At first look, it is as Undistinguished a corner as there is in the city, where 65th Street and Harlem Avenue intersect (this sentence as published has been corrected in this text). It is a corner that features the almost constant roar of trucks; plants and weeds of many colors; garbage thrown from the windows of those passing trucks and cars, including a number of beer cans; and a faded and frayed birthday card which, when examined closely, tells that it was received by a 5-year-old named Tim from his parents; a few wildflowers clustered together; a couple of tall and sturdy sunflowers; a sign advising motorists not to stop on the railroad tracks a few steps to the east; and a pair of would-be trees.
It is, like so many corners of the city, easy to ignore. But there was something about it that attracted us as we drove by and then, realizing that it was one of the most conspicuous corners of Chicago, bordered as it is on both sides by different suburbs, made us return and have a closer look.
As we walked over the railroad tracks, a couple of truck drivers honked their horns at us and made us jump; one of the drivers was laughing at us for reasons that will be ever mysterious.
Osgood, constantly inventive, decided that this location deserved something photographically special and so he shot pictures using infrared film, which has provided the eerie but compelling photo on this page.
As I stood watching him, I started to notice things. There was a place called Schold Machine to the east, across the tracks, and to the south was the suburb with the simple name of Hometown. There was a quarter on the ground; I left it there. A stiff breeze kicked up, and for a moment the rustling of the would-be trees and other flora that have fought their way to life here was loud enough to drown out the sounds of traffic and transform this little corner of the city into a quiet forest. But there came another piercing truck horn and the illusion was broken. To the west, across four lanes of traffic, I saw a place called K-C Car Care and the suburb of Oak Lawn and felt the strangest sort of comfort knowing that beyond lay the Mississippi, the Rocky Mountains and the vast Pacific.
