Wrigleyville(s)

I’m not going to write about the Mets beating the Cubs 4-2 in game one of the NLCS, because that could just come back to bite me.  Instead, I want to talk about the neighborhood around Wrigley Field.  It may be the most popular place in town.

You don’t drive all that much in Wrigleyville; you walk, bike or take public transportation.  You don’t head to one of the area malls, because there aren’t any.  You don’t eat at one of the chain restaurants because, yet again, there aren’t any.  Residents tend to think they’ve invented a new kind of urban living, but it’s been around in these parts for more than a century.

I was reminded of that yesterday on our architecture tour.  We mostly did churches out of fear that many of these extraordinary edifices will soon go the way of Comiskey Park.  You could see the way the world once was from the church parking lot—across the street in one direction what used to be a funeral home, and in that direction an old corner grocery.  Look a little further, and you could find what used to be a factory that provided the wages that helped build the steeples that still point to the heavens.

Most Chicago neighborhoods centered around worship and work.  Back in the day, recreation was whatever young and middle-aged men had enough energy for at the end of the week, which could be up to six workdays long.  There was softball and pickup football for the motivated, bowling for those who wanted to socialize and drink a little, too.  The joy of baseball was that it left the hard stuff to the players, leaving the fans free to cheer, chat and call for the beer man.  All it took was a walk or bus or L ride to the ballpark.

The Braves want to head out to the suburbs away from Atlanta, and the A’s would love to abandon Oakland if only they could.  Thank God Chicago is old school, even if the denizens of Wrigleyville think they’ve invented the wheel.