I have a little story to tell about a park I used to visit while working at UIC (Univ. of IL at Chicago). At lunchtime, I would bring myself and my lunch to a pretty little park located on the edge of Campus that was located in the old Italian neighborhood that UIC bought up a lot of, in order to build their permanent University back in the 1950’s. UIC started out temporarily located at Navy Pier in downtown Chicago until the new Campus was built.
I would drive over to the park to a cul-de-sac that looked out on the park and a beautiful fountain with a statue of Christopher Columbus surrounded by a circle of water. I’d eat then back to work. (As an aside, there were a couple of wonderful Italian corner grocery stores right in the neighborhood, with Deli’s in the back of the stores; best Italian subs I ever had.) I went to the park many times.
On one side of the park there were beautiful old Italian row houses (these Italians were big on beautiful carved wooden doors in the front of their homes, and the whole neighborhood was beautifully kept up). Some of these homes were owned by the Italian mafia (one of whom I got to know, but that’s another story for another day). You could tell where some of them resided as there were big stone walls built around their homes. The Italian neighborhood men would pitch pennies on the sidewalks in front of Italian men only private clubs where they would gather during the day to socialize.
There were also wonderful Italian restaurants along a little street right across from where I worked with wonderful food. Most were owned by those living in the hood. On the other side of the park, it was near the beginning of the Black neighborhoods; the dividing line was Roosevelt Road, with Blacks on one side of the park, and Italians on the other side. The park was very peaceful, as the Blacks never encroached on it, or crossed over it, as they knew the Italian mafia lived in the hood, and that if they caused any trouble at all, they wouldn’t physically last very long. The Italian men had no compunctions at all about taking out any Black troublemakers, and the Blacks knew it. An uneasy peace existed along the dividing line, with the beautiful little park located right in the middle of it.
I wonder if that beautiful statue of Columbus surrounded by the fountain still exists, or if it has been toppled by the domestic terrorist mobs of today. It might still be there if the Italians in the hood are still true to form and are guarding their old neighborhood.
I, too, hope the statue is still there, and perhaps some of your vecci amici from the nearby University can tell you if the statue of Christopher Columbus is still standing.
Let us know what you find out.
Leni