A few months ago I posted a short gallery of Chicago images dating to the mid-70s. Those got a nice deal of commentary and interest from the CC readership and gave me the impression that a second helping would be eventually necessary. So, for those longing to revisit the old days in Windy City, this gallery is for you.
The images date to 1981 and 1982, and show a good variety of neighborhoods, street views, and cars from the period. They are part of the collection of the University of Illinois and are credited to William C. Brubaker.
The lede picture shows Greystone houses on the west side of South Drexel Blvd.
View of West Devon Ave. in West Ridge.
South Halsted St. on the intersection of West 13th St.
South Carpenter Ave. on the Lower West Side.
West Morse St. near the CTA Red Line.
North Clark St. in Edgewater.
East Walton St. between North Michigan Ave. and North Rush St.
In the 70s and 80s, I was in Chicago several times weekly. Although some of my favorite places are not shown, the images clearly bring back great times in That Toddlin Town! Thanks for the Memories!
Growing up there and working there means – yeah – I know those places. I’m a Southsider. Folks who visit don’t see the real Chicago, and what these photos show are the real Chicago.
When you were on the Southside in Bronzeville, you relax and take your time because everyone around you are relaxed and taking their time. Cars would stop in the lanes, doors would open, and entire families would slowly climb out, straighten themselves out, find all their kids, and then walk across the street. Crosswalks? Who used those? There wasn’t parking like there is now, so you blocked the streets. I delivered Hinkley & Schmidt water in five gallon glass and plastic containers for those businesses. You think I parked to make deliveries? LOL!
I put on my flashers. Waited 30 seconds. Ignored the honking. Jumped down out of the cab. Ignored the profanity and anger. Grabbed my dollie bungied across the grille. Unfolded it on the street. Unlocked and opened my bay doors. Grabbed my products and loaded up the dollie. Slammed the bay doors and locked them. Then delivered that water. Each jug weighed 40-50 pounds, depending if it was either plastic or glass.
Streets aren’t just for driving in Chicago, as some of these photos show. New York is even crazier and you always need to be flexible when you drive around these cities. Boston? Are you crazy? Always nuts. Never expect smooth sailing as a delivery truck in our big cities. Know your cops. Know your limits. Know your customers. Record every car that hits you because they are too damn dumb to understand how city streets work and don’t expect your movements, even when you are using your flashers.
As to the photo below – that is a new bottle design. When I was delivering for them, there wasn’t a handle – you threw them on your shoulders. The glass ones were heavier of course. Everyday I used to throw 5-10,000 pounds of water on my back.
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/nbc-5-secrets-of-delivery-drivers/5922/
These pictures aren’t really iconic Chicago. They could be any city. Joseph Dennis always captures locations that instantly declare Chicagoness.
There is more to Chicago that Mrs. O’Leary’s cow, Wrigley Field, Water Tower and the St. Valentine’s day massacre site.
If you are from Chicago, these photos are Chicago. Actually, they are the real Chicago. We don’t live across the street from Oprah Winfrey, yet we’ve all personally seen her. We don’t live on State Street, but millions of us have seen shows at the Chicago Theatre. These photos are more real than the picture postcards everyone knows.
Not many imports….
As a toddler, I rode with my family in an Opel when our Buick was being serviced. All through the past few decades, there have always been imports in Chicago. They were usually second cars in the 1980s. Chicago is where Detroit gets its car components. So there’s probably a half million Chicagoans personally invested in the domestic car industry. So, expecting an imported car in Chicago during the 1980s is like expecting to see Heineken drinkers in Milwaukee in the 1980s. We support our neighbors, keep our dollars in town, and not have our cars globally shipped from the other side of the earth by diesel engines – we just wait at the end of the assembly line on Torrence Avenue for our new Fords.
We are the people who helped make them. My father and uncle both worked for Ford Motor Company and my father-in-law worked his entire life at one of Chicagoland’s largest Oldsmobile dealership as a Mr. Goodwrench. BTW – we also don’t import corn, tomatoes, soy, or pizza.
I wasn’t being critical, I was just noting the lack of imported cars on Chicago streets in these photos. It was very different in the DC suburb I lived in at the time, where seemingly 1/3 of the cars were from foreign brands, and that percentage was still on the rise.
The shot of Morse west of the CTA station is particularly neat for me, as I lived about 75 yards further down from where that photo was taken on the same side of the street. It was still recognizable 30 years later as the same place as it is in the photo, and wasn’t (hasn’t?) changed dramatically, for better (or worse).
North Clark is another familiar one, as that was the neighborhood I first lived in upon arriving in Chicago. That one definitely has an older feel compared to what it became and is now. Whether by fault of my memory or the changes of time, I cannot pinpoint the exact spot on Clark readily.
One final Chicago comment, please.
With hundreds of thousands of Chicagoans working in the auto industry and being loyal to their brands, how well did we get along with one another? My father in law was a GM Olds mechanic, my father and uncle were Ford men, we had family in Kenosha making AMC products on their assembly line, how well did these family members get along?
Actually they all got along better than Sox and Cub fans. I guess a car was a car and when you are getting employee discounted cars for your family, it is understood that you drove the brand that employed you.
Detroit is where the Big Three are headquartered, but it is Chicago, Cleveland, Milwaukee and Toledo where the Big Three parts are made, or where the machines that make the parts are made. So, imports are fun as hobby cars or second cars growing up, and it seemed that all my block’s neighbors had lots of imported cars, yet when it comes to daily driving and family rides, we all found ourselves in hometown products.
Look at all the “Bs” and a few “Cs” thrown in for good measure. For those that weren’t there these are a great look back at a time when full size cars, including station wagons, roamed the land in large numbers and GM, particularly Chevrolet, still had a massive market share.
I just love these. Little India in the second shot, Rogers Park in the fourth shot, and Andersonville in the fifth shot – all specific blocks I’ve passed since the beginning of the year. Great post, Rich.
I see a few Mercedes, including a W113 SL, and what is probably a VW Rabbit. Could that be a white Renault Fuego seen through the greenhouse of the yellow LTD in the last photo?
The high volume of full-sized GM cars definitely differentiates it from my city (Ottawa).
Would not have seen so many here. There would have been more imports in Ottawa, and more small cars.
The white four-wheel drive Squarebody, stands out for a city street, during that era.
The Citation got more press, and was more popular, but I slightly preferred FWD Phoenix styling.
Even though he has the right of way, the bicyclist may have to be prepared to yield to the full-sized Pontiac advancing from the side street. As the driver appears to be looking the other way, with the bike fast approaching.
A high profile dooring death here in Ottawa over a decade ago, had me bicycling less on congested downtown streets, and using more of Ottawa’s almost 1,000 kms of bike paths. Sad story, as I still remember that unusually very mild day in October, the young woman chose to bicycle to work.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/charge-laid-in-ottawa-cyclist-death-1.1024626
During those years ( ‘78 – to mid ‘81) I was a social worker in Chicago. I lived off Kedzie and rode the IC (Illinois Central) rail line into the city daily. A number of these streets are familiar to me and take me back. I didn’t live a glamorous life there but that wasn’t why I was there in the first place. Tough people living a tough life….yet truly grateful for what we could do for them.