This image shows several of the businesses that used to exist on the block between Kenmore and Sheridan on the north side of Wilson in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood, during the mid-1970s. The store in the foreground was a currency exchange. Currency exchanges used to be a common in Uptown during that era. They allowed people who might not have bank accounts to get checks cashed that were written to them by others and to pay their bills via money orders. At the end of a shift or the end of the month, day laborers would crowd currency exchanges to convert their pay into cash and pay their bills. This line, however, was actually going into the Salvation Army kitchen which was right next door. In the background, you can also see the sign for one of Uptown’s many pawn shops.