) and the Hamilton, a somewhat smaller but nice theater, further east.

Except for the Stony, these were all within walking distance, at least the “walking distance” of those days which was a mile or two for many people.

In the 1950s and early 1960s, there was a beautiful row of poplar trees along the wall that curves around the beach. I used to love the way their leaves rattled in the breeze.

Also, at that time, the busy part of the beach – and it was much busier than is the case in this picture – was at the 75th Street end at the bottom of the picture.

The set of red-roofed buildings, gyms and other facilities, back from the beach at the north end, is a modern addition as are the parking lots.

IT APPEARS IN THIS CARD THAT THE PIER ON THE LEFT HAND HAS THE ONION-DOMED BUILDING SEEN IN OTHER CARDS. IT WAS CALLED THE FAIR AND WAS AT THE FOOT OF 75TH STREET. IT APPEARS HERE – QUALITY IS POOR – TO BE UNDER CONSTRUCTION.

THE STRUCTURE ON THE RIGHT HAND HERE DOES NOT APPEAR IN ANY OTHER CARDS I HAVE SEEN, WHICH IS WHY I’VE INCLUDED THIS RELATIVELY POOR IMAGE.

THIS APPEARS MUCH AS IT DID IN MY DAY. I BELIEVE IT IS THE TENNIS COURTS WHICH ARE ON THE RIGHT HAND EDGE.

I QUITE LOVE THIS SNAPSHOT: IT CAPTURES MANY INTERESTING THINGS.

THE I.C. TRAIN IN MOTION ON EXCHANGE AVE.

THE KIND OF SIMPLE NEIGHBORHOOD SOFTBALL GAME – ALMOST NO EQUIPMENT AND NOT ENOUGH PLAYERS – WHICH REMAINED POPULAR IN MY DAY, THIS PICTURE BEING ABOUT A DECADE EARLIER.

AND THERE’S THE INTERESTING FACT THAT THE GIRLS SOMETIMES PLAYED SOFTBALL ALONG WITH THE BOYS.

A BEAUTIFUL SNAPSHOT IMAGE.

CLAMP- AND STRAP-ON STREETSKATES WERE COMMON IN MY DAY TOO, THIS IMAGE BEING  TWO YEARS BEFORE I WAS BORN. REMEMBER THE LITTLE KEY FOR TURNING THE TOE CLAMPS WHICH YOU HAD TO KEEP SAFE FROM LOOSING WHILE YOU WILDLY PLAYED?

AND THE BUMPS BETWEEN SQUARES OF SIDEWALK COULD SOMETIMES SEND YOU SPRAWLING, THESE SKATES NOT BEING SMOOTH THE IN-LINE SKATES USED TODAY.

INDEED THE SKATES MADE A LOT OF NOISE, HOLLOW STEEL WHEELS AGAINST CONCRETE, TO SAY NOTHING OF THE YELLS AND LAUGHTER.

THERE WAS A CHICAGO BRAND OF SKATES THAT NATURALLY ENOUGH WAS COMMON IN MY DAY.

RICHARD PRICE APPEARS SO NATURAL AND HAPPY-FACED HERE.

WHAT WE CAN SEE OF COLES AVE BEHIND IS JUST AS I REMEMBER IT. I DELIVERED NEWSPAPERS TO APARTMENTS ON COLES – STARTING A BLOCK NORTH OF HERE.

OUR CHURCH, SOUTH SHORE BAPTIST, ALSO WAS ON COLES, A BIT SOUTH OF HERE, NEAR 79TH.

RICHARD’S PLUS-FOURS ARE INTERESTING. I HADN’T REALIZED THEY WERE WORN BEYOND THE 1930s.