Halsted Street, USA

Along the length of Chicago’s Halsted Street one can view a dozen nationalities and a thousand lifestyles. This riveting, kaleidoscopic "road movie" traces this unique thoroughfare nearly 400 miles, from its origin in the cornfields of southern Illinois up to Chicago’s far south side, then through several neighborhoods to its terminus in the heart of Lakeview. Narrated by Studs Terkel, Halsted Street, U.S.A. is a thought-provoking crash-course in American cultural geography.

0:04Copy video clip URL The footage begins. 

0:13Copy video clip URL “Black and White” film footage of Chicago is shown. 

0:19Copy video clip URL A narrator discusses the “Black and White” footage of Chicago that’s being shown – which is the city during the Great Depression. 

0:44Copy video clip URL A starving person and/or a corpse laying by a fire hydrant with one leg in the street can be seen. 

1:06Copy video clip URL The old stockyards of Chicago are shown. 

1:20Copy video clip URL A Jewish deli with a text in the window in both English and Hebrew is shown. 

1:21Copy video clip URL A Greek business is shown. 

1:32Copy video clip URL A Chinese business from a few decades later is shown. 

2:24Copy video clip URL A ferry on the Ohio River is shown. 

3:06Copy video clip URL A title card that says, “Beginnings: Illinois Route 1 – 378 miles to Chicago”, is displayed. 

3:14Copy video clip URL Two children on bikes lend some narration. 

4:23Copy video clip URL A sign marking the Illinois State Border is shown. 

4:53Copy video clip URL Veterans belonging to an American Legion Post can be seen taking part in a parade. 

5:58Copy video clip URL The farmlands of Illinois are shown. 

7:32Copy video clip URL The ironically-named, and very rural town of “Paris”, Illinois is shown – complete with an Eiffel Tower on one of the signs at the boundary. 

8:43Copy video clip URL Old businesses on the southern city limits of Chicago are shown. 

9:06Copy video clip URL A resident of the South Side talks about “White Flight” in his neighborhood. 

10:04Copy video clip URL Open air gambling on the South Side is shown. 

10:18Copy video clip URL The open air gambling can be seen taking place in front of what was once a thriving independent market, now abandoned. 

10:39Copy video clip URL A street preacher can be seen yelling loudly at people on a corner on the South Side. 

12:12Copy video clip URL A wall mural depicting a map of the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago is shown. 

12:57Copy video clip URL Rundown buildings of what was once the thriving downtown in Englewood, are shown. 

14:09Copy video clip URL A news story about a victim of a violent crime named Lenard Clark, is shown. 

15:32Copy video clip URL Rundown houses and overgrown, vacant lots where houses used to be, are shown. 

15:51Copy video clip URL A title card mentions that the Chicago stockyards were closed in 1971. 

16:37Copy video clip URL An ornate, almost medieval sign for the “Chiapetti Packing Company” is shown. 

17:29Copy video clip URL A Black owner of a diner talks about the intertwined cultural-historical problems of racism and individualism in the US and in Chicago. 

18:19Copy video clip URL The once beautiful, but now dilapidated neon sign for the “Bridgeport Restaurant” is shown. 

21:35Copy video clip URL People can be seen doing Tai Chi in a park. 

24:25Copy video clip URL Footage of the Pilsen (named after a former city in what was once the German-speaking Sudetenland), is shown.

25:55Copy video clip URL A Pilsen resident mentions about how the community used to be Czech, Polish, and German. 

28:01Copy video clip URL A mural in Pilsen featuring actual communist propaganda imagery, is shown. 

29:19Copy video clip URL A Pilsen resident talks about the high rates of gang violence in the area. 

30:41Copy video clip URL A poetry reading in Pilsen is shown. 

32:54Copy video clip URL Street hustling on Maxwell Street is shown. 

34:25Copy video clip URL The famous Athenian Candle Company in Greek Town is shown. 

36:50Copy video clip URL A patron at a diner talks about working in the cemetery and funeral supply business. 

38:12Copy video clip URL Some of the cement housing projects of Cabrini Green are shown. 

40:10Copy video clip URL The desolation of Cabrini Green is shown. 

43:10Copy video clip URL A Cabrini Green resident talks about how certain sections of the development were torn down. 

43:36Copy video clip URL A rug salesman can be seen displaying his merchandise. 

45:46Copy video clip URL The Lincoln Park neighborhood is shown. 

46:31Copy video clip URL A beautiful cigar store is shown. 

48:42Copy video clip URL A classic Chicago Blues Club is shown.

49:47Copy video clip URL The East Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago is shown. 

50:10Copy video clip URL A Chicago Police Department precinct briefing is shown. 

51:20Copy video clip URL A “Pride Parade” is shown.

54:35Copy video clip URL A montage with narration going over the different parts of Chicago that Halsted Street goes through, is shown.