Wells Street University

     If you happen to find yourself up in the Old Town neighborhood this summer, this is a little bit about what used to be there...

     In the 1960s, the focus on Hippie Culture in America stereotypically was the infamous Height-Ashbury district of San Francisco(with Scott MacKenzie as its unofficial ambassador).  But the Midwest was not bereft of counter-culture enclaves.  In fact, one of the more infamous hippie(not Richie) havens was on the Near North Side right by Second City.  Welcome to Wells Street University.

     Chicago's Old Town neighborhood had its roots in the 1830s, as one of the pioneering areas of the city.  St. Michael's Church(as well as the Water Tower and Pumping Station) was one of only 7 buildings in the city to survive the Great Chicago Fire.  By the 1960s, the neighborhood had been emptied of its old affluent residents as a consequence of white flight, leaving many homes and business vacant and cheap to rent.  And rent them they did.  The hippies, that is.  As a consequence, boutique stores, head shops, and other establishments(including a strip club called The Crystal Pistol) started springing up in the area like wildfire.  As far as the wide range of shops goes, one of the contributors to PBS' Remembering Chicago: The Boomer Years had this to say: "There were little old shops...it was charming and wonderful.  We were used to Marshall Fields."  These shops would be places where all kinds of folks would come to hang out, so say other contributors: "It was a place of learning about people." "I used to jokingly call it Wells Street University."  "It was what we would call avant garde."  "[Sometimes] you took a girl on a date just to walk up and down Wells Street."  Being Ground Zero of Chicago's counter-culture, this may also have been the place where Abbie Hoffman and his compatriots planned out their soon-to-be infamous protest of the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

     Nowadays, the individualistic youth of Chicago make their homes and their marks(for the most part) on other neighborhoods such as Lakeview, Wicker Park, and Bucktown.  But Old Town's legacy still endures.  The Second City opened up here in 1959, and has been supplying America with comedy legends for 55 years.  Old Town also had its fair share of folk musicians, featuring early performances by people such Jose Feliciano, Bob Gibson, and Steve Goodman.  Additionally, the Old Town School of Folk Music opened in 1957 and is still in operation today.  In a sign of its enduring legacy, the group actually just performed at the Printer's Row Lit Fest this past weekend.