As an added factoid for you Jim, President Obama was a community organizer in the South Chicago neighborhood trying to help those laid off from now closed U.S. Steel South Works as well as the other poor would have replaced people that used to live and work in the neighborhood. You can see the empty area much on fill along the lakefront to the east (to the right of the camera) off of the bridge over the Calumet "River" actually a cut made through to Lake Michigan from Lake Calumet to the west.
The communities that blacks aspire today are neither the predominately black or certainly Southern white (former Klan strongholds in Indiana back in the 20's). These communities contain descendants of the immigrant white mill rats whose attitudes were fostered and shaped by the culture at the mills as promoted by the owners. This pattern will continue until changes are made by all groups.
Blacks and even Southern whites never integrated into the "melting pot" culture that makes up my native Calumet Region stretching from Far South Side neighborhood like South Chicago and around the southern shores of Lake Michigan. Still these people are in identifiable communities that all other ethic groups in "da Region" avoid. More recently the exodus from Gary had been black as the lower school performance and much higher crime reached a tipping point.
Back before another "rat", Frank Sinatra, had a concert in Gary to help smooth relations, blacks have been singled out. First the mill owners Carnegie-Illinois today's United States Steel, hired from many ethic backgrounds to break up solidarity among the workers so that they would not form unions. This tactic was used nearby including the Stockyards and other mills including Republic Steel in the South Deering neighborhood on the Far South Side of Chicago where workers died to unionize.
The 175,000 population includes a working class white area annexed into the City of Gary in 1976. Otherwise the City would have already shown a decline from 1970 two years after Gary's first black mayor was elected. The largest reason Gary has had so high of a population decline is due to white flight due to the rising black population. Gary has has blacks residing as the mills heavily recruited from the South both black and white. But has never had good race relations.
The type of steel made in the U.S. has changed. U.S. Steel Gary Works and the original and still by far largest mill in the City of Gary and the former U.S. Steel South Works in the South Chicago neighborhood on the Far South Side of the City of Chicago made all of the structural steel for the John Hancock Center in the Near North Side neighborhood and Sears Tower in the Loop neighborhood.
Great job, Jim! One comment on the statement that Gary's population decline from 175,000 to 80,000 was because of a decline of the steel industry or specifically NAFTA. Neither is true. Specifically the steel industry and the largest and original mill in the City of Gary produces more steel than ever before. Steel production takes less people to manufacture even lower previous tonnage totals.
Good vid, and it was an interesting surprise you went over the Skyway bridge at the end. The city's lease of the Skyway years ago was the END of me ever driving over it again, though. (have used US 41 since, not surprisingly) So it was a little nice to see a view going over it, if just to bring back some memories....
I really wish radio stations would play this version of Torture instead, instead of the crappy cover by whatever female artist recorded it years later. :(
To respond to your 2:05 or so comment - road ain't much fun to drive east of there, either. Though price-wise, their western 3 service plazas are about as good as you'll get from a toll road service plaza.
@aswchris ...I laughed hard at this comment. XD I was thinking the same thing!
I went and looked, and it's because Gary Regional Airport is juuuust to the north (right). The lampposts are short, meaning they have less space to light the highway, so they're really close together.
@Freewayjim For the most part I'll be frank -- Gary is a shithole. A lot of cool exploration is to be done in Whiting and near Inland steel, or on the Dunes. Overall the area is worth exploring, but other than the Jackson house (anything off I-90), no thanks.
@FreewayTitan well from what I remember it used to run on stell manufacturing but was declining in the 60's then nafta came in and killed it,or what was left due to it being cheaper to make things in mexico or overseas. However that was just part of it other factors were at play of course "racial diversity", crime, etc, etc.
@atlan61 NAFTA wasn't until the 90s. As a person that has ties to the Chicago area manufacturing base I will tell you it was almost purely the 'cheap' labor overseas that killed it, during the early 60s. Areas that have diversified their economies (City of Chicago, West Suburbs etc.) are much better off than those that haven't, or have failed to (NW Indiana, Near South Suburbs, etc.). If you want to educate me on precisely how NAFTA effected this long-gone situation, feel free my man.
Wasn't there a much bigger Welcome to Chicago sign at one time, like a billboard sized color photo of the skyline with the welcome message and the name of the current mayor?
@broadhurst04 No, for the most part it was a standard BGS-type sign. The standard 'Welcome to Illinois' sign used to be more obvious there if that's what you mean.
That lease that your referring to is called 'Major Moves'. It accelerated many construction projects around the state. Good vid, are you planning on doing any more from Indiana?
@dave11686 Remember that this is the upper midwest - here, you *NEVER* *EVER* refer to a highway that you must pay a direct toll to use as a 'freeway'. It's a 'tollway' or, if in Indiana, a 'toll road' ('Indiana Toll Road'). :-)
this the shortcut into chitown less traffic than 94 and worth the toll
CAPRICES4LYFE 1 month ago
my fav bridge i live really close by it try going to calumet park and look at it it looks so awsome!
viejos1000 3 months ago
As an added factoid for you Jim, President Obama was a community organizer in the South Chicago neighborhood trying to help those laid off from now closed U.S. Steel South Works as well as the other poor would have replaced people that used to live and work in the neighborhood. You can see the empty area much on fill along the lakefront to the east (to the right of the camera) off of the bridge over the Calumet "River" actually a cut made through to Lake Michigan from Lake Calumet to the west.
daRegionRat 3 months ago
@daRegionRat Thanks for the history lesson on the area, interesting stuff!
Freewayjim 3 months ago
The communities that blacks aspire today are neither the predominately black or certainly Southern white (former Klan strongholds in Indiana back in the 20's). These communities contain descendants of the immigrant white mill rats whose attitudes were fostered and shaped by the culture at the mills as promoted by the owners. This pattern will continue until changes are made by all groups.
daRegionRat 3 months ago
Blacks and even Southern whites never integrated into the "melting pot" culture that makes up my native Calumet Region stretching from Far South Side neighborhood like South Chicago and around the southern shores of Lake Michigan. Still these people are in identifiable communities that all other ethic groups in "da Region" avoid. More recently the exodus from Gary had been black as the lower school performance and much higher crime reached a tipping point.
daRegionRat 3 months ago
Back before another "rat", Frank Sinatra, had a concert in Gary to help smooth relations, blacks have been singled out. First the mill owners Carnegie-Illinois today's United States Steel, hired from many ethic backgrounds to break up solidarity among the workers so that they would not form unions. This tactic was used nearby including the Stockyards and other mills including Republic Steel in the South Deering neighborhood on the Far South Side of Chicago where workers died to unionize.
daRegionRat 3 months ago
The 175,000 population includes a working class white area annexed into the City of Gary in 1976. Otherwise the City would have already shown a decline from 1970 two years after Gary's first black mayor was elected. The largest reason Gary has had so high of a population decline is due to white flight due to the rising black population. Gary has has blacks residing as the mills heavily recruited from the South both black and white. But has never had good race relations.
daRegionRat 3 months ago
The type of steel made in the U.S. has changed. U.S. Steel Gary Works and the original and still by far largest mill in the City of Gary and the former U.S. Steel South Works in the South Chicago neighborhood on the Far South Side of the City of Chicago made all of the structural steel for the John Hancock Center in the Near North Side neighborhood and Sears Tower in the Loop neighborhood.
daRegionRat 3 months ago
Great job, Jim! One comment on the statement that Gary's population decline from 175,000 to 80,000 was because of a decline of the steel industry or specifically NAFTA. Neither is true. Specifically the steel industry and the largest and original mill in the City of Gary produces more steel than ever before. Steel production takes less people to manufacture even lower previous tonnage totals.
daRegionRat 3 months ago
I-90 Starts from the east in Boston, MA. to west in Seattle, WA. 3,082.5mi, 44hrs., 12min.
Fanik10 5 months ago
Freeway Jim. Did you drive past the Jackson's house?
Fanik10 5 months ago
@Fanik10 Not that I'm aware of, what you see in the video is what I drove.
Freewayjim 5 months ago
Good vid, and it was an interesting surprise you went over the Skyway bridge at the end. The city's lease of the Skyway years ago was the END of me ever driving over it again, though. (have used US 41 since, not surprisingly) So it was a little nice to see a view going over it, if just to bring back some memories....
I really wish radio stations would play this version of Torture instead, instead of the crappy cover by whatever female artist recorded it years later. :(
prfsnlwannabe 5 months ago
@prfsnlwannabe Huh, I did not know somebody covered "Torture", just as well, lol.
Freewayjim 5 months ago
To respond to your 2:05 or so comment - road ain't much fun to drive east of there, either. Though price-wise, their western 3 service plazas are about as good as you'll get from a toll road service plaza.
exit322 6 months ago
I love this video. I wish i go there in the future.
osterman9439 6 months ago
Nice vid, Jim. This is one by the Jacksons that I've not heard before.
Bryant5493 6 months ago
@Bryant5493 Thanks, that's from the album where the brothers tried to ride Micheal's coattails after Thriller :)
Freewayjim 6 months ago
@Freewayjim
You're welcome. Okay, gotcha (lol).
Bryant5493 6 months ago
what's up with the street light extravaganza at 2:10 ?
aswchris 6 months ago 2
@aswchris ...I laughed hard at this comment. XD I was thinking the same thing!
I went and looked, and it's because Gary Regional Airport is juuuust to the north (right). The lampposts are short, meaning they have less space to light the highway, so they're really close together.
onorebakasama 4 months ago
Good! As it always!
Teketkeee 6 months ago
Omg this construction isn't ever going to be done!
sokalove42 6 months ago
Great choice of song. It looks like torture to drive that stretch of road...lol
dj20k 6 months ago
@dj20k Thanks, it's not the most exciting or interesting stretch of road you'll ever see.
Freewayjim 6 months ago
In Oklahoma there is a McDonalds over the road in Vinita off I-44 (Will Rogers Turnpike) Hey Jim wish you can do Tulsa in future videos..
Omegasunrise 6 months ago
@Omegasunrise Never been to Tulsa before, I'd probably film it and OKC if I'm out that way.
Freewayjim 6 months ago
@Freewayjim If you do OKC, DO try to get the 4-stacker at Lake Hefner Parkway and the Kilpatrick Turnpike.
MDCSWildcats86 6 months ago
@MDCSWildcats86 Cool, I did not know there was a 4-Stack anywhere in Oklahoma.
Freewayjim 6 months ago
@Freewayjim The best approach is westbound on Kilpatrick taking the exit to southbound SH-74 (Lake HefnerParkway).
It's not 635-E to US-75N, but closely dangerous to it.
MDCSWildcats86 6 months ago
Awesome video! I hope I can re-film this in December. One of my favorites in Chicago.
FreewayTitan 6 months ago
@FreewayTitan Thanks & good luck.
Freewayjim 6 months ago
Have driven this multiple times, it's a neat drive.
Holy hell construction though at the beginning! Crazy but still kind of cool looking.
colinstu 6 months ago
You drove very near to where a great great aunt or something like that of mine lives
sc4portugal 6 months ago
Ahh....you saved the best for last...a McDonalds before the toll plaza! I'm loving it!
djmario79 6 months ago
@djmario79 - I'm hoping that he catches one of the overpass oasis's during this Chicagoland run of videos.
rickhh1 6 months ago
@rickhh1 I did but decided not to use the footage, it was not good enough overall to make in to anything.
Freewayjim 6 months ago
@Freewayjim - A single landmark need not make a whole video. Good directoring skills. ;)
rickhh1 6 months ago
@rickhh1 Thank you :) I might do something with that particular clip down the road (no pun), you never know :)
Freewayjim 6 months ago
A McDonald's right in the median just before the toll booths?
Looks like that could be an accident hazard the way the turnoffs are short.
rickhh1 6 months ago
@rickhh1 Yes indeed, it does come up on you rather abruptly.
Freewayjim 6 months ago
That bridge reminds me: you should do the Pulaski Skyway!
LIRR175 6 months ago
@LIRR175 I'd like to, hopefully the next time I'm up that way.
Freewayjim 6 months ago
I remember getting lost in Gary. Good times!
Great video Jim!
eluko79 6 months ago
@eluko79 Oh my, of all places to get lost! thank you!
Freewayjim 6 months ago
@eluko79 Is Gary anything like the KC West Bottoms? worth exploring?
Freewayjim 6 months ago
@Freewayjim There are some interesting parts but they're few and far between. Whats worth exploring I think are the roads along the steel mills.
eluko79 6 months ago
@Freewayjim For the most part I'll be frank -- Gary is a shithole. A lot of cool exploration is to be done in Whiting and near Inland steel, or on the Dunes. Overall the area is worth exploring, but other than the Jackson house (anything off I-90), no thanks.
FreewayTitan 6 months ago
Man I realy regret NAFTA
atlan61 6 months ago
Comment removed
FreewayTitan 6 months ago
@atlan61 How does this relate to NAFTA?
FreewayTitan 6 months ago
@FreewayTitan well from what I remember it used to run on stell manufacturing but was declining in the 60's then nafta came in and killed it,or what was left due to it being cheaper to make things in mexico or overseas. However that was just part of it other factors were at play of course "racial diversity", crime, etc, etc.
atlan61 6 months ago
@atlan61 NAFTA wasn't until the 90s. As a person that has ties to the Chicago area manufacturing base I will tell you it was almost purely the 'cheap' labor overseas that killed it, during the early 60s. Areas that have diversified their economies (City of Chicago, West Suburbs etc.) are much better off than those that haven't, or have failed to (NW Indiana, Near South Suburbs, etc.). If you want to educate me on precisely how NAFTA effected this long-gone situation, feel free my man.
FreewayTitan 6 months ago
Nice Lil Toll, Jim
willubhave2 6 months ago
@willubhave2 Thanks!
Freewayjim 6 months ago
Wasn't there a much bigger Welcome to Chicago sign at one time, like a billboard sized color photo of the skyline with the welcome message and the name of the current mayor?
broadhurst04 6 months ago
@broadhurst04 No, for the most part it was a standard BGS-type sign. The standard 'Welcome to Illinois' sign used to be more obvious there if that's what you mean.
FreewayTitan 6 months ago
That lease that your referring to is called 'Major Moves'. It accelerated many construction projects around the state. Good vid, are you planning on doing any more from Indiana?
jcrockett001 6 months ago
@jcrockett001 Thanks for the info, sorry, this is the only Indiana video I did.
Freewayjim 6 months ago
Comment removed
1867Phoenix 6 months ago
Awesome Work here Jim!!
ScrewdUPClickV2 6 months ago
@ScrewdUPClickV2 Thanks bro!
Freewayjim 6 months ago
I've never been on this stretch of freeway but my sister lives not too far from this area now, not in Gary of course! :-P
dave11686 6 months ago
@dave11686 Remember that this is the upper midwest - here, you *NEVER* *EVER* refer to a highway that you must pay a direct toll to use as a 'freeway'. It's a 'tollway' or, if in Indiana, a 'toll road' ('Indiana Toll Road'). :-)
mgk920 6 months ago
@mgk920 Ok, tollway. This channel though is "Freeway"Jim :-P
dave11686 6 months ago