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Lincoln Park was never really a ghetto in the sense that most people think of, unless you are stretching the boundaries to include the old Sedgwick Gardens housing projects, which technically are in the "Near North" neighborhood, not LP.
Lincoln Park was attracting fixer uppers and artists way back in the 60s, simultaneous to an increase in the Puerto Rican population. But although it did have a noticeable Puerto Rican population, it wasn't for long.
Rising rents/property values, rehabs/teardowns etc. led to them moving further northwest fairly quickly, and not really too many black folks at all in LP proper from my experiences going back to the late 70s/early 80s.
I'd highly doubt Lincoln Park ever was majority Puerto Rican & black, census standards don't distinguish well enough to tell, though (anyone got a better site than this: Chicago Area Housing Website - Query - Display Data ?). But there were plenty of Germans and the like who hung on in LP throughout the changes in the 60s.
But those white folks were more of the blue collar variety before the yuppies really moved in (once upon a time this meant "young upwardly-mobile professional," which distinguished career-oriented folks from families, who also may have been white collar to some degree), which wasn't until the early 80s.
My parents moved to Chicago in 67, living a bit north of the Fullerton L stop until buying a home further north. My mom describes Lake View back then as an Irish-Polish ghetto, so, take from that what you will, but I think in general a lot of newbies to the City can get freaked out by the stoop culture, especially if it's teens, who can be viewed as a bit rowdy.
But we had lots of white (and latinos) working in the factories which used to be all over Lake View, and although not what I'd call a gang-infested neighborhood by today's standard, it was certainly not for the feint of heart. Factory workers in our hood tended to drink hard & out in the open, and were fairly crude - something we all just took as part of the deal.
But hey, if I was covered in blood every day from cutting up carcasses, I'd be drinking every night as well. People today also tend to ignore the reality that air-conditioning was a luxury item back then, even if you had one, it was probably just for your bedroom as they cost a fortune to run, it lent itself to people all being outdoors, which meant people all knew each other, something which apparently newcomers can find intimitdating if they don't feel like they are part of that group.
The one universal truth I'd swear by is everybody hates teenagers. Doesn't matter where you are, the Middle east, France, Chicago, the burbs, teenagers are always the devil's plague, with adults forgetting they were once teenagers, and teenagers pretty oblivious to everything beides those who share their raging hormones. Chicago's biggest flaw is there is really nothing to do for teenagers that isn't either illegal or at least frowned at. 4 teenagers in a group, outside, always raises eyebrows.
and cops also pick on white teens in Chicago with a passion (IMO contrary to the idea that kids of color get unfairly targeted due to skin color) - if you're a teen driving a car blasting loud music with a bunch of teens in it, they're looking for a reason to pull you over.
the biggest shift in Chicago I've seen in my life on the north side is that with the old industries gone, all that's left for immigrants/blue collar folks are service jobs. Crappy service jobs, IMO, that haven't kept up with the cost of living. You'd think it might make the kids more prone to see the value of a good education, but it doesn't seem to work that way in the real world. Most of the kids I grew up with struggled as they left CPS schools and found they couldn't make the same wages their parents had with similar education - sort of a mini-Detroit factor, I guess.
back to Canaryville - no, I don't think it's even remotely accurate to put it in the same category as Englewood or the areas of the city that have regular homicides, it's just not that big/populated, and it doesn't have street gangs on the level of those that are 40 years old and running (unless you are one of the people who believes the Chicago Police are just a giant gang). Chicago at its worst was at about 1,000 a year. Compare that to back in the "roaring twenties" gangster period, when homocide counts were a fraction of that. This is why many people are very skeptical of visiting south side/west side areas they aren't familiar with, those numbers don't lie.
I find it a little hard to believe that Lincoln Park was ever a ghetto. Just by cruising the neighborhood today, you don't see no sign of it that it was a ghetto. I don't think Lincoln Park ever had a large black population either. Because a lot of blacks were restricted from many Northside neighborhoods and was squeezed in westside and southside hoods.
I find it a little hard to believe that Lincoln Park was ever a ghetto. Just by cruising the neighborhood today, you don't see no sign of it that it was a ghetto. I don't think Lincoln Park ever had a large black population either. Because a lot of blacks were restricted from many Northside neighborhoods and was squeezed in westside and southside hoods.
A good portion of the Lincoln Park "community area" was pretty shady from the late 50's to late 80's...
The neighborhood itself never got too bad though, but many of the other neighborhoods that are in the Lincoln Park "community area" did.
However,I do recall as a kid women getting raped and people getting robbed,stabbed,shot, or murdered in the park itself on a regular basis.
I find it a little hard to believe that Lincoln Park was ever a ghetto. Just by cruising the neighborhood today, you don't see no sign of it that it was a ghetto. I don't think Lincoln Park ever had a large black population either. Because a lot of blacks were restricted from many Northside neighborhoods and was squeezed in westside and southside hoods.
I think the problem here is that people have grown so accustomed to the spit-polished well-scrubbed Chcago of today that anything that isn't all shiny and new gets lumped into a single category. Also contributing to this disconnect is the current use of the term "ghetto", as in, "that's really GHETTO".
In my mind, an ghetto is an area that has undergone or is in the process of undergoing massive disinvestment, characterized by large numbers of borded up buildings and empty lots. It should not to be confused with a "tough" neighborhood, because the problems confronting a "tough" neighborhood are an order of magnitude less severe. A ghetto is a place where the "regular" people have left it to, or are in the process of leaving it to, the rats.
By that definition, 26th street does not make the cut (it has gangs, but the commercial real estate is far too valuable), nor does Canaryville (a poor but stable community), nor do vast areas of the black South Side, for that matter.
What DID make the cut as a Hispanic ghetto was West Humboldt Park (I say did because I believe today it it is well along the road to recovery). Similarly, the last great white ghetto was the Wilson Avenue area of Uptown, which I had the (dis)pleasure of living in during its glory days in the late 70's when it was a dumping ground for psycho Appalachian whites.
So no, Lincoln Park really wasn't ever a ghetto, but you are mistaken if you think it never had a black population. The Clyborn corridor from North Ave to Fullerton was MOSTLY black (anybody else remember Edith's barbeque?), as was a large segment of the area between Halsted and Clyborn between Armitage and North. It also had its share of North Side Hillbillys (real ones, like my former neighbors in Uptown, not the ex-college-town cornfielders that flock to Wrigleyville). North Wells Street in the 60's was mostly black from north of downtown all the way to Old Town.
A good portion of the Lincoln Park "community area" was pretty shady from the late 50's to late 80's...
Yeah, the west side of LP in particular got pretty rocky and there are still spots along the Clybourn corridor that look the part even if the area is safe now. Even as late as the mid-90s going to Goose Island for a pint was considered a bit of an adventure, and pubgoers were well advised not to wander too far south of there.
Hell yeah lincoln park was a puertorican neighborhood, common chicago history knowledge, dont deny it.
define what you're talking about. Puerto Ricans were the majority of the residents? for how long? This may be a tale told by the disgruntled (yes, I have seen the "Young Lords" site, and I find it about as credible as any other tale told by young men in the city), but I haven't seen any evidence it's true.
So no, Lincoln Park really wasn't ever a ghetto, but you are mistaken if you think it never had a black population. The Clyborn corridor from North Ave to Fullerton was MOSTLY black (anybody else remember Edith's barbeque?), as was a large segment of the area between Halsted and Clyborn between Armitage and North. It also had its share of North Side Hillbillys (real ones, like my former neighbors in Uptown, not the ex-college-town cornfielders that flock to Wrigleyville). North Wells Street in the 60's was mostly black from north of downtown all the way to Old Town.
Again, that strip was mostly industrial. There certainly plenty of black folks about in the neighborhood, but I'd wager a lot of them lived in Sedgwick or Cabrini. I'm not meaning to denigrate anybody here, but I think people forget that just because you see a half dozen kids out on the stoops on one block, you might be ignoring the reality of the 100 people who are older and inside. I love hearing street gangs talk about how they "run a neighborhood" - my ass, they do. They run things in the period of time when normal people are working, or asleep.
And I'm quite familiar with the "hillbillies" - go to Carol's up on Clark St and you can get the best culture they brought (the house band is wicked).
I think the problem here is that people have grown so accustomed to the spit-polished well-scrubbed Chcago of today that anything that isn't all shiny and new gets lumped into a single category. Also contributing to this disconnect is the current use of the term "ghetto", as in, "that's really GHETTO".
In my mind, an ghetto is an area that has undergone or is in the process of undergoing massive disinvestment, characterized by large numbers of borded up buildings and empty lots. It should not to be confused with a "tough" neighborhood, because the problems confronting a "tough" neighborhood are an order of magnitude less severe. A ghetto is a place where the "regular" people have left it to, or are in the process of leaving it to, the rats.
By that definition, 26th street does not make the cut (it has gangs, but the commercial real estate is far too valuable), nor does Canaryville (a poor but stable community), nor do vast areas of the black South Side, for that matter.
What DID make the cut as a Hispanic ghetto was West Humboldt Park (I say did because I believe today it it is well along the road to recovery). Similarly, the last great white ghetto was the Wilson Avenue area of Uptown, which I had the (dis)pleasure of living in during its glory days in the late 70's when it was a dumping ground for psycho Appalachian whites.
So no, Lincoln Park really wasn't ever a ghetto, but you are mistaken if you think it never had a black population. The Clyborn corridor from North Ave to Fullerton was MOSTLY black (anybody else remember Edith's barbeque?), as was a large segment of the area between Halsted and Clyborn between Armitage and North. It also had its share of North Side Hillbillys (real ones, like my former neighbors in Uptown, not the ex-college-town cornfielders that flock to Wrigleyville). North Wells Street in the 60's was mostly black from north of downtown all the way to Old Town.
Yeah parts of Chicago have gotten so gentrified that you can't imagine how the same neighborhood was 30 years ago. So by your definition, you're saying there are many tough Chicago neighborhoods, but only a few true ghettos in Chicago. So Little Village is not a ghetto, but a ''tough'' neighborhood because the neighborhood have very few board up buildings and empty lots. Fair enough. So by your own definition, the only real black ghettos on the southside are Englewood, Roseland, Woodlawn, Washington Park for ex.
I'm not saying Lincoln Park never had a black population. Its actually still do by 200 census, Lincoln Park is 5% black. I'm saying I doubt Lincoln Park black population ever exceed over 20%. Today, Rogers Park have the highest black community on the Northside with 30%.
Last edited by Chicagoland60426; 05-20-2009 at 06:53 PM..
I'm not saying Lincoln Park never had a black population. Its actually still do by 200 census, Lincoln Park is 5% black. I'm saying I doubt Lincoln Park black population ever exceed over 20%. Today, Rogers Park have the highest black community with 30%.
Rogers Park? How do you figure? What about places like, say, Roseland or Chatham or Englewood that are about 98% black?
And I'm quite familiar with the "hillbillies" - go to Carol's up on Clark St and you can get the best culture they brought (the house band is wicked).
Just like Johnny's on Lincoln. Love that joint.
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