Tag: Belmont and Clark

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Beer Bottles 1996

Beer-Bottles-Wrigleyville-1996

©2013 Mike Priorie. All Rights Reserved.

This was near Belmont and Clark, I believe. This used to be a fairly common sight back then before things really changed. People would hang out in the doorways along Clark St. to drink or eat. They weren’t all homeless either– many were just young people who hung out there. As the area got better, the police started to crack down on loitering. This pretty much killed the Saturday night congregation of punk rockers by the Dunkin Donuts on Belmont and Clark. By 1996, Lake View was becoming way less edgy and way more stroller friendly.

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Hurse 1995

Alley-Hurse-1995

©2013 Mike Priorie. All Rights Reserved.

There was, of course, the official mascot of The Alley store–the hurse. They would park it out next to the Dunkin’ Donuts on Belmont and Clark or it would be here next to the entrance.

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Views From The Alley 1995

The-Alley-1995The-Alley2-1995

©2013 Mike Priorie. All Rights Reserved.

I used to go to The Alley back in 1989 as a teenager and still shopped there well into my twenties. You could buy anything from Doc Martens to biker jackets, to incense there. Anyone who was into the whole Punk/Goth/New Wave scene shopped there. Yes, the back entrance is in an alley. When this photo was taken, it had these great murals that featured many Rock icons such as Elvis, John Lennon, and Jim Morrison. Since then, they seemed to become more commercialized. It’s not the same as it was. Maybe its me being older, but, it used to have this great vibe that was reflected by the eclectic neighborhood. Don’t ever grow up!

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Near The Alley 1994

The-Alley-1994

©2013. Mike Priorie. All Rights Reserved.

This is the other side of the street from my previous post: 900 Block of Belmont Looking West. On this side of the street, is where all the action on Saturday night was. The kids coming to and from Meduas’s would congregate along here back in the late 80’s. There were always interesting characters hanging around here.

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900 Block Of Belmont Looking West 1994

900-Block-of-Belmont-Looking-West-1994

©2013. Mike Priorie. All Rights Reserved.

I started hanging out in the Belmont and Clark area (known as Lake View) around 1989. I was into the whole New Wave/Post-Punk scene and would go to a teen night club called Medusa’s which was about two blocks from where this photo was taken. Across the street from here is a Dunk in Donuts which was affectionately known as Punk-in Donuts due to the crowds of teen Punk Rockers who would congregate there when Medusa’s let out.

When this photo was taken in ’94, the area had gentrified immensely. Medusa’s was gone (It became a Real Estate office) and Kokomo’s Caffe was soon to be history. Slowly the grit and the bad ass charm that was Belmont and Clark of the eighties was becoming more upscale with the influx of Yuppies moving there. Rents in the area doubled by the end of the decade. It looks so different today, but occasionally I’ll catch a fragment of something that harkens to the days of my youth when black was the only color I ever wore.

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