Southside Chicago

 

Grandma in front of 5026 South Ada Street (c1940)

I went down to visit my friends on the Southside yesterday. Driving there from near the northern city limits makes you realize just how big the city is. Seventeen miles and over thirty minutes drive via Lake Shore Drive and the Dan Ryan Expressway. Even driving that far, you're still only halfway across Chicago. My friends live in the next neighborhood over from Bridgeport, an area that has been part of my life forever. Mom and Dad both grew up near there, in a neighborhood called Back of the Yards. Going down there brings back memories. The stockyards, Comiskey Park, International Amphitheater, and The Daley's. 47th Street and the Free Fair, where Mom would take us to get free vaccinations for school. Sherman Park, where I almost got drowned by a Black kid for swimming on the wrong side of the city swimming pool. What did I know? Even though Both grandmothers and my grandfather still lived in the neighborhood, I was a dumb suburban kid. I didn't know all the city rules that included, "Don't go to the other side of the viaduct." No explanation, just don't do it.

I always enjoy taking a trip down there to see a part of the city that is a bit grittier and real than those vast swaths of the Northside that have been taken over by gentrification. Seriously, I could even live on the Southside if not for the fact that most of my adult life centered on Northside nightlife. There's nothing wrong with the Southside of Chicago if the banks hadn't redlined it. Nothing wrong with it if the NRA and the politicians of a certain political party hadn't promoted unfettered access to guns. Anyway, about that gentrification thing. I've noticed over the last few years that there are more trendy bars and restaurants slowly pushing their way out south of downtown. Maybe, in one more generation.