Explore Oral Histories from Uptown Residents

Click here to view the video from the launch party!

You will need the free QuickTime player to view the video!

Kelly Cheng
Sun Wah Restaurant

"I moved to Uptown to work in my family's restaurant when I was eight and have worked in the family restaurant for eighteen years. As a child, I remember the street festivals on Argyle St. The street would be blocked off and I remember selling food outside our restaurant with my father.

Uptown is great because of so much diversity. Ethnicity, social classes, openess of sexual preferences you can find it all here. The challenge for Uptown is how can these different groups get along and work together. My hope for Uptown is that neighbors here have the courage to try new things."

Alderman Helen Shiller
Alderman of the 46th ward

"Public safety and diversity of residents here in Uptown is very important to me. During the eighteen years that I have been Alderman, I have also strived to make sure improving schools is a top priority. Every child in the city has the right to good education. It is the heart and soul of what I am working so hard for in this community. I don't do this work alone. I work authentically and energetically with grassroots organizations, churches, schools and other ward leaders. I enjoy continuing to collaborate to improve the life of the Uptown community."

Selwyn Weiss
Owner of Uptown Car Wash

"The neighborhood of Uptown has been kind to our family business. I look back on good times and bad times such as snowstorms which drew people together. I witnessed the automobile row on Broadway. There were fifteen different car dealerships on Broadway. Angels on Broadway was one. I was also lucky to see The Aragon Ballroom, The Riviera, Uptown Theater in their hey day. I am glad to see this Entertainment District coming back. Danny Thomas got his start here at 5100 Club."

Ann Felger
Aide to Alderman Smith

I lived in Uptown in the 1950s after I emigrated from Ireland.

I spent my youth dancing in Uptown. I saw all the Big Bands that played in Uptown.

Things are starting to turn around here for the better. A lot of my friends from the suburbs

are moving back to Uptown. I like to see more community members getting involved. More young people are joining committees and improving the neighborhood. Uptown is a fun place to be young and older."

Patrick Thompson
Uptown Architect and resident

"I live and work in Uptown. I have lived here since 1992 and have worked as an architect since 1995. Over the past thirteen years, more businesses have moved in and property along lakefront has been developed. How I see it, the more traffic and positive events in the neighborhood on the streets, people will feel safer. Then there would be more economic opportunity and people will stay. I feel optimistic. Uptown is a community that feels like a town within a city. I am happy to be a part of it."

Suellen Long
President of Bridgeview Bank, long-time resident and property owner

"I have lived and worked in Uptown for 35 years. I came here came to buy a home and I found myself intrigued by the houses and architecture. Today, I serve as President of The Bridgeview Bank, formerly Uptown Bank. I am proud to be a part of the growth of this institution and Uptown for 35 years. The spirit and culture of Uptown is addictive and vibrant. It is only getting better."

Rita Simó
Peoples Music School

"I moved to Uptown in 1975 and started the Peoples Music School in 1976. The Peoples Music School is for people who want to learn music but don't have money to pay. It is a free school. The students have a commitment to well in school if they don't they have to go. I studied at Julliard Music in New York City and I am a classical musician. I do enjoy the diverse music scene in Uptown. We can experience: classical, jazz, rock, Vietnamese and Latino drumming performing together in the same neighborhood. I love to be able to learn from different people."

David Syfczak
Long time resident of Uptown, cop and a Care-Taker of Uptown Theater

I had a fun as a teenager in Uptown. In 7th and 8th grade, I learned to shoot pool at Margate Park and went swimming at the New Lawrence Hotel Swim all day. We lived near the Rainbow. That was a fun place to go ice-skating.

I remember The Cheetah Club, aka Aragon Ballroom, The Uptown Theater the Big daddy of Theaters. I remember running through lobby to get to auditorium. I didn't appreciate the architecture when I was a kid, but now I do. I've served as a care- taker for the Uptown Theater since 1996. Everyday I check all 110 doors in building to keep vandals out.

I see a lot of condo conversions and I believe it is all a good thing. Things are looking rosy here. Everything is here: the lake-front, transportation, entertainment and lots of fun.

Rene Rabiela Jr.
His father owned and ran The Uptown Theater from 1975-1981 and he wants to restore it to its former glory.

"I was thirteen years when my dad owned the Uptown Theater. I got to see Springsteen, The Grateful Dead, Genesis, Frank Zappa, Peter Gabriel and more….

The Uptown Theater is the largest palace theater in the country. It seats 4300 people. It was the place to see a show. I want it to be "that" place again. I am trying to raise awareness of the importance of Uptown Theater. I want my two-year-old son to see where his father grew up. I want it to look like it did back in August of 1925 when it opened. There were movies, music, boxing and international clientele.

Right now I am putting a DVD together to highlight the importance this amazing theater. 30 million dollars needs to be raised to restore The Uptown Theater to its glory days and I want to help make that happen."

Jeannette Blackwell
Inspiration Corp

"Inspiration Corporation serves the homeless population in Uptown. There is the Inspiration Café ©, which invites the public to join them for lunch on Thursdays and Fridays. Clients being trained as cooks prepare meals. There is also a housing program. I assist clients with job skills such as: interviews, resumes and help to place them in jobs in the community. We were able to place someone at Borders Books on Broadway. I am glad to be here at this networking event."

Joyce Dugan
Executive Director of UPCORP

"I have been "around" Uptown since 1965 when I was a student at North Park College. I was taking night classes and after class we often went to Laurie's Pizza, which was then a regular restaurant (pre John Gacey). I can't remember why, but we used to drive south to Wilson and Broadway. The first time I saw it, it blew my mind. This was quite a difficult time in Uptown's history. The community was very depressed economically and there were literally people sitting and lying on the sidewalk outside the McJunkin building and by the el station, drinking out of bottles and sleeping. All that aside, it was the most magnificent place I had ever seen. The scale of the street was broad (a Broad way) the buildings just absolutely fantastic. You must remember that the original buildings were there at that time, the SE and NE corners were gorgeous. Truman College had not yet been built. I was fascinated and it has never lost its wonder for me.

A very real connection for me is the Aragon. My mother danced at the Aragon during its peak in the late 30s and during WW2. She talked about it all the time and described it to me when I was a child. She spoke so specifically about the cushioned floors and how it felt to dance on them. She also described the twinkling stars and the clouds and how they'd go dancing, go the Green Mill or get something to eat and take the public transportation home to Wicker Park at 3 in the morning and "they were perfectly safe." The Aragon was my mother's favorite place in the whole world and even before she died when she could no longer walk, she would ask my husband to drive her by so that she could see the marquee.

Every neighborhood faces challenges, and ours is to manage change in a way that we can retain what we value and improve the quality of life for everyone. That's pretty broad, but within that broad goal, we can focus on smaller, doable projects that we can achieve together. Corridors of Vision is important because it discusses change in terms of values that are important to everyone, no matter what ethnicity or economic situation. In life, not just in Uptown, we need to concentrate on what changes can bring us together, not separate us. Corridors also breaks down the goals into achievable steps. What we need now is the heads, hands and hearts to get the job done."

Sid Mohn
Heartland Alliance
Co-founder of Corridors of Vision

"I like diversity of community like the fact that Uptown is Chicago's most integrated neighborhood. I live here and work in Uptown at the Heartland Alliance since the early eighties. Over the years I have seen an increase in economic investment and home ownership. I have also been a witness to displacement and continued homelessness of lower income residents. These are the folks that Heartland Alliance serves. We serve the most poor and vulnerable.

I co-founded Corridors of Vision six years ago. The purpose Corridors of Vision is to provide multiple residents an opportunity to fashion common vision and to articulate a balanced growth agenda that includes everybody.

Corridors of Vision has been a very inclusive and participatory process that allows the community to articulate its own vision. It is a process that doesn't require an urban planner or large expenditure of resources. It requires consensus of experts who are the residents of Uptown."

Georgia Hodo
Long-time resident

"I lived through Pearl Harbor in Uptown. I got to see Louis Armstrong perform at the Aragon. What a night. I like to see the mixture of people and cultures.

I like the closeness to transportation and restaurants. I like all the restaurants. We like the Rice Bowl.

I would like to see a solution to homelessness. I wish neighbors would work together and get something done. We need to give people purpose and hope."

Mary Laura Jones
Director of Institute of Cultural Affairs
Co-Founder of Corridors of Vision

"Uptown is one of the most important communities in the country. In the future most communities will look like ours with its rich diversity of cultures and inclusive atmosphere. People work together. That is what Corridors of Vision is all about. It has been a forum for residents and business people from all over Uptown to come together to address community needs and create a collective positive future for us all. People have disagreed but they still stay and worked it out.

I would like to see more pedestrian friendly walk ways, more green spaces such as gardens and flowers. I would also like to see the inclusive and productive community conversation continue in the future. It is best when we all get involved to make our community the best that it can be."

Marlene Meisels, Ph.D. and David Syfczak
Long time residents of Uptown reminisce together (an except)

Eve: You have something in common?

Marlene: I learned something tonight.

David: I built your building in an earlier carnation. One of my first jobs out of high school was in construction labor and I worked on your building.

Marlene: I remember when they were taking down the building it was such a big event on the street. You knew every family.

David: Families would stand and watch the demolition occur. This was before cable TV.

Marlene: True. I grew up with a forest as my back yard.

David: It is now Imperial Tower.

Marlene: The people who had that forest had squatters rights. The city bought it. In my back yard there were all kinds of animals in the middle of the city. In summer from my screened in porch, I saw the sky turn black from hundreds and hundreds of birds.

Eve: Tell me about the Uptown Theater?

Marlene: My first job was at the Uptown Theater. I was fourteen years old. I lied about my age.

David: I used to attend with the folks. Women would dress up and men would wear their finest. It was a big night out to see a feature film at the Uptown Theater. I would go with my friends as I got older.

Marlene: Do you remember the school at Montrose and Marine called the Cottages with red roofs.

David: Next to pumping station?

Marlene: I went to the Cottages from Kindergarten to second grade. I learned to read. I also got my first kiss after chasing or being chased by a boy around a beautiful old tree. Years later I wept as I saw the city tear that beautiful old tree down.

Eve: How do you think growing up in Uptown impacted your life?

Marlene: Uptown had such an influence on who I became and how I move in the world. I was exposed to children who were different from me. Fortunately I had parents who encouraged that.

David: My friends ran the gambit ethnicity-wise too.

James "Andy" Pierce
Friends of the Uptown

"I moved to Uptown in March of 1995 for a job and a girl. When I was putting my pennies together to buy an egg sandwich at the Uptown snack shop in 1995, I saw a big red marquee. I thought to myself I could see a movie there. I walked up closer and saw that it was closed. It was the Uptown Theater. I saw the poster and flyers from old shows and began my education on the importance of the Uptown Theater.

People have been entertained and entertaining at Lawrence and Broadway since the turn of the century. I like it. There is a certain kind of fun here. There is a special kind of magnet here that sucks people here good and bad."

back to top