At 842 W. 53rd Place you'll find this bleak duo of dwellings.
Most of the blight is in the southern half of BOTY--and that's the part that is adjacent to the notoriously violent Englewood neighborhood, the setting of Spike Lee's 2015 movie Chi-Raq.
If Englewood was a desirable area realtors would be calling Back of the Yards "Englewood North." Perhaps cops already use this moniker.
One of the legs of Illinois' gerrymandered 7th congressional district reaches into Back of the Yards, its representative is Democrat Danny K. Davis, a West Side Democrat. I've never worked on a political campaign, but I have enough common sense to know that slapping posters on an abandoned house offers image challenges for a candidate. This two-flat is at 5433 S. Union.
Vacant lots proliferate in the south end. But the stubborn and expensive-to-remove foundation offer reminders as to what was there before.
Two years ago when Google Maps' truck passed by 748 W. 53rd Street the glass was gone from the upper left-corner second floor window that time too.
A few miles east is the University of Chicago, which was fortunate because I was able to locate an archaeologist who identified this stretch of concrete near the apartment above as a sidewalk.
Here's another neglected Chicago greystone--this one is on 55th Street.
The Back of the Yards gets its name because its south of the old Union Stockyards, when Chicago was the meatpacking center of America and, in Carl Sandburg's words, "hog butcher to the world."
Here is the limestone gate from the old stockyards.
Back of the Yards was the setting for Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle.
The Livestock National Bank building, which has been owned by the city of Chicago since 2000, has been vacant for decades. The design for this stately structure was based on Independence Hall.
Across the street is the site of the International Amphitheater, where the doomed 1968 Democratic National Convention was held. On December 8, 1979, my 18th birthday, I saw my first rock concert there, The Who.
"Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity." Ecclesiastes.
Richard M. Daley has not been mayor for over five years.
Two more abandoned homes on 51st Street near Bishop.
Leftist community organizer Saul Alinksy, a role model for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, got his start in community organizing by co-founding the Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council in 1939. It still exists.
Rubbish fills the backyard of this home at 5044 S. Laflin.
The former Goodman Equipment Company factory is at 4834 S. Halsted, which I explored in a post earlier this week.
Related posts:
- (Photos) Abandoned homes in Chicago's violent East Garfield Park neighborhood
- (Photos) Abandoned homes in Chicago's most violent neighborhood--West Garfield Park
- (Photos) Abandoned homes in Chicago's violent North Lawndale neighborhood
- (Photos) The abandoned homes of Chicago's violent Englewood neighborhood
1 comment:
Very sad. I spent a lot of time in the area from 120th street on the south to 55th street on the north, The Pullman district to Inglewood. Garfield Park, Going to 63 rd street beach on the old street cars before the Green Hornets. The stretch of 63rd street under the tracks, with the cheesy game galleries. East Chicago, West Pullman, by Eggleston and Normal. south Michigan Avenue- Strolling the Ave. Ashland and Halsted streets. a lot of fun times with friends, all gone now.
Palmer Park pool. The Capitol movie theater with my then best girl. Wolf lake on the far South Side , Changing clothes in the back seat of your friends car with friends holding towels up for a bit of privacy
A long time and many miles ago. but even back in the GOOD OLD days you had to watch your back, there were plenty of jerks and groups of guys guys just looking for a victem, especially one who was alone. Got my share of bloody noses and black eyes, and gave a few back, lived to talk about it. Take care, watch your back.
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