Yep. That was the dividing line. Whites would keep those black people on the other side of Damen. That yellow viaduct looked a lot bigger when I saw it as a kid, in the dead of winter. A few blocks east is Ashland, where I took the other shots. Several of the Bethel church are of a story unto itself. Damen to Western, white flight is a funny and stupid thing. Our old neighborhood, 85th & Pulaski, went from white to black in eight years. And now they are being pushed away from the Mexicans.
6 comments:
"Nap rates." So that's what they are calling it now.
In "The Va-va-va VOOM!" my heroine evades a mob of crazed followers of a Cthulhu-type being (who lives in the Marquette Park lagoon) by running east under the viaduct into the black neighborhood. The Cthulhuans won't follow past the viaduct -- that's the "bad" part of town!!!
I thought the viaduct was east a little ways of Western Avenue. I used to see it when I waited for a bus after attending the Hi-Way Theater (when they weren't showing X-rated movies). I think the last street west of the viaduct is Bell.
At least that's what I remember.
Rich, we might be thinking ogf two vi-ducks. This one was three blocks from Damen. I walked between Damen and Archer, never taking a photo from the street. I got off there and found out from a young kid that Damen was at the light. The old unemployment office was at, like, 62nd Place and Damen in 1989.
Is 63rd & Western considered Gage Park?
Yes, Wayne. Could be two different viaducts. Plenty of them down that stretch of the South Side. And Damen and Western are only four blocks apart. Mostly, the viaducts are between those two streets.
I think the heart of Gage Park was more along 55th Street, but the neighborhood extends down all the way to 63rd. If 63rd and Western isn't considered Gage Park, then it's right on the border.
I've been threatening to send you a copy of "VOOM." I should get around to that.
FYI: I just checked a newsroom map that outlines Chicago neighborhood boundaries. The corner of 63rd and Western contains the southeast border of Gage Park, the western boundary of West Englewood and the northeast boundary of Chicago Lawn.
Forget what I said before. My eyesight is going. The southernmost end of Gage Park is 59th Street. That tiny gray type on maps is driving me nuts!
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