I took this photo in 1974 in an alley around the corner from a Wilson Avenue bar. The man didn’t mind being called a drunk but hated the term wino. Regardless, he had a bottle of wine in the paper bag by his feet and would sip from it periodically as we talked. He had spent six years in the service and told me, “It’s easier to live behind the gun than not.” This was a reference to the regimentation of military life which he missed. He was proud of the fact that he had never been on welfare, or so he told me. He also told me that it was hard to find day labor jobs in the summer because the kids took them all. He hoped to go back to work when school resumed in the fall. When he didn’t have enough money for a bottle for himself, he would “pool up” with some of his friends whom you can see in the left side of the image. Sitting and sipping in the alley between Mayor Daley’s Salute of Stars and a pawn shop sign symbolized the plight of Uptown’s less fortunate. They were caught up in poverty but constantly reminded of a richer world just around the corner.
