Gordon Wedgewood, Date: Mon, 24 Mar 1997
Dear Chancellor Broski:
This is my vision for the future.
The Maxwell Street Mecca forms a T as it goes down Halsted from, Roosevelt Road to Maxwell Street which is the top of the T. Parking is available in a large lot on the southside of Maxwell Street, just west of Halsted, thanks to the University of Illinois at Chicago.
In keeping with the 120 year history of the Maxwell Street Market, being Chicago's only melting pot for immigrants from Europe and for blacks from the deep south and any others that didn't fit into the mainstream, the Maxwell Street Mecca mirrors it with its diversity.
The merchants of the bargain stores along Halsted and on Maxwell Street give lessons in the art of negotiating. Economics students from U.I.C. are frequently seen completing assignments in the stores.
Note the many ethnic eateries of every price range are anchored by the famous Jim's Original in the northwest corner of Maxwell Street and Halsted. You can smell the succulent polish sausage cooking half a block away.
Stay for dinner and then enjoy the blues in the bistro's of the entertainment strip on Maxwell Street, where the likes of John Lee Hooker, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters and many others played as street musicians.
Like the reborn Beale Street in Memphis, which has become the top tourist attraction there, the Maxwell Street Mecca is fast becoming one of the places to visit day or night in Chicago.
The Maxwell Street Museum in the old Maxwell District Police Station is a must to see for tourists and Chicagoans alike. The exhibits walk you through the generations with the people who found a haven that thrived on integration in the midst of the most segregated city in the world.
Kudos are coming from all over the country; "yeah" is heard from all over the world, for the University of Illinois at Chicago and Mayor Richard Daley, for the foresight in backing the creation of the Maxwell Street Mecca.
Cordially yours,
Gordon "Wedge" Wedgewood, CLU, CHF,
Author of the novel Chicken in the Car and the Car Won't Go, CHICAGO, (Chicago as it was a half century ago)
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