Then and Now, Lawrence-Lawndale

Our location is a few blocks west of the Kimball terminal of the Ravenswood (Brown Line) ‘L’ route. That fact made this one of the city’s most densely-settled inland neighborhoods. The streetcar line on Lawrence also produced the customary ribbon commercial strip. In the 1949 photo, the vertical sign for the Admiral Theatre is visible in the distance.

Nearly seventy years later, the streetcar tracks and overhead wires are gone, but the old buildings still remain—including the Admiral Theatre. Though this stretch of Lawrence now has retro street lights, why are they only on the south side of the street? Did the property owners along the north side forget to pay their taxes?

—30—