mount greenwood

was murdered by an acquaintance. “Exactly what we were trying to help address happened to Edna,” Figel says of her organizing partner and friend, Edna White.

Then after a few years, the garden needed to move. Neighborspace owns the land under the agreement that nothing can be built there in perpetuity. But Alderman Virginia Rugai wanted a new police station on that spot in 2002. So Figel negotiated for the City to ensure a clean space and plenty of soil right across the street. After some hiccups during the transfer, such as when the old lamppost salvaged from the World's Fair was broken and left for forgotten, or when the city piled in sub par dirt leftover from Millennium Park, the new garden space is bigger and better than before.

There are so many ways to get involved with the garden. Raised garden plots are available for $30 and ten hours of community service, and the garden is an excellent opportunity for anyone who needs to complete mandatory community service hours. Rent the space for a private event or come to one of the many upcoming events! A Day of the Dead Celebration with music and dancing will happen Tuesday November 2 at 6pm and the Family Holiday Celebration with Peanut Characters, Santa Claus and records spinning by Beverly Records is Saturday December 4 at 6pm. (Anna Carvlin)

Edna White Community Garden, 18461898 W. Monterey Ave.. For information about garden plots and hours contact Kathy Figel, (312)-622-0634.

Compiled by L.D. Barnes Neighborhood Captain

Mount Greenwood is a place full of dichotomies, where the living co-exist with the dead, where the city can be a farm, where the neighborhood number—seventy-four of seventy-seven—is nearly the last on one list, but the number of city workers in the neighborhood puts it near the top of another. From building inspectors to tax collectors, lawyers to laborers, educators and everyone in between, a wide variety of other city workers also live in Mount Greenwood.

If I were designing a flag for Mount Greenwood, I’d take the Chicago banner, replace the upper and lower fields of white with dark blue for the police and dark red for firefighters, Both groups are heavily represented in Mount Greenwood, which is home to more Chicago police than any other community area in the city. In the past, the neighborhood’s affinity for police has led to ugly incidents, as has its racism: as recently as 2016, an off-duty Chicago cop shot and killed twenty-five-year-old Joshua Beal in Mount Greenwood, sparking Black Lives Matter protests which were met by angry neighborhood residents who waved “Thin Blue Line” flags and shouted insults.

Bisected by a green swath of acreage made up of a golf course and three cemeteries undulating between two very active freight train lines which once brought funereal mourners from the city, Mount Greenwood incorporated as a village in 1906 to keep the taverns and restaurants “wet,” when nearby Beverly and Morgan Park decided to go “dry” and prohibit the selling of alcohol. It has kept its out-of-town character by having the last working farm in the city until 1980, when the farm became part of the Chicago Public School system as the Chicago Agricultural High School, which still works the land today.

To include some of these best-ofs, I’ve stretched the boundaries of Mount Greenwood slightly to the entire 60655 ZIP code, which has Western Avenue as its eastern edge. (L.D. Barnes)

SOUTH SIDE IRISH IMPORTS, PHOTO BY MARC MONAGHAN

BEST IRISH IMPORT SHOP South Side Irish Imports

On 111th St., South Side Irish Imports is the go-to place for any Irish themed gift you can think of. Linda and Ron Gorman run this eclectic collection that runs from Belleek china to Waterford crystal, t-shirts to brass door knockers to wool caps. They have a vast assortment of Catholic themed items for Christening, first communions, confirmations or weddings. In a neighborhood full of police, firefighters and city workers, Irish Imports has signs, mugs, flags and shirts especially for them to show their Celtic heritage. With forty-one years in the neighborhood, they guarantee you will get a sincere “Cead Mile Failte” (one hundred thousand welcomes) any time you go there. (L.D. Barnes)

South Side Irish Imports, 3446 W. 111th St., (773) 881-8585. 10am–5:30pm Monday–Friday; 10am-5pm Saturday; closed Sunday.

BEST MEMORIAL Korean War Memorial

Stretching the boundaries may be viewed as a bad thing—but to be able to include the first monument in the country and the only one in Chicago to veterans of the Korean War is a good thing.

On the corner of 113th and Western Ave., what looks as if it could be a misplaced tombstone that wandered from one of Mount Greenwood’s many cemeteries is actually a five-foot-high and ten-foot-long semi-circle of marble engraved with a remembrance to the American soldiers who served in the Korean War. Conceived by Korean War veteran Ed McCarthy, funded by the Windy City Veterans Association, it was installed in Kennedy Park in 1988. Contributions of labor from the Korean War veterans of the Maurice Moore Memorial company and many others made this possible. Visit it to get the statistics about the war that claimed 36,574 American lives and never officially ended: although an armistice agreement stopped the fighting in 1953, North and South Korea never signed a peace treaty, and the United States still maintains a force of more than 20,000 troops in the South. (L.D. Barnes)

Korean War Memorial. Kennedy Park, 11320 S. Western Ave.

BEST RECORDING STUDIO On Track Recording Studio

Driving south on Kedzie past 103rd, there are a couple of blocks inhabited by chain restaurants, doctors’ offices, a bicycle shop, a funeral home, and a pet shop. Hidden in the middle is a combination video store/recording studio. Since 1992, On Track Recording Studio has been an unimposing storefront at 10437 S. Kedzie, but once inside, the expertise of Ray Vanda and the equipment he has is amazing. The studio can accommodate a large band like the Funkadelics, a Do-Wop ensemble like the Spaniels, the Oak Lawn Barbershop Quartet or solo artists like Killer Ray Allison, Shirley King or podcasters in the homey space. Six days a week by appointment, the studio awaits you.

The rates are reasonable at $40 per hour. Ray works with either analogue or digital, has a variety of microphones, plus a few miscellaneous musical instruments. From recording to posting your masterpiece on YouTube, Ray and his wife Julie work with artists in genres ranging from blues to zydeco, singing to spoken word. Should you have old photos, home movies or videotapes to be preserved, they can do that too. (L.D. Barnes)

On Track Recording Studio 10437 S. Kedzie (773) 238-6752. Monday–Thursday 10am–8pm; Friday–Saturday 10am–9pm; Sunday 12pm–8pm.