January 31, 2025: From 0 to 20

OK, let’s head north from the street I grew up on, and head down Damen to the horizontal center of the city, 0 north/south, Madison Ave. From 0 to 20 we go…

Besides Harry’s, there were some other good eats on Damen. There was Mike’s Shrimp House just off Damen on 19th street; we only went there for special occasions… even back then fried shrimp wasn’t cheap, it was damn good though. A couple more blocks north, just past 18th St, you had Bishop’s Chili. I’ve always said we need more good chili spots. This was THE chili spot back in the day, well, actually there was another on Archer Ave; we’ll get there. But yeah, Bishop’s… good stuff. That was it until the viaduct…

Growing up in the city, there seemed to always be a viaduct that separated neighborhoods; we never went past that viaduct as kids. Always back and forth to the park; we’d walk to those mentioned food spots, but never north of there. The area was a little rough growing up, but has been taken up by much of the Medical District in the past 30 or so years; it’s different now. Of course, you have to take that stretch of Damen to get to the Eisenhower expressway, which was/is the most direct route heading into downtown from where we grew up. This expressway would also take you straight west OUT of the city; should I add expressways to my list??? Just past the expressway is a pretty important intersection in Chicago, more specifically in Chicago sports. Couple blocks down Madison off of Damen was the location of the Chicago Stadium, and now, a bit closer to Damen, is where the United Center sits.

Yeah, I grew up about 2.5 miles from the Stadium, but other than going to the Circus and Disney on Ice on a school field trip, I really didn’t go there often. We didn’t have the money like that, for a family of 5 to go to the Bulls/Hawks games. Sure, we watched every Bulls game on TV (we weren’t able to watch the Blackhawks), but going to the Stadium to watch the Bulls? Nope. My first Bulls game was when I was about 11 years old; my aunt took me as a gift. I loved it. The next and final time I was at the Stadium to watch the Bulls was Game 6 of the 1992 Finals; it was the best game I ever attended. My friend’s step father was a fireman; he was able to drop us off before heading to work… we walked in for free. It was amazing. Talking about the streets of Chicago, once the Bulls captured their second title, the streets were full, including Damen Ave. We cruised towards home after the game with everyone in the streets, celebrating. Those Bulls years were some fun times in Chicago. That was it for the Bulls in the Stadium; I never saw the Blackhawks play there.

Since then, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve chosen to spend my money to attend plenty of Bulls & Blackhawks games at the United Center over the years. And still to this day, I have a sneaky free parking spot close to the UC; I won’t reveal THAT Chicago street. But yeah, plenty of times hitting Damen to go see the Bulls and Blackhawks play; will be back again sometime soon…