Monday, December 24, 2007

* Urban Dictionary - Rogers Park

"I Got Gooned in Rogers Park"


rogers park - One of the few slums left on Chicago's otherwise nice North Side. Pedestrians here are often "gooned" (randomly beaten) while walking down the street, dilapidated tenements line the 'L' tracks and Morse Avenue is a notorious open-air drug market.

In fact, Rogers Park is so hoodish that its criminal atmosphere seeps into south Evanston, immediately past Howard Street to the north.

Typical inhabitants include drug dealers, thugs, homeless people and annoying, pretentious hipsters who would rather listen to a gunshot lullaby every night than live in a nice neighborhood like Lincoln Park or Lakeview.

Humboldt Park and Uptown may be crappy North Side neighborhoods, but Rogers Park takes the cake. Rogers Park is the Englewood of the North Side.


Source: Urban Dictionary - Rogers Park

Blognotes: One wonders if the Urban Dictionary word seekers read the 'Broken Heart' on a regular basis for content? Goonings, Open Air Drug Markets by the Morse Avenue EL, pretentious hipsters who listen to a gunshot lullaby's every night. It sure seems I'm changing the Urban Dictionary's perception of Rogers Park. Plus, I think I'm the only one who has used that "Rogers Park is the Englewood of the North Side" line before.

12 comments:

dbt said...

probably more like one of your "I hate it here, so I'm going to whine a lot" readers posted that nonsense to the UD site.

Per your previous request, I'm not going to alter my google profile but I'll try to sign my name on my posts.

Merry (hey I can still say this even though we didn't pass a law about it!) Christmas, everybody!

- David Terrell

Craig Gernhardt said...

David said...> "probably more like one of your "I hate it here, so I'm going to whine a lot" readers posted that nonsense to the UD site."

I say pure speculation. Got any proof it was one of my whiny readers and not one of Joe's anonymous people trying to cross you up and think it was one of my whiny readers?

Merry Christmas to you too David.

INKJAR said...

CRAIG
SAD, BUT GLAD YOU BRINGS THINGS LIKE THIS TO YOUR READERS ATTENTION AS SOME OF US WOULD PROBABLY NEVER KNOW-

Levois said...

In comparison I would think you guys are a little better than Englewood. Merry Christmas.

Anonymous said...

Hey neighbors and others who drop in here for a visit, just because something is in the Urban Dictionary doesn't make it a fact. The command "Let it be written, let it be done" may have been spoken by some Pharaoh but just because it is written does not make it so.

The most egregious exaggeration from this imaginary, mocking definition of Rogers Park is the statement that "typical inhabitants" are criminals, the homeless, and so-called hipsters without a clue. The use of the word “typical” here suggests that these people are in the majority. That is just not true.

Predominant among our 60,000 residents are simple law abiding folk who never get media attention. Most of us share Craig’s concern about the need to improve the status quo here. Most of us are average neighbors (like people all across Chicago and even in Englewood) with our own daily successes or problems in the struggle to make ends meet and maintain a decent quality of life. Maybe we’ve made it a priority to raise our children, or hold down a job, or stay in school, or pick up litter and shovel the snow, or beautify a garden for everyone’s enjoyment.

Certainly, there’s a lot of work to do in our community. However, just because some of us haven’t done something to directly intervene in the social ills that trouble us (like manage a great community blog, participate in local politics, or volunteer at a social service organization) doesn’t mean we are “pretentious hipsters” who wink at crime. As a parent of two pre-teens, I know that just getting through each day with getting the kids off to school and back, the hours of homework done, my family nutritiously fed, a few bills paid and others postponed, and getting some laundry done all seem like small miracles. There are no news stories and blogs celebrating these unremarkable feats, so I’m satisfied with just collapsing in exhaustion on the couch with a Dewar’s scotch on the rocks.

I celebrate every neighbor who tackles these daily challenges, and then also finds the energy and resources to do more. That’s Craig. It’s also Jocelyn, Pam, Rebecca, Toni, Tom, Margo, and Carol, Sandy, Kevin, Paula, Kate, Bruce, Michael, Mary, Brian and many hundreds of other Rogers Park luminaries who do or don’t read or comment on a blog like this. We all want the same thing. We are the majority, not the criminals who either live or travel here from afar to do their dirty work. I’m sorry to see this fictional urban dictionary nonsense about us. It ignores the majority of us who do give a damn about our community. It fails to credit the achievements of Craig and others I noted here. Instead, let’s honor and sing the praises of the work, the extra added value, we give as neighbors towards a Rogers Park community in which we can all thrive and enjoy.

lafew said...

One of the challenges during a holiday season is that kids light off firecrackers. Near our home, kids take those paper rapped gunpowder pellets and toss them to the ground. As a response, some concerned neighbor may call the police.

The book can be based upon these blogs, as well. I am not an alarmist. Although there are some who deal drugs, when I lived in Highland Park, there were some who did the same, as well. "The Dam" was the place to buy according to those who knew. "The Beach," at least one of them, was where you smoked.

Perhaps, we should blog one of the suburbs to a juicy pulp and feed off of their blotters or some sort of extended "Bearcat" device.
All that I say is what's on my mind.

There are Hispanics, among others, who shoot up in the air at this time of year. They do the same in their countries. It is against the law and someone can be hurt or killed. There were a few reports in Highwood, based upon my recollection of such reckless discharges.

Of course someone could be shooting off a gun. The issue is where are they pointing it? Yep, guns are banned in Chicago. Yes, fireworks are banned in Chicago. That does not mean that we should piss in our pants every time we smell gun powder or hear a loud noise.

If you don't like loud noises, encourage arrests for firework discharge, as well.

proGun said...

Some Rogers Park residents are not hip or do they have a clue.
I call those people employed.

been there said...

seems inkjar proves this is b.s. if things are so bad, we wouldn't need craig to tell us.
gooning frequently occur? once a year?
bleeding into evanston? there is a long, long history of why things happen at this border. it is more the other way around, folks from dry towns, coming to the big city for fun.
nice of you to show off our neighborhood to the world, craig. too bad they didn't credit you. then people would be able to see that it is the view from a distorted reality. i have been here 20 years. nobody has ever so much as laid a finger on me. that is my reality. my neighbors and friend here are hardworking, decent people. how sad for the world to see us through craig's eyes.

INKJAR said...

BEEN THEIR----
YOU HAVENT BEEN OUT MUCH IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD -- HAVE YOU?
ANYWAY MERRY CHRISTMAS

Isaac Marshall said...

hey been there....

evanstons' problems bleeding into our neighborhood? wow, that is a distorted viewpoint from where I am sitting. In my 30 years in rogers park it has been chicago accomadating the evanston neighbors. Just because evanston was dry for many years did not mean that rogers park had to go slumming for their business. The numerous bars and liquor stores right on the border were an attempt to make money, as usual in our greedy country. People assessed the situation and took advantage and brought the neighborhood down. It was not Evanston's fault!

by the way, according to a certain neighborhood moron, we are the same person, so i am actually having a conversation with myself right now.

lafew said...

Well, I lived in Evanston from Sept 1981 to June, 1982 before heading up north. I attended Kendall College, which was demolished this year. Our dorm was Firing Hall, my RA was Stu, and I found occasional relief going south to Howard, when Dieter, Duane, John, or others wanted to imbibe. The Festival was still around, as well.

We also depended upon Gullivers, because Michellinis could not hold a candle to it.

Also, as a member of Highland Park High School in the seventies, we hit Howard at sweet sixteen, as well, because it was easy. Howard was a magnet for underage drinking, among other northside haunts eager to serve anyone who could belly up to the bar. It was an extremely seedy area in the late seventies and early 80s. It reeked beyond imagination of beer, puke, reefer, and other things, but people still came. Craig just does not know what he missed!

The CPD stayed away unless they had to mop and patch up at St. Francis or the other hospital just west of Western. Chicago and Evanston Police patrolled to prevent the bold and obnoxious from getting killed or rolled.

And yes, the crime came from Jonquil, but most of the wannabe gangsters were from Evanston. The Jamaican immigrants were in Rogers Park; a few were influenced by their spoiled ETHS neighbors. Most of the intelligent kids transferred to Lane Tech, Loyola High, Ida Crown, or their parents just moved north.

I can tell you from experience, we went to a Howard liquor store with a striped awning or front. Once the drinking age rose to 21, many head north to Kenosha. However, many went to Kenosha, because it was a better crowd at the Brat Stop. I actually headed to the southside, because some of my Kendall friends lived there.

I spent my time at another friend, Ron's place at Touhy just west of Sheridan during the summer of 1982 I stopped by a few times to Biddy Mulligans, to hear the Jack Kerouac-like poetry, among other places. I remember when the Heartland Cafe was an infant.

I also recall Potawatomi Park was called "pot park." Potawattomi is extremely tame, now; anyone who is ignorant enough to say otherwise is a neophyte. A group of Touhy and Rogers neighbors pretty much stayed in place and made a significant difference. To this day, many of them still live in content in the area.


We all know of extremely immature adults, who could learn more about manners from a 15 year old. Just hang out in Craig's neighborhood.

From my experience, it is the transplants dependent personalities looking for companionship, who get corked, buy crack and stick out on the sidewalks. Many are transients, who are looking for a better life, but have dependent personalities and don't know how to work with this trait. Many lack an education and are looking for high paying jobs for the under-educated that don't exist.

The community has its share of mental illness, but by no means as obvious as Uptown. People should not cast dispersions and call it as it is.

Secular or non-religious outreach, Craig, that is a challenge. A hard core drug user does not want to hear about "sweet Jesus" unless they can coax out a few dollars, a cot, or a meal out of a church. That is why some go to Beth Emet in Evanston every Wednesday, because they don't have to listen to anyone preach the gospel.

For those who call me a neophyte, I regret to tell you that I have spent more time on these streets. I walk the streets, because I treat my neighbors with respect, regardless. The Golden Rule is the key to unlimited devotion.

If the CPD wants to park itself in the Potawattomi Park lot, then let them, but neighbors respect those who they recognize. It is the outsiders and transients that do not show respect, harrass neighbors, and trash our streets.

My attitude, among others, is if you plan to stay in RP, then work with those who know, don't simply cast dispersions on the realities of city life.

We don't need any to see the "Debbie Downers," we know they exist, but you should consider some of the Sandy Success stories. They exist, but you need to you give them the attention that you give the Bearcat Police radio. I enjoyed hearing about the struggle with the planters.

What about construction on the Howard Street Station or the huge Condo development on Howard? This area is a bargain. I don't know of many City workers repeatedly running over Skokie Taxi drivers in Rogers Park, but there was a situation in Lakeview.

Happy Holidays.

moveifyouhaterogersparksomuch said...

You know I have lived in rogers Park for 28yrs! You guys make rogers park to be so bad when really it is not! I mean every area in the world has some issues but gee's let go of the making Rogers Park into Englewood! Have any of you ever lived in Englewood? If you have then you should know that living on the west side of Chicago or even the south side in certain areas is MUCH WORST! So please before you compare such idiot things go sleep/eat/drink in other areas! You have no ideal what bad really is! Are you all writing this having drive by's in your area or having your kids hide because they are shooting and you dont want a bullet to hit them? Now don't get me wrong rogers park needs some improving by all means! And it's good that we don't have drive by's happening every day, but you should'nt down grade your own neiborhood. If you think rogers park is so bad why in the hell live in the HOOD OF ROGERS PARK? Report the crime in your new area, I'm sure there will be lots of it! I hope no one gets offened because I just feel we should give our little rogers park more credit then it's getting. Have a great new year in the hood of rogers park or in case people move have a good year in your new crime infested area also! WELCOME TO THE USA/WAR ZONE IN THE MIDDLE EAST?

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