Welcome to CornerSpotter, Curbed's new weekly game in which you—fair readers—consult archival streetscape photos or postcard illustrations to identify the building(s) and/or location presented. Time to tap that reservoir of urban minutiae and flaunt it before your fellow readers. Fire away in the comments, and we'll reveal the correct identity and backstory on Friday.
An area of old housing stock, some of which remains, this intersection was the approximate center of a neighborhood that counted itself as a major landing site for waves of immigrants beginning with Irish and most recently, Mexicans. It remains a fairly diverse area, ethnically and economically. At one stage of its evolution (the one pictured above) the area was the site of a major thrift market, recipient of its fair share of political incorrectness. The pushcart market ran strong for a few decades straddling the 19th and 20th centuries. You could procure almost anything there, legal or illegal. And, shocking for its day, the vendors operated seven days a week. It also lays claim as the incubator of electrified Chicago Blues, a necessary innovation for being heard over the crowds. Your turn: lend some bearings to the intersection pictured.
·CornerSpotter [Curbed Chicago]
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