I was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1969. I had the privilege of living there through the 70’s It was a wonderful time to be a kid. My parents were incredibly supportive, and I had an excellent group of friends. We would go to the park, ride our bikes, and played football together, we always played football. I have very fond memories of my childhood, every day we would get home from school get our homework done, and out the door we went. We played outside till the streetlights came on, kids did not have to go inside after the streetlights came on, but you had to be on your steps or front porch.
Chicago was a great city to grow up in. There were so many things to do, the boat house in Humboldt Park would have activities for kids and adults, and the people were friendly and welcoming. Every year they would have the Puerto Rican fest, a whole week of food, fun, and games. Cars would circle the entire park displaying our flag, and the cars themselves. Once again it was a wonderful time to be a kid.
Growing up in Chicago, you learn to appreciate all the city has to offer. You also learn to be tough and resilient, as the city can be a tough place to live. But it is also a place full of opportunity, not just for adults but for kids as well. If you wanted to make a few bucks just head down to the local store (Jewels) and wait outside to help the elderly with their groceries. It was not much but as a kid a dollar here and there was huge back then.
Chicago might be a big city, but it had a small town feel to it. Everyone knew each other and there was a powerful sense of community. I miss those days sometimes, but I am glad I had the opportunity to grow up in such a wonderful place. There wasn’t much to worry about back in the 70’s and 80’s in Chicago, even the local gangs helped the community. Yes, they had their little scuffles with rival gangs, but there was never a worry of a stray bullet coming out of that scuffle. Don’t get me wrong as an adult I would not condone that behavior, but as a kid when a gang member from your neighborhood gathers you and your friends and tells us to get inside so we don’t get hurt, there’s a little something to admire there.
Family was family back then. There was no blood relation within most of the community, but everyone watched out for each other, especially over the kids. Did not matter if you were Black, White, Hispanic, Italian, or Asian. Like I said in a previous post, every parent was your parent, and that went for all kids. The stay home moms did what they did through out the day, but when the school bell rang and kids were let out for the day, those stay home moms became “Security guards” watching over all of us neighborhood kids. Let’s put it this way, school let out at 2:30pm. If you were out playing at 2:40pm you know damn skippy one of those stay home moms are going to ask if you finished your homework, and don’t lie they seem to know.
And please do not be fooled, those parents that were really not your parents, still had permission to spank you if you did something wrong. I’m only glad every one of them were trusted by your parent and had no worries of them taking advantage or abusing of us children. “There Casa was your Casa,” and if a mom had to work late no matter what house you were playing at, you and your siblings were told to come in and have dinner. Not invited, “Told” And no was not an option.
My fondest memory of my neighborhood had to be how everyone came together for the blizzard of 1979. 21” of snow came down between January 13th and 14th, only surpassed by the blizzard of January 26, 1967, which measured 23”, 2 inches more of snow than 1979. 12 years apart and pretty close to the same day. We were literally walking on snow the height of cars, we probably walked on a few and didn’t know it. Even as a kid I felt the warm feeling of neighbors helping neighbors. They helped each other to get their cars out from under that mess, even Police officers were out there pushing cars, directing traffic to where the unburied cars had to be, then to come back and dig out the next set of vehicles. Garages and driveways were buried to the hilt, and when you did get a chance to start clearing it, you would create what seemed like 12-15 feet walls of snow on the sides of your driveway. Not sure where or when the orange cones were given, but everyone that had a driveway put cones at the end of the drive so other drivers would know that there was an upcoming driveway. It was chaotic for adults yet fun for us kids knowing that schools were going to be closed, and if I remember correctly, they were closed for a week. Not that it mattered the city had a challenging time getting the streets cleaned.
They did clear out areas for cars that were unburied, like I said before the Police directed the traffic to those areas, most were grocery store parking lots, and the school parking lots as well. No matter where you looked all you saw were cars and buses in the middle of the street either buried or stalled. honestly looking back, it looked like a scene from “The day after tomorrow,” not even joking I might have been young, but that is something you never forget.
Untouched snow (Not shoveled) on sidewalks was so high that my siblings and I took turns digging out tunnels from the front of our house to the street, and to friends next door. We excavated for so long with the help of our friends that we had a network of tunnels pretty much throughout the neighborhood. Did we worry about it caving in? Nope, the frigid air that helped to keep the city grounded helped our kiddy cause as well. We had so many tunnels throughout the neighborhood that we started putting signs up that read “Please do not walk on snow hill possible injury to children.” I can’t believe it actually worked, pretty much everyone went around and walked on the street that was actually clearer than the sidewalks anyway.
But alas the frigid air broke, and the tunnels collapsed on their own. It was fun while it lasted. Eventually we went back to school and at least for us kids life went back to normal, adults still had to deal with snow, and claiming parking spots. Which was pretty funny because just when you thought you had it all cleared, here came the plow to bury you back in, it was fun watching the people cursing out the plow driver, and once again start shoveling out their cars mumbling under their breath. We offered to help, but as they always said, “It’s too dangerous, we don’t need you getting hit by a car,” Thus the tunnels.
I have to admit growing up in Chicago with its great diversity of nationalities and cultures a person learns a lot. Everyone was family back then, so whatever your friends learned from their family you learned as well. If “Mom” was cooking when you visited all you needed to do was ask “Why do you make it that way?" And you received a whole lesson on how to make that specific dinner. If “Dad” was fixing something it was the same, between my dad, and my friends dad I was taught how
to fix cars. My cooking skills actually came from my mom and my friend’s moms. (I had a lot of moms). But my greatest knowledge of food came from my wife (May she rest in peace).
In those days you were taught strong work ethics as well. At age 9 or 10, you were taught how to do your laundry, how to coo
k, and how to keep your house clean. My mother always said, “The reason I am teaching you all of this is just in case you meet a woman that can’t do any of it.”
If I may, a quick funny since we’re talking about learning, my son being 9 years old at the time, walked up to my brother and I one day as we worked on tuning up my car, and please don’t judge me on this, but my son walked up to us looked me dead in the eye and asked, “Where’s the motor.” I was proud that he took the initiative to ask, but my brother and I looked at each other because two weeks prior I was explaining to him various parts of the car and where to find them. but it took all we had not to
break out in laughter. I did try showing him a few things hands on after that, and that lasted about 10 minutes, he must have found something a little more exciting to do, because he did not stick around.
He did eventually learn enough to fiddle with cars, not to sure of his extensive knowledge of them. He tries and that’s all I can ask for. But getting back to yester years, Times were quite different then, even as a kid if you so happen to be out after curfew you did not have to worry about being abducted or any of that, I think the most frightening thing we experienced was having our bikes stolen. Which were not even really stolen, most times a friend borrowed it without telling you, because his bike chain busted or kept coming off the sprocket. Did we ever call the Police? Once again nope! Why because 1). Your friend would bring it back, or 2). Someone somewhere would recognize it; call your parents and they would go and get it back.
Ask me if I would live there again, I would have to say no, I left the inner city around 2004, and I’m glad I left when I did. Gang activity became worse, I literally had a shoot out in between the building I lived in and the building next door, it scared the living daylights out of my wife and kids. That’s when we decided to move to the suburbs, which worked out well since we worked out there anyway. I have to say though Chicago is a wonderful place to visit, they have a lot to see and do, and if they could try harder on cracking
down on the crime, and gang activities Chicago would be great again. It is unfortunate that all that historical beauty, and famous museums have to be diminished by all the violence. None the less remember, Chicago can also be expensive, but from my experience from living there I can say it is well worth it just to see the sights.
The one thing that I definitely miss is the “taste of Chicago,” hosted in Grant Park around Buckingham Fountain. They have the best foods there usually around 30 vendors, and all popular eating establishments. I used to love going every year my wife did not care for it too many people she said. I stopped going in 2004 for obvious reasons, and it seems they cancelled the event in 2020 due to the pandemic, and in 2021 they did a take-out version of the event. Not sure how that worked out, but they must have figured everything out, they announced its return for 2022, and apparently it went well.
If you’re planning to visit Chicago create a game plan of the places you want to visit, and make sure you pay the meters if any. Below I have a list of popular locations.
· Millenium Park. (Cloud Gate)
· Navy Pier.
· Adler Planetarium.
· The Magnificent Mile.
· Skydeck Chicago. (Found at the Willis Tower)
· Field Museum.
· Chicago Theatre.
· The Art Institute of Chicago.
· Museum of Science and Industry.
· Chicago Observation Deck.
· Chicago River Walk.
· Chicago Cultural Center.
· Lincoln Park Zoo.
· Shedd Aquarium.
· Buckingham Fountain.
· Garfield Park Conservatory.
· Oriental Institute Museum.
While in Chicago I would suggest public transportation (CTA, L-Train) to get around town instead of Uber. Uber has to be reserved at least 30 days before hand, thus the having a game plan. Plus, Chicago Uber is the highest priced nationwide.
Hope this read gives you a little more insight on my up bringing. Till next time.
Daniel Marrero.
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