09/10/2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQp-_QgDyh8
46 Years Ago Today:
Here's an installment of "Chicago Is...", one of a series of public affairs interstitials from WGN Channel 9, this time spotlighting Wicker Park on Chicago's Near Northwest Side, as hosted by Beverly Griffith of the Old Wicker Park Committee (2215 West North Avenue) (also associated with the Wicker Park Neighborhood Council). (This was broadcast after an edition of Bugs Bunny & Friends.)
(TECHNICAL FONT NOTE: The lower-third is still in the old-style Chiron version of the News Gothic Bold font, before its replacement with a newer CG system later in the year.)
In this brief travelogue, Ms. Griffith goes into the general area and its boundaries, the large homes located therein (many dating back to the Columbian Exposition of 1893), who founded it (Charles and Joel Wicker, in 1870, as a gift to the city), its growth after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the changes from World War I, its decline during the Great Depression, its recent comeback from an influx of newer-generation professionals, community groups such as that she's part of, a restoration of the homes in that section, and the changes in demographics over the years. Among its more famous residents was the pianist Ignace Jan Paderewski.
Voice over on segment opening itself by Clif Mercer.
A WGN Community Affairs Presentation in Association with The Chicago Public Library. (music at beginning and ending is an especially jazzy version of "My Kind of Town" - anyone know what version specifically?)
"Wicker Park is a microcosm of Chicago."
This aired on September 10, 1979.
Here's an installment of "Chicago Is...", one of a series of public affairs interstitials from WGN Channel 9, this time spotlighting Wicker Park on Chicago's...
