Kup's Chicago - Irv Kupcinet [98]
Governmental Chicago cannot be overlooked. To capture its flavor, visit the block-square City Hall-County Building, where of special interest are weekly City Council meetings on the City Hall side, and daily proceedings in the courtrooms of the Circuit and Superior courts on the County side. Or visit the Federal Building (the Old Post Office) a few blocks south, seat of the United States District Court which tried such famous defendants as Samuel Insull, Al Capone, and the Standard Oil Trust. The Criminal Courts Builidng at Twenty-sixth and California, with its daily parade of murder, assault, and narcotics defendents, is poignant testimony to society’s weakness and failures. Illinois’ “alternate capitol,” the State of Illinois Building, is located at LaSalle and Randolph. There it is not uncommon to see the Governor chatting in the lobby as he awaits his private elevator.
And there is Melting-Pot Chicago. Start with the most sobering portion, the “Black Belt” of the South and Near West Sides, which is mute testimony to the mistrust, misunderstanding, and outright bigotry that remain to be swept from the city. But don’t fail to notice the heartening aspects, the well-maintained properties of many Negroes who now command decent housing on Far South Side streets, and Lake Meadows, the Near South Side interracial redevelopment project, which was financed entirely by private capital.
Thanks to the good work of such neighborhood self-help organizations as Joseph Meegan’s Back of the Yards Council, most of the past waves of immigrants have been assimilated. But there are still remnants of old-country culture in the shops, churches, and restaurants of several neighborhoods.
There is “Chinatown,” for example, around Wentworth south of Cermak; “Little Japan,” centered about the shop at 1124-28 North Clark operated by Jun Toguri, father of the girl who to his sorrow became the “Tokyo Rose” of World War II; “Little Pilsen,” the Bohemian settlement in the vicinity of Eighteenth and Loomis; and “Little Greece,” near the new University of Chicago campus at Harrison.
Chicago’s Jewish population, one of the hemisphere’s largest and most distinguished, is widely scattered throughout the city. But you will find clusters of excellent Jewish delicatessens in such neighborhoods as the South Side’s Hyde Park and the North Side’s Rogers Park and Albany Park.
And no melting-pot tour would be complete without a journey to Maxwell Street, where every day except the Saturday Sabbath, peddlers pull up carts and erect booths to create one of the nearest approximations of an old-world market this side of the Middle East.
And finally, there is Recreational Chicago, the facet of Our Town’s personality which has made it equally appealing to residents, tourists, and conventioneers. The Loop theaters, Rush Street night clubs, and Loop and Near North Side restaurants, of course, are among my favorites.
In few other cities, especially in the warm-weather months, are there more varied resources for relaxation and amusement. There is the Brookfield Zoo int he southwestern suburbs, where uncaged animals are exhibited in their natural habitat. Nearer the Loop is Lincoln Park Zoo.
For the sports-minded, there are beaches, golf courses, swimming pools, bridle paths, and boating and water-skiing on Lake Michigan. Or, if you prefer a spectator’s role, there are major events at Comiskey Park, Wrigley Field, Arlington, Washington, Sportsman’s, and Maywood Parks, Hawthorne Race Track, Chicago Stadium, International Amphitheater, and Soldier Field.
And there is the seventy-seven-acre Riverview Park, one of the world’s largest and most popular amusement parks.
This is only a beginning. But once you have sought out these sights and