While a photography student at the University of Illinois, Chicago our instructors encouraged us to walk the short distance to Maxwell Street and photograph the waning days of this historic district that was a gateway for immigrants since 1847. These photos were taken on a weekday afternoon when the storefronts were open compared to the open air markets on Sunday where shoppers could haggle with shopkeepers for clothes, food, cars, appliances, tools and more.
The Maxwell Street and Halsted Street that you see in these photos in 1974 does not exist today in 2026 and hasn't since 2002. The University of Illinois and Chicago purchased the storefronts and knocked them down creating the University Village with student housing, condos, Orange Julius, Starbucks and other chains that cleansed this historic area that housed the earliest immigrants that was known as the Jewish Ghetto. In the first photo you see an old Volkswagen with shoppers in front of Turfs Shoe Store, next we see Goodkin Hardware and Haas Brothers Clothing. Next is one of my favorite and best photos of the lingerie shop advertising Coke! Here's a series of a woman with a leg brace holding a cup with a hope that a passerby
by will toss dime her way, remember this is 1974. Another oldie but goodie is the Schlitz sign with the Maxwell Street sign and 7-Up in the background which creates a nice juxtaposition of graphic signage. Are you hungry for a Deedee Red Hot? I especially like the old architecture in the background with the fire escapes. You can see how ramshackled Maxwell Street was at this time, old awnings, against the storefronts hawking their wares and old boxes tossed aside on the street. Here we see DeeDee Vienna Red Hots again with a bunch of old coats underneath the sign and a Oldsmobile 88 making its way across the street. Next are Vienna Red Hots being sold next to Levitt's Delicatessen and Nate's Delicatessen across the street. Who needs a wig? Here's our woman with a cup with a mournful expression, a man who's about to clean the windows of a storefront, another one of my favorites with all kinds of clocks and tchotchkes that you can imagine. What is hilarious is I actually own one of the clocks that's in the upper portion of this photo that I got at a church rummage sale for $3. Another wonderful layer of graphic signage with diamonds and watches and they'll even sell you a radio. I had a fondness for Cadillacs cuz my dad had one and it was a boat! Here's my bestie Debbie waiting for a shoe shine, and our our mournful woman with her head down napping in the sunshine.

To learn more about the historical Maxwell Street, please click on this link.