Halsted/North Avenue pix and info


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Halsted/North Avenue pix and info
Posted by: captain54 ()
Date: July 14, 2011 08:16PM

I think the area around Halsted and North Avenue has undergone one of the most dramatic transformations of all the transformed intersections/areas of Chicago.

I've searched high and low and can't seem to find any visual reference or looks from the 50's, 60's, 70's to compare. I know that the Sam's Wine house was on the NE corner of North/Halsted, and the Golden Ox was up the block south, but that's about it other than the Homemaker's Furniture warehouse going in near there in the mid 80's sometime. There was a thread and discussion on this board earlier, but the only pix I was able to find was the one WO Wardell's posted of Yondorf Hall/Sam's from what looks like the 70's

I can't think any further back than the mid 70's and I do remember that you really didn't consider traveling west on North avenue any further than Larrabee, and any further south on Halsted than Armitage.. no man's land after that.

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Re: Halsted/North Avenue pix and info
Posted by: WayOutWardell ()
Date: July 14, 2011 11:50PM

You're absolutely right, photographs are few. There are currently a handful of negatives for sale on eBay taken during the Haber factory fire, and a site dedicated to the former Seeburg jukebox factory on Dayton. It's interesting, but doesn't really give a sense of the area as a whole (aside from the 'borderline slum' caption on the second photo):

[url=http://jukeboxhistory.110mb.com/Seeburg/SEE-factory.html]Seeburg Factory, Dayton & Blackhawk[/url]

I did come across a photo on the Chicago L.org site, which has a nice shot of the original North/Clybourn subway station and the buildings in the background (b&w photo on the right side which you can click to enlarge):

[url=http://www.chicago-l.org/stations/north-clyborn.html]North/Clybourn Station[/url]

But that's about it. Some of my family lived near there, but I don't think they had regular access to a camera or maybe didn't think to take photos.

Around the time that the Procter & Gamble plant was being demolished, I remember there being a neat old 1890s light industrial building on the corner of North & Sheffield, with a faded sign for the former statuary business hanging in front. By the time I made it back to take pictures, it had been torn down and replaced by Restoration Hardare, of all things.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/15/2011 12:11AM by WayOutWardell.

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Re: Halsted/North Avenue pix and info
Posted by: Elaine W ()
Date: July 15, 2011 07:51PM

I can't help you with photo sources (alas), but I can tell you some recollections. In the 1950's and into the early 1960's, there were a lot of small, wood frame houses along North Avenue. They were probably built as workers' cottages, and there may still have been working class families living in some of them in the 1950's, but by that time, Old Town had become an artists' neighborhood (for a brief period of time, until it got so gentrified that even the artists couldn't afford it). My parents had friends who lived and worked in Old Town, so I have childhood recollections of visiting in that area, especially one family friend who was a sculptor. I think he lived in part of the house and used part of it as his studio.
I looked at Historic Aerials, using the address 1600 N. Halsted. It's not quite the photo angle you want, but what is pretty clear is that the 1938 & 1952 listings have a lot of small buildings (consistent with my recollection of workers' cottages). Some of them were demolshed by 1962, but most of the demolition took place later on, in the 1970's & 1980's.

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Re: Halsted/North Avenue pix and info
Posted by: captain54 ()
Date: July 15, 2011 08:33PM

From the research I've done, Old Town in the 60's was heavily Puerto Rican/Latino. My best guess is that the area become attractive to the artsy types because of cheap housing in the late 60's, and then little by little became gentrified into the 70's and beyond.

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Re: Halsted/North Avenue pix and info
Posted by: crowamonghens ()
Date: July 15, 2011 08:38PM

the same way Pilsen's headed.

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Re: Halsted/North Avenue pix and info
Posted by: WayOutWardell ()
Date: July 16, 2011 12:21AM

I'll ask some of my older family members what they remember about the area - they lived on Throop just south of North at one time. Historic Aerials shows their house gone by 1962, which is probably why they moved to Burling St. I imagine their house looked like the ones that currently stand on Fullerton just east of Damen.

Don't know how true it is, but I heard that the Old Town beatnik population explosion was due in part to the Hyde Park urban renewal project. It might explain how the Compass Theater/Second City folks ended up on Wells after their bar on 55th St. was demolished.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/17/2011 02:02AM by WayOutWardell.

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Re: Halsted/North Avenue pix and info
Posted by: captain54 ()
Date: July 16, 2011 06:53PM

from Wikpaedia.com

[i]In the 1950s,the majority of this area was an enclave to the first Puerto Ricans to emigrate to Chicago. They referred to this area as part of "La Clark" until commercialization decorated late 1960s shop signs with the name of Old Town.

In 1927, sculptors Sol Kogen and Edgar Miller purchased and subsequently rehabilited a house on Burton Place, near Wells Street, into the Carl Street Studios. Through the 1930s, an art colony emerged in the neighborhood as artists moved from the Towertown neighborhood near Washington Square Park.

Old Town was also home to many gays & lesbians from the 1920s through the 1980s. There were numerous gay bars lining Wells Street (all of them closed now). This was the first "gay ghetto" in Chicago, predating the current Lake View neighborhood (which is the current epicenter of gay life); the first homophile organization in American history, the Society for Human Rights, was established by Henry Gerber at his home on North Crilly Court in 1924. As the area gentrified, the gays moved further north to Lincoln Park and then Lake View neighborhoods.[/i]

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Re: Halsted/North Avenue pix and info
Posted by: kgamb ()
Date: July 16, 2011 11:11PM

Thanks, Captain54, for continuing my original discussion about my neighborhood! I wish I had something more than photos of old restaurants from the 70's/80's; but alas, I do not. I've done quite a bit of research about the restaurants from North/Halsted to Armitage (so many French places..). It's become an obsession. WayOutWardell, where did your parents live on Burling, if I may ask? It's sad that many of the old places were replaced by character-less fortresses.

Kelley

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Re: Halsted/North Avenue pix and info
Posted by: captain54 ()
Date: July 17, 2011 04:00AM

Thought I would re-post this photo from 1965. Might give some flavor as to what the area was like back in the day.

Weed and Ogden is shown to be the intersection by the street signs above the youths. Weed Street disappeared east of Halsted in the late 70's, 80's, as did Ogden in the stretch. This intersection would have been about a 1/2 block south of North Ave and 2-3 block or so east of Halsted. The raised structure above is the CTA Brown line. What looks like a drive-inn hotdog joint across Ogden (..chman's) I believe is still standing in some form

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/20205384@N03/4785120575/" title="weed and ogden 1965, Chicago by captain54_01, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4099/4785120575_f262d10ed6_b.jpg" width="1024" height="1013" alt="weed and ogden 1965, Chicago"></a>

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Re: Halsted/North Avenue pix and info
Posted by: WayOutWardell ()
Date: July 17, 2011 07:13PM

There are some pretty grim photos of the Haber factory explosion on eBay right now, but a couple of them show what North Ave. looked like at the time:

This vantage point appears to be facing east from about Sheffield:
[url=http://cgi.ebay.com/4x5-PHOTO-NEGATIVE-1953-Haber-Company-Fire-scene-21-/250853667408?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item3a680b3250]Haber Fire, North Ave. looking east[/url]

Here's a view looking west - looks like the Cherry Ave. swing bridge in the far distance:
[url=http://cgi.ebay.com/1953-4x5-ORIGINAL-NEG-Haber-Corporation-Explosion-/250854435071?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item3a6816e8ff]Haber Fire/North Ave. looking west[/url]

This appears to have been taken from Concord, lots of houses visible:
[url=http://cgi.ebay.com/4x5-PHOTO-NEGATIVE-1963-Haber-Company-Fire-scene-/250853774672?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item3a680cd550http://]Concord Pl?[/url]

Kelley, I don't have the exact address of the house, but my cousin said it was south of Willow on the west side of the street. I'm sure it's gone by now.

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Re: Halsted/North Avenue pix and info
Posted by: kgamb ()
Date: July 18, 2011 12:59AM

Wow, WayOutWardell. Those are some interesting, yet grim, photos. Thank you for posting them. Also, captain54, your photo of Weed/Ogden is great!!

WayOutWardell, I also live on Burling, just south of Willow on the west side of the street! There are some houses that are still original on the south side of Willow, although almost all are gone. If you find out, please let me know!

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Re: Halsted/North Avenue pix and info
Posted by: kgamb ()
Date: July 18, 2011 01:08AM

Would the ...achman's hot dog stand be near where Terry's Red Hot stands today (or near the old Larabee L stop)? Now I'm curious!!

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Re: Halsted/North Avenue pix and info
Posted by: captain54 ()
Date: July 18, 2011 04:41AM

kgamb Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Would the ...achman's hot dog stand be near where
> Terry's Red Hot stands today (or near the old
> Larabee L stop)? Now I'm curious!!

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that the ,,,achmann's Drive-In is in the exact spot of where Terry's Red Hots is today, maybe even be the same structure, altered in some form, with the entrance now on the north of the building rather than the west, as it's shown in the 65' view.

Where Terry's is now and the ....achmann's Drive-In both line up perfectly with being on the north side of the tracks and closer to Larrabee, and in 1965 if you were approaching North Ave on Ogden you would have been able to pull right up to the front of it (currently the west side of the building). A Historic Aerials view shows a structure in that exact same spot from the 50's to the present.

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Re: Halsted/North Avenue pix and info
Posted by: daveg ()
Date: July 18, 2011 10:31AM

captain54 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> kgamb Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Would the ...achman's hot dog stand be near
> where
> > Terry's Red Hot stands today (or near the old
> > Larabee L stop)? Now I'm curious!!
>
> I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that the
> ,,,achmann's Drive-In is in the exact spot of
> where Terry's Red Hots is today, maybe even be the
> same structure, altered in some form, with the
> entrance now on the north of the building rather
> than the west, as it's shown in the 65' view.
>
> Where Terry's is now and the ....achmann's
> Drive-In both line up perfectly with being on the
> north side of the tracks and closer to Larrabee,
> and in 1965 if you were approaching North Ave on
> Ogden you would have been able to pull right up to
> the front of it (currently the west side of the
> building). A Historic Aerials view shows a
> structure in that exact same spot from the 50's to
> the present.

It was on the FC Ogden Ave walk earlier this year that the building mentioned above (now Terry's Red Hots) had been there for many years, well before the removal of Ogden. And BTW, it was closed when we were there - early Sunday afternoon.

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Re: Halsted/North Avenue pix and info
Posted by: kgamb ()
Date: July 18, 2011 02:05PM

captain54 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> kgamb Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Would the ...achman's hot dog stand be near
> where
> > Terry's Red Hot stands today (or near the old
> > Larabee L stop)? Now I'm curious!!
>
> I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that the
> ,,,achmann's Drive-In is in the exact spot of
> where Terry's Red Hots is today, maybe even be the
> same structure, altered in some form, with the
> entrance now on the north of the building rather
> than the west, as it's shown in the 65' view.
>
> Where Terry's is now and the ....achmann's
> Drive-In both line up perfectly with being on the
> north side of the tracks and closer to Larrabee,
> and in 1965 if you were approaching North Ave on
> Ogden you would have been able to pull right up to
> the front of it (currently the west side of the
> building). A Historic Aerials view shows a
> structure in that exact same spot from the 50's to
> the present.

------------------------------------------------------
>daveg wrote:

> It was on the FC Ogden Ave walk earlier this year that the building
> mentioned above (now Terry's Red Hots) had been there for many years, well
> before the removal of Ogden. And BTW, it was closed when we were there
> early Sunday afternoon.

Yes; I had read that as well (in the notes/photos from the FC Ogden Ave walk). It makes sense that the entrance would have moved after the removal of Ogden Ave. Maybe I'll venture over there today and ask the new owners. I could go for one of their hot dogs or egg rolls! Thanks for the information!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/18/2011 02:07PM by kgamb.

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Re: Halsted/North Avenue pix and info
Posted by: kgamb ()
Date: July 18, 2011 02:15PM

Check this out! 1988 photo of Terry's Red Hots.

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/jefferycjohnson/4416136292/]Terry's Red Hots with Ogden Ave[/url]

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Re: Halsted/North Avenue pix and info
Posted by: captain54 ()
Date: July 18, 2011 02:39PM

kgamb Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Check this out! 1988 photo of Terry's Red Hots.
>
> Terry's Red Hots with Ogden Ave

In that pix, looks like Ogden wasn't used, but not quite paved over yet. The question is whether the current structure is the same basic one as is shown in the 65' view. The current address of Terry's is 1554 N Larrabee. The old Larrabee CTA station was 1540 N Larrabee. It's hard to spot the old station in a Historic Aerial view. Might have been under the tracks.


Here's a view of the North-Larrabee-Ogden CTA stop, probably late 30's - 40's..

the station was opened in 1900 and shut down in 1949. It has long been demolished, and its anybody's guess as to when that was torn down. I'm going to say that train is running west, and the buildings (which are still standing) in the background are near the NE corner of Larrabee and North. Interesting how originally the stop was Larrabee - North (as seen in the sign), but then when Ogden Ave was completed in the 30's, an additional plaque entitled "Ogden" was juxtaposed above the old sign to accomodate the "new" street.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/20205384@N03/5950592237/" title="larrabee-ogden CTA Brown LIne station...late 1930's- 40's by captain54_01, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6012/5950592237_dc6e4952a8_b.jpg" width="900" height="465" alt="larrabee-ogden CTA Brown LIne station...late 1930's- 40's"></a>



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 07/18/2011 04:35PM by captain54.

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Re: Halsted/North Avenue pix and info
Posted by: Rustymuscle ()
Date: July 18, 2011 03:34PM

It appears on Historic Aerials that there was a square/rectangle structure there up to 1973 and sometime between 1973 and 1988 the structure changed, with the new structure having an angled west wall.

Some information from older phone books. Certainly have some holes here, but perhaps a start...

1950, 1960 and 1962 phone books list the 1554 N. Larrabee location as the North & Ogden Service Station.

1967 phone book has no listing for North and Ogden Service Station or Terry's Drive In. I looked for "Bachman's" and variations of "chman's," but found nothing.

1981 phone book lists Terry's Drive In.

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Re: Halsted/North Avenue pix and info
Posted by: captain54 ()
Date: July 18, 2011 04:27PM

So sometime between 73' and 81', the current angled wall structure which is now Terry's was erected, disproving the theory that the current structure dates back to the 50's

Couple other possibilities: 1) after 62', the North and Ogden Service Station changed hands, and became "....chmanns", suggesting that the establishment in the background of the 65' pic is a service station, and not a fast food/drive-in. 2) "...chmann's" may have been a snackshop/newstand/drive-inn that occupied the street level of the old CTA station before it was demolished



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/18/2011 04:33PM by captain54.

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Re: Halsted/North Avenue pix and info
Posted by: WayOutWardell ()
Date: July 18, 2011 05:05PM

You might be on to something with the former gas station idea: if you look at the '88 photo that Kelley posted above, there's what looks to be an old service station sign standard, minus the sign (Standard/Amoco?), in the parking lot.

The building on the left side of the Larrabee train station photo is still standing.

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Re: Halsted/North Avenue pix and info
Posted by: kgamb ()
Date: July 18, 2011 05:13PM

I just left a message with Sergio at Weeds Tavern. He should know the answer.

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Re: Halsted/North Avenue pix and info
Posted by: kgamb ()
Date: July 18, 2011 05:33PM

Can anyone make out the words which appear next to ...achman's in the original photo captain54 posted? I got out my trusty loupe and believe the second word is "Liquor." Maybe you guys already saw that, but my eyesight is not too good in my forties!

That was an interesting thing you spotted WayoutWardell! Maybe we can research the shape of the sign in respect to what logos were out there at the time...

I'll let you know if Sergio calls back.

Kelley

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Re: Halsted/North Avenue pix and info
Posted by: captain54 ()
Date: July 18, 2011 06:19PM

good calls on spotting both the service station standard and the "LIQ" on the facing of the establishment in question.

I pulled up the pic in Photoshop and sure enough, the first three letters are "LIQ".

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Re: Halsted/North Avenue pix and info
Posted by: WayOutWardell ()
Date: July 18, 2011 07:33PM

Out of sheer chance, I just found this:

[url=http://cgi.ebay.com/Standard-Products-Svc-Station-Ogden-Larrabee-Chicago-IL-/370522669283?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5644df40e3]Ogden/North/Larrabee Standard Station[/url]

Also...wasn't there an Amoco station just east of the subway station, where the Apple store is now? Maybe Terry took over the old gas station when the new gas station location opened.

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Re: Halsted/North Avenue pix and info
Posted by: captain54 ()
Date: July 18, 2011 07:52PM

WayOutWardell Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Out of sheer chance, I just found this:
>
> Ogden/North/Larrabee Standard Station
>
> Also...wasn't there an Amoco station just east of
> the subway station, where the Apple store is now?
> Maybe Terry took over the old gas station when the
> new gas station location opened.

cool find on the matchbook cover. Historic aerials shows a service station in place from a 1973 view and beyond @ Clybourn/Halsted/North

on an unrelated yet interesting note, I remember reading somewhere that the ancient Chicago-City Baseball League (1887-1909) played games at a field near North and Halsted. Chicago-City was a league made up of about 7 teams from within the Chicago area, who played at various venues, a sort of intermural baseball league

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Re: Halsted/North Avenue pix and info
Posted by: Rustymuscle ()
Date: July 18, 2011 08:34PM

Something is confusing. We know it was a gas staion until around 1962. We know it was a store around 1965. If I am interpreting the historic aerials correctly, the square/rectangle structure was replaced after 1973.

So, why would there be an old gas station sign in front of Terry's in 1988? What I'm saying is we have a gas station, then a store, then a gas station, then a store. Perhaps with the new structure came a new gas station that went out of business and Terry's replaced it?

Also, has anyone considered calling the owner of Terry's and asking? I can, but am out all evening.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/18/2011 08:36PM by Rustymuscle.

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Re: Halsted/North Avenue pix and info
Posted by: captain54 ()
Date: July 18, 2011 09:40PM

part of the problem is that the depth perception is difficult to ascertain in the 65' photo. is the "...chman's" establishment a bit north of the CTA overpass? or is it somewhat underneath the overpass?

it's entirely possible that the gas station sign standard remained after the gas station closed up shop and after the Terry's building was put in place and just largely ignored.

a 62' Historic Aerials shows another structure somewhat underneath the CTA overpass. So prior to 73', were there 2 structures, side by side, on the east side of Ogden? one being a gas station closer to North Ave? and the other, the ...."...chmann's" establishment, south of the gas station and partially underneath the track overpass?

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Re: Halsted/North Avenue pix and info
Posted by: WayOutWardell ()
Date: July 18, 2011 10:35PM

Cap'n, you have a good point as far as the depth perception in the '65 photo...is it possible that '...chman's' is actually on Larrabee and the view is unobstructed?

The Cook County Assessor's site lists 1554 N. Larrabee as 'Age: 41'. I don't know how accurate that is, though.

LOC photo of the corner of North Ave & Larrabee:
[url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/I?cdn:3:./temp/~ammem_7VHw::displayType=1:m856sd=ichicdn:m856sf=n003820:@@@]North Ave. 1906[/url]
The Yondorf sign is not actually on Yondorf Hall.

A postcard view of North Ave. - no date, can't tell which direction this is facing:
[url=http://chicagopc.info/Chicago%20postcards/street-aerial%20views/City%20sts/north%20ave%20west%20of%20larabee%2073.jpg]North Ave. & Larrabee, n/d[/url]

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Re: Halsted/North Avenue pix and info
Posted by: captain54 ()
Date: July 19, 2011 12:30AM

WayOutWardell Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Cap'n, you have a good point as far as the depth
> perception in the '65 photo...is it possible that
> '...chman's' is actually on Larrabee and the view
> is unobstructed?

If you had an unobstructed view of the east side of Larrabee street, from the corner of Weed and Odgen in 1965, this is what you'd be looking at, WayOut...there's Terry's on the left


<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/20205384@N03/5953074010/" title="larrabee south of North Ave - under CTA Brown Line by captain54_01, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6030/5953074010_4ce6c53cf1_b.jpg" width="1024" height="545" alt="larrabee south of North Ave - under CTA Brown Line"></a>

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Re: Halsted/North Avenue pix and info
Posted by: kgamb ()
Date: July 19, 2011 12:39AM

Ok, I called Red Hots and no one answered. I will walk over tomorrow and ask because I need to know! Wow; you guys did a lot of research since I last logged in! I have my friend checking too... He grew up right here, so I will milk him for more North Ave/Halsted info, as Captain54 had originally posted.

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