My South side Experience

In an unexpected turn of events, I found myself not in Michigan this weekend as planned, but instead on the South side of Chicago. My friend recently moved to the neighborhood of Bridgeport and I thought I'd take advantage of a free day to explore the neighborhood streets with her. There are a lot of quirks to this traditionally blue-collar area. It is highly saturated with Italians, Chinese, Lithuanians, and cops. Lots of cops. One quirk I found particularly fascinating was the abundance of knick knacks and dolls decorating storefront windows . Yes, dolls.

If you place dolls in your windows, I'd like to learn why. My friend explains: "I think they're kind of like the lawn ornaments of Bridgeport restaurants." They are everywhere.
In another unexpected turn, I found out my suburbanite sister was going to be not just in the city that day, but in Bridgeport as well. She did indeed grow up on the North side but then married a Sox fan. She is forgiven.
My friend and I walked over to her tailgaiting party outside U.S. Cellular Field-home of the White Sox. It was the annual Elvis Day at the ballpark and we watched a few Elvis impersonators parachute into the field. This is particularly strange since I was with my brother on the previous Sunday at Wrigley Field watching planes from the Air and Water Show fly over the field. The South side and the North side. So alike and so different. On the South side, they have way more dolls and way more Elvises. And then there were fireworks and well, things just get craaaazy!
And that my friends, is just what happens when you visit the South side.