The Depression was very difficult for many. Just to have food and shelter was a constant struggle. During the worst of the Depression, Halsted Street was being paved with asphalt. The original street was paved with wood blocks soaked in creosote. The night before the paving was done, people–desperate for coal–tore up the blocks with shovels and took the blocks home in coaster wagons and baby carriages. Anything to burn and stay warm.
At this time, ice was made in an ice house, and horse-drawn wagons would go through the alleys and the iceman would shove a large cake of ice, almost a foot wide and a foot long, through a hole in the wall that led into the ice box in the apartment. Children would follow the iceman around begging for small pieces to suck on.
On Halsted Street, at 52nd, was Walter’s Hall–a two-story building with stores below and a large hall on the second floor that was rented out. Every spring the Gypsies would come. They would rent the hall for their weddings. Each spring they would arrive, always with 20 new Chevrolets (in 1935!) and have a ball for a week. Then they would disappear until next spring.
At the corner near Walter’s Hall was an Irish tavern with a beer garden at the rear. On Saturday nights, in the dark, you could hear the drumming of many heavy work shoes, as the Irish immigrants would dance the night away.
At 63rd was the Sears store–brand new in the ’30s. We gasped at the news that the manager of the store was paid $10,000 per year–an unbelievable sum. Also at 63rd was the South Town Movie Theatre–a palace with statues and fish pools and air conditioning (wonderful to us in Chicago’s humid summer).
On the corner of 63rd was the While Castle Hamburger building, an oasis where you could get a burger (small) and drink for a total of 10 cents, 5 cents for the burger and 5 cents for the Coke. No burger since has tasted as good.
