A Beverly Reporter's Go As A Tour Guide: South Side Pride

CHICAGO - Chicago for Chicagoans founder Patti Swanson noted a Venn Diagram-like comparison between journalists and tour guides during one of our Beverly walking tours last weekend. While there are many differences in the roles, the art of "storytelling" is something that fits in the middle of the diagram.

When one of our tour-goers pointed out that you can order a bounce house in Chicago from your alderman or alderwoman, I immediately thought "I need to write a story about that," while Patti's natural first thought was to find a way to incorporate that information on one of her city neighborhood tours.

Informing is another similarity between the two crafts. And as pumped as I was to let visitors from other parts of the city know how great Beverly is from a native perspective, I was equally excited about learning things about the neighborhood from an historical perspective.

From a North Sider, no less!

Patti is in her third year with Chicago for Chicagoans, organizing walking tours of different city neighborhoods every month. They are geared more toward city residents who are curious about what is around them rather than tourists. She's a resident of Albany Park and last year expanded to include some neighborhoods on the South Side, including Beverly.

Her extensive research showed during the tours, which I found fascinating.

Never before had I known that St. Barnabas Church was originally slated to be where Hurley Park is now, the lengths real estate agents went to try and prevent integration in the neighborhood and how BAPA did their part in stopping that or that an entire block is named for architect Walter Burley Griffin.

Find more photos from the neighborhood tour via Chicago for Chicagoans on Facebook below.

The experience taught me that you can always learn something about the people and places around you, and that a broad array of knowledge can help put context into issues currently affecting the neighborhood.

For me, pride from the weekend gig as the Beverly "guest collaborator" was talking about the people and stories I've reported on over the past year as the local Patch editor. Tour-goers loved hearing about the history of the South Side Irish Parade, why "92 years on 92nd Street" is a big deal, how real softball is played without a mitt and that when someone asks you what part of the neighborhood you are from the response is more often the name of a Catholic church rather than a street or intersection.

But the best evidence of how great Beverly is was the question I received from many visitors on the tour to the effect of "how much do these homes cost?"

The tour-goers seemed to love the neighborhood so much that they at least had the thought of what it would be like to live here. And that sure is pride in itself.

Photos courtesy of Patti Swanson, Chicago for Chicagoans