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I saw a thread on the Illinois forum which was largely reminiscing about their old town. It made me think about my old neighborhood "Jeffrey Manor" on the South Side. Back in the 50's and 60's Chicago was quite another place. I'm sure my perspective will be skewed a bit as I'm willing to admit I was naive at the time. Hey what would you expect for a young kid anyway.
I remember what was then called Luella Elementary School on 99th's and Luella, and the way we all lined up like soldiers to enter the school at the beginning of the day. Seeing the principals office was NO badge of honor but rather a moment of complete shame for which you were chastised. I also remember going across the street to a Moishe Pipic hot dog place for a good dog and fries and a coke. Stopping next door at Bennie's, a candy shop where for 5 cents you could load up on penny candy.
We enjoyed our Saturday morning breakfasts at Topp's restaurant on 95th street. There were a lot of businesses right there within walking distance for convenience. There was a large grocery store chain, a hardware store, bakery, Five & Dime called Schlagels, a Rexall Drug store, that until the mid 60's had a soda fountain. A bowlinig alley and more. I remember taking the bus with my brother to the Avalon Theatre in South Shore to see the Beatles "Help" movie when it came out. Could barely hear the music above the girls screaming. I got my first 45 record at the Sears on 79th street. Used to take the bus during the week to Hebrew school at South Shore Temple on Jeffrey Ave. in the South Shore.
Back in the 60's I could take a CTA bus from the bus stop on Yates Ave round trip to downtown for a day of visiting the music stores (I played guitar) and lunch with a friend for just a few dollars. Never thinking about my safety as back then it was not a problem. We sometimes drove to a wonderful barbecue restaurant in Hyde Park called Ribs N Bibs just for their barbecued brisket....and oohhh their sauce was the best. The memories abound but alas that is what it must remain. Back then the steel mills still abounded and Lever Bros had a huge soap factory on the lake as well. I also remember Rainbow Beach in the summers.
Viewing the YouTube video's made by gangbangers present in the Manor now it makes me shudder at how it has changed, all not for the better. I guess you really can't go home so to speak. Viewing on Google Earth at street level it looks like there was a nuclear blast on 100th and 95th streets. The businesses are largely gone, but I was at least surprised to see much of the neighborhood has weathered the storm reasonably well. It's just sad how the world has changed in so many ways. Back when it was simpler and a lot safer. Oh well...at least I have my memories. Sorry for the long post, just got really into the memories there for a bit. I'm sure others have theirs of places they may have grown up but are now changed forever........
I saw a thread on the Illinois forum which was largely reminiscing about their old town. It made me think about my old neighborhood "Jeffrey Manor" on the South Side. Back in the 50's and 60's Chicago was quite another place. I'm sure my perspective will be skewed a bit as I'm willing to admit I was naive at the time. Hey what would you expect for a young kid anyway.
I remember what was then called Luella Elementary School on 99th's and Luella, and the way we all lined up like soldiers to enter the school at the beginning of the day. Seeing the principals office was NO badge of honor but rather a moment of complete shame for which you were chastised. I also remember going across the street to a Moishe Pipic hot dog place for a good dog and fries and a coke. Stopping next door at Bennie's, a candy shop where for 5 cents you could load up on penny candy.
We enjoyed our Saturday morning breakfasts at Topp's restaurant on 95th street. There were a lot of businesses right there within walking distance for convenience. There was a large grocery store chain, a hardware store, bakery, Five & Dime called Schlagels, a Rexall Drug store, that until the mid 60's had a soda fountain. A bowlinig alley and more. I remember taking the bus with my brother to the Avalon Theatre in South Shore to see the Beatles "Help" movie when it came out. Could barely hear the music above the girls screaming. I got my first 45 record at the Sears on 79th street. Used to take the bus during the week to Hebrew school at South Shore Temple on Jeffrey Ave. in the South Shore.
Back in the 60's I could take a CTA bus from the bus stop on Yates Ave round trip to downtown for a day of visiting the music stores (I played guitar) and lunch with a friend for just a few dollars. Never thinking about my safety as back then it was not a problem. We sometimes drove to a wonderful barbecue restaurant in Hyde Park called Ribs N Bibs just for their barbecued brisket....and oohhh their sauce was the best. The memories abound but alas that is what it must remain. Back then the steel mills still abounded and Lever Bros had a huge soap factory on the lake as well. I also remember Rainbow Beach in the summers.
Viewing the YouTube video's made by gangbangers present in the Manor now it makes me shudder at how it has changed, all not for the better. I guess you really can't go home so to speak. Viewing on Google Earth at street level it looks like there was a nuclear blast on 100th and 95th streets. The businesses are largely gone, but I was at least surprised to see much of the neighborhood has weathered the storm reasonably well. It's just sad how the world has changed in so many ways. Back when it was simpler and a lot safer. Oh well...at least I have my memories. Sorry for the long post, just got really into the memories there for a bit. I'm sure others have theirs of places they may have grown up but are now changed forever........
Scumballs like those gangbanging pieces of filthy garbage on that You Tube video will destroy anything they get their evil hands on. IMHO, (even though I love the Lord but I'm not overly religious) they are the Devil's seeds sent from that very hot place below and like Satan , their job is to steal and destroy. I'm sorry to hear about your old neighborhood but you could thank the greedy realtors responsible for all that blockbusting that took place in the 60s and early 70s. All they cared about is having their wallets get fatter. That evil still goes on today but in a different form -section 8- and it is now the landlords with fatter wallets.
Indeed it got tough in that neighborhood in the late 60's. We happened to move out before all that hit. We moved primarily as i was entering into High School and my parents wanted me to retain my body parts as Bowen High School was pretty well known for such bad behavior. I was no tough guy. So we headed out in the summer of 1967. All heck broke loose by the time Martin Luther King Jr. got shot. They rioted down 87th street tearing it up pretty bad. That was enough to get the "For Sale" signs planted in force. I agree with you on your other comment. The bangers are indeed HaSatan's seed (the seed of the serpent) and we can all at least rest in knowing what their future holds if they continue that activity. Revelation verse 22 says it all and you know what I mean.......
I saw a thread on the Illinois forum which was largely reminiscing about their old town. It made me think about my old neighborhood "Jeffrey Manor" on the South Side. Back in the 50's and 60's Chicago was quite another place. I'm sure my perspective will be skewed a bit as I'm willing to admit I was naive at the time. Hey what would you expect for a young kid anyway . . .
Being from Chicago Heights, I can relate to the sadness that comes when you see your old neighborhood for the first time in years, only to be confronted with something that resembles a third-world moonscape more than America.
Some of these perspectives about pre-1965 Chicago are probably seen through proverbial rose colored glasses. But things are definitely different now, and there are severe social problems which didn't exist back then. These problems are at least in large part the result of a culture of non-accountability and victimization that we have cultivated since the mid-1960s. The downside of white guilt really.
Fortunately, the problems these "luxuries" are causing are starting to become more noticiable and less tolerated among more and more people. I don't have any idea what the solution is (assuming there is one), but at least people are starting to realize that certain behaviors are unacceptable and cannot and should not be tolerated.
I can assure you of one thing, our legal system is broken, and a fix is NOT in the works. Nor is their sufficient funding to address the plethora of criminals that abound. It's a bit like not irradicating rats when they start to breed out of control. You allow them to breed unchecked and voila' you have pestilence and disease. Our criminal justice system did not go in accordance with that which was laid down in the beginning (Leviticus and Deuteronomy). So we are paying the price. It would seem that man isn't capable of making it right, so someone else will....sooner than you may think.
Location: Cleveland, OH USA / formerly Chicago for 20 years
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dcisive
I saw a thread on the Illinois forum which was largely reminiscing about their old town. It made me think about my old neighborhood "Jeffrey Manor" on the South Side. Back in the 50's and 60's Chicago was quite another place. I'm sure my perspective will be skewed a bit as I'm willing to admit I was naive at the time. Hey what would you expect for a young kid anyway.
I remember what was then called Luella Elementary School on 99th's and Luella, and the way we all lined up like soldiers to enter the school at the beginning of the day. Seeing the principals office was NO badge of honor but rather a moment of complete shame for which you were chastised. I also remember going across the street to a Moishe Pipic hot dog place for a good dog and fries and a coke. Stopping next door at Bennie's, a candy shop where for 5 cents you could load up on penny candy.
We enjoyed our Saturday morning breakfasts at Topp's restaurant on 95th street. There were a lot of businesses right there within walking distance for convenience. There was a large grocery store chain, a hardware store, bakery, Five & Dime called Schlagels, a Rexall Drug store, that until the mid 60's had a soda fountain. A bowlinig alley and more. I remember taking the bus with my brother to the Avalon Theatre in South Shore to see the Beatles "Help" movie when it came out. Could barely hear the music above the girls screaming. I got my first 45 record at the Sears on 79th street. Used to take the bus during the week to Hebrew school at South Shore Temple on Jeffrey Ave. in the South Shore.
Back in the 60's I could take a CTA bus from the bus stop on Yates Ave round trip to downtown for a day of visiting the music stores (I played guitar) and lunch with a friend for just a few dollars. Never thinking about my safety as back then it was not a problem. We sometimes drove to a wonderful barbecue restaurant in Hyde Park called Ribs N Bibs just for their barbecued brisket....and oohhh their sauce was the best. The memories abound but alas that is what it must remain. Back then the steel mills still abounded and Lever Bros had a huge soap factory on the lake as well. I also remember Rainbow Beach in the summers.
Viewing the YouTube video's made by gangbangers present in the Manor now it makes me shudder at how it has changed, all not for the better. I guess you really can't go home so to speak. Viewing on Google Earth at street level it looks like there was a nuclear blast on 100th and 95th streets. The businesses are largely gone, but I was at least surprised to see much of the neighborhood has weathered the storm reasonably well. It's just sad how the world has changed in so many ways. Back when it was simpler and a lot safer. Oh well...at least I have my memories. Sorry for the long post, just got really into the memories there for a bit. I'm sure others have theirs of places they may have grown up but are now changed forever........
If you haven't read it already, a book you might enjoy (although it will make you sad, too) is "The South Side" by Louis Rosen. He interviewed a bunch of people who lived through the racial changes of the South Shore area in the 1960s and documented their observations. I don't know if it's still in print, but I know the Chicago Public Library has it (that's how I read it), or you might find a copy at a secondhand bookstore or online somewhere.
I would like to share an incident that happened a few days ago that almost made my husband a crime victim. We were at a neighborhood bar watching a football game with one of our fave NFL teams playing and enjoying a few cold ones. While we were sitting at our table MINDING OUR OWN BUSINESS and rootin for our team, some female ghetto looking piece of garbage dressed as a gangsta walks in along with an equally trashy looking thug man. Just because we like a certain team ( our city does not have a NFL team so it is neutral territory) this scumball shot us a look that could kill. She than started to play pool while her dirtbag boyfriend was sitting at the bar. As she was playing she got too close to our table. This filthy thugette almost banged the the pool stick into my husband's face more than a couple of times. We felt she had intent to harm him and then make it look like an accident. We sensed the danger ( thank God my husband has street smarts ) and discreetly left. She was trying to intimidate us because she did not like the color of our skin and possibly the team we were rooting for was from a large city that is predominately white.. As we walked out I heard her say " I hate white people" ( we are white) . The bar has a racially diverse clientele and usually everyone gets along. We try to get along with everyone -white , black , Hispanic and Asian, but there has to be ZERO tolerance of this aggressive, criminal behavior. It seems likes that the ghetto scumbags, thugs, gangstas and criminals of all races think they can intimidate and push others around. Well I have news for these cowardly dirtballs - there is going to come a day that the decent folks are going say" enough is enough "and fight back! This is the very thing that ruins neighborhood after neighborhood and causes our urban areas being in the declining shape they are in.
There is no question that the people you describe ARE the source of the problem. However unfortunately most law enforcement or even those that live there don't rise to any occasion and show them the door (or plant them 6 feet under where they belong). It is indeed a shame. It's most certainly NOT about one's color or national origin, it is EVERYTHING to do with most likely their lack of parenting. They are the ones that should be sterilized quickly before they multiply
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