Intro to Chicago Block Project

My name is Sean. If you’ve already read the “About” page, you know a little about me and the project. Here’s a little more detail.

I went to Indiana University in Bloomington, IN and graduated in 2012. I had no idea what I wanted to do at that age, so when my then-girlfriend asked if I wanted to move to Chicago, I said yes. Sure? Why not? I remember seeing the skyline coming north on the Dan Ryan, the haze over the towers which gave way to Grant Park and the lakeside condos in Lincoln Park as we continued north. It was a foggy day in August and the sky was dark, but it was anything but dreary. I remember thinking, “Wow. I’ve never seen a city like this before.” I still feel that way sometimes.

I stayed for six years before moving. I was feeling burnt out, stuck in a cycle of restaurant jobs that were leading me sideways, not up. But as soon as I was away from the city, with the job I had finally dreamed of, I wanted to be back.

I think that you take a place like this for granted when you’re here. There’s always next week or next month or next year to try jibaritos, or dim sum, or a depression dog. There’s always a new shop on the corner that goes out of business before you ever get a chance to drop in. You pass street festivals on the way to work, or a baseball game letting out on your way home. When you finally do get a moment’s rest, there’s so much to do that you often freeze out of indecision. Then finally, when you move, maybe out to the suburbs, or back to your hometown, you can’t help but miss it. You miss the 4am karaoke bars. The swing dancing. The sushi delivery. The incredible maze of people, from halfway around the world or just down the block.

Chicago has ended up meaning more to me than I ever expected. That’s why I want to document what it is. Is a city a living thing? Does it have a power of its own? I think so, in a way. Just as a person is made of countless cells, a city is made of countless blocks, and countless people living on those blocks. Some streets are famous, some are known only to their inhabitants and the infrequent lost commuter. Some were famous once, or thriving, but now lay vacant, weeds pushing out other weeds. Each block has character, energy, a story. So to do the people who inhabit them.

As for exploring the whole town, one of the most frustrating things about Chicago is that it is truly a divided city, and divided starkly along racial lines. The city has an infamous history of segregation and discrimination against people of color: so much so that when it came time to choose the first northern city to target, Martin Luther King Jr. packed his bags for Chicago. Segregation in the form of housing covenants, discriminatory lending/leasing and white flight have left a city split between white and black, north and south. In present times, investors flock to North Side neighborhoods like Lakeview, Lincoln Park and Wrigleyville, but the South and West Sides still await renewal. And not just any renewal, but a type that will benefit those communities instead of pushing them out. There are many people living in Chicago that know nothing about life outside their neighborhoods, and I’ve heard some proudly say “I’ve never been past X block.” But there is life in all of Chicago. With help from locals in those neighborhoods, I hope to document that life.

To sum up, this project exists as a means to share and document blocks and neighborhoods of Chicago, and to foster explorations of your own. I will describe to you, in photos and words, the architecture, businesses, sights and sounds of these blocks as they exist on one day, or many days. This blog is for Chicagoans, for former or future Chicagoans, or anyone who is interested to see the city as it truly is. Will I ever truly visit every block? I’m not sure, but I’ll give it my best shot.