It’s typical to see moving trucks winding through streets and alleys of Chicago on the first day of any month. The act of moving hardly sounds like a luxury, but as we heard in the last episode, it could be worse. About a century ago, Chicagoans only moved on May 1 and sometimes Oct. 1. That meant thousands of moving wagons clogging the streets, price gouging and exploitation.
Today, people move any time of the year and there are more protections for tenants. But that doesn’t mean we can’t use some advice to make moving and renting in Chicago easier. Host Erin Allen talks with local U-Haul representative Constance Turner about best practices when it comes to packing up and moving in. Then, she sits down with Sam Barth, staff attorney with Law Center for Better Housing, to talk about what renters can do to protect themselves.
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18:23
‘Pure chaos’: Why did Chicagoans once move on the same day?
You think moving is hard work? For about 100 years, Chicagoans used to move at the same time. Moving Day: May 1.
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6:50
The complicated statue of labor leader Samuel Gompers
Samuel Gompers fought for the eight-hour work day and helped create child labor laws. But for all he achieved, he was also fiercely anti-immigrant. We explore Gompers’ life, legacy and the statue built to this complicated man.
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4:08
Maria Rodriguez: From fashion designer to restaurateur
In our last episode, Curious City question-asker Emily Porter sent us on a quest exploring the world of local fashion designers, all after she found a thrift shop sweater with a tag that reads: “Maria Rodriguez Chicago.”
Who is Maria Rodriguez? How did she get into the industry? And what is it like to be a fashion designer in Chicago?
To answer those questions, we take a trip to the basement of the Chicago History Museum, where collection manager Jessica Pushor has archived several Maria Rodriguez ensembles and a case file of news clippings, photos and look books. We also stopped by El Nuevo Mexicano, a Mexican restaurant in Lakeview that Rodriguez now owns and operates, to get the story from the fashion designer herself.
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13:22
Like NYC and Paris, Chicago was a hub for fashion designers
A question about a sweater in a thrift store turns into a search for a prominent Chicago designer of the 1980s. Along the way, we discover the city’s golden age of fashion designers.
México