An Incomplete Assignment...
(photos by Lee Bey)
A quick look at what might be the best boulevard in the city--certainly in the top three--Douglas Boulevard on the city's West Side. The thoroughfare runs east/west through the Lawndale community, just west of Douglas Park. The collection of high-style residential architecture and former synagogues (that have been African-American protestant congregations for decades now, such as the one above) and other landmarks from the area's pre-War decades as a center of Jewish life are worth checking out.
Too bad I was between stops on the West Side when I took these photos, but I promise to return and do a deeper exploration. Irving Cutler told me years ago that Golda Meir was a librarian at the Lawndale branch library, back in the day, a fact that I find pretty cool. So any area that can boast Golda and Dr. Martin Luther King as residents sure has some other stories to tell.
Meanwhile, until I get back, learn more about Lawndale's history here, here and here.
(Above) A park splits east and west traffic.
(above) Theodore Herrzl Elementary School, 3711 W. Douglas Blvd.
