Taqueria Hernandez

This is a 1940s terracotta addition to an old bank at the southeast corner of Lunt and Clark. You can see all of the classical columns and granite base on the Lunt side of the building, but from Clark this is all you see. I imagine the stairs that led up to bank were ripped out to make way for this. I think there are apartments on the second floor, and I've always wondered if there are any interior remnants. Probably not.

When the article about Ultra Local Geography was published by the Chicago Tribune last June this building was visible in the photograph that accompanied the story. A woman called me up because she recognized the corner from her childhood. It was where her policeman father was shot and killed by a bank robber in 1945. It's easy to forget that every walk down the street connects you with the lives and deaths of thousands of people. And not just the ones in the past, but in the future, too.

This will be my last post from Highland Park. Next week it's on to Chicago!