North Lawndale
Re: North Lawndale
Posted by: Berwyn Frank (---.lightspeed.cicril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: January 10, 2012 05:29PM

222psm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You got to go inside! I wish I could have taged
> along! I just love to go into places like that,
> it's a shame the place can not be saved, but it
> looks like it's beyond repair. Or it would take a
> boat load of money to restore, thanks to you and
> Mr Casalino for the pictures. On a side note the
> views on this tread is at 22,222!

PERRY went inside! To be honest with you 222psm, I didn't have the testicular fortitude to enter through the dark basement and find my way up to the main floor! All I did was gaurd the back door!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/2012 06:20PM by Berwyn Frank.

Re: North Lawndale
Posted by: Berwyn Frank (---.lightspeed.cicril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: January 10, 2012 05:41PM

This picture is AWESOME! I tried to take a better photo a while back but the block is just WAY to dicey to get out and walk around. Have no fear though! Perry was more then willing to get out of the car and even strike up a conversation with the local open air drug market employees of the 1300 block of S. Karlov. As a result you have this amazing photo of the 1890s ginger bread time capsule cottage that stands at 1334.

Click to enlarge and get a better look at the details.

[i]Perry Casalino Photo 2012[/i]





Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/2012 06:20PM by Berwyn Frank.

Re: North Lawndale
Posted by: Berwyn Frank (---.lightspeed.cicril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: January 10, 2012 05:57PM

Here are some better photos of the corner store building at the N.W. corner of 15th & Kedvale that once housed the home and saloon of 23rd Ward alderman Joseph Kacena. Go to page 4 of this thread and scroll down a bit to read the neat story I told about him.

[i]Perry Casalino Photo 2012[/i]



Alley House



Re: North Lawndale
Posted by: Berwyn Frank (---.lightspeed.cicril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: January 10, 2012 06:11PM

Here are photos of the abandoned CFD Engine Co. 77 firehouse that stands at 1222 S. Komensky. The building has been sitting boarded up for at least a few years now. You will notice that there is something missing on the top section of brick. There was a terra cotta medallion of a fire helmet and two crossed axes that has now been chipped out (I am assuming by someone from the engine co. or the city). I took a photo of it a while back but the photo is no good. (Man I suck at taking pictures!) This tells me that the building is going to be torn down soon. Engine Co. 77's slogan was "I Like it Here."

[i]Perry Casalino Photo 2012[/i]





Re: North Lawndale
Posted by: Theravada (---.dsl.emhril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: March 09, 2012 02:06PM

My grandfather lived on Millard Ave around 1910. He left me this picture but no address number. I do not know if that house is still there.


[url=http://imgur.com/3LaFK.jpg]Millard Ave. Chicago[/url]

Re: North Lawndale
Posted by: Berwyn Frank (---.lightspeed.cicril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: March 09, 2012 07:37PM

Theravada Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My grandfather lived on Millard Ave around 1910.
> He left me this picture but no address number. I
> do not know if that house is still there.
>
>
> Millard Ave. Chicago



George, you just HAD to challenge me! :) I LOVE doing this stuff!

Your grandfather lived at 1422 S. Millard Ave. in North Lawndale. Here is a photo of it.



I know it doesn't look like it but it's DEFINITELY the building. The buildings that have actually survived in that part of the neighborhod have been muddled over the years. Here is a photo of the buildings next door (1424 & 1426) that you can see in your photo. The porches on all three are now long gone. Tax records show that your grandfathers building was built in 1907 and the one that now stands to the right of his was built in 1910 and was probably built shortly after your photo was taken.





Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/09/2012 07:41PM by Berwyn Frank.

Re: North Lawndale
Posted by: Theravada (---.dsl.emhril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: March 09, 2012 11:33PM

Many thanks! Here is the back of that same house. Is there a WEB site where I could find those tax records? I have more pictures.






Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/09/2012 11:36PM by Theravada.

Re: North Lawndale
Posted by: Berwyn Frank (---.lightspeed.cicril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: March 09, 2012 11:42PM

George, I found the actual house the hard way, I went through each indivdual house photo until I found your grandfathers. The tax records themselves are current owners only with property tax info and basic info on each property. I use blockshopper, here are the tax records for North Lawndale.

[url=http://chicago.blockshopper.com/cities/chicago-lawndale/streets]North Lawndale Tax Records[/url]

Re: North Lawndale
Posted by: Theravada (---.dsl.emhril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: March 09, 2012 11:59PM

Here is my grandfather's store at 1423 Pulaski Ave.



Re: North Lawndale
Posted by: Berwyn Frank (---.lightspeed.cicril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: March 10, 2012 12:10AM

WOW!!! AMAZING photo! Man, for 1910 era photos, these are all so clear and crisp. Was your grandfather a photographer?

His store was right in the heart of the "Merigold" or "Novy Tabor" (Czech for New Camp) section of North Lawndale. I talk about Merigold in the first post in this thread on page 1.

Re: North Lawndale
Posted by: Theravada (---.dsl.emhril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: March 10, 2012 10:48AM

Frank,

My grandfather was an ordinary tailor most of his time in Chicago. Here is another picture of the back yard at 1422 Millard Ave:



I have no idea what that chapel in the back ground is.

Re: North Lawndale
Posted by: Berwyn Frank (---.lightspeed.cicril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: March 10, 2012 02:35PM

Another awesome photo! The structure in the back ground is not a chapel, but a horse stable. Your grandfathers house on Millard Ave. (north south street) was one off the alley, his house facing east. Douglas Blvd. (east west street) was the street just north and "across" the side alley from him would have been buildings that faced north on Douglas Blvd. That stable is so elaborate because Douglas Blvd. was the fancy street in the area and the buildings were more substantial, having been built by their more affluent owners. That stable was behind one of the palatial graystone buildings on Douglas.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/10/2012 03:33PM by Berwyn Frank.

Re: North Lawndale
Posted by: nancybc (---.va.shawcable.net)
Date: March 10, 2012 03:25PM

I just have to weigh in and thank Theraveda for sharing these remarkable photos and Berwyn Frank for making it all come alive by 'rebuilding' the original neighborhood for us.
Many thanks!!!
Cheers,
Nancy

Re: North Lawndale
Posted by: Theravada (---.dsl.emhril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: March 10, 2012 06:37PM

Nancy,

I can only thank my grandfather John Krejci:



that he left these photos behind. Now that I am on pension and my wife passed away, I have time to look at the past. I also have pictures of Sokol Summer Camp in Crystal Lake but that I'll add under the topic "Czech Chicago" since most of the kids there had Czech parents or grandparents.

George

Re: North Lawndale
Posted by: Richard Stachowski (---.dsl.chcgil.sbcglobal.net)
Date: March 10, 2012 10:44PM

[b]There was a Camp Sokol in willow Springs across Lake tuma from Camp Kiwanis Boy Scout Camp. Anybody remember it? That was in the 40's & 50's.[/b]

Re: North Lawndale
Posted by: Berwyn Frank (---.lightspeed.cicril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: March 10, 2012 11:32PM

Richard Stachowski Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There was a Camp Sokol in willow Springs across
> Lake tuma from Camp Kiwanis Boy Scout Camp.
> Anybody remember it? That was in the 40's & 50's.

Richard, I covered that in the thread linked below. The Sokol camp in Willow Springs was owned by Sokol Town of Lake which was located in your old neighborhood of Back of the Yards at 47th & Honore.

http://forgottenchicago.com/forum/1/1489/czech_chicago



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/10/2012 11:34PM by Berwyn Frank.

Re: North Lawndale
Posted by: Theravada (---.dsl.emhril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: March 11, 2012 10:14PM

In 1925 my grandfather returned back to Czechoslovakia. In 1928 Millard Ave. was populated by the following people:





I just checked these pictures here and they shrunk them, so I do not know if anybody will be able to read them. The originals are actually about 10 times as big on my PC. Well, that is what happens when you use someone else WEB site (imgur.com). I cannot add anything on my own WEB site at georgekrejci.com even though I'm paying $10/month. My complaints remain unanswered and I do not want to stop paying because they will then remove 10 years of work and 30,000+ pictures, documents, videos, etc. will be gone......



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/11/2012 10:33PM by Theravada.

Re: North Lawndale
Posted by: Berwyn Frank (---.lightspeed.cicril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: March 11, 2012 10:44PM

George, the area your grandfather lived in North Lawndale had turned almost competely Jewish by 1925, you can see that reflected in the surnames of the people listed where he lived on Millard Ave. The area west of Pulaski in North Lawndale ("Merigold") was still somewhat Bohemian until the 1950s. The entire area south of Cermak which was known as Lawndale-Crawford, then Little Village, was almost all Czech until the 1960s.

If you haven't already, you chould check out the book I wrote on the Little Village neighborhood.

http://www.amazon.com/Chicagos-Little-Village-Lawndale-Crawford-Publishing/dp/0738577375/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1331512962&sr=8-2

Re: North Lawndale
Posted by: Theravada (---.dsl.emhril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: March 12, 2012 12:52AM

Frank, I ordered that book last week and I cannot wait, must be in demand. I do remember my grandfather was saying he could not sell goods in his store on Pulaski because Jews were moving in and set up their stores, so he went back to Czechoslovakia, build an appartment building in Pilsen (Plzen). Then communists nationalized everything in 1948. He stayed there but our family returned back to USA and started all over again. Anyway I'll never go back, I'm doing OK here. No sense losing everything again. George

Re: North Lawndale
Posted by: 222psm (---.br.br.cox.net)
Date: March 12, 2012 12:49PM

George, thank you so much for sharing those wonderfull pictures!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2012 09:42AM by 222psm.

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