Steve Hernandez <steve_hernandez@buschs.com> Date: Sat, 18 Oct 1997
To: david.c.broski@uic.edu
Way back about a million years ago there was a place we used to go to sell damaged and second hand clothes. We would wake at the late hour of 6 am. We got to sleep in because we lived on 26th street just a few blocks from 12th and Halsted. Our uncle Tony would get us up and take us down to the greasy spoon just a couple of blocks from the main post office on canal street. We would have a semi hearty breakfast and get to Maxwell street by 7 am even at this early hour we were lucky to get a spot, most of the vendors were already there. There was the smell of burning wood every where. People sold all sorts of unimaginable junk, it was like the world was a fire sale, used toys, dolls missings parts, rusty old tools records, tapes, jewelry and food. When we walked around and got near Halsted the smell from the burger joint would just overwhelm us we always hoped we would work past noon so uncle Tony would buy us a couple of these greasy burgers filled with onions, or better yet a pork chop sandwich on white bread loaded with onions and blasted with a mustard injection. Ah, the joys of open air eating. Every Sunday we would see the Blues bands come out and play around eleven am, they always drew a crowd especially when one of them was a special attraction like a 8 or 10 year old drummer. Many years later it rally blew my mind when I came to realize that some of these people were the great blues players of today. Out there playing and jamming for free.
There was always a great Mexican presence at this market as time has come to pass they gained a greater and more prominent presence, probably as a result of the anglo migration away form the city during the 60's and 70's. The black presence was very strong in the form of many regular vendors, and a great number of the regular customers. The reason we always referred to this place as Jew town was because we were of the impression that the Jews had control of everything, after all they were the owners and operators of the stores, the haberdasheries and tailor shops. They usually had a strong accent, and were notorious for presenting their customers with one price with the expectation that the customer would bargain them down to a mutually agreed upon price for the merchandise.
I used to also go down there with my parents on a regular basis; it was great and exciting multicultural and entertaining experience for all the years I attended this place. I was always so fond of the many days I spent there. So after I married I brought my wife and children to shop at and experience this marketing phenomenon. My wife was totally impressed by this place my kids liked it too but they were not crazy about the facilities, things had come to a point where the designated rest rooms were down an alley behind a building behind a pole, just like the old days, This is where everyone was relieving themselves. My poor children they did the best they could with the situation. Yet overall although the area was much smaller it still retained much of its character and charm. Now there were vendors everywhere selling tamales, beer, tacos, and pop. Everyone was moving we had come to a mobile sales force.
It was very cool and as luck would have it I ran in to an old friend from the neighborhood Bobo aka. Robert Gonzales manning a stall selling children's clothing. After all these years this place still retained much of its character charm and social purpose. This is a part of Americana that undeniably displays the multi-ethnicity of this country, and the undeniable fact that the races and religions can work and live together in harmony. A place like this has a life of its own that will never die. Yet it can be crippled and turned into a shadow of itself if it loses it's location space and accessibility. Do the right thing and stop this from happening. If progress and development moves ahead and puts an end to or limits the availability of this piece of Americana, that would not be progress. That would be a step backward and we would lose something that cannot ever be replaced. This is a historical landmark and it should be designated and recognized as such.
Steve Hernandez
Ann Arbor Michigan
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