Auburn Gresham
Breakdown
The communal dining room and kitchen at Northwest Mental Health Center has long been a fixture of programming at the clinic. Rosa Torres, who has worked as a clinical therapist at Northwest for 21 years, recalls how busy the kitchen used to be. Many of the clinic’s Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Support (PSR) programs were... »
Englewood & Auburn-Gresham
There’s a common question asked to visitors of Englewood and Auburn-Gresham: “Do you know where you are?” If you’re walking in the neighborhoods west of the Dan Ryan and south of 55th, and a worried, well-meaning passerby thinks you might not be from the area, you might get asked yourself. If you’re not careful,... »
A thousand men of action
St. Sabina’s Catholic Church, the monolithic edifice of gothic architecture on 78th and Racine, occupies an entire city block, its sheer magnitude rendering it virtually impossible to see three corners of the building at once. Last Friday night, the folks at St. Sabina’s took on an opponent that felt nearly as immense as the... »
Moving in Circles: When does a new home lead to a new life?
Movement is part of the American dream. Across an ocean to the new world, west to the last frontier, then up the social ladder, out to the suburbs—or so they say it goes. Social mobility and housing mobility are inextricably linked in the national psyche. But there is a darker, less public story about... »
Wild Wild West
St. Sabina Catholic Church, in Auburn Gresham on Chicago’s Southwest Side, is a cathedral-like edifice with comfortable padded pews and a large mural of a black Jesus. When I arrived there last Sunday in search of a book signing and presentation by Princeton University professor Cornel West, the building seemed nearly empty—until I became... »
The Gift of Gumbo: Lagniappe brings spicy Cajun cuisine to 79th Street
“Lagniappe” is a Louisiana French term for a small gift that a merchant includes with a customer’s purchase. It’s also the name of a restaurant on the corner of 79th and Justine, which in some ways seems like a gift to the South Side of Chicago, as well as to anyone with a craving... »
