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Showing posts with label photos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label photos. Show all posts

Thursday, January 11, 2024

#TBT Michigan Avenue in Roseland

Long time no see. Allow me to wish you all a Happy New Year. Hopefully the past holiday season was a wonderful and joyous one.

I found the three pics below in the Roseland History Group on Facebook and just though this was a great look back at Michigan Avenue in the past. And my hope is that one day it could go back to its former glory. Especially once that Red Line extension is finally built

The first two pics shows the area surrounding the long demolished State Theater which is about one block north of 111th Street. It appears these two photographs below are shown on the Cinema Treasures site credited to Dr. Gene Ossello and was taken in 1967.

Thursday, October 19, 2023

It's like looking into another world - 115th & Michigan 1965


 There has to be more photos of this shopping center that existed on the SW corner of 115th & Michigan. It had been torn down in the 2000s. There was a restaurant here known as The Coffee Pot. Once there was a Christian bookstore where the pharmacy was, well the pharmacy you see here in this 1965 photograph.

Back in the late 80s to early 90s it was a Perry Drug Store, what was it during the 1960s?

And that building compared to the strip mall that's there now - and seemingly vacant once home to a Hollywood Video store - well it's an improvement if it hadn't been torn down for that strip mall.

At least the lot where the former Roseland Plaza is located can be prime real estate once the Red Line extension is in service.

If you haven't had a chance join the Roseland History FB group.

Tuesday, March 1, 2022

John & Elizabeth Moutoussamy House in Chesterfield #Ward09

 

I like this house it's very different and fits into the Chatham community for sure. Located at 361 East 89th Place so really in Chesterfield it was designed by noted Black architect John Moutoussamy who designed a number of buildings around Chicago. I found this pic and these buildings he designed on fb

  • (1954) The John W. & Elizabeth R. Moutoussamy House, 361 East 89th Place, Chicago, IL
  • (1959) The Alex Poinsett & Norma R. Poinsett House, 8532 South Wabash Avenue, Chicago, IL
  • (1962) The Lake Terrace Condominiums, 7337 South South Shore Drive, Chicago, IL
  • (1968) The Quadrangle Condominiums, 6700 South South Shore Drive, Chicago, IL
  • (1969) The Lawless Garden Apartments, 3620 South Rhodes Avenue, Chicago, IL
  • (1969) The Michigan Beach Apartments, 7251 South South Shore Drive, Chicago, IL
  • (1972) The Woodlawn Neighborhood Health Center, 6337 South Woodlawn Avenue, Chicago, IL
  • (1972) The Regents Park Apartments, 5050 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL
  • (1973) Carver Military Academy High School (Chicago Public Schools), 13100 South Doty Avenue, Chicago, IL
  • (1976) Harry S. Truman College, (City Colleges of Chicago), 1145 West Wilson Avenue, Chicago, IL
  • (1981) Richard J. Daley College, (City Colleges of Chicago), 7500 South Pulaski Road, Chicago, IL
  • (1981) Olive-Harvey College (City Colleges of Chicago), 10001 South Woodlawn Avenue, Chicago, IL
  • (1983) The Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., International Headquarters, 5656 South Stony Island Avenue, Chicago, IL
  •  (1984) The Chicago Urban League, 4510 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL
  • – (1993) The Bessie Coleman Library (Chicago Public Library), 731 East 63rd Street, Chicago, IL

Whoever lives in that house currently I don't intend any disrespect by sharing a photo of their house especially since it was already shared on social media. This is one house that has definitely caught my eye over the years just architecturally stands out.

Here's more about John Moutoussamy, when you click the link you will see a pic of him outside of that very house on 89th Place.


Thursday, December 23, 2021

Gately's & S.S. Kresge Co. in Roseland #tbt

I found and saved these two photographs from Roseland south of 111th Street and Michigan Avenue. I feel as if these are appropriate because we're in the Christmas season although tomorrow will be Christmas Eve. And of course these two photos don't show South Michigan Ave during Christmas time. 

Probably during much warmer weather. The dates for these photos are unknown perhaps they were taken in the 1960s or 70s. The Gately's store as many of you may know went out of business in the early 1980s. The building that once contained that store has since been demolished after a bad fire. I do believe the sign survived however as I write this no idea as to the whereabouts of that landmark.

As far as S.S. Kresge Company I don't know when that store closed its doors right next door to Gately's. I have found out that S.S. Kresge Co outlets ultimately became the Kmart chain. Do you remember Kmart? I do and many Kmart stores have closed in recent years. Perhaps you shopped at the one that was once located in Oak Lawn on 95th or a number of locations around the city.

I hope you enjoy this look back and I do wish you a Merry Christmas and hoping that you've had a very joyous holiday season.

Thursday, December 2, 2021

#tbt Coffee Pot restaurant

 

Via Flickr

To be honest I hadn't thought about this site Flickr in years. This was a site for photographers to share their works. Of course it seems it has been supplanted by a number of sites as far as sharing photos such as Facebook, Twitter or even Instagram.

Sometimes it's just fun to see some of the items posted there, it's just amazing how advanced have propelled us from the old fashioned camera to a cameraphone.

I never thought I'd see a sign of the old Coffee Pot restaurant near 115th Street & Michigan Avenue. It was part of that mall that was demolished in 2006. And this area is very close to the future stop on the future CTA Red Line extension. Perhaps someone might decide to bring back another version of the Coffee Pot for future commuters.

Tuesday, November 23, 2021

CTA Red Line extension meetings in December

Screencaps come from video via CTA

Some of you might have got this in your emails if you've subscribed to any Red Line extension updates
JOIN US!
Final RLE Transit-Supportive Development (TSD)
Plan Virtual Community Meetings:

The CTA is hosting two virtual meetings to get your feedback on the proposed strategies and concepts for Transit-Supportive Development near each of the four proposed RLE station areas. Your input as a community member will help determine the preferred future development of the station areas! Community members are encouraged to attend both meetings!
  • Tuesday, December 7th (6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.)
    103rd Street and Michigan Avenue Stations
  • Wednesday, December 8th (6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.)
    111th Street and 130th Street Stations
For more information about the TSD Plan, please visit transitchicago.com/RLE/TSD. For questions about the RLE Project and/or the TSD Plan, please contact the project team at RedExtension@transitchicago.com.
I don't plan to copy everything from that email, however, some other parts that are relevant if you want to participate.

Thursday, January 14, 2021

#tbt Chicago History Today: Then and Now, Torrence-112th

112th & Torrence in 1947

 A bit outside of the scope of this blog, however, this shows a different scene from what's at this same location just last year. This photo and the 2020 photo is seen at Chicago History Today blog which shares:
In 1947 the Wisconsin Steel plant dominated this section of Torrence Avenue. Here, at paper-112th Street, was the southern terminal of the South Deering streetcar line. By then an off-street turn-around loop was already in place—the tracks are visible at the bottom of the older photo. However, most of the double-ended cars still changed directions the old-fashioned way, parked in the middle of the street while the seats and trolley poles were flipped.

Buses replaced streetcars on Torrence Avenue soon after the 1947 photo was taken. Today those buses use that off-street loop. Wisconsin Steel closed in 1980. The drinking fountain that guy in the older photo was using is gone, too,

Wednesday, October 14, 2020

CTA Red Line extension project #RLEReady #Ward09

[VIDEO] CTA has a new video out about the CTA Red Line extension that is still being planned that takes the Red Line further south into Roseland and Altgeld Gardens where the final destination is 130th Street. The next critical phase for this ambitious project is construction which is expected to cost $2.3 billion half of that would come from federal funding and the rest from non-federal funding i.e from the city of Chicago, state of Illinois and/or even CTA itself.

I like these renderings of the various stops on the southbound Red Line extensions.

Saturday, October 10, 2020

Shedd School still serves its purpose

I remember many days spend in Shedd's cramped library. The books I remember checking out of the library under a man named Mr. Hackenbrock were mainly sports books - usually old books with black & white photographs underlying the sports of basketball, baseball, hockey or even boxing also a book showing how to draw animals. 

During our library period we also played computer games on IBM computers carted out into our gym/library. These were some fun interesting days.

What if I told on Shedd's lot there is a box full of books where you're allowed to leave a book and you can take a book. These types of book boxes exist throughout the city and its located on the playset on 99th Street. So adults and youth alike can come up to Shedd at anytime to entertain themselves or otherwise educate themselves outside of a classroom.

I snapped a few shots when dropping off books there. 

There is no longer a cramped library inside the school since it's been closed but you can still pick up a book or leave a book by Shedd School (at 200 E. 99th Street) anytime.

Friday, September 4, 2020

98th & Cottage Grove #fbf

Via Chicago History Today

It's amazing to see how this part of Cottage Grove which is basically Pullman looked in 1954. As you check out the blog Chicago History Today you see how much differently this part of the city looks today. Of course we no longer have a streetcar running in the city at all just about 70 years later. And there's a lot more brush and trees covering up the railroad right-of-way these days.

Seeing old photographs of this city just blows me away...

Tuesday, July 28, 2020

The Cook County State's Attorney Race


The above flyer I saw taped on a bus shelter on 95th Street Sunday. This is the first time I've seen such an accusation although if the State's Attorney is unpopular amongst some parts of the electorate it's due to her offices handling of the Jussie Smollett affair - Smollett formerly starred in the popular TV series Empire had allegedly engaged in a hoax claiming racists wearing a Make America Great Again ballcap had assaulted him.

Regardless Foxx easily won the Democrat primary in March even if it was affected by the coronavirus. And she does have a Republican opponent and I mentioned that in passing on Twitter as Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara noted the Republican opponent during his appearance on FOX News Channel.

I found this article from March 2020 discussing the Republican opponent Pat O'Brien a former judge who was elected as such as a Democrat in 2006
After cruising through the GOP primary Tuesday, O’Brien outlined his plans to beat incumbent Democrat Kim Foxx in a live-streamed news conference, thanking his family, friends and “everyone who voted against Kim Foxx.”

“We really have to clean up the mess that she’s made,” O’Brien said, not even a minute into his remarks. “I think we have to restore justice to the community. We have to make it safer for people in all of the kinds of activities that they do, and we have to remember that the state’s attorney’s duty is to protect the victims of crime.”
...
O’Brien said he’s taken a hard look at the state’s attorneys office, and while he sees Foxx’s handling of the Jussie Smollett case as “a violation of oath and a lack of integrity” he said the office is “under producing in other areas.”

The former judge said that under Foxx’s administration, fewer than 200 jury trials have been held in 15 felony courtrooms, which works out to less than four trials per courtroom each year. He said that from the 1980s until the first decade of this century that number was much higher. He also said Foxx has “lost more trials and gun cases than she’s won in each of the three years” and called for quicker trials.
This article noted that it's been almost 25 since a Republican had been elected Cook County State's Attorney. I vaguely remember him, he was a man named Jack O'Malley. Perhaps some of you remember those "Back Jack" political ads from back in the day.

Either way, 2020 has proven to be an odd year in a variety of ways. We got this pandemic and this unrest over racial injustice. I thought Trump could be re-elected President and right now he's limping because of those two ongoing crises. Perhaps a Republican could win the State's Attorneys office this year.

However, Cook County seemed to have trended more and more Democrat over the years and since O'Brien seems to have hardly campaigned since his primary I don't see a change in Cook County. Then again who knows time will tell..

Monday, June 1, 2020

State of the world

CTA bus hit with graffiti
On Saturday, it was hard to get home. I was about to take a bus downtown from my job to get the red line and the bus just stopped with our driver getting off the bus to take a call. He never said anything to us until another bus passed us up and other riders tried to catch that one. Our driver finally noted that a demonstration was taking place in the Loop and that bus service was disrupted.

I just walked and I was loathe to back towards downtown hoping to catch a train home. Found out there was no train service into the Loop. I had to walk into the outskirts of downtown and call for a ride home. It was an interesting adventure to get away from the action and my feet hurt when I sat down.

At an L station I got tired of waiting as riders got frustrated waiting another rider was frustrated with someone who was with her. I got tired of that and decided to see if there were any alternatives a customer assistant at the station said there was rioting downtown. Even noted that people were being pushed onto the tracks disrupting L service.

There was a lot of noise from protestors mouths and drivers heavy on their car horns. I saw a lot of boarded up businesses and unfortunately graffiti also on the streets, on buildings and on CTA buses.

As I walked toward downtown I witnessed a couple of young women who were walking away from the demonstrations try to throw water on a line of police cars heading towards the commotion. It lets me know how fired up seemingly the world is right now.

Without a doubt I think that police officer in Minneapolis is guilty of what he did to George Floyd when they arrested him. That former police officer lost his job and he's in jail as I type this post. It seems it has caused a serious debate of police interactions with citizens more broadly. And definitely police interactions with Black citizens more specifically. It's a necessary discussion.

Unfortunately with what happened this weekend in Chicago I connect this with the stay at home order and the ongoing pandemic. People were already restless, especially once the weather warmed up and all it took was that incident in Minneapolis. I opined looking at the graffitti downtown that perhaps we've been locked down for too long.

What I've been seeing unfolding over this weekend let's me know it's gone beyond the death of George Floyd. It's less about justice and now we've arrived at the destruction phase. It's not enough that downtown became a warzone, the neighborhoods have been looted. Parts of Chicago that could ill afford this activity to their business areas are experiencing it and unfortunately there's a possibility these businesses might get shut down in the future.

It absolutely disgusts me what's been happening around the city and the nation this past weekend.

When Barack Obama got elected president I pledged as an older student at Morehouse College that I wanted to be more involved. Then life took over, it was time to go to work. With this chaos in the world right now it's time to go to work making the world a much better place.

I just don't know where to get started, but now is the time to do so. Hopefully some of you are out there looking to do the same. 

Thursday, May 14, 2020

White Castle 2 E. State Street in Roseland #Ward09 #tbt

You may well have seen this photo below on social media taken in the mid-1980s of the White Castle that formerly stood at 111th & State Streets or actually 2 E. 111th street. I'm most familiar with this location since often looking for a hamburger slider fix this was where my folks went. At some point during the 1990s this location was closed and demolished.
Then looking for photos I found an even older photo of the White Castle taken in 1937 according to the information on the photograph. Could be the same building and I don't recognize the neighborhood around it.
Via Pinterest
Of course back in the 1980s the White Castle was surrounded by a post office to the north and then to the east on 111th Street was the YMCA. The post office is still there however the YMCA is long gone though the building itself remains.

I hope you enjoy this look back and a break from the dire news regarding coronavirus.

Monday, January 20, 2020

How an Award-Winning Teacher Turned Principal Transformed Bennett Elementary

I like to see news about Bennett Elementary out there and especially if it's good news. This time about the current principal of Bennett School from March 2019:
Today Principal Teresa Huggins takes pride in her successful turnaround of Roseland’s Bennett Elementary. Since she took the helm in 2013, Bennett has transformed from a school on probation to a school at the top of the district’s accountability ratings. It’s one of 22 neighborhood elementary schools on the South and West sides of Chicago where students are showing high growth on the NWEA MAP test.
...
Huggins’ role in Bennett’s turnaround sounds similar to successful turnaround stories I’ve heard from other principals over the years. When she arrived, she made a point of observing without trying to make big changes right away. “When you come in and try changing everything at once, you rub people the wrong way,” she observed. But once she had the lay of the land, she was unafraid to push for improvement. She insisted on basics like grade-level meetings, teachers showing up on time and taking a hard look at what test score data said about how well students were learning. To increase student engagement, she coupled a behavior reward system with a requirement that teachers schedule quarterly field trips to give students wider experiences beyond the classroom.

To no one’s surprise, teachers pushed back. When Huggins put up data charts by classroom and named the teachers, she received emails complaining, “You cannot call us out.” She emailed the entire staff, reminding them that since they work for the public they must answer to the public. “I didn’t get any more complaints after that,” she said.

Teachers started bringing student work to grade level meetings. Huggins encouraged them to ask themselves questions straight from the National Board playbook: What is the student’s level of understanding? How do you know? What are your next steps as a teacher? Huggins also worked to improve teaching and learning for the 15 percent of Bennett’s students in special education, pushing for greater inclusion and revising IEPs. In her second year as principal, their growth led all the schools in Bennett’s network.

When teachers stepped up their game, Bennett rewarded their efforts with special events, like dinner at a restaurant for the entire faculty on her during staff appreciation week. These days, teachers have built a stronger culture, with a social committee that celebrates birthdays and more teachers staying late after school to plan and prepare. “Sometimes I have to put them out,” she joked.
If I may offer some commentary, elementary school I think is too soon for students to think about being college bound....

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Frank I Bennett elementary gets a new electronic sign

I've been wanting to get a pic of the new signage outside of Bennett Elementary and did so this past weekend. Too bad that the electronic sign outside of Bennett's main entrance isn't on at all. Is it even on during school days? What information is presented on this board?
Also this on the front fence of Bennett School near the main entrance. It reflects Bennett's new identity Bennett Pride. Hand made letters which is certainly a nice touch.
However, I'm old school and will continue to consider myself a badger. 😛

Saturday, September 7, 2019

WBEZ: Teens Say Free CTA Rides On First Day Of School Are Not Enough

Usually on the first day of school students and their parents will ride CTA for free. Some students say this still isn't enough.
Students say it’s helpful, but they want the offer year round.

“I think students should get free rides because I don’t really know how you will expect youth who are focusing on their education and career to have constant money,” said Jennifer Nava, a senior at Kelly High School in the Brighton Park neighborhood on the Southwest Side.

It’s a big ask in a city dealing with a huge financial deficit. Just last week, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the city faces a projected $838 million budget shortfall next year.

Still Jennifer, an outspoken teenager who keeps close tabs on city affairs, wants to remind Lightfoot that she promised to make transportation more affordable for students during her campaign.

“If time is not now, then when?” Jennifer said.
How about this, create a U-Pass program for K-12 students especially designed for those students who must depend on public transit. If there isn't enough money to allow free rides for CPS students year round then do what the city's universities have done, require activity fees. Probably not a popular solution, however, as stated in the article the reduced fares for K-12 students add up.

Thursday, July 11, 2019

The site of the former Halsted Indoor Mall #tbt

I snapped these shots of the site of the former shopping center on 115th & Michigan during the summer of 2014. I never released the shots back then, but I wanted to share the context of this site with this article from the Chicago Reader which was actually published in 2003.

It illustrated the history of the former Halsted Indoor Mall which was once housed in a building that once contained a Zayre store. The shopping center here contained both a Foot Locker store and a beauty supply as well as a Jewel-Osco. However at some point all these stores have since closed. The Jewel-Osco closed once a new store was built at the new shopping center located at 119th Street and Marshfield (or on the west side of I-57) should be around 2007 or 2008.

I do remember shopping with my family at the old Zayre store and the old Jewel store you see in the photos below was another shopping destination over the years until the new store opened across the I-57 expressway. One ominous piece of information I learned shopping here one day, my mother was told by another customer that they did snatch purses in that store. YIKES!

At some point after 2012 the former Halsted Indoor Mall was razed, I see this looking at Google Streetview. And that largely ends the saga of the former space which seemed to riddled with some issues involving it's management by the people who operated the space and certainly the people who owned it. The property itself remains vacant with the idea of at some point perhaps something else will be developed here. Perhaps more retail or even some mixed-use retail and residential.

Below are the photographs from summer 2014. I wish I had a pic of the sign on the corner of 115th & Halsted which even the last time I drove by here still had a sign for the Halsted Indoor Mall although the building no longer stands.





Here's a Google Streetview of this property before the Indoor Mall building was razed from 2012 after this you see it's no longer standing. And as stated already the above photos were shot in the summer of 2014.

Friday, June 28, 2019

Recent shot of the Gately's ruins #Ward09

Drove through earlier this week. Sad to see this great big building along Michigan Avenue being demolished. I see the sign's gone, excited to find out any news of this local landmark. It's reminder of a business that no longer exists but many of a certain age still remember.

A posted this recent pic on ig embeded below

Monday, June 24, 2019

The future of the Gately's sign #Ward09


At least we get one good thing out of the loss of the former Gately's People's store landmark sign. The building was destroyed by fire earlier this month and the city is in the process of demolishing the former longtime department store which closed in 1981.
After fire gutted the old Gately’s Peoples Store in Roseland last week, Ald. Anthony A. Beale (9th) said he’s working with members of the Gately family to save the store’s historic neon sign.

“The sign deserves a place in a museum where it can tell our community’s story to present and future generations, and help inspire everyone to work together to make Roseland the thriving and bustling destination it once was,” the neighborhood’s alderman said Monday.

Beale said he went to the fire Friday and saw Gately family members at the scene. He was already planning to preserve the sign, he said, adding that Gately family members said they would help raise the money to make sure the sign is taken down, preserved and put up at a later date.

The sign was not damaged in the fire, but the blaze damaged the century-old building at 11201 S. Michigan Ave. so bad, demolition crews began to take it down Friday night.
...
The sign remains on the building but will come down in the coming days. Beale said it will go into storage for a while and eventually go on display — but he didn’t reveal specific plans in mind to display it.
It does deserve to be somewhere to help tell the story of the Roseland community. And it's great to know the family that owned this business is still around to discuss plans to preserve this landmark.

It's awful to know about the fire, but to hear everyone - especially online or even in soundbites from any news reports - talk about their memories of the now closed store is definitely fascinating. 

Friday, December 21, 2018

#fbf 111th Street & Michigan Avenue

The photo above was taken in 1907 and the building you see in the front foreground according to Chicago history blogger J.R. Schmidt remains at the corner of 111th & Michigan Avenue. If I recall correctly for many years it was a Walgreen's until that location moved across the street. Though now the former Walgreen's store on the north side of 111th Street is now a dollar store.

Of course the progress of time over the course of 111 years ago (111th street and 111 years ago hmmm), we see a lot of the buildings are no longer standing. And of course the city ran its last streetcar in 1958. Even better according to Schmidt who posted this late last month:
A century ago traffic was so light on this stretch of Michigan that small children could wander around aimlessly in the street—not advisable today, in the era of the automobile.
Yeah totally agree with that statement! Click the link to see the photo Schmidt took in 2018 of this same area.