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That great street
Submitted by Michael Fielding on Sun, 07/27/2008 - 10:48pm.
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Today's Tribune featured a piece on Western Avenue - the city's "backbone" and one of the longest city streets in the world.
But we prefer a similar article in TimeOut Chicago that ran last year, featuring some of the area's highlights out here on the southern fringes of the nearly 24-mile corridor.
From TimeOut:
"From 1851 to 1869, Western marked the edge of Chicago, says Peter Alter, a curator at the Chicago History Museum. 'People would go to Western to have a picnic in the middle of the 19th century, out in the open fields there,' Alter says.
Up the road, Western crosses into Chicago proper and the neighborhood of Morgan Park, where a man gardening in front of The Healing House (11840 S Western Ave) turns out to be the healer’s husband. The stand-alone alternative medicine clinic has been on Western for ten years. 'Before that, it was a pizza parlor,' he says with a laugh. I laugh too, but secretly, my feet are starting to ache.
From there, the road leads through the Irish enclave of Beverly, complete with a rather be broke than a cub fan sign outside of McNally’s Pub (11136 S Western Ave). Things get a little too urban over the next few miles—a lot more asphalt and a lot fewer flowers—and it’s a relief to see a few trees at 95th, where Evergreen Park begins, and wide, fenced-in golf courses appear on the west side of the road.
At Original Rainbow Cone (9233 S Western Ave), a girl who looks all of 14 works the register like an old hand, despite the long line. Between 90th and 81st, the Dan Ryan Woods are a pleasant interlude. Overhanging branches cool me off and a birdsong tempers Western’s divided-highway vibe. At 82nd, Western crosses a set of train tracks, and is suddenly back to 'normal'—car noise and auto dealers. It is at this point that my left little toe starts going numb."
Check out the TimeOut series here.
What are some of your favorite highlights on Western?
Western Avenue has it all. I
Western Avenue has it all. I think it goes all the way north to Evanston.
There are so many great things about the street. It is probably the most prominent in the area.
St. Rita High School stands out at 79th, but the old St. Rita was at 63rd and Claremont, only one street east of Western Avenue.
I like the new bank at 103rd, where it counts down the days to the South Side Irish Parade all year long.