Most of the 500 block of Hawthorne Place (530 to 593) is a Chicago landmark district.
It’s an oasis of large, century-old homes on large lots, running east from Broadway to Lake Shore Drive, and offering some great vistas of suburban openness cheek by jowl with urban density.
I used to sit on one of the porches on this block, sipping a drink whose name corresponded, according to my host, to the only two words of English his maid knew: vodka martini. He understated her vocabulary by at least one word: pitcher.
Hawthorne Place was an uncannily pleasant venue. Today, it’s not as calm as it used to be — every third driver seems bent on breaking the land speed record, and every other one breaks the sound barrier.
See YoChicago’s photos of Hawthorne Place at Flickr.