This place used to advertise rooms for 75 cents per night. It attracted people who were “down on their luck” or who were new to the city and looking for work. It was rare to see a person this young in front of the establishment back when I took this shot in Chicago’s Uptown Neighborhood. That was in the mid-1970s. He told me he was living there while he went to vocational school; it was the only place he could afford.
A visitor to this blog emailed me this morning and said the Wilson Club Men’s Hotel was still in existence. It was old when I took this shot in the mid-1970s. Forty years later, it seems to still be going strong though a Chicago Uptown blogger posted earlier this year about aldermen who were claiming the structure was now “not fit for human beings.” The Chicago Sun-Times also published an article about conditions in the hotel. After pressure from the City of Chicago, the owner of the hotel is now looking at renovations and alternative uses for the property. In the meantime, it’s interesting to read the ratings for the hotel.
