Chicago: Skid Row 1948. Chicago's Madison Street in the 1940's, cheap hotels, pawnshops, and bars.

YouTube ^ | 10/28/2025 | Moviecraft Inc.

[SmokingJoe]

Chicago's Skid Row shown in 1948. Travelogues never show this side of town. The filmmakers take you to West Madison Street, Whiskey Row, where men and even women walk in a stupor from wine, falling and sleeping in the street, flop houses, winos, men being picked up in paddy wagons by the police. Remarkable street scenes. A rare look inside the bars, the patrons, the life on skid row. Many rare night scenes, neon signs, and businesses long gone. The morgue, where the patrons of Skid Row ultimately end up. Possibly produced by the Salvation Army, or The Woman's Temperance League. An exploration of yesterday's Chicago. The glamorous side, the beauty of the city, and also the dark side, Skid Row. Transferred from 16mm b-w film. From Tammi.ai

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TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: 1948; chicago

[SmokingJoe]

Chicago in 1948, the streets with plenty of homeless drunks and losers. Main difference is today the cops don't bother to pick up drunken/drugged out homeless people on the streets in contrast to pack then.

[ClearCase_guy]

I remember Boston in the 1970s. Still had plenty of working class people, with working class bars and working class diners. I lived in boarding houses for a few years ($35 a week). When Jimmy Carter de-institutionalized the mentally ill, the streets got nastier, but for the most part I saw a decent mix of people at all levels of society. Today, a city like Boston has a layer of rich people and layer of losers. The “middle class” is gone and so is the “working class”. It’s no fun anymore.

[SmokingJoe]

12 Harsh Memories from New York's Darkest Years (1975–1981)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_OpfEO-fSI

Terrible now, but all that horror i the video will come back with Mamdani.

[SmokingJoe]

Yeah.

[rightwingintelligentsia]

BFL

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

"The “middle class” is gone and so is the “working class”. It’s no fun anymore."

I came home from the army to Boston in the late 1960's. Blue Hill Ave. was a burnt-out war zone. This was a result of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society where tens of thousands plantation workers moved here from the South. They held many riots and committed lots of crimes. This resulted in "White Flight" of the middle class. This happened across America.

[wbarmy]

I lived in New Jersey during those years and my wife was in the Army Reserves and drilled at Ft Hamilton. Used to drive my motorcycle into Times Square and walk the streets during the day. Would never go there at night.

[DeplorableTrumpSupporter]

In 1948, did Chicago have a mayor like Johnson. If not, I’d hate to see it if this mayor was elected in 1948!!

[SmokingJoe]

Son of Sam, the garbage men strike that turned NYC into one huge stinking rubbish dump, the terrible massive murder numbers then (as compared to now), etc etc made NYC a true hell hole.

[wbarmy]

Sometimes I think the worst thing that happened to New York after that period was Dinkins.

[SmokingJoe]

Grok:

Martin H. Kennelly served as the mayor of Chicago in 1948. He was a Democrat who took office on April 15, 1947, and held the position until April 20, 1955, making him the 47th mayor of the city.c39ed5ea5574f30b52
Regarding his record on crime, Kennelly’s early tenure showed promise, but it was ultimately mixed and hampered by political realities. In his first year (which included 1948), he launched aggressive efforts against organized crime, notably shutting down long-protected gambling operations that had been a key revenue source for the underworld since the Capone era.

[KrisKrinkle]

Looked like a lot of nice cars on the street.

All those drunks didn’t keep all the businesses in business.