About us
This group celebrates the birthdays of the inspirations for Chicago’s great streets, by walking the entire length of each street. The streets serve as a narrative thread weaving together disparate communities, industrial remnants and new developments, history and mystery. As of August 2019 we have crossed Chicago for 70 consecutive months, covering streets such as Belmont (11 miles), Lincoln (7 miles), King Drive (12 miles), Lake Street (8 miles), and Western Avenue (24 miles). Walks feature numerous stops at interesting locations on the way, generally chosen “on the spur.”
See also our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/WalkingAcro....
Upcoming events
4
Jefferson, Larrabee & Geneva Terrace Walk
La Malinche Coffee House, 2110 South Halsted Street, Chicago, IL, USIn spite of including three streets, this will be a relatively short walk - around 6.5 miles. We'll meet at La Malinche Coffee House on Halsted, then proceed to Jefferson and Cermak. We'll take Jefferson as far as it goes, then switch to Larrabee. Larrabee will manifest itself into Geneva Terrace a few blocks before its end point on W. Deming Pl. in Lincoln Park. Here's the RunGo route map, which will likely get updated as I sort out the doubling back to get all of Jefferson covered.
We'll lunch somewhere in Lincoln Park at the end of the walk - I'll update with options.
Namesake/street rants:
Thomas Jefferson was also an evil bastard, but had a staggering flair for writing like he wasn't. His Chicago street, while brief, can still look like old-school industrial Chicago here and there.Note: I will not be able to restrain myself from pausing at Jefferson and 18th St. to salute my Great, Great Grandfather, Jacob Eberth. Jacob Eberth owned a tavern at that corner which did NOT burn down in 1871, in spite of being 1 mile due south of Mrs. O'Leary's barn.
William M. Larrabee managed railroads in Chicago in the mid-1800s. That is the sum total I've figured out about Mr. Larrabee. What's confusing is that another William Larrabee was the Governor of Iowa, and he didn't like railroads one bit. How little did he like railroads? "The Railroad Question: A Historical and Practical Treatise on Railroads and Remedies for their Abuses"
Larrabee street is mostly noteworthy for what is not there anymore. Ogden Ave. Cabrini Green. An entire section of Old Town. The Brick of Chicago tour of Old Town devotes a good portion to the destruction of Larrabee and the fight that locals lost to save it, if you're eager to learn more.
Geneva Terrace? I have no explanation for Geneva Terrace. Why wasn't "Larrabee" good enough for those 4 blocks, huh?
21 attendees
Old Irving Park MINI walk
Backlot Coffee, 3982 N Avondale, Chicago, IL, USWe will meet at Backlot Coffee, 3982 N Avondale Ave. You should be able to find decent parking. Spot Angels is a useful app that tells you where you can find free and metered parking in a specific area.
The 5.54 mile LOOP route can be found here. You can use this to plan your entry point if you will be late. As always, you are free to join or leave the walk at any point along the way. As an adult with a smart phone, we are confident you'll be able to figure it out.
Lunch options:
- ERIS Brewery and Cider House - 4240 W Irving Park Rd
- Smoque BBQ - 3800 N Pulaski Rd
- Alps Pancake House (they also serve lunch) - 3637 W Irving Park Rd
23 attendees
Indiana Ave part 1
Pullman Coffee Club, 605 E 111th St, Chicago, IL, USWe’re walking Indiana Avenue to celebrate long-time group member, Chief Transportation Officer (CTO) and Director of Food Mark S.’s birthday! Since Chicago lacks any streets named "Mark" or honoring famous Croatians (of which Mark is the only one I know), we went with Indiana—the state he defected to after decades of living in Chicago.
Mark's birthday is actually October 25th but I will be tied up with a 3 day workshop that weekend and wont be able to lead closer to the big day.
The 9.29 mile point to point walk can be found here. Never is anyone obligated to walk the entire route. You may join or leave at any time. You are, after all, an adult, and we trust you'll figure it all out. If you're joining midway, please refer the link above for the route and use a 3 mile an hour pace to calculate your entry point. It's likely that someone will be thoughtful and post location updates along the way.
we will meet at Pullman Coffee Club, 605 E 111th St. Indiana starts within city limits around 127th. We will break the rules and walk south to 115th, head west to Indiana and then begin our trek north to 55th.
1 attendee
Past events
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