Which idiot took care of the destruction of the Lexington Hotel (AL Capones HQ), what an amazing beauty, full of history and the demontage of the garage 2122 North Clark Street (Place of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre). http://www.myalcaponemuseum.com/ee280d90.jpg http://www.myalcaponemuseum.com/4d08ab10.jpg Nice site about Al, Chicago and the Mafia http://www.myalcaponemuseum.com/id79.htm Regards, Che.
They demolished the Lexington a long time ago.Chicago still has quite a few old buildings in the downtown are whose architecture you would enjoy.
That's actually a very informative website.I used to pass some of the houses shown on a daily basis.I never knew they once belonged to gangsters.
That´s probably true, Chicago has its own allurement, but mostly I think it´s caused by various Gangstermovies I´ve seen (The Untouchables, The Sting, Road to Perdition etc). Nevertheless Chicago would be on top of my list of the cities I would really like to see. That´s why I didn´t understand, why they demolish the Lexington Hotel, such an architectural beauty and with the historical background. When I hear "Chicago" I´m thinking of car chases, Thompson 1928 in violin cases, Gangsters, Al Capone, Policemen and this incredible city itself, uh man it´s architecturally at the leading position in the world
Sturmtiger: I lived and worked in Chicago many years ago. I lived off Milwaukee Ave... about 4200 NW. It was a Polish neighborhood. Very clean houses and yards. That was 1975. I worked at 29 East Madison... right on the crosshairs of downtown. I used to take shortcuts through Marshall-Fields and Carson, Pirie-Scott. I recall once I got lost underground between El-stations and found the most incredible hobby-shop I had ever seen. (I was building 1/48 scale Bandai armor-kits back then.) I couldn't find it again to save my life. Tim
When I hear Chicago I think of urban blight and corruption. I've never been there but get that feeling about it.
Many visiting english literary figures called it dirty and unremarkable. Its generally a blue collar middle class city
My insights are from many years ago, but I too found it--and all big cities--unremarkable. Most discuss Chicago as being a warm, friendly, midwestern metropolis. I found the people cold, paranoid and generally unfriendly. Lots of crime and you didn't want to take a wrong-turn and end-up in the wrong neighborhood. Some of those neighborhoods were ROUGH. Cops wouldn't even answer a call in Cabrini Green back then. They might get sniped from a window in the high-rise welfare project. I was a young kid from small-town Indiana. I tried to speak to people while on the platform waiting for the 'EL." (Elevated train.) They would clutch their purses, wallets and step-back like I was some mental-case preparing to pounce on them. I was a country-boy... I had no city-smarts at the time. Tim
lol merlin ,the coon hat was only on cold days , same with wearin shoes ..sadly tim , city overcrowding breeds suspician ,they think ...why does this stranger approach me unless he wants something ,whats his angle ? extreme crowding is not benificial to society or good manners .. conversly , when i first moved out to the countryside where i now live ,i couldnt understand why strangers often waved or said hello when passing on foot or by car ...
Good one Merlin! Curiously, I earned myself a "nickname" back in those days. I worked for a Jewish-owned jewelry wholesaler and was a bonded-courier. When Arnold Horowitz--my boss--learned my first name was really Jon, he thought that was a good Jewish name... and it stuck. The TV show "The Waltons" was big at the time, and I was known as "John-boy" thereafter. The black-guys I worked with called me "Johnny Bull." I don't know why... but I've been called worse. Tim
