Well, for some reason Mike will not resurrect the thread we had going on Little Village and my new book Chicago's Little Village Lawndale-Crawford (perhaps he is a busy man?), so I will just start a new one!

[url=http://www.arcadiapublishing.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=9780738577371&Store_Code=arcadia&search=NEW&offset=0&filter_cat=&PowerSearch_Begin_Only=&sort=name.asc&range_low=&range_high=%20%26srch_newbook%3D1]Chicago's Little Village Lawndale-Crawford[/url]

The books official release date was yesterday, but as of this afternoon it was not at Borders in Oak Park yet. I give it a day or so before we see it in stores. I got my advance copy a couple of weeks ago and I am very happy with the finished product. I hope some of you buy it and bombard me with questions and feedback (positive of negative) so I can answer away. I guarantee you will learn something about the neighborhood. I have been researching Little Village for years and have a long family history within the community. Majority of the images come from my extensive personal collection and many have never before been seen. I feel that I have accurately told the story of the neighborhood from its beginnings after the Chicago Fire till modern times. It's all there, the good, the bad, and the ugly.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/2010 11:39PM by Berwyn Frank.

The book IS available at Amazon now, if you are not into the whole "support your local independent bookseller" thing. I usually am, but I went ahead and ordered it.

I've lived in the area since 2000 and I'm always looking to learn more about the 'hood. I'll be sure to bombard you with feedback once I have read it.

Frank,
Maybe you can help me with a question regarding S. Lawndale. My father lived at 21st and Harding during the late 1920s and 30s. What were the ethnic boundaries in that era?

Ask and ye shall receive. First of all, 21st & Harding is NOT South Lawndale, but one block into North Lawndale. 22nd St. (Cermak Rd.) is the border that separates North and South Lawndale. In the early days of the neighborhood the borders were kind of fuzzy and did not make much of a difference ethnically. In the beginning your fathers neighborhood was SOLID Bohemians. I have images in my collection circa 1910 of 21st & Pulaski (one street west of Harding) and all of the businesses that lined that street bore Czech surnames. That changed around World War One. During that time the neighborhood became overwhelmingly Jewish. I checked the 1930 directory and your fathers block was about 80% Jewish and a small number of Irish, a couple Bohemians, and a few other "early American" surnames. Interestingly, the area SOUTH of Cermak remained SOLID Bohemian well into the 1950s, while your fathers block and neighborhood went from Bohemian to Jewish to African American where it has remained until present day. South of Cermak in South Lawndale (now Little Village), the area has been solid Mexican since the 1970s. As an added bonus, here is a rare real photo postcard from my collection of your fathers block circa 1910. This view shows the east side of 21st & Harding before the west side was built. Sorry if his building is not shown.

Ordered mine on Amazon Monday, should be in today (wednesday). Can't wait!
I'm sure I'll have a few questions.

Frank ,,Another great image. I grew up on Harding ave. Although our home was nearer to North ave ,its great to see Harding from such an earlier period in time. Good luck on the book,,ill be picking up my copy soon.

Ordered 4 last week from Amazon. They have shipped and should be delivered within a few days.

I grew up in what is now called Little Village back in the 50s - 24th and St. Louis. Many simply called the neighborhood "26th Street". Went to BA (now named St. Agnes of Bohemia) grammar school through the 7th grade. Family moved in 1960.

Took our youngest daughter on a tour a few weeks ago. Only things that were familiar to me were the schools and churches. Seemed much smaller and (way) more crowded.

Stopped at Home Run Inn on 31st. I welled up a little when on the menu I saw a picture of some people that worked there back when my brother and I played Little League baseball during the summer and CYO basketball in the later months at the park across the street, then called Lawndale Park. The pizza was as I remembered it.

Can't wait for the book !!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2010 02:35PM by daveg.

After posting my previous note, I had a thought.

Wondered if anyone might be interested in getting together somewhere (Home Run Inn?) to share stories and discuss the book. I know it may be hard to schedule but I think it might be a fun thing to do.

Maybe in a month or two after we get a chance to digest the book?

Heck, I wouldn't mind having my book signed by the author !!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2010 02:37PM by daveg.

Thank's to everybody that will be buying the book, I am sure you will enjoy it. There are some GREAT images in it. As far as an event/discussion there will be at least a couple. There is already one scheduled for October 2nd at the Berwyn Public Library which I am looking foreword to. Unfortunately, I had hoped for it to be a lot sooner but there was a scheduling error that took place and I lost the opportunity for a summer program. The event should be well attended as I had an similar event for Berwyn's centennial that was attended by over 125 people.

Came home and the book/s arrived !! Thumbed through, will start reading later this evening - amazing!

Where does one collect all those pictures?

I'm sending one to my brother, sister and mother-in-law. I get one too ! ;-)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2010 08:24PM by daveg.

DaveG i like that idea..count me in. Frank ,,cmon,,its the HomeRun inn we are talking about here! you gotta be there my friend.

Maybe this can turn into an official Forgotten Chicago event.

I'd still insist on Home Run Inn though. ;-)

BTW, I finished the book in one sitting. Couldn't put it down.

The book on Portage Park is great, shows my old block in 1910!

BTW, some will say Ogden Ave bisects North and South Lawndale.

Some do say that Ogden bisects the two neighborhoods but they are wrong. The "official" neighborhood boundaries are stated below in this excerpt from my book I posted in the old thread that was lost on this subject.

Little Village could be confusing at times. To make your experience a little easier, here are some facts to keep in mind. The geographical borders of the neighborhood are Cermak Road (2200 South) to the north, the Illinois Central Railroad tracks to the south (Thirty-first Street or Thirty-third Street depending on your location), Western Avenue (2400 West) to the east, and Kilbourn Avenue (4500 West) to the west. Little Village has also been known by many names over the past 140 years. The neighborhood was originally called Lawndale, then Lawndale-Crawford, Czech California, South Lawndale, and finally Little Village.

Here is a link to the South Lawndale community Wikipedia page.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Lawndale,_Chicago

Towards the bottom there is an External links section one of which is the "official" city of Chicago map of the community.

The map doesn't show Cermak (22nd) to be exactly the north border but it seems to parallel the IC tracks that are the south border, somewhat of a diagonal running northeast to southwest.

The eastern border appears to be a block or two west of Western Ave.

BTW, the map still lists the community name as South Lawndale.

Chicago's official Community Areas are used for the US Census. This is where I saw the diagonal boundry.

Basically the "official" map uses the Burlington railroad tracks as the north border. Interesting. Using this map, on the west end of the neighborhood there is industrial land where it "cuts off" what I say the borders are. One the east end it goes to basically 21st St before you enter more industrial land between Rockwell and Western. One thing's for certain, Ogden is DEFINITELY NOT the northern border.

I have seen the borders where I defined them in many places. Here are a couple of sites that say so.

Encyclopedia of Chicago

"La Villita. Situated between the Stevenson Expressway at its southern limits and stretching roughly along Cermak Road to the north, with Western Avenue and Cicero as its east to west boundaries" (When the Encyclopedia of Chicago states "Cicero" as the western border, they mean the Town of Cicero whose eastern border is 4600 west in that area. I mentioned that Little Village starts as 4500 west.)

http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1174.html

Chicago Neighborhood and City Guide

http://www.chicagoneighborhoods.cc/neighborhoods/littlevillage.html

On the bottom of the above there is a link to this map.

http://www.chicagoneighborhoods.cc/maps/map_littlevillage.htm

Real Estate Map.

http://www.chicagohomeestates.com/neighborhood/t/Little_Village/v/map/

Little Village Development Corp.

http://www.lvcdc.org/index.php

Above's community map. Looks to me like the north border is Cermak.





Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/24/2010 04:31AM by Berwyn Frank.

I Found out about your book from a postcard in my mailbox and we are excited to go buy it and learn about our lifelong neighborhood. I'm currently renting an apartment in the Shedd home on 23rd and Millard. My Sister in law owns the building and we've always tried to look up the history since it seems like it goes back a long way. Internet searches haven't provided much so I'm hoping your book might give us more insight into this beautiful home and maybe you have more information to add about it

Wow alex2437, living in the Shedd house. I lived on 24th and St Louis, just a few blocks away back in the 50s and never knew about such things. I do vaguely recall Shedd park though. Of course I was just a kid and worried more about baseball and staying out of trouble with the nuns at BA. ;-)

Good luck on your quest for more information on the house.

alex2437 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I Found out about your book from a postcard in my
> mailbox and we are excited to go buy it and learn
> about our lifelong neighborhood. I'm currently
> renting an apartment in the Shedd home on 23rd and
> Millard. My Sister in law owns the building and
> we've always tried to look up the history since it
> seems like it goes back a long way. Internet
> searches haven't provided much so I'm hoping your
> book might give us more insight into this
> beautiful home and maybe you have more information
> to add about it

WOW! Alex, I sent the postcard! I am so glad that you got it. I sent postcards to every address that I talked about in the book. I wrote on the bottom of it that your home is featured in the book! Please let me know what you and your sister in law think. There are many images and mentions of the 2200 and 2300 block of Millard Ave. By the way, I would LOVE to see the home up close! :) If you ever want to give an author a tour......

I have more info about your home and John G. Shedd. If you want to talk to me before or after you read the book, private message me your phone number or I can send you mine.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/2010 01:26PM by Berwyn Frank.