A Walk Down Fullerton Ave.
Field Notes:
I decided to start walking west down Fullerton Ave., away from the train station. The weather was okay with a gloomy sky and moments of a slight sprinkle. The street was busy with people getting off work. The first block was an upscale plaza full of shops and restaurants. I walked past the DePaul Theatre School, Starbucks, a gym of sorts, Jersey Mikes, and Wingstop, where the smell of fries loomed all down the block. On the opposite side of the street was a ginormous gym and exercise complex with facilities outside and inside. The next few blocks contained two more plazas, a less luxurious feeling than the first one. The other side of the street was lined with huge residential buildings and the occasional business. The first contained a Dunkin Donuts, a bubble tea shop, and a UPS store. These two plazas were divided by a small side street. On the other side of the street, there was a 6-story apartment building, and a building extremely long that could’ve been its own block. I passed a local fast-food restaurant at the end of the plazas, called Mr. Submarine.
As I crossed the street I could smell some delicious food but couldn’t locate where the smell was coming from. A man in a red car catcalled while I was taking a video and said you like it? This was my first experience of the walk. I was shocked and a little embarassed. My face turned red and I pretended like I hadn’t heard or saw this man. While the traffic was stopped, I passed a car with all the windows blasting Mo Bamba by Sheck Wes. When I got to another intersection, the same man who catcalled me wouldn’t stop honking at a biker who pulled out in front of him. When I looked up to see where I was, I was at Ashland Street. This was my second experience. Ashland transformed from gentrification to desolate. The Make It Lincoln Park signs stopped right before Ashland and the sidewalk was dirty and not kept the same way it was on the other side of the street. I was shocked how one intersection can drastically change how a street/neighborhood looks. The restaurants and businesses lessen the closer you get to Ashland. From Ashland to DePaul there’s an exhaustive list of restaurants just waiting for the Friday 5 p.m. rush to hit. The smell of weed became stronger from Walgreens to Ashland. On my walk, I passed many apartment complexes and businesses. I passed what looked to be historical buildings on either side of the street, one is pictured below.
I walked past a driving center, flower shop, Allstate, frame shop, nail salons, threading shop, phone repair store, dentist, physical therapist, spa, banks, tons of apartments, sporting goods store, senior living center, dojo, gift shop, a couple of vegan restaurants, Japanese, pizzeria, bars, Mexican, all-you-can-eat sushi, and so many other businesses. My walk of Fullerton stopped at Ashland because there wasn’t much for me to see past it besides a busy street, a gas station, and a few businesses on a side street. When I turned around and walked more, I saw businesses that I didn’t notice at first, I saw new restaurants, and for sale signs on businesses that still looked intact on the inside. I took the walk back to take everything in around me. I stopped on a few benches along the way to record my thoughts. When I stopped to record my notes, a woman handed me a flyer for Chicago music lessons. She had been walking behind me for some time and caught up to me when I stopped to record my thoughts. This was the first item I collected. I passed two kids on Lime scooters going past Starbucks. My second item was a broken-off leaf, collected right across the street from Chicago Costume, outside of Univeristy Hall. From this, I created a map that isn’t 100% correct but based on what I remember.
I chose to read Turnbull’s article, “Handheld Time Machines.” The phrase or variation of the phrase “They disregard me,” holds a lot of meaning. To me, it means that these people were minding their business and really did not care about whatever Turnbull is doing or looking at. These people have places to be and things to do and entertaining Turnbull is not one of them. Disregarding means that people are not paying attention to him and they are focused on whatever they are doing. Disregarding relates to Solnit’s descriptions of the solitary urban walker because as Solnit talks about, urban walkers are looking for certain things, big changes. Urban walkers look more at the things and people that are familiar to them. They notice when the people they regularly see aren’t there and when something is changing around them. Urban walkers don’t regard regular people who pass them as they’re walking. As Turnbull says, they disregard others.
