I took this shot at Sheridan and Irving Park near the El stop in February of 1976. Two young Hispanic boys were window shopping at this record and gift store. At the time, music was still distributed on vinyl records. Compact disks had just been invented, but didn’t become a commercially viable medium for the distribution of music until 1982 when Sony and Phillips unified their competing formats.
During this era, Chicago’s near north area was being redeveloped and many Hispanics, especially of Puerto Rican descent, were being pushed north toward Uptown by economic forces. This image was taken not far from the Young Lords headquarters in Uptown which was at Grace and Wilton.
