I Love Chicago! - Neighborhoods - Old Town Traditional Cache
Reviewer Smith: I Love Chicago!
As this cache was not reactivated within the 30-day window noted within the reviewer/disable note, the listing will now be archived.
Reviewer Smith
I Love Chicago! - Neighborhoods - Old Town
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A Magnetic Keyholder. Parking might be tough!
Old Town The Short Story Old Town (sometimes called Old Town Triangle) is a neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois, bounded by Eugenie Street on the north, Division Street on the south, Halsted on the west, and Clark Street on the east. It sits inside the larger neighborhood known as Lincoln Park. It is part of Chicago's 43rd ward. It was originally settled by German-Catholic immigrants in the mid to late 19th century. The Longer Story I remember the magic of Old Town during the late sixties and early seventies. I marveled at Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum, The Wax Museum, Bizarre Bizarre the world's largest headshop, the go-go girls dancing in the windows and Hare Krishnas chanting on the street corners. Musicians like Miles Davis and Janis Joplin played at clubs like the Plugged Nickel and Mother Blues, and Steve Goodman and John Prine got their starts playing at clubs like The Earl of Old Town. The beatniks helped lure what was to become The Old Town School of Folk Music to open on North Avenue, and as the fifties passed into the sixties, the neighborhood began to evolve into what would eventually become the hippie mecca of Chicago. This led to a number of businesses that catered to the hippie generation. Places like Bizarre Bazaar, a giant indoor mall that featured fifty-yard rows of fish bowls filled with rolling papers and pot paraphernalia, black-light posters and bootleg records. Perhaps most interesting were the go-go clubs where, like the credits in James Bond movies, you could see the shadows of nude and semi-nude women gyrating under a kaleidoscope of changing lights in the windows along Wells Street. Oglers in cars would tie up traffic for blocks. The rehabilitation of beautiful nineteenth-century houses and the increasingly popular art fair brought thousands of visitors to the area. Old Towners relished the presence of the Second City theater company and the Old Town School of Folk Music. The Second City stage that spawned John Belushi, Dan Ackroyd, Gilda Radner and Bill Murray is the only true remnant of that era that still thrives, but not much of the architecture and atmosphere that survived everything from the Chicago Fire to suburban flight still remains. This mixture of folkies, beatniks and gays made Old Town a natural melting pot for the members of the new flower-power generation who were adapting to the culture that was thriving in San Francisco. Old Town is now considered an affluent and historic neighborhood, home to many of Chicago's older, Victorian-era buildings. The neighborhood is also home to St. Michaels Church, one of few buildings to survive the great Chicago Fire. 'If you can hear the bells of St.Michaels, then you are in Old Town'. My Story Often in my youth, Old Town would be our destination as we headed into the city. The fascinating atmosphere created by the wax museum, music and comedy clubs, the head shops and the peep shows. I once even worked at the Dr Scholls factory which used to be located in the building which now houses Cobbler Square. Be sure to visit the Up/Down Tobacco Shop across the street as it has some of the finest tobacco products in the city. Take the walk and have fun!
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