Chicago in Photos: Battle of Badges, CTA Refresh and More

Chicago got a good look at itself this spring, and what came back wasn’t all grim news.

From a boxing ring in Bridgeport to a new ice cream production floor in Irving Park, Block Club Chicago spent the week of April 17 documenting a city doing what it does: grinding, opening, celebrating, and still grappling with the hard stuff all at once.

The week’s most visually striking moment came April 17 at De La Salle Institute, the Catholic high school on 35th Street in Bridgeport where Chicago firefighters and police officers squared off at the Battle of the Badges, an annual charity boxing event that draws fans from both sides of the thin blue and red line. Chicago Fire Department boxer Dave Grant Jr. was crowned champion. The crowd packed the gym, and by all accounts, no grudges survived the final bell.

“We’re still brothers,” one participant said, capturing a spirit that doesn’t always make the headlines when CFD and CPD show up in the same sentence.

Across the Northwest Side on April 20, the week’s heavier images came from Mayfair, where city crews cleared two shelters from an encampment near Eugene Park and Gompers Park. A resident of the Gompers Park encampment stood at their tent as workers moved in. Another person at the Eugene Park site leveled the ground after the sweep. The city said it had no plans for a full sweep, but for the people photographed, the distinction between a partial clearing and a full one doesn’t amount to much shelter.

Grim and hopeful occupied the same week, as they tend to in Chicago.

On the housing front, something more promising: BEDS Plus and Marquette Bank officials broke ground on a project to convert the Aloha Motel at 8515 S. Cicero Ave. on the Southwest Side into a 55-room homeless shelter with private rooms. The Aloha, long a fixture along that Cicero Avenue stretch, will become one of the more substantial shelter conversions the city has seen, offering residents individual space rather than dormitory-style overflow beds.

The CTA made news April 21 when Acting President Nora Leerhsen rode the No. 15 Jeffery Local bus to the 51st Street Green Line stop to announce the relaunch of the agency’s Refresh and Renew program. The initiative targets 28 “L” stations for upgrades. Leerhsen arrived by bus, a choice that carries its own symbolism for an agency that has spent the past few years fielding complaints about reliability. Whether the station work translates into a rider experience that keeps people off Ubers is a question the CTA hasn’t fully answered, but 28 stations is a real number.

Two food stories rounded out the week on a warmer note.

In Bronzeville, Migos Fine Foods opened at 4822 S. Cottage Grove Ave. The spot’s lamb cheesesteak torta was among the halal highlights on the menu, a combination that sounds unlikely until you see it plated. The address puts it squarely in a stretch of Cottage Grove that has seen new food businesses arrive alongside longtime community anchors.

Up in Irving Park, Pretty Cool Ice Cream showed off its new production facility at 3929 N. Central Park Ave. Founders Dana Cree and Michael Ciapciak posed for photos amid display cases of seasonal flavors as the company prepares to triple its production capacity and expand nationally. Pretty Cool built its following through farmer’s markets and a Logan Square scoop shop, so the jump to a full production facility in Irving Park marks a real shift in scale.

Finally, East Garfield Park got a new community anchor of its own. Unison, a cafe connected to after-school music program BandWith Chicago, held a soft opening in early April at 134 S. California Ave., with a grand opening set for May 16. The coffee shop sits inside the program’s new performing arts center and headquarters, giving the neighborhood a space that serves both espresso and eighth notes.

Spring in Chicago doesn’t arrive cleanly. It comes with a boxing champion in Bridgeport, encampment sweeps in Mayfair, a lamb torta in Bronzeville, and a new cafe in East Garfield Park all sharing the same seven days. That’s not a contradiction. That’s the week.