Oak Park, Illinois

A bit more of the story of Oak Park, just west of Chicago.  It's a very affluent suburb - there are some pretty, large and expensive private houses there - and not just those designed by the famous Frank Lloyd Wright.  Property taxes are stratospheric by UK standards, even for modest properties like my brother's and most of those taxes appear go to the single, large (very) local high school - Oak Park and River Forest, or OPRF as it is known.  Ernest Hemingway went to OPRF - although my brother's daughters took great delight in telling me only for one year and he hated it, apparently.  From the amount of property taxes that goes to OPRF I was slightly disappointed when I learnt the corridors aren't paved with gold. Mind you, there was a proposal a few years ago to spend more than $35m tearing down an existing building and constructing a new swimming pool/aquatics centre.  Yes, you read correctly - $35m on a swimming pool, for a high school.  I think the Trustees were hoping to sell various bonds to fund the scheme and while I'm all for thinking big the whole thing seemed a bit unrealistic to me.  I think the plans have been shelved, indefinitely.

A print for you:

On Lake Street, Oak Park, Illinois

This was shot the same day as the one the other day.  The cinema on Lake St (the main drag) looks great - very Art Deco. It was a busy Friday afternoon and I had to stand a serious amount of time to get a break in the traffic and then only just made it, as you can see.  This one's on Foma 131 paper, by the way, via Moersch Easylith developer.  Perfect for anything with stone/brickwork in it.

Oak Park is a strange mix of nothing-too-special modern and very-special historic.  The Unity Temple and buildings like the cinema above stand out in my mind as 'buildings of interest'.  As do the historic Frank Lloyd Wright houses - if you are ever there, take one of the walking tours around that district, they're very informative and it's a great way to spend a few hours.  The new library, next to Scofield Park where open air concerts are held during summer, is an impressive modern, glass-fronted building but very soon you are into the more usual mix of boutique shops, cafes and stores like...you've guessed it...Whole Foods.  Or Whole Pay Check as the joke goes.

While Oak Park and neighbouring River Forest are very genteel places to be, to the East of OP we have the district of Austin.  Austin is not wealthy.  In fact, Austin is on the other side of the spectrum entirely.  A few years ago it acquired the label of Chicago's deadliest neighbourhood, with more homocides than even places like Englewood on the notorious South Side.  Lake Street (above) extends into Austin and you don't have to drive too far to see a heck of a difference in terms of the shops, bistros, cafes etc...not to mention the various 'types' you see walking about, or just standing around.   You need to keep your wits about you wherever you go, even downtown Oak Park.  The day of the pic above my daughter and I were strolling around, looking like tourists (hard not to) and feeling a little like fish out of water.  Missy got heckled at least once as we passed a group waiting for a public bus...'Sup, baby' was said so low I didn't even catch it, but she did.  A little creepy, given her age (15) and the age of the commenter (closer to my age than hers).  Still, as I told her over a hot tea, with looks like hers she'll have to learn how to deal with a lot worse than that in the years to come...