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1 2 3   UER Forum > Archived US: Great Lakes > void of UE in chicago (Viewed 2899 times) sympathy in chaos  Location: Chicago Gender: Male  |  |  |  Re: void of UE in chicago <Reply # 20 on 9/20/2005 2:01 AM >   Well I've done some catering work in the Merch Mart, but I've only seen a bit of it. the place is insanely huge with pretty good security. I heard a story on how several kids wandered into an area where offices dealing with the Manhattan Project were located there. I'll try and look it up. edit: here it is...It's on the Chicago L site. Our gang was not to be thought of as we think of them these days. We were just a group of young comrades, that were looking to have some fun, and stay cool on those hot Chicago summer nights. This took place in a time period from 1942 to 1946. We used to play a game on the street called, Catch One Catch All. In this game one person would be it, and the rest would go hide. As the person that was it tagged any of the ones that were hiding, that person would have to help the person that was it, catch the rest of the gang, and so on till all were caught. We modified this game a little and would play it on the Ravenswood Branch of the "L". We would set the boundaries from Fullerton to but not including Kimball so we would not have to pay another fare. The person that was it, would stay at the starting station till we all left on a train. We would get of at stations all along the route, and be free to reverse course or ride anywhere with in the boundaries. We were also able to hide anywhere on any station we liked. It was up to the people who were it to find us, and tag us so we could help them find the others. You can imagine when one of us was spotted the chase began either running through trains, or through stations. It sometimes did take hours. I think at that time the half fare was . 05 cents and you did not have to pay another fare to reverse directions. We never got in any trouble for this. I believe that the adults just said to themselves look at those crazy kids. We also played the same game at the Merchandise Mart. We usually picked the Merchandise Mart to play on rainy cold Saturdays. Playing it on the "L" was usually done right after dinner in the summer and lasted till after dark about ten O Clock. Next we would go to that dinner at the end of the Ravenswood Line at Kimball and Lawrence, and have a coke or if we were hungry again a hamburger. That dinner was painted white and looked like a refurbished railroad car with lots of chrome and a juke box. The name of the dinner was Cooper and Cooper. I do remember the name of the young man that flipped hamburgers there, it was Ed Olin. In that era parents were much more concerned where their girls were than the boys. The boys, they were just concerned about who their friends were, and as long as you were with approved friends, and you did not have school the next day, we could stay out pretty late. At the Mart, we would set aside five floors and carry on the same way. One day we did get into trouble there. We had set aside five of the higher Large floors, and were playing the game intensely. I was with my cousin all the rest of the kids were caught, and now were looking for us. They saw us from afar down a hall. We started to run then we came to the stairs. I said quick up the stairs. We could here them three floors below us coming up after us. We were coming up on the nineteenth floor when the hall was boarded off. We did not know what to do then we saw a window going out to the ledge. I said "quick out the window." We went out on the ledge and peeked through the window. When the gang ran into the walled off hall, they thought we had ducked out on a lower floor. We were safe. I said to my cousin open the window so we can get in off this ledge. The window had locked automatically. Here we were standing on a ledge on the nineteenth floor looking at the traffic below. We decided to walk along the ledge and knock on some office windows. As we knocked on the windows people would look at us then pick up the phone, but would not let us in. We kept walking, and knocking, and no one would let us in. The next thing we knew the police we out on the ledge with there guns drawn. We put our hands up and followed there instructions. Subsequently they took us down to a jail they have in the Merchandise Mart. We went through some pretty intense questioning. After a while the G men realized that we were just kids, they turned us loose saying, that was a secret floor we were on. If we were one floor higher that was top secret, we would have been shot on site. I remembered this. The end of the war came with the dropping of the A boom. I read in the papers that floor in the Merchandise Mart was the offices for the Manhattan Project. Rey "Rennie" Nelson [last edit 9/20/2005 2:02 AM by sympathy in chaos - edited 1 times] Pravus  Location: Chicago Area Gender: Male Now the two key words for tonight - "caution" and "flammable"...  |  |  |  Re: void of UE in chicago <Reply # 21 on 9/20/2005 3:19 AM >   Hehe, Thats pretty cool Live to Serve, Serve to Live.. Reb00t  Location: Chicagoland Gender: Male Iron Chef Microwave  |  |  Re: void of UE in chicago <Reply # 22 on 9/21/2005 12:41 AM >   Wicked. NOFUTURE  Location: formerly-mid but now all the way West Gender: Male It's better to be dead and cool, than alive and uncool.  |  |  Re: void of UE in chicago <Reply # 23 on 10/4/2005 6:53 PM >   Posted by sympathy in chaos oh yeah...nothing beats a borrowed purple honda hatchback...with a taped window. It was parked next to the public housing building next to Gary Methodist, within view of a security camera. I think for me the problem is always parking somewhere near your point of exploration, this can draw attention to the fact that someone is there when they shouldn't be. Noah, I need to employ the bicycle option. Its much easier to stash a bicycle in the weeds than it is to stash a Nissan Xterra. |NFP|GASMASK | OPERATION: PENETRATION | NOFUTURE  Location: formerly-mid but now all the way West Gender: Male It's better to be dead and cool, than alive and uncool.  |  |  Re: void of UE in chicago <Reply # 24 on 10/4/2005 7:06 PM >   I agree with Noah, Chicago is CHOCK full of great places to explore. All you basically have to do is drive south and take a few wrong turns and you will find something. IMHO, Chicago is basically a really crappy city, craptastic that is. Meaning, its full of crappy dilapidated structures leftover from several eras of heavy industry. Especially on the South and near West sides. The only real problem with Chicago, is most of the worthwhile areas are in rough neighborhoods where you really have to be careful. Plus these areas are always full of cops looking for real crime so this makes it more difficult. Chicago is also a city of fences. Most good spots in the city are well marked with no trespassing signs and fences, so you have that to battle too. Basically, in the immediate city of Chicago, UE is only limited by how big your nads are. There is a lot to see, but a lot that can hold you back if you are worried about getting busted. I know I have passed up many a spot that looked sweet just because I was too unsure about it. Now, if you have the means to travel outside the city, there are tons of places that are basically cake to get into, and in some cases not restricted at all (what fun is that tho...jk). BTW, Thanks for the drain tips Noah. I finally got out and checked a few of those spots. |NFP|GasMask | OPERATION: PENETRATION | Curious_George  Location: Cambridge Gender: Male Straight outta New Bedlam  |  Re: void of UE in chicago <Reply # 25 on 10/5/2005 12:57 AM >   Correction: Only the south side is craptacular. The north side of Chicago is amazing, its urbanism is beautiful and similar to the uptopian ideals of Jane Jacobs. Honestly, no one ever gave me any problems in the south side aside from someone calling me a "Cracker" from a second story window. If you really want a craptacular city go to Detroit, Gary or East St. Louis. NV  Supreme Noble Donor Location: City of Chicago, Richard M. Daley, Mayor  |  Re: void of UE in chicago <Reply # 26 on 10/5/2005 3:36 PM >   Posted by Curious_George Correction: Only the south side is craptacular. The north side of Chicago is amazing... There are in fact pockets of craptacularness on the north side, and chunks of the NW side have qualities that can be described as "craptacular". Much of the craptacular in these areas are located near the expressway or along rail lines. And let's not make sweeping generalizations about the south side either, many parts of which are actually quite nice. I will admit that it seems a bit easier to find derelict structures on the south side than the north. NOFUTURE  Location: formerly-mid but now all the way West Gender: Male It's better to be dead and cool, than alive and uncool.  |  |  Re: void of UE in chicago <Reply # 27 on 10/5/2005 6:28 PM >   Agreed, ever get off the Red Line at Morse? Its pretty rough up there too. Sorry to disagree, but Chicago is not such a "nice" city IMHO. It is 90% crappy, and 10% nice, and the 10% nice parts are largly unaffordable for normal middle class folks like me. But again, this is just my opinion. It is a major city, and this is just the way it is. I live in Logan Square, which is for the most part affordable and not crappy, yet my garage just got tagged a couple days ago, and someone stole my $30 grill from my backyard a month ago. So unless you live in like Lincoln Park, or another expensive/congested near north area, Chicago is pretty craptacular to me. Yes, their are beautiful urban areas, both on the North, West and South sides. Gary and Detroit are absolutely horrible. Craptastic is too nice a word for these shitholes. No offense to any Gary or Detroit locals!! I love the midwest and all of its shittyness! |NFP|GasMask PS - I like the "cracker" comment. My wife once got called "a stankin' ass ho" near US Cellular Field a couple years back, and all she did was refuse to give the guy some money....pretty funny. Posted by NV There are in fact pockets of craptacularness on the north side, and chunks of the NW side have qualities that can be described as "craptacular". Much of the craptacular in these areas are located near the expressway or along rail lines. And let's not make sweeping generalizations about the south side either, many parts of which are actually quite nice. I will admit that it seems a bit easier to find derelict structures on the south side than the north. | OPERATION: PENETRATION | Curious_George  Location: Cambridge Gender: Male Straight outta New Bedlam  |  Re: void of UE in chicago <Reply # 28 on 10/5/2005 11:48 PM >   Posted by NOFUTURE and the 10% nice parts are largly unaffordable for normal middle class folks like me. You got that right...$1175 for a loft in Lincoln Park? You have to kidding me! NOFUTURE  Location: formerly-mid but now all the way West Gender: Male It's better to be dead and cool, than alive and uncool.  |  |  Re: void of UE in chicago <Reply # 29 on 10/6/2005 3:53 AM >   Posted by Curious_George You got that right...$1175 for a loft in Lincoln Park? You have to kidding me! Exactly what I am talking about. I live in a 1000 square foot apt. The building is old, the floors are coming up, no a/c, crappy plumbing, a coin-op washer and dryer that BARELY works, and I am in Logan Square. I am paying $1150! I think this apt is only worth $900 a month if that, but they let me have my dog and 2 cats, plus I have a parking spot, which is a huge bonus. Also, the apt is very close to the train, so I guess that is why I am paying so much. But still, $1150 should at least get me some freaking a/c! I guess I should now add this: In 2006 I plan to leave the Midwest for Flagstaff, Reno, Portland or Seattle. Most likely Reno. I am finished with craptastic Chi-town, but it will always be my home. |NFP|GasMask | OPERATION: PENETRATION | dev  Passed away September 23rd, 2006.  |  Re: void of UE in chicago <Reply # 30 on 10/6/2005 8:10 AM >   Posted by NOFUTURE Chicago is basically a really crappy city, craptastic that is. Meaning, its full of crappy dilapidated structures leftover from several eras of heavy industry. cue the frank sinatra and i'm set. Posted by Curious_George If you really want a craptacular city go to Detroit, Gary or East St. Louis. hey man, gary didn't do nothin to you. cracker. however, i've never seen someone gung-ho enough to climb a tree to climb in the roof of a small, empty abandoned building that's in a craptacular shit-hole steel-town that really *does* need to start over from scratch... so it's okay. even if we're all crackers. sympathy in chaos  Location: Chicago Gender: Male  |  |  |  Re: void of UE in chicago <Reply # 31 on 10/8/2005 3:13 AM >   Ummm...My family has been lower middle-class and we've always been able to afford it. My parents rented in boystown/wrigleyville in 89-92 a 1br was $500 (Good luck finding that now) .We bought a Bungalow near Belmont and Damen in 94 for around $160,000. My parents divorced so they sold it from pretty much the same amount a few years later. That same house would be worth $350-400 thousand now and we can in no way afford that. The house is gone and its being developed into condos. That area used to be nothing but warehouses and projects (along diversey/elston). Now its costco and box stores. I have a great-aunt that lives by her work around Diversey and Broadway. She rents a studio for around $600-700 a month. But she lives alone and has no kids. My mother bought a house on the northwest side (cicero/irving) for $310,000. At what youre paying for rent NOFUTURE, you might be better off with a Mortgage. Theres a lot of grants and loans that middle-class people can qualify for. It just doesnt make sense to rent at such high levels. But the real estate market in Chicago is insane and inflated. But it has to come crashing down eventually. PS The South Side is pretty nice, quiet but nice in some areas. I really like hanging out with friends at the University of Chicago. Hyde Park is nicer than Lincoln Park in many ways. AdventureGrime  Location: Chicago, Illinois Gender: Male Something original.  |  |  Re: void of UE in chicago <Reply # 32 on 10/9/2005 8:27 PM >   We [Lost Kids Urban Exploration Cult (Chicago)]are trying to organize a meet for this year in Chicago, and I can assure you that there are many, many amazing places to explore. The Joliet area is great too because of it's historical value, it holds many neat suprises. Also, scope out the Armory on route 66 in Joliet, they do tours and shit, and it would be awesome if we had a group of UErs and got free roam of the place (it's an old military installation with bunkers and other random building, it's totally righteous, plus it's beautiful aside from the human-made aspect as it's in the middle of a prairie) There are old factories, churches, warehouses, post offices, theatres, schools... countless items, unfortunately explorables are always changing due to the rapidness of what I like to call the "Reality movement" they sell those buildings fast around here, and they get tore down quick. (PS: If anyone is down with a Chicagoland Winter meet, PM me or something cuz we need some people to help us out) On behalf of the Lost Kids Urban Exploration Cult (Chicago), Eric AntiFa All your neighbours are competitors Where'd you all go wrong There never was a mountain to climb Curious_George  Location: Cambridge Gender: Male Straight outta New Bedlam  |  Re: void of UE in chicago <Reply # 33 on 10/10/2005 5:12 PM >   Posted by dev hey man, gary didn't do nothin to you. cracker. however, i've never seen someone gung-ho enough to climb a tree to climb in the roof of a small, empty abandoned building that's in a craptacular shit-hole steel-town that really *does* need to start over from scratch... so it's okay. even if we're all crackers. What are you talking about? Gary killed my camera! They don't like cracker's like me takin' pictures of their shiznit. Anyways, if you came out to Neopex with me you would have seen me climbing up flag poles, trees and jumping across the many flooring gaps in the Hudson Psych. Hospital. NOFUTURE  Location: formerly-mid but now all the way West Gender: Male It's better to be dead and cool, than alive and uncool.  |  |  Re: void of UE in chicago <Reply # 34 on 10/10/2005 9:52 PM >   Hey, yes, the Joliet area is a favorite spot of mine as well. I have been to the old JAAP countless times, and now you can basically go without worrying. The old ammo storage bunkers are absolutely kick ass, and the is much to see in this area. I have not heard about official tours yet, but that would be interesting to attend, just to hear some real history. |NFP|GasMask Posted by Eric Antifa We [Lost Kids Urban Exploration Cult (Chicago)]are trying to organize a meet for this year in Chicago, and I can assure you that there are many, many amazing places to explore. The Joliet area is great too because of it's historical value, it holds many neat suprises. Also, scope out the Armory on route 66 in Joliet, they do tours and shit, and it would be awesome if we had a group of UErs and got free roam of the place (it's an old military installation with bunkers and other random building, it's totally righteous, plus it's beautiful aside from the human-made aspect as it's in the middle of a prairie) There are old factories, churches, warehouses, post offices, theatres, schools... countless items, unfortunately explorables are always changing due to the rapidness of what I like to call the "Reality movement" they sell those buildings fast around here, and they get tore down quick. (PS: If anyone is down with a Chicagoland Winter meet, PM me or something cuz we need some people to help us out) On behalf of the Lost Kids Urban Exploration Cult (Chicago), Eric AntiFa | OPERATION: PENETRATION | NOFUTURE  Location: formerly-mid but now all the way West Gender: Male It's better to be dead and cool, than alive and uncool.  |  |  Re: void of UE in chicago <Reply # 35 on 10/10/2005 10:02 PM >   Ha! Actually, I am much better now without a mortgage! I did own a house in the burbs for 2 years, and to be perfectly honest, it was too much. I am total agreement that renting is a waste of money from an investment point of view, but when you look at the pros and cons of owning vs renting, it is almost balanced if you ask me. RENTING: I can leave whenever I want (basically), easy commute to work, I don't have to take care of ANYTHING, no taxes or assessments to pay, cheap utilities, bottom line: NO RESPONSIBILITY. And I love it. It is worth EVERY penny. OWNING: When we owned a house in the burbs, I had bills coming outta my ears, a horendous commute, an older house that needed CONSTANT maintenance and upkeep ($$$$$TIME$$$$$$TIME$$$$$$$TIME$$$$$$) and with all that comes ooooodles of stress that both me and my wife are now free of. Plus we had nosey neighbors on one side and total dirtbags on the other side and all my friends live in the city, so it sucked. It was a PAINFUL 2 years. In addition to all this, I am planning to leave Chicago permanantly sometime next year, so owning a house would make that more difficult as well. Someday I will buy again, but it will be somewhere that I want to stay, and a modest and affordable house. Chicago is not somewhere I want to stay and there is nothing nice that is affordable downtown....at least not any more. Posted by sympathy in chaos Ummm...My family has been lower middle-class and we've always been able to afford it. My parents rented in boystown/wrigleyville in 89-92 a 1br was $500 (Good luck finding that now) .We bought a Bungalow near Belmont and Damen in 94 for around $160,000. My parents divorced so they sold it from pretty much the same amount a few years later. That same house would be worth $350-400 thousand now and we can in no way afford that. The house is gone and its being developed into condos. That area used to be nothing but warehouses and projects (along diversey/elston). Now its costco and box stores. I have a great-aunt that lives by her work around Diversey and Broadway. She rents a studio for around $600-700 a month. But she lives alone and has no kids. My mother bought a house on the northwest side (cicero/irving) for $310,000. At what youre paying for rent NOFUTURE, you might be better off with a Mortgage. Theres a lot of grants and loans that middle-class people can qualify for. It just doesnt make sense to rent at such high levels. But the real estate market in Chicago is insane and inflated. But it has to come crashing down eventually. PS The South Side is pretty nice, quiet but nice in some areas. I really like hanging out with friends at the University of Chicago. Hyde Park is nicer than Lincoln Park in many ways. | OPERATION: PENETRATION | Chuck  Location: Chicago Gender: Male  |  |  Re: void of UE in chicago <Reply # 36 on 10/11/2005 3:26 PM >   Posted by Eric Antifa Lost Kids Urban Exploration Cult (Chicago), I think you covered every stereotype with the name of your group!! Chuck Sometimes if you want to see a change for the better, you have to take things into your own hands. - Clint Eastwood EatsTooMuchJam  Location: Minneapolis, MN Gender: Male Squirty "Stickybuns" von Cherrypants  |  |  |  |  |  Re: void of UE in chicago <Reply # 37 on 10/11/2005 3:35 PM >   Posted by Chuck I think you covered every stereotype with the name of your group!! Chuck Naw. That'd be Bored Lost Secret Pirate-Ninja Action Kids Urban Exploration Cult Of Mafiosos Who Are In A Squad For The Crazy Insane Middle-Class Ratfinks "The large print giveth and the small print taketh away." -Tom Waits AdventureGrime  Location: Chicago, Illinois Gender: Male Something original.  |  |  Re: void of UE in chicago <Reply # 38 on 10/11/2005 4:52 PM >   Well if I wanted to stereotype our group it would probably be more like "smelly apocolyspe-punk trash-eating bike riding urban exploration lower class to no class anti-capitalist cult" All your neighbours are competitors Where'd you all go wrong There never was a mountain to climb Chuck  Location: Chicago Gender: Male  |  |  Re: void of UE in chicago <Reply # 39 on 10/11/2005 5:03 PM >   Ninjas!!!! You're right, the word "Ninja" would have to be in there. Like http://www.secreturbanexplorationninjamafia.com/ Chuck Sometimes if you want to see a change for the better, you have to take things into your own hands. - Clint Eastwood UER Forum > Archived US: Great Lakes > void of UE in chicago (Viewed 2899 times)  1 2 3   All content and images copyright © 2002-2024 UER.CA and respective creators. Graphical Design by Crossfire. To contact webmaster, or click to email with problems or other questions about this site: UER CONTACT View Terms of Service | View Privacy Policy | Server colocation provided by Beanfield This page was generated for you in 203 milliseconds. Since June 23, 2002, a total of 740488177 pages have been generated.