You don’t need supersonic, exclusive or even particularly luxurious transportation to catch many of Chicago’s fascinating sights. Instead, just take that ubiquitous, sometimes praised, sometimes cussed mode of travel-the El.
Most El travelers hop aboard, grab an available seat, stick nose in reading matter and remain that way until reaching their destination. Often, they don’t know what they’re missing. From Skokie to Cicero, Wilmette to Oak Park, O’Hare to Midway (whenever an already-delayed Southwest Side route opens), you can see the great, the common and occasionally the weird. You don’t need to travel far. Wonders abound within a block or so of many elevated stations.
We’ll assume you can figure out what’s near the Cermak/Chinatown or Sox/35th stops. Here’s a random tour of some other points of interest. Where to begin? The beginning of this journey is as close as your nearest El stop. And if you have a CTA pass, the number of destinations is limitless.
A Woman’s Work Is . . . (Ravenswood line, Rockwell stop): What’s a good way to liven up an El stop? Try putting a bright, expressive work of art nearby. A formerly drab garage wall near the Rockwell El stop now holds “The Great Wall of Women,” a mural unveiled last month by the nearby Woman Made Gallery.
The Great Wall shows the diversity of women-as scholar, athlete, spiritual leader, businesswoman, artist and nurturer. Ranging from baby to matriarch, the images represent a number of racial-ethnic groups. Local artists and friends (including the daughter of a Rockwell window agent) served as models.
“We wanted to show off different ethnic backgrounds and colors,” explains mural organizer Beate Minkovski. “The whole idea of the project was for women-and men-to get along with each other.”
“Finished” will probably never describe this still-evolving mural. A margin on both sides has been saved for neighbors to insert shells, glass, stones or whatever spare treasures seem appropriate.
Soccer to Me (Douglas-18th): Did you ever watch a soccer goalie on television and wonder, where in the world do they get those outfits? To find out where many of the Mexican-American soccer teams in Chicagoland go, hop off at the 18th Street station (and while you’re at it, take a look at the impressive mosaic mural of women in Mexican history), then go half a block west to Ochoa Sporting Goods.
“Todo para el portero” (Everything for the goalie”), boasts store manager Josefa Villalobos. That includes the trademark colorful jerseys, gloves, warmup jackets and shin guards. Ochoa supplies balls, uniforms and shoes for teams as far away as Aurora, Joliet and Elgin, as well as many teams for Chicago’s hundred-plus member CLASA league.
For those wishing to celebrate their favorite teams, Ochoa also sells banners of leading Mexican teams, as well as T-shirts honoring Brazil, the U.S. and other World Cup teams.
Twistin’ the Day Away (Jackson Park-Cottage Grove): “I’m the one who made Koko Taylor,” boasts musician Johnny Twist, owner of the Bluesville Record Store, 6317 S. Cottage Grove Ave. “I am one of the pioneers of the blues world. Who do you think arranged the million-dollar hit `Wang Dang Doodle’? Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor, Ike Turner-I worked with all of them.”
On a recent hot day, the snow cones he sold out front proved more popular than anything Twist was selling inside. That “anything” includes records from the likes of the Village People and Frank Sinatra to John Coltrane and Patti Duke, tapes from dozens of blues artists, and (if advertising outside the building is to be believed) “XXX films.”
“There ain’t a record store in Chicago that’s got the records I got-not junk or cutouts,” Twist claims. “Not everybody in the city knows about this place. But in Germany, they’re big blues fans. In Germany, everybody knows about Bluesville.”
Strike While the Iron Is Hot (O’Hare-Irving Park): All right, so this one is more than a block from the El stop. But who could pass up the opportunity to see the Antique Fabricare Museum, located at Pert Cleaners on Irving Park Road a block and a half west of the El stop?
Granted, “museum” may be a bit of an exaggeration. If this is a museum, so are any number of would-be rustic chain restaurants that hang old implements on their walls. But if you want to show someone that people were actually able to clean clothing before the advent of high-speed washers, then a good place to begin is the front room of this cleaners.
Look up on one wall, and you’ll find a collection of old rug beaters. “Before vacuums, you took the rugs outside and beat the daylights out of them,” notes owner Bea Wagar. Another wall has extinct soaps-American Family Detergents, Fels Naptha and the like. Washboards (now known mainly as a musical instrument to zydeco fans), wooden clothespins and ironing boards, feather dusters-they’re here.
Admission is free, although Wagar appreciates clothing to be cleaned-with the latest of equipment, not the century-old washing machine she displays in the “museum.”
I Take Issue With That! (Evanston-Main Street): Many concession stands by El stations supply interested readers with major newspapers. Some even sell mass-circulation magazines. But rare is the newsstand that supplies the average commuter with Cigar Afficionado, Reggae Report, Prison Life or Bubba Magazine.
Bubba Magazine? Where else could you be enlightened about “Ten Signs of a Good Bubba Joint” or “The NBA All-Bubba Squad.” If this vital information-or Italian fashion magazines or regional magazines from Oregon or royalty-worshiping magazines from England-is your cup of tea, visit the Chicago-Main Newsstand at the Main Street stop in Evanston.
“Things like Cosmopolitan that you can buy in the supermarket-I don’t sell much of that,” admits newsstand manager George Hidaka. “And newspapers are a small fraction-only 1 or 2 percent of our sales. But the fashion magazines are big among people in the business. They can cost $95, and the drugstores can’t afford to carry them. Something like Cigar Afficionado is a surprise seller. We get customers from as far north as Mundelein and as far west as Palatine.”
A Mystery to Me (Congress-Oak Park): They’re two fields that may find themselves together in one book, but seldom in one specialty bookstore. But go a half-block south at Oak Park and a few steps east on Garfield and you’ll find history and mystery cohabiting at the Centuries and Sleuths Bookstore.
They live in parallel universes-Canadian or medieval history on the west side of the store, Agatha Christie on the east. Between them is a cozy salon that serves both groups. Owner Augie Alexi works to please both groups. A history club meets Saturday mornings, a mystery club Saturday afternoons.
“We have our own `Meeting of the Minds,’ based on Steve Allen’s old show,” Alexi says. “During one, we had the first Mayor Daley, Al Capone, Che Guevara and reformer Dorothy Day. Volunteers meet four or five times before each performance and learn to handle possible questions. They stay in character and don’t try to give in to revisionist history. We’re trying to educate people, but not like a lecture.”
Pagoda Power (Howard-Argyle): Uptown’s “New Chinatown” neighborhood offers a variety of Chinese and Southeast Asian restaurants and grocery stores. But the most notable attraction of the neighborhood may be the one people see before entering it.
Some neighborhoods (the South Side Chinatown, or the Mexican Little Village) have entryways to welcome visitors with distinctive ethnic architecture. But only the Uptown Asian neighborhood has such a landmark on public transportation, a red and green pagoda roof. The Asian-American Small Business Association “adopted” the Argyle station and built the pagoda two years ago.
“It’s beautifully lit at night. It helps enhance the beauty of our neighborhood and cut down on crime,” according to AASBA director Charlie Soo. “The roof showcases a shopping center with a Southeast Asian flavor-an area that brings in revenues of $70 million to $80 million a year.”
Other places of interest:
– Ravenswood-Kedzie: For those with a craving for Arabic, Turkish or Assyrian literature, there’s the Al-ltakel Book Store, 439 N. Kedzie Ave.
– Ravenswood-Montrose: Pat Parker Place, a lesbian support center on Montrose Avenue just west of the El stop, houses the Lesbian Community Cancer Project.
– Ravenswood-Paulina: Something for everybody here: Torchlight Coffeehouse and Bar, Hailey’s Comix, Kerouac Jack’s (“beatnik restaurant and bongo bar”) and the Chicago Wellness Center (“THE colonic center”).
– Ravenswood-Howard at Belmont: Taboo Taboo, a store with lingerie of the type Granny probably wouldn’t wear.
– Ravenswood-Chicago: Do you want to escape from the rat race? Then take heart from the two yuppies, with briefcase in hand, climbing down a rope outside a building near Chicago Avenue. Sad to say, it’s only a sculpture.
– Lake-Ashland: First Baptist Congregational Church, begun in 1869 by antislavery crusaders, is one of Chicago’s landmark churches.
– Lake-Central: Austin Town Hall, modeled after Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, once served as the seat of the Township of Cicero but is now a Chicago Park District facility.
– Evanston-Noyes: We haven’t even left Cook County, but if you want the feeling of internationalism, pick up a French- or Spanish-language paperback at Europa Bookstore.
– Howard-Loyola: The New Guitar Study Center adertises rock, folk, classical, jazz and blues guitar lessons.
– Howard-Thorndale: Tropical Oasis, a restaurant, provides African and Caribbean cuisine, catering to two ethnic groups increasingly inhabiting the city’s northeast corner.
– Howard-Lawrence: How do you remember the Aragon Ballroom, located cheek to jowl to the Lawrence El stop? Older readers recall the big bands of the 1940s. Middle-aged ones might remember the Cheetah, a psychedelic nightclub located here in the 1960s. If younger readers think of the Aragon at all, they think of it as a place with Latino acts.
– Dan Ryan-95th: If you’ve finished this elevated tour and are still raring to go, step over to the Greyhound bus depot located in this station. Cincinnati, Louisville, Flint, Mich., and other glamor spots await.
