A Writer Surveys The Transformation Of Chicago S Literary Landscape

When I stepped off the Loyola el station in the summer of 1992, it was oh so very hot.

I got my map out and explained my predicament. She laid out the map on the only surface in the store that appeared to be clear of any printed material and deftly drew a series of directional arrows that would lead me to the hostel. She also informed me that there was no better food than Chicago diner food and drew a star around Standee’s on Granville Avenue and said, “It’s open all the time. And try the francheezie.”

The carnage wrought by this one-two punch included the demise of Kroch’s & Brentano’s on Wabash (once billed as the “World’s Largest Bookstore”), Stuart Brent Books on Michigan Avenue, The Savvy Traveller, and Prairie Avenue Bookshop, among others. Stuart Brent had the irascible Stuart Brent himself, a bookseller who once told me, “You’re not too pretentious for someone affiliated with the University of Chicago.” The Savvy Traveller had a special section for “Urban Adventures.” And Prairie Avenue Bookshop had a tiny space dedicated to campus planning. It’s where I first encountered the Princeton Architectural Press’s Campus Guides and their detailed, peripatetic yet scholarly traipses through Vassar, Harvard, and the University of Cincinnati.

The Harold Washington Library Center is a public treasure that is open to everyone. Its programming reflects Chicago’s diverse population, something that could not always be said about older and more established bookstores. Where else could you find a talk on Rafael Torch’s posthumous memoir The Garcia Boy, an artists’ entrepreneurship class, and a hands-on musical instructional class for toddlers on the same day?

As for the original bookstore I first visited in Rogers Park? It’s gone and the entire building was demolished for a CTA expansion project a number of years back. The hostel is also gone, demolished as part of Loyola University’s ongoing campus expansion. And Standee’s is no longer a fixture a few feet from the Granville el station, so you’ll have to go elsewhere for a francheezie.