You wrote:
The TV show was called "GOOD Times". Among the various stars was a
> young Janet Jackson.
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yeah, my error, sorry. It was set in
> one of the Chicago Housing Authority buildings on the south side of
> town. PAT] I believe they were in the Cabrini Green Homes, which is
> on the near north side. At least the lead-in film was of Cabrini
> and the near north side.
I believe they were in the Cabrini Green Homes, which is on the near north side. At least the lead-in film was of Cabrini and the near north side.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My second mistake in recent years; the (Catholic nun) Mother Frances Cabrini 'Homes' at Division Street and Halstead Street (where the CTA bus drivers always warn their passengers 'duck down in your seats until we get to Clark Street') -- in order, I guess, to avoid being hit by a random bullet -- is right next to the group of buildings named for Edgar Green, a long-ago commissioner of CHA. It is one of the near north side branches of the 'homes' offered by CHA to black people. 'Cabrini', as 'Cabrini-Green' is known in street parlance, is or was one of the worst. The couple thousand people who live in the 'Cabrini-Green' highrises are not as fortunate as the family in 'Happy Times'. I think when Lear made that pilot, CHA required a lot of consideration (read that as 'loot') to let him make the series and they (CHA) insisted on decorating and fixing up one apartment where the actors would live which was nicer than the usual accomodations there. Also, CHA insisted on giving imprimatuer to Lear's work before they would okay the series being made. CHA once was asked why they did not have _their_ administrative offices in one of their own highrises rather than on State and Madison Streets downtown where it is located. They had no answer for that, or maybe were too embarassed or ashamed to say why. Once of our mayors (during the interim when Daley was out of office) Jane Byrne tried to score some political points by supposedly moving out of her near- north elegant highrise and living for a month in Cabrini, just to show that she was 'one of the regular people'. PAT]