I found these two young men on on Broadway, I believe. When I asked if I could take their picture, they threw arms around each others’ shoulders. They told me they were “best friends.” They almost look like brothers.
Note the shoes on these two. I took this shot in 1973. Nike running shoes had not yet been invented. Kids this age generally had two choices for footwear: Tennis shoes like the boy on the right is wearing, or more formal shoes with stiff leather uppers. Of course many kids went barefoot. Shoes were expensive on Uptown salaries. Many parents could barely afford to keep their kids in shoes, especially at this age when they were growing so quickly. Multiple pairs of shoes were out of the question.
I posted this picture previously, but am re-posting it because of a reader comment. Someone wrote in to say that the boy on the right moved with his family to Uptown from Kentucky. He had three siblings. Sadly, one of his older brothers became one of John Wayne Gacy’s victims. Gacy reportedly found many of his victims in Uptown.
