The first few participating cornerspottees guessed correctly on the location of a 1954 photo with an elevated perspective. The pic was indeed snapped from the Paulina Connector "L" tracks at Washington & Paulina, built to join the old Douglas route with the Lake route. The entire Douglas route was abandoned and many of its stations razed by the late-1950s. At this time of this capture, roughly a dozen stations had already been closed. Construction of the Eisenhower (then Congress) expressway reshaped train service to include Blue Line service down the median. Happily, 2008 saw the restoration of much of the old Douglas line service to the medical district, Pilsen, Little Village, and points west as the Pink Line. This time, we'd hope the line will grow instead of shrink and collapse. Ain't transit planning fun! Oh, our prior reference to there being more "green" in this present-day streetscape didn't mean there's more in the area as a whole. Everyone knows about those blasted United Center parking lots. We only meant that this particular stretch of Washington Blvd heading toward Union Park has lost some buildings, yet to be replaced.
·Hint: A West Side Perspective, Lost For 50 Years [Curbed Chicago]
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