City of gangsters, dance and happy people: a great trip to Chicago - ForumDaily
The article has been automatically translated into English by Google Translate from Russian and has not been edited.
Переклад цього матеріалу українською мовою з російської було автоматично здійснено сервісом Google Translate, без подальшого редагування тексту.
Bu məqalə Google Translate servisi vasitəsi ilə avtomatik olaraq rus dilindən azərbaycan dilinə tərcümə olunmuşdur. Bundan sonra mətn redaktə edilməmişdir.

A city of gangsters, dance and happy people: a great trip to Chicago

What do we imagine when we hear “Chicago”? Gangsters and Al Capone? The Jazz Age? The first skyscrapers? Chicago blues? Yes, of course, there is no escape from these associations. But what does a city like Chicago do with them? He grows something new out of them, creates new trends in music and dance here, again surprises with unusual architecture, he says "Voice of America".

Photo: still from Voice of America video

The name "Chicago" is derived from the local Illinois word shikaakwa, which means "wild leek". Chicago is not shy about these associations. Every time the bitter onion that fate presented to him, he readily accepted and continued to live and delight.

At various times, Chicago was considered the literary, dance, musical and architectural capital of America. A city with a difficult biography, which constantly overcomes something. His motto: “I can do it.” Down to earth, but not squat. By the way, it was in Chicago that the first skyscraper appeared - the building of an insurance company, which had only 10 floors. And now here even a hundred won’t surprise anyone.

This is one of the tallest skyscrapers in Chicago - John Hancock. On the 94th floor, visitors are invited to “fly” a little over the city, slightly “falling” out of the window. This building was built in 1968, it is 457 meters, 100 floors, now it is the fourth tallest in Chicago, the eighth tallest in the United States, but it has long been considered the second tallest in the world.

Photo: still from Voice of America video

Photo: still from Voice of America video

Looking at the model of Chicago in the new building of the architectural center, it is difficult to believe that this city was once burned to the ground. And “to the ground” is not hyperbole at all. Chicago became a center of architecture, essentially thanks to a great fire in 1871. Then the entire city had to be rebuilt, and very quickly. Everything in Chicago is somehow connected to that fire, says city historian Judy Parker.

“Here everything was made of wood. Buildings, streets and even sidewalks, says the expert. “Because it was a swampy area, you could ride a horse and fall in up to your neck.”

By the way, it was during a big fire that a phenomenon was born that we would now call fake news. A local journalist simply made up the news that the fire started after a cow knocked over a kerosene lamp in the barn of a local resident of Irish descent.

Judy Parker is sure that it was the fire that tempered Chicago and made it so strong. It can not be compared with other cities.

“I lived in New York. New York is how you take all this (points around) and squeeze it, and cut off the lake,” says Judy.

Lake Michigan is so huge that even the main pier here is called sea. In these waters still find equipment from the Second World War. After the defeat in Pearl Harbor, it was here that they arranged a training base for training American naval pilots. During the war years, 15 thousand military pilots were trained here. Historians say there are still more than 100 aircraft at the bottom. And on the lake for several years as a museum exhibit stood the legendary U-505 submarine.

Photo: still from Voice of America video

If you go to the Chicago Science Museum, you can literally make a huge discovery. Because here is a German ocean-going submarine from World War II. U-505 was considered unsinkable. She made 12 combat missions and sank 8 ships, and then was captured by American destroyers. The operation in June 1944 was top secret. Capturing the submarine was important in order to gain access to the German encryption keys. On U-505, in particular, they found an Enigma encryption machine, cipher tables and secret logs - all this helped in deciphering conversations between German submarines.

“The most important find was not Enigma,” says Ed MacDonald of the Museum of Science and Industry. — The code was quickly cracked there. The acoustic torpedo was important. Such torpedoes were fired at moving targets; they responded to the noise of the propellers. After that, we were able to develop protection against such torpedoes.”

On the subject: Active volcanoes, lava fields and the world's most powerful telescopes: a trip to the island of Hawaii

U-505 was transported to Bermuda, and the German crew members were sent to a secret prisoner of war camp in Louisiana. Participants in the operation were not allowed to talk about it. The ban was lifted only when the war ended. An important trophy for the Americans was the submarine’s equipment itself, which was advanced for that time.

Photo: still from Voice of America video

Simple Chicagoans helped move the submarine to the museum in 2005. Private individuals raised money for this complex operation, calculated to a millimeter.

“When we transported the boat to the museum, we invited the participants in the operation and those who were then captured to a joint lunch,” says McDonald. “Of course, everyone’s eyes were wet.”

Photo: still from Voice of America video

The submarine stood on the shores of Lake Michigan for almost half a century. But leaving her in the open air any longer was dangerous - she could hardly withstand the changeable Chicago weather, about which there is even a saying: “If you don’t like the weather in Chicago, wait 10 minutes and it will change.”

They say that Chicago owes its weather to its addiction to thick pizza. Here in this old house on Ohio Street in the early 1940s, the famous Chicago thick pizza was born, which looks like a pie with high edges. Two business partners initially thought of a Mexican restaurant, but then settled on pizza and came up with something like a Mexican enchilada. Until the late 1970s, there were only two establishments in Chicago that served thick pizza: UNO and DUE. Now such restaurants in the city are literally at every step.

Sean Asbra, the manager of one of Chicago's pizzerias, has been working in this area for 26 years and says that the popularity of thick pizza in Chicago is associated not only with the harsh climate.

“Chicago was a working-class city many years ago,” Asbra says. “And the Midwest has never been rich.” People just needed to come here to feed their families. Working people, blue collar workers, it was important for them to find something they could afford.”

People are increasingly experimenting with the popular Chicago dish - making pizza for vegetarians and gluten-free pizza.

Emily Darland, the owner of a food truck with the medicinal name “Pharmacy Around the Corner,” also dreams of switching Chicagoans to a healthier diet.

“A pharmacy means we buy everything fresh from local farms, and not just fresh, but organic,” says Emily. — People are not used to thinking that a food truck can have healthy food. It's more of a pleasure food for them."

Truck is a very popular food outlet in America. Many people start their journey into the restaurant business this way. Emily launched this project together with her friend. They spent 75 thousand dollars to open the Pharmacy. Emily says food trucks in Chicago have a hard time with parking issues. But the hardest thing to change is consumer habits.

Chicago has so many associations that, it would seem, have historically become firmly attached to it. But in fact, this city does not want to freeze in one role and willingly accepts everyone who is ready to bring some kind of fresh spirit into its life. If it’s dancing, then it’s not just jazz!

This dance is called "hiplet" - a mixture of ballet and hip-hop, or hip-hop on pointe. Hiplet was born here in Chicago. Its author is choreographer Homer Hans Bryant, himself a former dancer.

“I wanted it to be fun,” Bryant says. — I used to do something like rap ballet. And I began to think: hip-hop, ballet... - hiplet!”

Homer's dream has always been to make ballet available to girls from African American and Asian families. And the experiment was a success. The dance hybrid turned out to be so successful that it brought the dancers millions of views on the Internet, huge popularity and thousands of people who want to learn how to dance the same way.

“I don’t care about height or size,” Bryant says. — In classical ballet, everything is different: the ballerina must be thin, anorexic, with a long neck, thin arms. In our hiplet everything is completely different.”

Dancers compare a hiplet with a chemical experiment when mixing elements gives an unexpected reaction.

On the subject: I managed to travel around 55 countries: 12 life hacks from an experienced traveler

Photo: still from Voice of America video

In the legendary Chicago jazz club "Green Mill" people dance as they did 100 years ago, when the jazz era began - this place was a cult place. The oldest jazz club, where Al Capone loved to be, is still open - a kind of greeting to the famous Parisian Moulin Rouge.

David Jemilo took over the Green Mill 30 years ago and made the place, which had fallen into disrepair, great again.

“It was a bad place here. Everything was ruined,” says Jemilo. “There were literally drug addicts lying on the floor: when people came in, you had to step over them.”

Returning the Green Mill to its former glory was not so easy. But now everything is different: there is a queue of musicians, and in the evenings everything is packed with visitors. True, David also came up with something new. Now there is not only dancing, but also poetry slam: its homeland is also Chicago. Otherwise everything is as before. There is no Internet here, the cash registers are not computerized, and the phones have dials. It all works.

However, if tourists come here, they often ask not about jazz, but about Al Capone. David gives an interview in the exact place where the famous gangster liked to sit - because he could keep both doors in sight.

No one was allowed in or out while Al Capone was in the establishment. The gangster himself could leave the Green Mill at any time through a network of secret tunnels. It was through them that alcohol was illegally delivered during the Prohibition era.

“There is still a secret exit to the street here,” says David. “But I can’t show it to you.” I’ll be robbed later!”

The figure of Al Capone still arouses such interest that even special tours to the places of his military glory have been launched in Chicago. Craig Elton was once a radio presenter and hosted a children's show, and now he has retrained as a “gangster”. Craig is preparing the bus for another excursion.

It’s interesting that when Russian-speaking tourists come on this excursion, they immediately recognize the bus, and all because it can be seen in the film “Brother-2,” the action of which partially takes place in Chicago.

By the way, it was thanks to Al Capone that the expression “money laundering” appeared. The proceeds obtained from crime had to be spent somehow without attracting the attention of the intelligence services. To achieve this, Al Capone built a huge network of laundries. It was difficult to track the number of clients in them, and therefore the income could be written as anything.

After the tour, Craig meets us in a suit and with a violin case in his hands - this is a common accessory of all gangsters; weapons were hidden in the case.

Unfortunately, street shooting in Chicago did not become history. In August 2019, only one weekend in the city, 12 people were killed and more than 60 were injured. Street gangs in disadvantaged areas in the south and east of the city, the concentration of poverty and the availability of weapons: the current surge in violence is more likely explained by social factors. They are trying to answer the question of how to solve the problem of street crime in the criminal laboratory of the University of Chicago.

“There was one graduate student who was robbed and shot after defending his dissertation and died from his wounds,” says Kimberly Smith, director of research projects at the University of Chicago. “I think that’s what made the university realize that they had to do something about what was happening around campus.”

The university laboratory collaborates with the Chicago police and community organizations from disadvantaged areas. With the help of big data technology and special computer programs, they are trying to determine the specific points where the shooting takes place. This helps police respond faster and pay more attention to security. The result is already there: in the Inglewood area, where the system worked the longest, the number of shooting incidents decreased by 38%.

There are many young people in street gangs. Over the past 20 years, 33 people have been arrested in the city, the youngest being 000 years old. However, the life scenario for young Chicagoans may be completely different.

Photo: still from Voice of America video

When this Fix Your Kicks shoe repair shop first opened, visitors couldn't figure out where the owner was? No one could believe that a business owner could be 19. Now Joshua Marin is already 21. During these two years, he managed to become a local celebrity. They write about him in newspapers, he is shown on television. It all started when he decided to repair sneakers to earn extra money. Joshua's main inspirations are his father and grandfather, a family of hereditary shoemakers.

People come to the workshop not only to turn old sneakers into a work of art. The most expensive order sounds very prosaic: to clean 66 pairs of shoes. The workshop began to generate good income within six months after opening. In a year, Joshua plans to open courses and teach young people - for example, high school students in schools.

On the subject: Travel and sports records: famous people who changed their lives in old age

It was young activists who launched the “Music Against Violence” public campaign in Chicago several years ago. Rap and hip-hop artists, musicians and dancers believe that art can make young people lay down their arms. Unfortunately, activists themselves sometimes become victims of street shootings. In September, a 19-year-old footwork performer who was born on the streets of Chicago in the 1990s was shot and killed.

“It’s an incredibly strong, powerful city,” says footwork creator Kawane Space. “It can even be scary.” But it is so. Here they want to be the best. But I think this: why should anyone prove anything? Why compete? You just need to live, enjoy life. There are a lot of strong-willed people here who don’t want to let anyone down.”

“Three adjectives about Chicago? Outstanding. Glad. A must see,” says Ed McDonald of the Museum of Science and Industry.

“Chicago is strong. Chicago is powerful. Chicago is fun. Very funny!" — the owner of the food truck, Emily Darland, is sure.

“Chicago is one of the best cities,” adds Homer hiplet creator Hans Bryant. “And it’s clean, very clean.” This is a city of happy people."

Read also on ForumDaily:

From the USA to Europe for only $ 1: a travel company holds an incredible promotion

5 U.S. cities with unique, affordable gourmet dishes

Flights, hotels, cruises: how to travel and relax in the low season

Expensive internet and cold popcorn: things that annoy travelers

Miscellanea Chicago Educational program travel in the USA Special Projects
Subscribe to ForumDaily on Google News

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis. 



 
1071 requests in 1,158 seconds.