Does Royko's Chicago still exist anywhere? (Harvard, Cambridge: university, live in, restaurants)

[It'sAutomatic]

An equally valid question: Did his Chicago ever exist? I think he's a poet more than a journalist and I take everything he's said with a grain of salt.

[Irishtom29]

Originally Posted by It'sAutomatic

Did his Chicago ever exist?

Yeah.

[MassVt]

Originally Posted by It'sAutomatic

An equally valid question: Did his Chicago ever exist? I think he's a poet more than a journalist and I take everything he's said with a grain of salt.

Yes, of course it did. Especially prevalent in the large cities of the Northeast and the Midwest, which once upon a time had large Catholic populations within their borders, largely in the years before WW2, but also existing well into the 1970s in some areas. Many of the succeeding generations left for the suburbs--this has been well-documented. No fairy tales here..

[baileyvpotter]

[quote=williepotatoes;28639830]

Originally Posted by key4lp

Yes the Bee was a real treasure. Full of cops and packed with locals of all shapes and sizes. The old girl gave you great home cooking and the kind of ambience that made the place feel like someones home, not a restaurant. She used to open on holidays because she wanted her regulars to always have a place to go and gather together on special days. She is still living in the burbs somewhere I believe.

It was a treasure in Wicker Park. What a disappointment that it's gone and to be replaced by this:
Wicker Park Lounge & Grill in Chicago, serving classic American cuisine : Blue Line Lounge and Grill



Nearby, I found this article the other day (link below). Obviously there is a market for these treats
but if anyone would venture out a little - there are some old world bakeries and delis which in my
opinion are no match for an $8.00 gelato sandwich. Lost are places like the Gladstone Bakery,
Meyer's German deli on Lincoln Ave, Maries Rip Tide Lounge, oh so many gems are gone.

Black Dog Gelato Quickly Sells Out of Gelato-Doughnut Sandwiches - Ukrainian Village - DNAinfo.com Chicago

Does Royko's Chicago exist? Yes and no, just little patches.

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by It'sAutomatic

An equally valid question: Did his Chicago ever exist?

Yes. It has simply become more elusive... he moved to Diversey & Racine in the late 80s as he was chasing it.

[MassVt]

It's the story of America in the 20th century.

You emigrate to America, from Poland, Italy, Germany, Ireland, Scandinavia or one of the many eastern European states ( Czech, Hungary, Lithuania, etc). You're looking for a community of like-minded people, you speak very little English, and you're also looking for work, without many skills. You're sent to the stockyards, or the steel mills, and you suffer through dangerous, backbreaking work, and you slowly learn to speak the English language, and to adapt to American society.

But this takes time. You might join a newly-organized union at work, for protection. You might accept a Christmas turkey, or an occasional loan from a ward leader, in exchange for a vote for the "preferred" candidate at election time. And you continue to keep your eyes open, to learn more and more...so the next generation can benefit from your struggles. " They will have it better than me..."

The Roaring 20s take a turn for the worse, and with the 30s come the Great Depression, and then the 40s, with WW2. The sons of the immigrants are drafted, fight, and return home to an America victorious in war, and in search of a better life. Having seen the country, and the world beyond their ethnic neighborhoods, they want something else. ( Royko was SLIGHTLY younger, but in the same general group) No longer content to settle for factory jobs, and a life confined to the old neighborhoods, they seek an education, and cheap housing loans, through the GI Bill, and eventually graduate from college, and move out to the newly-formed suburbs. They lose the attachment to the old neighborhoods, stop speaking the language, forget about observing the old customs. They become the parents of the baby boom generation..

And the old neighborhoods slowly, but surely, die off.

[Larry Siegel]

Originally Posted by oddstray

Fixed that for you. The first one was at the Chicago Stadium, until 1964.

Thanks. I didn't know that. I was very young in 1964.

[baileyvpotter]

Originally Posted by MassVt

It's the story of America in the 20th century.
And the old neighborhoods slowly, but surely, die off.

Chinatown?

[TBideon]

I sometimes wonder why European neighborhoods have basically disappeared (now they're often either awful areas or a mix of older ethnic, lower income, and hipster/middle income types) but not Chinatowns in the United States. Hell, there are 500,000 residents in Manhattan alone, and it's absorbing Little Italy!

There must be a steady influx of new Chinese immigrants every generation, whereas the great European migrations (in which they would presumably move to like neighborhoods) have ended. Different cultural standards? A lack of racial assimilation? Political blocs? I really don't know.

[baileyvpotter]

Originally Posted by TBideon

I sometimes wonder why European neighborhoods have basically disappeared (now they're often either awful areas or a mix of older ethnic, lower income, and hipster/middle income types) but not Chinatowns in the United States. Hell, there are 500,000 residents in Manhattan alone, and it's absorbing Little Italy!

There must be a steady influx of new Chinese immigrants every generation, whereas the great European migrations (in which they would presumably move to like neighborhoods) have ended. Different cultural standards? A lack of racial assimilation? Political blocs? I really don't know.

I do know that Chicago has Eastern European immigrants but those neighborhoods that EE lived in have
become too expensive, so they have to live further out. I give credit to the Chinese who somehow
have held on to their neighborhoods, and how - I would like to know too.