#south side

Popular Southside Coffee House To Close

What to even say about the Beehive Coffeehouse? It’s synonymous with my youth. Venturing down to the city on my own those first times, meeting musicians, artists, writers, it was an incredibly special place. I fell in love there, mended a heart broken there, met interesting people, read & studied for hours, went on dates, met up with friends. So much of it’s a blur, but there are times I’ll always remember.

I cant say I’m surprised it’s closing. It went downhill for like 8 years, since they got a liquor license & kicked the kids out. That’s when it lost its soul. The demographics of the neighborhood changed, with rents too high for the art scene. It also became pretty sketch down there on the weekends, culminating in a murder at the neighboring sister-bar, the Rowdy Buck, in 2017. The Beehive was only the second coffee house in Pittsburgh when they opened, now there are 150 coffee spots. Also youth culture changed. Kids are friends with everyone they ever met on Facebook. Know everything that’s going on through ig & snapchat. There isn’t a need for an ‘alternative culture meetup spot’ anymore. The ‘hive also didn’t adapt to the Third Wave of coffee well. I could get a better coffee or latte at an increasing number of places, so went there less & less. They even ditched their original mocha recipe a few years back.

My final Beehive phase was when I went back to school. I was a regular, mainly cause it was so quiet that it was a good place to study. You’d get some sketch people going through, some old-school regulars that never moved on & some Point Park & Duquesne kids. With late hours, there was always a table & wifi available to study though. The next generation of artsy kids just never discovered it & stayed, but mostly you didn’t need to travel across the city or out from the suburbs to get coffee anymore & kids just meet & stay connected through other means now.

Chicago skyline, seen from the south at Roosevelt Road

circa 1990

The Chicago race riot of 1919 was a major racial conflict that began in Chicago, Illinois on July 27, 1919 and ended on August 3. During the riot, thirty-eight people died and over five hundred were injured. It is considered the worst of the approximately 25 riots during the Red Summer, so named because of the violence and fatalities across the nation. The combination of prolonged arson, looting, and murder was the worst race rioting in the history of Illinois.

Thousands of African Americans from the South had settled along Chicago’s South Side during the Great Migration. Because the Irish had settled here first, they fiercely protected their neighborhood, political power and jobs which resulted in racial tensions throughout the neighborhood.

On July 27, 1919 the tensions exploded and violence lasted 5 days. At a segregated beach, a white man was throwing rocks that resulted in Eugene William’s death. A white police officer refused to arrest the white man responsible instead arresting a black man. Objections were met by violence.

African-American men gather in front of Walgreen Drugs at 35th and State Streets during the 1919 race riots in Chicago. Police officers stand in front of the crowd.

The state militia was called in to quell the violence on the south side of Chicago during the 1919 race riots.

Police remove the body of a black man killed during the 1919 race riots. The five days of violence were sparked when a black teenager crossed an invisible boundary between the waters of the 29th Street beach, known to be reserved for whites, and the 25th Street beach, known to be reserved for blacks.

Troops gather at 47th Street and Wentworth Avenue during the Chicago race riots in 1919. 

Black residents of the south side move their belongings with a hand-pulled truck to a safety zone under police protection during the Chicago race riots of 1919.

Many houses in the predominantly white stockyards district were set ablaze during the 1919 race riots. The five days of violence were sparked when a black teenager crossed an invisible boundary between the waters of the 29th Street beach, known to be reserved for whites, and the 25th Street beach, known to be reserved for blacks.

(Photos via the Chicago Tribune. Learn more at Wikipedia)

playing around in the park with my bro and took these shots ☘️