Meet Me in Uptown, The Mighty Blue Kings

Meet Me in Uptown is another Uptown-inspired tune by The Mighty Blue Kings. It's available as an mp3.

Meet Me in Uptown
Ain't no use in waiting 'round
You know that Uptown
It's the greatest place around...

Sounds like it should be an anthem for Uptown, doesn't it? Something to rally the neighborhood.

The Mighty Blue Kings will be playing at Schubas on May 2nd.

Jumpin' at the Green Mill, The Mighty Blue Kings

I found this great jazz tune called Jumpin' at the Green Mill by The Mighty Blue Kings. It's available as an mp3.

Let's go on out and have a party tonight
Ride your wick *
Put on your fancy clothes
We'll go to that place that everybody knows
We'll be jumping, having ourselves a time!
We'll be jumpin' at the Green Mill...

*I think they're saying "Wick," I can't quite tell!

Restoration of an Uptown Mansion

Excerpt from the Chicago Reader:

David Teplica has Helen Brach’s sink. Apparently, one of the many things the candy heiress left behind when she disappeared in 1977 was an American art deco fixture in precisely the right style, vintage, and shade of white to go with the milky glass walls in one of the bathrooms at Teplica’s 98-year-old north-side mansion. He tried to get by with French deco porcelain at first, but the color was wrong. Brach’s basin, which he bought at Salvage One, was perfect, right down to the two little pegs in its feet that matched up so satisfyingly with two old dents in the bathroom floor.

Details like those pegs have been Teplica’s obsession since he bought the mansion he shares with his partner, Kalev Peekna, in 1997. Designed by the prestigious firm of Schmidt, Garden & Martin, the place first belonged to Levant M. Richardson, who made his fortune on a patent for the use of ball bearings in roller skate wheels. Teplica supposes the house—near what was then the lakefront—served as Richardson’s “little getaway” from the stresses of life downtown...

For full article and more yummy pictures, go to The Restorer.

Essanay Logo

Montrose Ave Train, 1981

Another image currently available on eBay of the Montrose Station. Train is signed Ravenswood B at Montrose Ave.

Wilson Avenue, 1983

Hey fellow Uptowners--this 1983 image of the Wilson Station is currently available on eBay. Strange to see the bank building without the giant "B".

Mayflower Restaurant, 1046-48 Wilson Ave.

A matchbook from the Mayflower Restaurant, 1046-48 Wilson Avenue.

Espana Cafe, 4600 Lake Shore Drive, Wilson and Clarendon

Image courtesy John Chuckman.

Play Commemorates 1995 Tragedy

I had just moved back to Chicago in the fall of 1994, and remember this summer well. From the Chicago Tribune:

Playwright Steven Simoncic recalls feeling haunted as rehearsals began for his play "Heat Wave," the drama detailing Chicago's 1995 summer meltdown that killed more than 700 people.

"You could feel the ghosts of the victims early on," he says, "especially on those evenings in January when it was pretty cold and pretty quiet. You could feel the energy of what was going on — a palpable feeling."

"Heat Wave" carries the added punch of being staged in an area that was brutalized by the tragedy. Walk a handful of steps in any direction from Pegasus Players' front door on Wilson Avenue in Uptown, and you'll find apartment houses or single-room occupancy hotels (or SROs, where rents are paid by the day, week or month) where five people perished. It happened within a one-block radius — and the toll jumps if you expand the circle to a five-minute walk from Pegasus' auditorium at Truman College...

For complete article, go to: Neighbor Ghosts Haunt Drama on Deadly Summer

Irving Park Boulevard and the Lake Shore

This is one of the earliest postcard images I've seen for the area. The Pattington was built in 1906 and is currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1995, the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois awarded The Pattington the Richard H. Driehaus Preservation Award.

Top image courtesy John Chuckman; bottom image courtesy Google.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, Uptown!

What we need in Uptown Square is a good Irish pub!

I last went to Ireland in March 2004, and the day before St. Patrick's Day we climbed Crough Patrick. According to legend, this is the mountain where St. Patrick stood when he chased the snakes out of Ireland. That's me about halfway up the side.

For more vintage Irish postcard images, go to Irish Postcards.

Argyle and Glenwood

Apartment building at the northeast corner of Argyle and Glenwood. It looks like at some point the porches were enclosed. Top image courtesy John Chuckman. Bottom image courtesy Google Street Views.

About the Images on Uptown Chicago History

I get a lot of e-mails requesting permission to use certain images. Here's the basic policy:

All postcard images, unless noted, come from my personal collection. Go ahead and use them on your own Web site or for your own projects. When possible, please credit this site.

Many photos come from The Library or Congress or the Chicago History Museum, and are so noted. I cannot grant permission for you to use those images. Please refer to each institution's rules and regulations regarding image use.

Some images come from Flickr, and are linked appropriately. Most images on Flickr are marked "All rights reserved" by the individual artists, and cannot be used on your own Web site. However, some artists grant limited rights for use, and these are the types of images I showcase on Uptown Chicago History. I've left links to the original photos on Flickr so that users can examine the rights for individual images and determine if they can use a photo. I cannot grant permission for usage. (Check the lower right corner of the pages on Flickr to see the rights and permissions information).

I've endeavored to properly identify and obtain permission for all other images. In most cases, you should go to the copyright holder for permission to link to or use a particular image, as I cannot grant permission. Thanks!

Photo: G.M. Anderson, Essanay Film Manufacturing Company

Montrose Avenue, 1989

Photo by Genial23. From the caption: "This old viaduct was part of a freight line that once ran all the way to Milwaukee. It was torn down some time around the turn of the decade. Note the old CTA Wilson Avenue Shops (destroyed by a mysterious fire in 1997) at right."

Chatelaine Apartments, Winthrop at Ainslie, 1989

Winthrop, looking just north from Ainslie toward Argyle. I can almost, but not quite, see what used to stand on the location of my condo building further up the road. Photo by Genial23.

Chicago Sucks at Historic Preservation

"Pave paradise, put up a parking lot."

Ald. Joe Moore up in the 49th ward had a real opportunity to find a reuse and revitalization project for the North Shore School, formerly the Birchwood Country Club, up in Rogers Park. Instead, the owner tore down this beautiful old building and is going to put up a parking lot of all things. I just can't believe there was not a single viable reuse project that would make for a better alternative; a private parking lot at this site, right on the lake front, is a poor use of land.

Craig at The Broken Heart of Rogers Park links to some of the issues and Jocelyn at Rogers Park Neighbor nicely sums up my outrage. Here's an excerpt of the announcement from Joe's office:

Fortunately, however, the existing greenspace surrounding the building will be preserved. The parking lot will cover only the footprint of the existing building. Ms. Triem also intends to use permeable pavement for the parking lot, which will prevent water run-off and is a much more environmentally friendly material than traditional asphalt.

It sounds kinda lame to say, "Well, a bit of history is gone, folks, but at least the parking lot will use green technology."

Portrait of Miss Florence Chandler, wearing a costume and holding a tambourine at the Birchwood Country Club, located at Chase Avenue and Lake Michigan
in the Rogers Park community area of Chicago, Illinois, 1916.
DN-0066108, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago Historical Society.

Challenger Park Location, 1989

Photo by Genial23

Granada Theatre, Sheridan at the Loyola Stop, 1990

If you've hung around this blog a while, you'll know I'm a strong supporter of restoring the Uptown Theatre. I would hate to see it go the way of the Granada, which was nearly as big and just as magnificent--and probably in better condition than the Uptown when it was torn down.

Here's a photo I found on Flickr by user Genial23:

The photographer describes the demolition as: "one of the more heinous acts of vandalism committed by local real estate developers in the last 20 years."

Winthrop Terrace Apartments

Originally a hotel, Winthrop Terrace, 5734 Winthrop Ave., is located in Edgewater, a few blocks north of the current border with Uptown. Today it is the Winthrop Terrace Apartments. From their Web site:

Winthrop Terrace is a nine story vintage high rise building originally constructed in 1926 as the Winthrop Terrace Hotel and later converted to the apartment building you see today. Winthrop Terrace offers several unique studio layouts available in various sizes and prices. All of the apartments have been newly updated with modern amenities while keeping some of the vintage charm.

Jo Machado, Photographer of Uptown

Surfing tonight led me to a Web site for photographer Jo Machado. The site seems to be under construction, but there is an active section of the artist's past work labeled Uptown Chicago. There are some interesting street scenes, but I'm not sure when exactly they were taken. There is even one of the Uptown Snack Shop. Very nice stuff, and worth a visit.

Image Copyright Jo Machado.
For more of the artist's work, visit Jo Machado.

Hotel Grasmere, 4621 N. Sheridan

The four-story Hotel Grasmere was designed by R.C. Harris and built in 1915. It survived as an apartment hotel well into the sixties. Today, the building is home to Grasmere Place, LLC. The image below is from Google maps.

Hotel Melbourne, 4625 N. Racine

Hotel Melbourne, 4625 N. Racine, Chicago.