Good afternoon, Chicago. ✶
To visit the National Public Housing Museum is to step back in time, era by era.
Open the door to one room, and you’re transported to the Turovitz family’s late-1930s apartment in Chicago’s Jane Addams Homes development.
Open another door, and you’re standing in the Hatch family’s apartment from that same complex, but now it’s the 1960s.
The two re-created apartments are just some of the striking exhibits featured in the new museum, itself housed in the only remaining building of the Jane Addams Homes.
In today’s newsletter: Reporter Erica Thompson takes you inside this living history museum.
Plus: Some TLC for a declining Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home, a night out at a West Loop den for Deadheads and more news you need. 👇
⏱️: A 7-minute read
TODAY’S TOP STORY
Soon-to-open National Public Housing Museum a living history awash in residents’ stories
Reporting by Erica Thompson
Living history: The National Public Housing Museum, opening April 4, explores the history of public housing in the U.S. and advocates for housing as a human right. The experiences of former public housing residents — shared through artifacts and oral histories — are the heart of the space.
Honest look: During the tour of the re-created Jane Addams Homes, visitors will learn about discriminatory policies that affected the lives of Black public housing residents. Topics such as redlining, racial covenants and blockbusting are explained and depicted.
Long journey: The museum was incorporated in 2007, but experienced numerous starts and stops as it worked to raise money and acquire its permanent home from the Chicago Housing Authority. Its permanent location now focuses on allowing residents to preserve their history following the demolition of thousands of public housing units across the country.
Shifting narrative: Staff members say they wanted to convey to visitors the complexity of public housing, rather than perpetuate the common narrative that paints it as a failure.
‘It was a family’: “I miss it,” said museum board member Francine Washington, who referenced happy times she had living in the now-demolished Stateway Gardens. “It was a family. It was really a village. I never said I lived in the projects. I lived in the community of the Chicago Housing Authority.”
WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?
- Downtown demonstration: Advocates supporting immigrant rights are reaffirming their commitment to protecting immigrants and refugees after a draft Trump Administration list proposing travel bans and restrictions from 43 countries was leaked this month.
- Murder suspect held: A Cook County judge ordered a 57-year-old man detained after being charged with killing his brother and sister-in-law — and then stabbing a woman at a nearby bar in Gage Park.
- Warning for mayor: Fifteen City Council members put Mayor Brandon Johnson on notice Tuesday: However he decides to use city funds to cover a $175 million pension for nonteaching school employees must be made with legislative consent.
- A wronged Wright: The Walser House — a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed residence in the Austin neighborhood — is finally in line to receive the urgent repairs the historic but dilapidated home has needed for years, writes Sun-Times architecture critic Lee Bey.
- Lady Gaga in Chicago: The Grammy-winning artist officially announced tour dates for her Mayhem Ball tour, which includes shows on Sept. 15 and 17 at the United Center.
EXPLORING THE CITY 🎸
Garcia’s Chicago celebrates Deadhead spirit through music, food, vibe
Reporting by Selena Fragassi | For the Sun-Times
Venue and restaurant: A new concert venue and restaurant in the West Loop is ensuring the legacy of the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia lives on via the three things he loved best: great food, great music and bringing people together.
Active tribute: Described as a “living, breathing tribute” to the late Grateful Dead icon, Garcia’s Chicago opened Friday at the former Wishbone restaurant at Washington and Morgan, six years after it was first announced and then shelved due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was worth the wait.
Intimate digs: The cozy, 300-capacity room feels poised to become one of the more intimate local live venues, with a range of jazz, world music and Americana, with acts from Grace Potter to Preservation Hall Jazz Band booked through November.
The menu: The food and drink is a hearty feast of culinary treats that celebrate Jerry Garcia’s Spanish roots along with flavors of his longtime home region in Northern California.
Key quote: “It feels like it’s all about community and hanging out,” said Robin Cartwright, who drove from Fort Wayne, Indiana, to be first in the door for Friday’s grand opening. “Unbelievable … all the artwork, the library, the photographs. It’s just incredible.”
BRIGHT ONE ✨
Chicago med students celebrate finding their futures on Match Day
Reporting by Violet Miller and Pat Nabong
As Hannah Green opened the envelope she had been holding for 20 minutes Friday morning, waiting anxiously with about 150 of her classmates at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine, she quickly found out she was going to be moving to California.
The 25-year-old said she “couldn’t be happier.”
“Any option is a good option,” said Green, who was born and raised in Oak Park. She’s spent much of her adult life studying in the city, but said California “is where I wanted to be.”
It was all part of the annual fanfare for Match Day, when medical students found out where their residencies will be, determining the immediate future of their careers. It took place simultaneously across the country, as thousands of medical students opened their envelopes and learned their next destination.
At Loyola’s Stritch School of Medicine in Maywood, Kate McNamara and her partner found out they would both end up at Yale together, he in orthopedic surgery and she in neurology. It was a full-circle moment for the couple who met during their first year of medical school.
“It’s so surreal,” McNamara said. “We’re so, so excited.”
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
Did you grow up in public housing in Chicago? How would you describe your experience? Be sure to say which complex you lived in.
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Editor: Satchel Price
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