Litter was widespread in most cities until the mid-'60s when Lady Bird Johnson launched her "Beatify America" campaign. Although scoffed at (at the time) the attitude toward liter changed, so we now enjoy a much cleaner landscape.
That's Maxwell St. in Chicago and this particular four block long stretch was known as Jewtown. That was not meant to be anti-Semitic, it was just an area where Jewish vendors displayed their wares on the weekend with ramshackle stands on the street or sidewalk. There were stores too but the weekend outdoor market was open to anyone with the proper Chicago license. Soup to nuts, it was there, everything from clothing, housewares, tools, it was like an early flea market. It operated year round and one of the best things to come out of the area was the Chicago Blues sound. Black bluesmen that came up from the South played on street corners there for tips and eventually they began to use amps to be heard better giving way to artists such as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Willie Dixon, Buddy Guy and many more. It was relocated in 1994 when the University of Illinois expanded their Chicago campus and lost a lot of its rough and tumble atmosphere. I’ve often regretted not taking my sons there when they were in their early teens to see the blues in their real authenticity, raw and unpolished.
The Jalopy Journal
