Do the Slide by CoreyBlack
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Description
In the summer of 1976, when my family moved to Chicago, our first address 651 W. Roscoe Street. It was in the New Town (Now Lakeview) area of Chicago's North Side. This section of town was typical of most big city neighborhoods of the era in that it had fallen into a seedy, run-down state of urban decay. The streets were populated by a multiplicity of characters you'd see in large cities before gentrification drove them out. A palpable sense of danger and excitement hung in the air. In the middle of the block, there was a playground called Kenneth R. Wendt Playlot Park. It occupied perhaps a half acre and was bound on three sides by graffiti-scarred brick apartment buildings with a chain-link fence entrance fronting onto Roscoe Street.
Cracked asphalt was what you landed on if you fell off the swings, seesaws, or jungle gym. The sandbox was littered with dog turds, peewee gang-bangers would occasionally try to beat you up and all manner of strange adults would converge around the molded concrete drinking fountain near the entrance. As as 13-year-old transplanted New Yorker, who'd spent too much time in Indiana, I loved the place; it was like coming home.
The best thing about the playground, though, was the giant slide; the platform seemed to be 15 feet high (but was probably only 7 or 8 feet) and the ride down was like flying a roller coaster off a cliff. It felt like you were going 100 miles per hour by the time you slid off the end of that long, age-polished chrome chute. Another fun thing about the slide was the stairs: they were heavy, iron things that appeared to be older than the earth itself. They were formed out of letters that made you feel like you were walking up the alphabet as you ascended them. How cool was that? I was so taken by this slide that for years afterward, I would occasionally pop into the playground to marvel at it. Over time it took on a historic patina and became a treasured link to childhood.
Eventually, the link was severed when the playground was totally revamped in the spring of 1990. A lot of things can change in 20 years, and you don't see many objects this distinctive in Chicago these days.
When I shot this picture, on March 16, 1989, they were still fairly plentiful.
Comments (12)
Sea_Dog
Great shot and narrative.
beachzz
This is wonderful--and I remember those slides from grade school days. Now all playground equipment has to be OSHA approved, plastic, no more merry go rounds, or slides like this. No fun at all!!
Chipka
WOW! I remember these...they're from back in the days when children playing didn't cause parental cardiac arrest. People still had immune systems in those days and weren't afraid to use them! Now everything is bland and safe and boring and germ free...I miss those days! When you had to pick the dog poop out of sandboxes (and throw it at shrieking girls while wearing your mother's garden gloves.) Funny how in parts of Chicago (back when it was a city) kids would think of dog poop as an appropriate form of entertainment. I can't say that was a good or a bad thing, but I certainly miss that daring spirit and lack of Oprah McDisney germ-phobia! This is a wonderful blast from a fun, colorful past, and a time when America made its own stuff and didn't depend on slave labor (um, I mean a profit-viable workforce) in other countries. Thank you for this great look back.
durleybeachbum
Although I have never lived in a neighborhood such as you describe, I remember so well all the exciting equipment in our playgrounds, banned now forever as Health and Safety risks. Being a tomboy I loved the danger, which as you say was probably far less that it felt! A very interesting pic, too.
moochagoo
Love the story :)
watapki66
Great story.. know exactly how it was! Great shot as well!
blondeblurr
Reminiscing in childhood memories, that's what adults do; especially when revisiting old places and some evidence is left to drool over...now I wish that I could do the same! Nah, let's make new memories. fascinating shot, BB
auntietk
I wonder how many times your feet touched those stairs. It's a piece of personal history in a very tangible way. Wonderful shot! I remember a slide much like that at Bitter Lake Park in Seattle. It was so tall, and so fast! Very exciting. And no, I never broke my leg or put my eye out. How ever did we survive?
micturn
Very cool POV
TwoPynts
Cool image and good story to go with it!
bmac62
Oh, wow...I recall those stairs too. Remember trying to get your swing to loop-the-loop? Well, it never quite worked, so once in awhile you'd get off and just swing the swing with a mighty heave to watch it sail over the top bar for a one or two turn wrap around. Those were good days...love your slide and bringing it back to life for us.
helanker
HAHHAA Yes, those were the days. Nice stairs. I wonder where they go. :)