Re: Souls Of The Departed

On Jan 14, 4:46�pm, "Zeke" <Yakzoom...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
<DAFG3...@xxxxxxx> wrote:

(Snipped for time)


Did your ex grow up in the 'hood? �I prolly know him, LOL!

My ex did grow up in that neighborhood. He went to Wells for high
school, was chased home by a gang one day and got his GED instead! He
lived on Erie Street since about 1968 or so...with his 5 brothers and
sisters. His oldest sister is 48 now I think and he's 44. Who
knows...you might have known them! I didn't move to the city until
about 1985 and I lived on Erie street until about 2001 or 2002.

Like you say, some of those families have lived in those buildings for
generations. �I guess it stands to reason they would try to remain,
especially if the buildings were paid for. �So they're raising their kids
the old school way? �Now that *would* be a problem, LOL.

It is still a bit of a problem. It's not like it used to be...but
enough of the riff raff is still there to cause problems.


Your neighborhood was a rough area before gentrification set in. �I chuckled
when you described it as "not a bad area at all." �Yeah, for about three
blocks! �Ukie Village was always kinda quiet and nicely maintained.. �


Umm...excuse me....but from Western to Leavitt and Chicago to Erie it
wasn't "bad at all"!! Of course we stayed in our little 4 block
radius bubble cuz it wasn't always safe to venture out past it!! LOL
Just kidding obviously. Not about the 4 block radius..just about not
venturing out past it! You should see the area around Smith Park
now. Amazingly beautiful buildings. Don't know if the park is any
safer now than it used to be...but the area is georgeous. But leave
my little bubbled area alone dangit. It was a very interesting and
diverse neighborhood and it often came in handy! Like the time my
oldest son locked my keys in the car and my spares were long gone.
Was easy enough to call the Italian kid from across the street who
stole cars for a living to come over and pop my lock for me. It was
funny though. He had such a hard time doing it...I was out there
watching him and he kept complaining that my type of car was too hard
to break into and he was glad to be getting the experienc! LOL He
had to call a partner of his to come over with a special tool to get
into the car. I was happy to know that the car was so difficult to
break into and he was happy for the "hands on" experience!! You just
gotta love the city. Or when the little old Italian lady who lived
below me had her apartment broken into. I saw the two boys from down
the street leaving her apartment and called the cops. I went to court
and testified. One of the boys saw me a few days later and gave me a
hard look. I mentioned it to my ex...he mentioned it to someone he
knew on the block...a visit was paid to the boys and they were polite
as could be to me from that day forward. They even apologized to the
little old Italian lady for breaking into her house and taking the 10
dollar bill she always had on her coffee table. Back then people in
the neighborhood mostly looked out for each other. Most of the
families who had been there for a long time together looked out for
each other's kids too. Now most people don't even know each other.


Anyway... when I was in HS, yours was one of the neighborhoods we used to
travel to, and hang out to have fun. �We had friends from St. Helen & Chopin
school who went to our HS and there was a lot of camaraderie among white
kids
back then. �

My kids actually went to St. Helen for most of their early school
years and then went to St. Nick's for a year before moving out here.


Yup, there was always *something* happening down in your hood, Deb.

There was definitely always drama of one kind or another. It is
really peaceful out where I live now. When I first moved into the
city I remember having such a hard time sleeping at night. So many
city noises, cards, people, sirens, shots, etc. But after living
there awhile you begin to love those night noises. Get so used to it
you can fairly accurately tell how far away those shots were. Two
blocks, five blocks...etc. etc. "That sounds like it's coming from
the corner of such and such." You know what I mean. After I moved
out to the quiet little burbs....I had a hard time sleeping at night
because it was so quiet. No city noises.


Drugs are still actually a big problem in that area. Probably every
area. A guy across the street from OD'd and died in his bead.
Unfortunately he lived alone..and no one missed him. It was in the
spring toward summer...we had a cold snap and most of us turned our
heat on...as did he. Well...needless to say, the smell eventually was
noticed and the cops had to break down his front door. They burned
coffee for two days trying to get rid of the godawful smell!!! He was
a nut...sold drugs..but never out of his house. He always said he
wouldn't shit where he ate. Thank God the dealer had some morals! LOL

We had a lot of fun down there, but there was sadness too. �Not just the
gang stuff. �Back in the day heroin was a huge problem in Chgo, and
especially in the really old historic neighborhoods near you. �If your
cousins were raised there and lived there throughout the 50's, '60's and
'70's, they will surely remember how many kids OD'd back then.

He once told me, as a little kid he used to look out
his back window into the alley, and see all these teenagers hanging around..
There were tons of teens back then, and it seemed like the numbers just kept
on growing. �And they would just hang out back in the alley.

Yeah..my ex and his friends, even in their 20s would hand a milk great
on a telephone pole in the alley and play hoops. ALways thought that
was funny.


Our Cali suburb rolls up the sidewalks at 9:00pm. �11:00pm on weekends.
There's really not much to do around here, no temptations like most other
places. �Our town is so quiet and safe. �It has a poor section but it's
nothing like what we're used to. �It's the perfect place to raise kids.

Sounds about like the town I moved to. We just got a movie theatre a
couple years ago. The high schools have so many activities for kids
after school that the buildings are always active til about 9:00 p.m.
every night. Weekends are busy there too. Helps keep kids out of
trouble. Not that it's perfect out here. Kids do get in trouble.
Mostly underage consumption...or driving without a license. Nothing
major.


Of course our kids wish they'd grown up in a crazy neighborhood like their
dad and uncles, doing all the crazy shit that we did. �Of course, we would
never let that happen!

My kids miss the city too, but realize that it was better for them to
move. I was very restrictive when we lived up there. I used to let
them ride their bikes up and down our block..but that was it...never
even around the block! We moved out here where there is a 40 mile
bike path....and they were able to bike all over town and go two towns
over on the bike path to get ice cream from their favorite place. Of
course I reminded them that no place is 100 percent safe...but their
instincts were pretty well honed living in the city up through 8th
grade.

I'm like you. �Have missed Chicago since the day I left.

It does suck leaving it. You stick it out while times are bad....you
make do...and then things turn for the better and you can't afford to
live there anymore!! I just wanted my kids to have the freedom to be
teenagers...hang out at the show..go to school football games and
dances, etc. etc. without me having to worry every second. Moving was
the best thing I could have ever done for them. But..had I never had
any kids...I would have NEVER left the city.

BTW..my brother lives in Santa Monica...absolutely loves Cali. I was
out there two summers ago for a couple of weeks...and loved it too.
You picked a great place to go!!

Peace,

Debbie

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: (NBC) poll - working mothers (prior generations)
    ... a small wilderness to us city kids, and best of all, there were no parents. ... Lombardo grew up in Bridgeport, a much older, much rougher neighborhood than ... destruction of the neighborhood school. ...
    (rec.music.artists.springsteen)
  • Re: (NBC) poll - working mothers (prior generations)
    ... a small wilderness to us city kids, and best of all, there were no parents. ... Lombardo grew up in Bridgeport, a much older, much rougher neighborhood than ... destruction of the neighborhood school. ...
    (rec.music.artists.springsteen)
  • Re: OT -- Its fundraising time!
    ... his school raises enough money, they will go on better field trips, and as a ... chosen to live in a neighborhood, ... my kids have not been abducted on their ... DS's school fundraiser just solicits money directly from the ...
    (rec.arts.tv.soaps.abc)
  • Re: Whats wrong with this picture?
    ... There's quite a few cities in Louisiana... ... Shreveport / Bossier City, Monroe, Baton ... loyal to the state and kept his kid in a Louisiana school... ... people just put their kids in private schools... ...
    (rec.scuba)
  • Re: Male vs Female viewpoints in SF
    ... ex-boyfriend of mine came from a small-town, predominantly white, Texas school district. ... Their high school guidance counselor actively discouraged the kids from thinking of applying to college. ... Country kids have a number of things against them: long travel times in hot buses and a limited course choices are just part of it. ... I say "appear" because what I think it really is, is an unwillingness to leave home - I have seen a number of bright students make it to uni, but leave after a year - either it's because they can't stand city life or they just miss their families and friends more than city kids. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.written)