This young man tried to impress his female friend by blowing smoke rings. He told me he was a member of the Gaylords gang who went by the name of Drifter. Back in the mid-1970s, the Gaylords seemed to be farther south in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood than the Latin Kings. I took this shot on Sunnyside before the pedestrian mall was complete.
On a parenthetical note: gang members seemed to think smoking made them look more sophisticated; it was part of the tough guy, “Bogart” look so popular at the time. The U.S. banned cigarette advertising on television in 1971, but it allowed it to continue in newspapers, magazines, and billboards for some time after that. It wasn’t until 2007 that the Motion Picture Association started to give films that depicted smoking as glamorous higher ratings.
Ironically, instead of impressing the young woman, the smoke rings seemed to make her eyes water. Does anyone else see a slightly pained expression on her face behind a forced smile?
