* Sunday School

From Carol Goldman comes this history lesson....

For those who are begging for some historical background, I recommend the following news story, written in the Fall of 2003 by three journalism students from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern U. There are some minor errors; Mrs. Kupcinet was a supporter of Wisdom Bridge Theater, not the Howard Theater for instance, but the substance of the story is accurate.

The Street of Streets

The past, present and future of the Entertainment Strip of the North Shore
By Jonathan Love, Nicole Matuska and Susan Ru

Looking East down Howard Street from atop the “El” platform, most people would have to use their imaginations to envision the lively entertainment strip and hoards of Sunday afternoon shoppers that once defined the area. Where bars and nightclubs used to dominate the landscape, now a mixture of dilapidated storefronts and small family shops line empty sidewalks.

Ethnic communities and traditions are deep and rich on Howard Street:

The ethnic and religious makeup of the community has also seen change, while politics and a shaky economy have transformed a once thriving shopping district into a community struggling for some positive attention. This shift in the neighborhood’s physical, social and economic foundation took place around the 1970s, when residents in the area started to feel the gradual change of not only a street but of a country.

Changes in Entertainment and Lifestyle:

The early 20th century ushered in a largely successful, if brief, period of American prosperity and optimism. The 1920s, nicknamed the “Roaring Twenties,” was the decade of the Model T, the $5 work day and the movie. Howard Street became a place to get a beer, catch a movie or listen to jazz.

John Fitzgerald, the associate director at the Howard Area Community Center, was born north of Howard and has lived in the area for 60 years. He too remembers the lifestyle of the Howard community growing up.

“It was kind of the way you see the old television sitcom view of urban America,” said Fitzgerald. “It was wonderful. You could walk and ride with safety; there were stores, shops, people enjoying themselves, having fun. I could ride my bike and put it next to a parking meter and not lock it and an hour later it would still be there. I used to usher at the Howard Theatre when I was in high school, and that was a wonderful thing too- we had movie theaters up and down. But that was America in the ‘50s.”

“Remember,” Sandy Goldman, former president of the Rogers Park City Council, wrote in his column, The Rogers Park Community Curmudgeon of the time, “we were 18 years old, seniors at Lake View High School. We had I.D.s that said we were 23 years old. We went to Howard Street for fun times and we found them.”

One of the earliest buildings constructed on Howard Street was the Howard Theatre. Constructed in 1918, it would become one of Chicago’s premier movie houses. Along with the restaurants, shops, and numerous other entertainment venues lining the street, there is little wonder why Howard Street was known as the Entertainment Strip of the North Shore.

“It was a place where you could go for great dinner, entertainment, and jazz,” recalled Goldman. “One of the earliest benefactors of the area was Irv Kupcinet, who was Mr. Chicago. His wife was a major supporter of the Howard Theatre. There was top-level entertainment all around. There were first class restaurants: Villa Girgenti, Papa Milano’s, the Unique Restaurant and Lounge. Talbott’s BBQ had the longest bar in Chicago.”

Mary Jo Doyle, director of the Rogers Park/West Ridge Historical Society, has done extensive research preserving the history of a street that used to be the center of entertainment.

“In the 1930s and 1940s,” wrote Doyle in An Illustrated History of Rogers Park and West Ridge, “jazz clubs were very popular on Howard Street. During World War II, men and women from the military would take the Elevated, the Chicago and Northwestern Railroads, the North Shore Electric to visit the bars, restaurants, and jazz clubs.”

The temperance movement started to gain strength in the early 1900s and as America embraced prohibition in 1920s, Howard became one of the first places where one could buy alcohol en route to Chicago.

“The North Shore, being essentially dry, particularly Evanston, where the Women’s Christian Temperance Union was based, Chicago was the first wet place they [young kids] could come to,” said Fitzgerald. “They’d stop right here at Howard Street and look for the bars and places that might entertain young sailors. And they found them, and that was a very large part of this community.”

“They would come by the busloads,” recalled Goldman, “on trains, from Fort Sheridan, the Great Lakes [Naval Training Station near Waukegan], and they would all be dropped off at Howard. During the war all of the North Shore was dry, and this was the only place that was wet. I remember as a little kid watching them, seeing the sailors and young boys trying to emulate the older men.”

Howard also became a place for family fun and shopping.

“I spent my whole life on Howard Street,” said Doyle. “It [Howard Street] was really really nice through the ‘40s and ‘50s and even into the ‘60s. Of course, if I had it my way it would be back to the way it was. That was my favorite time on Howard Street.”

Mary Doyle is one of the founders of the historical society, which came into existence July 1973. Her father was from south Evanston; her mother, from Howard Street. Although Doyle grew up on the west side of Ridge, just north of Touhy Avenue, she always considered Howard Street her own home.

“When we first started this historical society, I gave a talk to the Howard District Chamber of Commerce,” said Doyle. “This is in 1976. I had prepared my speech just by going along Howard and thinking of all the things I did on that street for 40 years. So I am giving this talk and the tears are just running down my cheeks and these people are looking at me and asking, ‘What’s wrong with this goofy person?’”

Doyle’s attachment to Rogers Park spawned from a childhood spent riding her bike to and from the lake, buying candy from local gift stores and hanging out at the numerous teenage establishments Howard had to offer.

“There used to be the Howard Street Theatre, just east of the El,” said Doyle. “The North Shore Theater was west of the El. I also bowled at the Howard Bowl for 30 years. My dentist has been on Howard for 30 years and the North Shore National Bank was there. My godmother opened an account there for me when I was eight years old.”

Howard Street also became the place to dine. Fitzgerald remembers the appeal of the shops and restaurants that lined clean, crowded sidewalks.

“I remember restaurants and shops, and I frankly didn’t care that much about shopping, but my mother would tell you that it was a nice street to shop on. There were more middle-class stores and restaurants when I was a kid here. I don’t know what it was like in the ‘20s, I never quite asked my dad that, but that’s when it was first built up and Howard Street was much more upscale than it is now.”

“There used to be this restaurant called Las Chosa Restaurant, right on Paulina,” recalled Carmen Lara, owner of the NCJW Council Thrift Shop. “People would get in line to get into the restaurant. The line would wrap around the block. They would all be carrying their own six packs too because the restaurant didn’t sell any alcohol.”

Carmen Lara, who has been managing her thrift shop on Howard Street for 30 years, reminisces about days when closing on Sundays was not an option.

“About 15-20 years ago, there were crowds of people on the streets because of all the stores that used to line Howard Street. We used to stay open on Sundays because there were so many people out but now we don’t because it is dead, nothing is open on Sundays.”

Howard Street Demographics: A Reflection of American Culture

Changes on Howard Street began subtly in the mid-1900s. At the time, the Civil Rights Movement had the nation in a stronghold, with leaders like Martin Luther King and the Black Panthers at the helm. Changes to Howard and its surrounding community reflected this nation-wide revolution in American culture.

“One thing for me growing up in the neighborhood, it was all white,” said Fitzgerald. “There were no black people here. This was a very segregated community. It was only in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s that integration happened in terms of black and white.”

“It was probably 98 percent Caucasian,” agreed Goldman. “High income, high class. I don’t think there was ever an effort to keep minorities out, though. They never came because the housing was just too expensive. That, of course, changed when Martin Luther King came.”

And change it did. Passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 made segregation in public facilities and discrimination in employment illegal. Desegregation would bring both positive and negative consequences for the residents of Howard Street.

“When we first moved to Howard Street, it was the perfect example of a fine community,” noted Goldman. “The area north of Howard Street had big apartments, pretty high rent for that period and time. Then CHA began steering certain types of low income communities into certain housing areas. The judge said that we had to put a certain number of whites in black communities and vice versa. The area north of Howard was the perfect place for the CHA. It began to reach a lower level. The buildings began to deteriorate.”

“People who were in gangs on the south side and west side of Chicago moved to the north side,” explained Goldman. “Many landlords in the Rogers Park area accepted vouchers and with them they brought their gangs and recruited. Schools became places for gangs to recruit. We started having gang wars. Then the Hispanics began creating their gangs and began fighting for their turf. It’s not as bad as the south side, but we do have drug dealing and prostitution.”

What Rogers Park also had was an increasing diverse community. The Jewish population had always been dominant in Rogers Park, but the late 1960s brought a decline in their numbers. This decrease is often attributed to a general westward shift in search for home ownership.

“Morse Avenue now is a hell hole. It wasn’t always a hell hole. In the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s, it was a fine street. They had a big Jewish deli that sold the best Jewish food. There were some of the best shops in the city. There was a men’s store called Manny’s, where they sold $300 suits. There was a women’s store called Sarah’s, which was a top-drawer ladies’ shop. The street was vibrant. Then the Jewish population moved. I think they were just looking for better places. People are always looking for better stuff.”

The largest demographic change, however, occurred among the African American population. According to Gail Welter, in her book The Rogers Park Community, the number of black individuals living in Rogers Park increased from 57 individuals to 758 between 1960 and 1970. The area North of Howard held the highest concentration of blacks in the neighborhood.

“Thirty years ago,” explained Fitzgerald, “people like me led the integration movement here. We sought open housing for blacks to move in, and when they did, white people fled. It’s a racist reaction, frankly.”

Thus, with a change in neighborhood demographics and rising tensions between old and new communities, Howard Street entered a period of deterioration in the ‘70s. Controversies over subsidized housing and the role of the Community Council polarized residents, with the line often being drawn between blacks and whites. Although desegregation was high on the national agenda, the actual practice changed little in preconceived notions of race.

“It’s a very racist city even today,” said Anthony Peters, a resident of Howard Street for 30 years, “and we’ve had to learn how to deal with it. Most of the policemen are white guys, who come from Iowa or Ohio, and they hear about the things they’ll encounter on the streets, and they’re scared. They start to stereotype people, they have no time to get to know the people, they don’t care if they lock up the wrong people. On average, the people here hate the police and the police hate them.”

A negative image of Rogers Park grew for the latter part of the century. According to Welter in The Rogers Park Community, a 1974 survey of Rogers Park residents found that “lack of personal safety” was the most important community problem. However, most people indicated they had no personal experience with crime.

“I’ve lived and worked here for 60 years,” stated Fitzgerald. “I’ve never been a crime victim in this neighborhood. Never. We have a staff of 117 people here, and in the 36 years that we have been here, we have only had one instance of a staff member being involved in physical violence and that was his own choice.”

“The neighborhood was never unsafe,” said Goldman, “It was as safe as any other community along the North Shore. But the perception was that it was unsafe. And this was because the some of the white class had this perception going in of what gangs were like. They would see groups of black men hanging out on the corners.”

The reputation, unfortunately, has continued today.

“People still say that they are afraid to go there, but I think that’s unfounded,” stated Doyle. “The 24th Police District happens to be in Rogers Park, but it not only covers Rogers Park, it covers a majority of West Ridge and North Edgewater. So if there’s a crime anywhere, poor Rogers Park gets blamed for it because that’s where the police station happens to be.”


The Business and Politics of Howard Street Through the Years

The business community was likewise not immune to change. While the demographics of Howard Street evolved and postwar culture rose, retail declined.

“There were middle class shops in those days,” said Fitzgerald. “You could get clothes and food and all those kinds of things. And right now-- I mean, you can go to the bag and wig shop, but it’s not so attractive. There’s a lot of junky stuff here now.”

“There was somewhat of an upsurge when Wisdom Bridge Theatre was there, and there were several wonderful Caribbean restaurants there, and the Fritzreuter Violin Shop was there in the Wisdom Bridge building, and there was a great hardware store east of Howard Street, and a good shoe store, and all those things. And then, it’s just deteriorated,” said Sister Patricia Crowley, former teacher at St. Scholastica Academy and longtime resident of Rogers Park.

What Howard Street once was is what the suburban mall is now a place to stroll from store to store, to browse through a variety of retail options, and come home with all your household needs fulfilled for the week. Unlike today’s suburban malls, Howard also had residential properties.

Several factors led to the decline of Howard as a shopping summit.

“We used to have people just looking in the windows or just coming in browsing and that would end up turning into regular customers and so that part has changed. Hopefully with condos people will be more apt to maybe walk around a little bit more when the area gets a little bit safer,” said Ron Lopez, the owner of Sun Garden Florist.

The automobile led to a restructuring of American life after World War II, and Howard Street was but one of thousands of locales impacted by the change. People could now travel to air conditioned, suburban mega malls for one-stop shopping year-round-- if they had not moved to the suburbs already. Migration to the suburbs dealt a devastating blow for the Howard shopping district.

“For the holidays, we used to have just lines of cars and people, from the stories I’ve been told by previous owners and customers. The Evanston Police used to have to direct traffic. I kind of miss that!” Lopez added with a laugh.

The situation is beginning to change. New residential and commercial construction is replacing older buildings in the area. National chains are helping to revitalize the retail face of Howard Street-- the same national chains that make up the suburban malls and shopping centers. While these changes and chains are well-received in the community, some people do see negative aspects to their presence.

“The only thing that hurts us is… Dominick’s, because they do have their own floral department, and they can buy things much cheaper than I can buy them for, and that’s the whole problem with the grocery stores,” said Lopez.

While one municipal government may be slow in remaking a neighborhood, two governments can add an element of inconsistency. Until the recent repaving project, the two sides of Howard west of the “El” had different styles of lighting, clearly marking the street as a border between two cities. This is attributed to the sluggishness of government in Evanston.

“Evanston bites its own tail,” said Lopez. “It takes forever to get anything done here in Evanston. I mean, for me myself, when we had our sign done up, it took, probably like a few months to have a sign [approved].”

Chicago city government, on the other hand, has a tendency to move quickly on neighborhood reform-- too fast in some cases.

“I know there have been development plans,” said Crowley, “when I was on the Howard Area Board a few years ago, Alderman Joe Moore made an agreement with some developers to at least show a plan for redeveloping Paulina Street into a cul-de-sac that would be town homes and get rid of Good News and the Howard Area. There was a big uproar about that, I mean, he claims he was jus sort of thinking, but, you know, thinking becomes reality sometimes when it’s connected to the political machine.”

Reflecting on the vicissitudes of Howard Street’s social, cultural and economical history, it is important to acknowledge the impact this small street has had on the North Shore and the city of Chicago. Some residents realize the street’s significance and look toward a future where plans will transform the street to mirror its past.

“It has a bright future because the marketplace will push it,” said Goldman. “This regentrification has been rolling in from Chicago, and it will bring people looking for better housing. They’re going to come to Rogers Park and increase the income level. It’s rolling with the changes.”