Snapshots along 75th Street #6wardchicago

In 2009 there was a infrastructure project on 75th Street where the city had to dig out some sewer lines which resulted in traffic being shut down and reopened to great hoopla and was declared a "Black Wall Street". Although it seems that has died down since then I see this area as a center for dining & night life.

Feel free to click on the pics for a larger resolution.

This pic is a professional building for sale. Earlier in the year there I posted about a listing for this building. Perhaps a place for doctors, lawyers, or business people. Granted I noted that this is a street great for dining & night life however bear in mind this is a street that has a number of retail establishments also.

During the course of the past two weeks I posted about the return of a longtime establishment Leon's Barbecue. Here is Lem's which is the place I've most frequented for my BBQ fix. Denzel Washington evidently doesn't go here, if he had he would forget about Leon's. Or maybe not he came looking for Leon's and the family that founded that business has been summoned to return!

I've never been to Brown Sugar Bakery, but it has been a known quantity for a number of years. They do have a store at Navy Pier near downtown Chicago. I believe the owner of this establishment has been on Food Network. As you see in the photo below next door is a station for our local Chicago Public Radio affiliate WBEZ or actually Vocalo. It didn't appear to be open on this day, however, I wonder if I would've been welcomed inside.

These four photographs I posted to Sixth Ward blog's ig page of the corner of 75th/King Drive. This is a corner that has my attention with a lot that became vacant because of a fire years ago on the southwest corner. Then another building ravaged by fire years ago looking for rehab on southeast corner. A tire place on the northeast corner and a newly opened Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robins on the northwest corner.

The Dunkin/Baskin was former a KFC and a fried fish place until recently when it had been vacant waiting for a new business that took over and it got one. This has started a debate over whether or not there are enough places like there in the community. Question is what other businesses would we like to establish themselves on 75th Street.

Incidentally on the northeast cormer of 75th/King Drive next to the tire place is the former office of former Alderman Freddrenna Lyle. She had her aldermanic service offices here until she had been turned out of office in 2011. I believe this building and the adjacent storefront you see here also fell victim to another fire (seems suspicious all these fires nearby don't they) in recent years. Though I do see some evident of construction here. Especially with a permit in the window from 2016 in the former alderman's service office. Something hopefully is about to happen here.

Across the street is a Harold's Chicken - another Chicago institution where many look for wings which is a popular item for them. There is also another good place for fried chicken a 5 Loaves which has gotten some notice in the local media. Just as I need to check out Brown Sugar, this is one establishment worth checking out. As far as Harold's, well there are a number of franchises around the city.

Back across the street is the former Army & Lou's restaurant. In recent months there are some plans to bring a restaurant back to this building, that is a whole new concept as it were. The Army & Lou's brand is a longtime restaurant frequented by Chicago politicians that was once located in the Bronzeville neighborhood

Here's another shot of Army & Lou's across the street. Taken from right behind a rack for Divvy rental bikes. There are some in the community who'd be interested in these new amenities on the south side of town. In my mind, these Divvy bikes are associated with more affluent parts of town such as the Loop or the north side.

Here's the ig post of the 75th/King Drive corner. It was featured in a post about what you would like to see happen on this corner.

A post shared by The Sixth Ward (@thesixthward) on Mar 15, 2018 at 10:50pm PDT