Now, take a look at those signs on the side of the shop to discover, as the owner told me, that Tommy’s started out as a diner and as his collection of guitars grew, he put them up at the diner and as the collection continued to grow, the diner became a shop.
With Chicago framed by antlers I want to link to an article in the New York Times. It is related to my musings a few posts earlier about neighbourhoods in Chicago.
“Black lives are shorter in Chicago. My family’s history shows why” – https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/27/magazine/life-expectancy-racial-gap.html?smid=url-share
So… I was staying in East Garfield Park. Before my first visit I looked up the demographics and wondered just how much I would stand out, being 97% Scandinavian. If you google East Garfield Park, all you’ll come up with is its place very high up on the lists of crime rates. It didn’t feel like that. And even though there are no cafes closer than a district or two over (Ukranian Village) there is a great Pete’s Fresh Market.
I would write more but I would likely be putting my foot in my mouth and be a stupid white tourist. I can say, though, that old houses are gradually being torn down and new built and one day at Pete’s I saw a family right out of the Bay Area arrive in a Mercedes convertible. Gentrification has begun.
Karins Fotos 