There was no shortage of memorable landmarks in the Hollywood Park of my childhood. When I asked 10 former Hollywood Park residents to name the neighborhood landmarks, everyone listed at least three and nearly everyone listed the same ones.
Author Archive | Frances Archer
Who’s to Say? Defining a Chicago Neighborhood’s Boundaries
The Hollywood Park neighborhood on Chicago’s Far North Side has a lot of things going for it, but clear-cut borders aren’t one of them. When I asked 10 former residents of Hollywood Park to recall the boundaries of the neighborhood, I expected a few different answers. What I got was seven different versions of Hollywood […]
The Image of a Chicago Neighborhood in Memory
Most Chicagoans have heard of Albany Park or Rogers Park, but to know of Hollywood Park–you had to live there. What, I’ve wondered, does it take for an attractive neighborhood to get noticed?
Catching the Big One
When I heard a woman who lives in my neighborhood had written a chick lit tale that takes place in Chicago, I had to read her book. It’s not often guilty pleasures take place so close to home.
Basketball At Home and Away
I was, as usual, interested in the local angle. What does a book about the great college basketball coach who challenged discriminatory practices have to do with Chicago, and in particular, my old neighborhood, Hollywood Park? More than you’d expect.
The Abandoned Fieldhouse: History of a Chicago Neighborhood Park
River Park has one. Jefferson Park has one. Independence Park has one. Hollywood Park was supposed to have one. Read about the Clarence Hatzfeld fieldhouse that didn’t get built.
South Pond’s Swan Song
Back in early July my daughter and I visited Lincoln Park Zoo. When I saw South Pond I thought an environmental disaster had occurred. Gone were the curvilinear paths surrounding the pond. Gone was the island’s wild overgrowth. Gone were the giant swan paddleboats.
Out on the Back Porch
These striking 1940s-era photographs inspired a post incorporating three of my favorite subjects: Chicago back porches, the Great West Side and the Hollywood Park neighborhood.
And the winner is …
Announcing the winners of my “Chicago is a state of mind” drawing. One lucky person gets 2 tickets for a Chicago Elevated tour with guide Margaret Hicks, the other winner receives a Chicago memoir.
Garden Party
The Peterson Garden Project is among the gardens that will be featured in Victory, a documentary in the making about community gardening in Chicago, highlighting the history of Victory Gardening in the 1940s and detailing the ways in which gardening now impacts Chicago neighborhoods, health, families and the city’s future. The filmmakers, Dan Lerner from Cross Town Productions and […]