(no subject)

[muckefuck]

Perused a book that might be of passing interest to spookyfruit and welcomerain: Neighborhoods within neighborhoods: twentieth century life on Chicago's Far North Side. It has the flaws of most other works on the area I've seen recently, which is a heavy focus on earlier communities. For instance, the book includes snippets from over a hundred present and former residents (including Harold Ramis and Scott Turow), but only one is South Asian and none is Hispanic. No mention is made of the Soviet Jews or the Assyrians and ethnic tensions are barely touched on, though there are the expected encomia on present-day diversity.

I know it's only the work of a local historical society, but I would've hoped for greater respect for history. One of the interviewees recalls a pre-WWII annual tradition of a football game between the Jews and Catholics in the Loyola (sub)neighbourhood. With things that polarised, you can't tell me there wasn't some real nastiness going around. Perhaps I haven't gotten to it, since I've only read a fraction of the entries, but I rather expect it's been edited out--if not by the editors, then by the authors. Who, in this day and age, is going to go on record in a locally-published book as a former Jew-baiter?

At least it answers a question about subdivision of the area. I've always suspected that such a large neighbourhood was more segmented and now I have a map that shows it. The area east of Clark is split into three parts, the first two named for their major commercial streets: Howard (Evanston border to Touhy); Morse (Touhy to Pratt); and Loyola (Pratt to Devon). West Rogers Park is said to begin at Western and, thus, occupies only a portion of West Ridge, even though many people I know use those terms interchangeably. I also have definitive boundaries for North Town at last: Devon to Bryn Mawr, Western to the North Shore Channel. Everything else--which spans eastern West Ridge and western East Rogers Park--is called "Ridge", after the street that slices down the middle of it. This is where the Haus is, but it's ON THE CUSP, standing a mere block from both the Morse and Loyola areas

Comments

[welcomerain.livejournal.com]

ON THE CUSP

[cassielsander.livejournal.com]

Mmmm...Assyrians. When I was growing up (south of Lincoln Square in the 70s) all our immediate neighbors were an extended Assyrian clan that sort of adopted my family. Their apartment building and ours (their's a four-story residential, ours a two-story storefront+apartment, with communicating roofs) was one big playground as far as I and the Assyrian kids were concerned.

Then when I was about nine they all started leaving for I think the northwest suburbs and within two years they were all gone (a couple single guys in their 20s were the last to go).

My memories are vague: skinny guys, extremely homey middle-aged and old women and names like Elias (pronounced Ee' lee us), Hermiz, and Sarcas. One thing stands out: The moms made these potato-pastries-with-meat they called potato chops and would bring plates of them to get-togethers. They were absolutely the best thing I can remember ever having tasted. Some middle eastern restaurants make them (sometimes by that name, sometimes called kibbe) but they always use too much potato and don't crust them as well the meat isn't spiced nearly as well.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

SEE ASSYRIANS
EATING CHOPS AND HAVING FUN
THERE GOES THE NEIGHBOURHOOD--
MOVE, MOVE AWAY!

Re:

[cassielsander.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but THEY moved away from US. And got replaced by what my father ever-so-delicately referred to as "hillbillies", whom we never got to know.