Re: Chicago - That Toddlin' Town...

[Mark Josephson <icebox@xxxxxxx>]

On Mon, 12 Feb 1996, Bob Wier wrote:

> I have recently come across (in an antique mall) a view card which
> is labeled on the back (hard to read...) 820 (E?) California St,
> Chicago Ill. 
California runs N/S, so the letter can't be E.  

> It is on a curved orange mount, no manuf name. It in fact appears something
> like an "amateur" card, exept the notation on the back is printed (or
> rubber stamped) rather than handwritten.
> It shows a rather new looking brownstone  I'd guess anything from 1870 to
> 1910 or so. 
I'd narrow the range to between 1880-1895, and lean towards the middle and 
end of that range.  Orange cards tend to be pre-1890.  Curved mounts are 
all post 1880.  Most brownstones were built after 1880 as well  
(I'm no expert on that.  My chicago history books show some early (1875) 
rowhouses, but they don't look like classic brownstones).  Also, 
California Ave. was not called California in the 1870s (at least the 
early 1870's.)  It was called Hayden St. at that time.  

> 
> Is anyone from Chicago on the list? Anyone know about that neighborhood
> today (I assume it's inner city at this point). 
Well, it kinda depends on whether the shot is of 800 N or 800 S 
California.  800 N I know something about, a friend lives about 3 blocks 
east.  The area is not "inner city" but it is run down.   800 S I'm 
unsure of, as I'm never around there & none of my Chicago guides (all 
from the 30s) or history books deal with that part of the West Side.  800 S 
would be just south of the Eisenhower Expy, and most everything S of the 
expy looks pretty bleak.  I think the area around 800 S Cali is 
industrial, but I may be wrong.

> If there is sufficient interest, I can scan it in for people to look at.

Please do post it.  Both sides, if the writing on the back shows.  
One thing I wonder: if the address is printed on the back (i assume you 
mean professional job of printing?) then there's always the chance that 
this address is the photographer's address and not relevant to the 
picture.  If it really is an ameteur view, its also likely that there is 
no significance to the building, except to the person who shot it.  I 
have a bunch of "street where I live" (actually, now its lived) 
shots, and I bet that 1880-90s stereophoto guys took pictures like that too 
(not maybe not as many, due to cost factors).

--
Mark Josephson  "[Lindbergh] was totally wrong in every area except in a 
icebox@xxxxxxx   pilot's seat in an airplane.  And I don't want to badmouth
                 pilots, but pilots, if you'll forgive me, are chauffeurs."
             --Arnold Forster, author, in 1990 PBS documentary on Lindbergh



------------------------------