In 1978, when Jesus People USA first moved into Chicago’s Uptown after a few years in the Ravenswood community, I was one of the “single brothers” picked to move into our new 4707 N. Malden digs. Only a few months after the move, three of us were playing cards on a hot summer night. Suddenly, we heard the unmistakable […]

One of my dearest friends sat in the chair across from me. He’d just verbalized ideas I thought of as the perfect article for this blog. I said so… and his response took me off guard. I’ll paraphrase some of how I remember that conversation. “We’re getting older,” he began, with a half-smile at the obvious comment. “I don’t think […]

Yet again! Wilson and Sheridan Avenues draw some less than wholly complementary (if not wholly critical either) attention from a lion of literature… or more properly in Henry Justin Smith’s case, journalism. Mr. Smith, along with having written some dozen books (the majority of them addressing the art of journalism), was also managing editor of the no longer extant (1875-1978) […]

  (Edna Ferber, left, in 1922.) This article continues our “Wild History” series about 931-939 Wilson, now the Wilson Abbey, as well as the neighborhood directly around it.   East of Wilson and Sheridan Avenues’ intersection in 1922, the eighteen story Sheridan Plaza Hotel had existed on the north corner for one year; a few doors east on Wilson toward […]

Could Ben Hecht — famous newspaperman, novelist, Hollywood Screenwriter, and for a time a Chicagoan — have visited a tavern at 931-39 Wilson and been inspired to write a story as a result of that visit? (See “Wild History” Parts 1 and 2, and JPUSA’s “official” Wilson Abbey page.) It would hardly be fair to claim outright that the “cabaret […]

The newly-named “Wilson Abbey” at 935 W. Wilson will soon open its doors to our Uptown neighborhood with everything from a fascinating coffee shop to a massive multi-purpose meeting room, concert venue, medium-sized theater, recording studio, rentable office space, and much much more. To say we’re excited about this fresh expression of creative energy in the heart of Uptown would […]

From its inception in 1917 as an auto dealership (Wild History pt 1) to its lengthy misuse as a strip club and gambling joint (Wild History pt 2), Uptown Chicago’s 935 W. Wilson Avenue has been resurrected. Jesus People USA purchased the building in the early 1980s, but as a community of Christians not only serving the poor but living […]

[Before reading part 2, did you read Wild History: Jesus People USA’s Wilson Abbey from Auto Dealership to Strip Club to New Uptown Gem Part 1? Jesus People USA, the intentional Christian community located in Uptown Chicago, has finished a gut rehab of an historic building located just across the street from their 920 W. Wilson headquarters. This is part […]

In the Aftermath of Uptown Shootings of 5, Area Churches Including JPUSA Gather for Prayer Vigil Jon Trott Tom Wray, our ever-patient and reliable Jesus People USA photographer (and member, along with his wife Teresa) offers these images of our neighborhood’s prayer vigil (click to enlarge if they don’t do so automatically): As I reported in Wilson-Sheridan Shootings Half a […]

“Our need for love is infinite, and what community can afford us is finite. We make an idol of community if we cling to human beings and hope in them to meet every need. Even in community, in fact sometimes especially in community, we must learn not to turn from our sufferings, but to name them the best we can […]