628: In the Shadow of the City
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What is the significance of the no man's land in every city?
Okay, this happens to be Chicago, but every city has a place like this. That weird, desolate area at the far end of town. We're a half mile west of the old abandoned steel mills. We're a half mile north of landfills where methane fires used to burn. Just south of the auto junkyard. Just east of the site of the old city dump. Where there was a mountain of raw garbage that would stink up the neighborhood whenever the wind would blow in the wrong direction. Everybody down here called it Mount Passini. For the Ottoman who let the city put it here.
You'll notice all these, what would you call it, tire marks. This street is used for drag racing year-round. Really? Yeah, because it's basically far enough away from the police that they don't do anything about it.
My guide is Charlie Gregerson, who grew up down here. He shows me where a lake, like Calumet, used to be back in the 40s when he was a kid. He'd go fishing on a rowboat with his dad. Then the city started filling in huge sections of the lake with garbage and incinerator ash. He'd come here in the 70s and see bulldozers pushing around the rubble of some of Chicago's great buildings, which had been recently demolished. Louis Sullivan masterpieces, like the Stock Exchange building and the Garrick Theater. This is where they ended up.
Now, show me, we're standing here, where were all the buildings being dumped and what did that look like? Right here at what was the north end of the dump. And actually, I picked up a few pieces of stock exchange ornament right out of...
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But of course, most of it had been ground right into the dirt because they had bulldozers that would just keep on. They would dump the stuff in piles and the bulldozers would just flatten it all out.
And so there'd be this like Louis Sullivan, you know, terracotta ornament just sticking out there. Yeah. And so walking around when there's these, you know, pieces of buildings sticking up, I mean, it just seems like it just must have been such a strange scene, like this apocalyptic, you know, death of a city.
Oh, yeah. Well, I remember seeing one of these big Phoenix columns that I knew had come out of the Garrick Theater was just sticking out of the ground. Two of those in the Garrick Theater distributed the weight of the upper floors that were over the stage. One of those was just sticking out at about a 45-degree angle out of the ground. And at that point, the Garrick had been gone for almost 10 years.
There were once big plans for this area, for canals and waterways, a harbor that never really worked out. There's zoning maps of the city that show streets and complete neighborhoods, a whole grid of them, that nobody ever got around to building. Instead, now, on top of all the trash, stands a golf course. Charlie says that from the clubhouse, he gets exactly the same view that he used to get back when he and his dad took out the rowboat. It's the same spot. That's where the lake once was. You can see clear to downtown. So far away, might as well be another city.
Well, today on our program, we have stories from several places like this, from the shadow of the city, that weird no-man's land. where it always feels like secret stuff is happening, you know? Just out of sight. WBEC Chicago, it's This American Life. I'm Ira Glass.
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Our program today was first broadcast a few years ago. It's in three acts. Act one, Brooklyn Archipelago. In that act, some passenger sets sail one day on a three-hour tour. A three-hour tour. And end up getting lost in the wilderness. One fears for his life on a string of islands that is just outside a very, very big city. Act two, troubled bridge over water. A guy goes to a remote spot to help people who do not want to be helped. Act three, please in my backyard. Controversy over industrial odors coming from a factory. Odors that for once people want to keep coming. Stay with us.
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Hi, I'm Kai Risdahl, the host of Marketplace.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the significance of the no man's land in every city?
0:01–1:35
2
What unexpected adventure does Alex Zharov experience in Jamaica Bay?
1:35–3:26
3
Who is Mr. Chen and what is his mission on the Nanjing bridge?
3:26–4:29
4
What surprising twist occurs during the factory emission crackdown in Chicago?
4:29–5:02
5
How does Alex Zharov's journey reflect the theme of adventure and survival?
5:02–6:19
6
What lessons can be learned from Mr. Chen's approach to saving lives?
6:19–7:28
7
How does the chocolate factory's story highlight environmental issues in Chicago?
7:28–9:08
8
What reflections does the host share about adventure and youth at the end of the episode?
9:08–55:31