I planned this one!
Participants: Just Kelly and Bill in the beginning, then Kate and Ed join just before lunch
We explored all 3 sections of Kenwood. First we did Indian Village, in the far South East corner of Kenwood. Then we drove around in the more poverty stricken Northern Kenwood, stopping just once to walk around. And then we did a significant amount of walking in the prosperous Southern Kenwood neighborhood.
Highlights: kind of bullying our way into
Regents Park apartments to grab some
coffee at their cafe at the outset.
-the art deco decor on the Powhatan apt building
-pretty entrance on the Barclay building
-Mies Van Der Rohe's Algonquin apts
-Muddy Waters's house, waiting for demo
-the North Kenwood Landmark district, a bunch
of renovated homes, beautiful, in the middle of
a lot of decay
-King college prep
-Kenwood United Church of Christ, though
service underway and we didn't feel it'd be
right to bust in. We mostly just do that to
Catholic services.
-KAM-Isaiah Israel Temple. Closed. We've GOT
to get in there!
-getting bounced by the secret service from entering
Obama's street, so we slipped around the side of
KAM to get a look at another historic house,
the William O Goodman house, just a few houses
down from Obama. And then we were shoo-ed
away from THERE by the secret service.
Fairly aggressively. But then as we exited the street
a neighbor drove up and asked with disgust 'did
they just chase you off?' and when we said 'yes'
she drove off mumbling support for our plight.
Don't get me wrong. I have friends in the Secret
Service. The whole exchange was just pretty
hilarious.
-we then saw just a shit-load of old, cool houses
in South Kenwood that I did WAY too much
research on, including homes built by Civil War
vets, one owned by the victim of Leopold and Loeb,
etc. A lot were SUPER boomin. Lots of money in
South Kenwood. Then AND now.
-Drexel Blvd (slowly hitting ALL the Chicago Blvds)
with Drexel Fountain
-Rainbow/PUSH headquarters in a former Temple
-as we walked around the residential neighborhood
in South Kenwood that guy stopped us to ask us
what we were up to, got excited about 'Hoods, then
invited us into his friend's backyard to show us the
Burnham designed carriage house behind the Turner
house. NICE!
-lunch at Z and H MarketCafe
-the mosque that Muhammad Ali founded with a son
of Elijah Muhammad
-the Elijah Muhammad, Louis Farrakhan house with
suited security adjusting the lawn sprinklers
-Muhammad Ali's house
-those two early Frank Lloyd Wright homes that don't
LOOK FLW, and are in need of some tender love and
care. I think I heard the owners wanted to turn one into
a B and B, but the neighbors didn't want 'that' element
in the hood.
-the abandoned 5th Church of Christ Scientist building,
all fenced off.
-the Blackstone Public Library. Closed. Gotta get in
THERE, too.
-that adorable secret park that we found with a little
labyrinth
-those cool Atrium houses on Madison Park
'Hoods Kenwood packet
'Hoods Kenwood MY flickr album
Impressions: These really ARE 3 distinct neighborhoods, right on top of each other. There is SO much money in South Kenwood. And not in the North. There's a lot of history in both. It was a beautiful day for walking. Not a lot to DO in these neighborhoods. Mostly residential. With worship centers. A variety of them.
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