Andy McGhee was covered in dust, and he was smiling. The dust mask was hanging below his chin, his khaki colored t-shirt a lighter shade of pale because of the dust covering it and his arms. That was today at 12:30 p.m., July 30, 2007.
Remember this day, this week. It may not seem so now, but years from now people will speak of what is happening at 1330 Morse Avenue as one of the turning points in the revitalization of East Rogers Park.
The "last hurdle," as he put it, was passed and the construction will start this week. Andy, who with his partner and son Devin will build The Morse Theatre and Century Public House restaurant, was doing some last minute inspection of the cavernous space in what was formerly Cobbler's Mall at 1330 Morse Avenue.
There is much anticipation for this big project in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood. Morse Avenue has been depressed for a couple of decades now, with little or no help at times from the alderman's office - or any other source.
Residents of Rogers Park who remember still wax nostalgic about the days when Morse Avenue was lined with restaurants, delis, clothing stores. Over the past two decades, businesses left en masse and gangs took over the street. Some progress has been made in pushing back the gangs, but it was not until a couple of years ago, when the City of Chicago put a blue light camera at the corner of Morse and Glenwood (near the CTA's Morse Red Line station), that criminal activity lessened on the street. And it is still far from gone.
Then Andy and Devin McGhee, longtime residents of Rogers Park, decided to do an unlikely project in an unlikely neighborhood on an unlikely street. A major music venue with a restaurant, a completely private-sector endeavor.
Critics scoffed. The short-sighted always do. But the project has gotten the blessings of City Hall, the 49th Ward alderman stayed out of the way (but will undoubtedly take credit for bringing it to Rogers Park), and in about one year a number of local residents will be employed by the McGhees.
Local businesses on Morse Avenue will benefit, too, as people from outside of Rogers Park come in to enjoy a show at The Morse Theatre. Many of them will opt to grab a gyro across the street at Morse Gyros, or a slice of pizza at JB Alberto's next door, before or after a show.
People from outside of Rogers Park will come into a neighborhood that has a bad reputation citywide, and perhaps some of them will say, "Hey, this isn't so bad," and see the beautiful lakefront and maybe decide to check out another food and music venue in the neighborhood - and bring themselves and their spending cash back another time. They will, some of them, hear about Duke's on Glenwood, and down a few beers after a show there.
In other words, The Morse Theatre and the Century Public House will do a lot for Rogers Park. It will probably do more within its first year of being open for the revitalization of this bruised but beautiful neighborhood than the current alderman, DevCorp North, any SSA or public works project has been able to do in the past 16 years.
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