Jim (Jake) Koretz
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Jim (Jake) Koretz |
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My Photo Gallery - Tour de Fiends 07/20/03
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The below was taken From www.tourdefrineds.org
It describes the day.
Ride Report (posted July 21, 2003)
A wonderful ride with a surprise at the end. You will have to read down to find out what it was.
Forty two souls (all Jewish as far as I know) braved the weather forecast of late afternoon showers to show up at 8:30 for our first Historic Jewish Neighborhood Ride. Several things amazed me right from the start
1. Half the cyclists were already at the starting point when I arrived at 8:30 (for the 8:45 - we actually hit the road about nine - start). I have never seen so many Jews show up early to an event. And an early morning event at that!
2. Several people asked me where the White Hen Pantry was. This shook me up as it means people actually read what I write. To think.
3. One person (but we won't mention Jeff's name), phoned me to ask if the ride was still on due to late afternoon rain predictions.
The ride was great! First I want to thank my co-planners Joel Berman from Mosaic and Bob Nevel, both architects with much insight into the buildings were visited. And I want to thank Brian Meyers for riding sweep all day and keeping the herd together.
Finally, I want to thank Jim Koretz who posted a great set of photos from the ride. Thank Jim! Jim was one of well over a dozen first time TdF cyclists. I hope they all return for more rides.
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The ride was pretty much what we had planned. We started with a
discussion of the Maxwell Street community while standing at the corner
of Maxwell and Halsted. A few old buildings are left at that corner, but
most everything is obliterated. (Photo at left is from 1955.) Next we rode west to Lawndale and visited about a half dozen old shuls that are now Baptist Churches or other such things. It is a bit incongruous to see a shul with both Star of David and a cross on it. We visited a bit with the preacher from one particular church who was just arriving for his Sunday service. |
We rode to Humboldt Park and discussed that historic community. We visited the old Austio-Galecian Shul on California as well as a Jewish Orphans home. From there we rode north to Logan Square where we were relieved to find respite (or found respite by relieving ourselves) at Coffee Talk ( a coffeehouse at 2631 N. Kedzie).
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We lost about a third of our group after Coffee Talk. Places to go and
people to see, etc. but it was unfortunate as none of us knew what was
to come. Next we rode up to Albany Park and stopped at the Drake Avenue
Shul. Or, rather, stopped at the community garden where the shul (shown
at right) used to be. Our thanks to Lyzzie Bodner, a neighbor of the
garden and long time TdFer, for hosting our visit to Albany Park.
Finally, we rode east to Uptown to visit Agudas Achim, the old Romanian Shul on Kenmore. I had thought the shul was closed as there is a large "for sale" sign on the gate and our attempts to contact them (thanks Marla!) to get a tour were for naught. |
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But, just as we rode up to the gate, Rabbi Lefkowitz of the shul walked up to the door. He told us to come in and he spent the next hour with us telling us about the history of the Jewish community in Uptown, the history of the shul, and the ongoing project to refurbish the building. Then he took us on a tour of the sanctuary. The bimah contains a beautiful pattern of thousands of mosaic tiles imported from Romania. It is extraordinary. The building, the Rabbi explained, could not be created today anew - it would be prohibitively expensive. He gave us a wonderful sales talk for fund raising (and for joining his Orthodox congregation) and bade us on our way. This was clearly the highlight of the day.
We finished up with a nice ethnic meal at The Bagel on Broadway. OK, one of us ordered a BLT, but for most it was a nice ethnic meal. And we rode back to the starting point.
There were so many Jewish communities we did not cover that we will definitely repeat the ride to see more.
For those of you who came on it, please do let me know what we can do to improve this Tour in the future. Also let me now whether you are interested in other architecture oriented tours (though maybe not with a Jewish twist).
- danny
I was asked during the ride to provide the resources I used to research. My two principal sources were
Irving Cutler,
The Jews of Chicago: From Shtetl to Suburb
Irving Cutler,
Jewish Chicago: A Pictorial History
Hyman Meites, History of the Jews of Chicago
I was also helped by three librarians at the Spertus Institute who found me a variety of other sources and documents.
Original Announcement
This bike ride and tour is co-sponsored by Tour de Friends and Mosaic. There is no charge for this event.
Concept: This is a Chicago Jewish Heritage Tour. We will bike through Maxwell Street (there is nothing left to see), visit Douglas Park, Humboldt Park, Albany Park, maybe a bit of Rogers Park, and Uptown. We will stop at each location to view and discuss the historic Jewish community in that location. This ride will be enlightening, entertaining, and aerobic all at the same time. You don't have to be Jewish to enjoy this ride, but you will learn a lot about the Jewish community whether your are or ain't. If you have your own pool of information and stories, please bring them to share. (see section below on Ride Pace).
Ride Leaders: Danny Mittleman, Joel Berman & Bob Nevel. We can use a sweep. Please e-mail me if you can help out.
Starting Place: We are starting at the center of the old Maxwell Street neighborhood at 14th and Halsted. Exit Roosevelt from the Kennedy/Dan Ryan and go west to the first light (Halsted). Turn left (south) and got three blocks. Find parking in the hood and meet us on the corner of 14th and Halsted.
Starting Time: I will be out at the White Hen by 8:30 or so. You are expected there and ready to start by 8:45. We will already be cycling by 9:00, so you will be missed by us if that is when you show up. Shoot for 8:30. Why so early? It is a full day with lots of sites to see! Early weather forecasts for Sunday are PERFECT! Tribune says sunny with a high of 81.
Ride Pace: This will be more stop and go than many TdF rides. It is a Jewish Heritage Tour so we will stop and smell the flowers from time to time. While riding, expect 10-13 mph. Our ride will be mostly city streets, but I am being careful to select streets with bike lanes or minimal traffic as best I can. We follow the Boulevard Tour route for parts of the ride. We will hit most of the historic Jewish neighborhoods. Steve Tattleman and I did the route on July 13 and I learned that there is still a lot to work out to make this go smoothly. I won't have a final route and tour plan for you until the morning of the ride. I would like to get us through Douglas, Humboldt, and Albany Parks. I also want to get us into at least one historic synagogue. Any ideas or resources you have to offer prior to Sunday would be helpful.
Ride Distance: I am estimating 30 miles for the ride. I may be under by a mile or two. But do note this is not a hard and continuous 30 miles. There will be many stops along the way. This ride is achievable by all.
Eats: White Hen, of course. Later in the ride we will stop at a burger joint (I think it is kosher burgers). Near the end of the ride we will do The Bagel on Broadway. It is an all Jewish ethnic day, yes it is. (ok, White Hen isn't so ethnic.)
Day of Ride Contact Info: Danny 312-399-6103.
RSVPs: If you RSVP affirmative via Evite, you will be notified should we have inclement weather. If you don't (or are a wishy washy maybe), then you don't get notified.
The genesis of our July 20 ride happened in the Spring when I took Bob Nevel's architecture tour at Mosaic. Bob and I got to talking about cycling and architecture and Jewish Chicago. Then, I went out and purchased Irving Cutler's great book called Jewish Chicago. So, we drempt up this ride. As Mike reported, "it will be enlightening, entertaining, and aerobic all at the same time."
Suffice it to say this is not your typical TdF ride. It is, to steal blatantly from Oldsmobile, your grandfather's ride! So, block out the day, bring some friends, the ride won't be hard, the event will be interesting, and we will have some fun.
This site was last updated 06/28/05
