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held
So the other week it appeared that the apartment building that is adjacent to our back yard got some new tenants. Before it was this eldery lady who had this ancient dog that she'd walk around the block for what seemed to be hours sometimes. She was a little rough around the edges but she kept her eye on things. Now it seems that she's gone and a family of some unknown number has moved in.

Needless to say, it looks like there's more stuff getting thrown out than what's actually coming in.
In addition, it's always hard to tell if people are breaking up on the very day they move in or if something else is happening. They've thrown out paintings, tables, a dresser, boxes of stuff, etc.
I watched this young women walk to the window and throw out an armfull of books out into the alley.

There's always the element of surprise when you see that your new neighbors have the classic style of indiscriminately throwing their trash about. Bring the groceries home in the grocery cart and then borrow your garbage can when they run out of space.

Anyone else have some odd neighborly behavior to speak of?
without_opinion
they threw books out a window?! heathens! break their windows with baseballs.
Angrimorfee
Last night, my landlord caught a crack whore trying to hide her pipe near our backgate in the alley. ohmy.gif

The streets of Rogers Park is home to The Crazy Korean Lady; she's about 4'5'', wearing a winter coat and just paces around the Jarvis el stop, mumbling to herself with a big, big grin on her face.
le chaton
this week's this american life (sundays on NPR) was about just this:

neighbors.
without_opinion
have you named the korean lady? my roommates and i have started naming the "street people", ala Chad & Trixie.

homeless men are Otis, homeless women are Beverly, and the dealers are named Kevin.
Skippy
QUOTE(gimmick @ Apr 11 2006, 11:25 AM) [snapback]62077[/snapback]

So the other week it appeared that the apartment building that is adjacent to our back yard got some new tenants. Before it was this eldery lady who had this ancient dog that she'd walk around the block for what seemed to be hours sometimes. She was a little rough around the edges but she kept her eye on things. Now it seems that she's gone and a family of some unknown number has moved in.

Needless to say, it looks like there's more stuff getting thrown out than what's actually coming in.
In addition, it's always hard to tell if people are breaking up on the very day they move in or if something else is happening. They've thrown out paintings, tables, a dresser, boxes of stuff, etc.
I watched this young women walk to the window and throw out an armfull of books out into the alley.

There's always the element of surprise when you see that your new neighbors have the classic style of indiscriminately throwing their trash about. Bring the groceries home in the grocery cart and then borrow your garbage can when they run out of space.

Anyone else have some odd neighborly behavior to speak of?

sounds to me like the old lady died and her family is throwing away all her stuff.
NumberTenOx
I used to live in an apartment over by Kenmore & Diversey. There were a lot of young'uns moving in and out of the apartment building across the alley, and there was always a fine selection of Early Alley Furniture available. One of my neighbors would do a collection every weekend, and pick up all the stuff that was decent. He'd store it in his basement and repaint or repair anything that was damaged. About the first week in June, he'd have a little garage sale, and make a fair bit of cash on furniture and appliances he'd collected. Sometimes he'd resell the same item a couple of times over the course of years. Never bought anything, but I did applaud his industry.
Seamus
I guess my suburban landscape doesn't offer much in the way of obviously odd sites. Though, my visiting Australian friends got a kick out off seeing one of the neighbor girls out playing in the snow (about 2.5 weeks ago, Twin Cities metro: 40 degrees, still quite a bit of snow lying around) in her one-piece bathing suit. Apparently, later that night, the same guests saw someone dash through the yard in what appeared to be boxer shorts...I was pretty loaded by that point, so that might have actually been me huh.gif
Uncle Remus
Not too odd:

a perfectly good leather chair at the side of a curb for the picking that I've taken as my own.

The newspaper in blue plastic on the garage roof of my neighbor across the alley has been there since at least late last summer.

The fat, old, orange male cat that comes to our yard most nights in search of our young, nubile, constantly in heat female cat.

The cat from next door who seems certain he'd rather live with us than his current owners (who leave him out all day and weekends, oftentimes while away and during rain storms).
norton
QUOTE(Skippy @ Apr 11 2006, 11:57 AM) [snapback]62120[/snapback]

sounds to me like the old lady died and her family is throwing away all her stuff.

Either that or she won the lottery and moved off to Bermuda without giving them a dime.


Back when we lived in Des Plaines, we watched an apartment across the street burn up big time (and learned later that the old man living there didn't get out. sad.gif )

Later that year, the people in that building got to do the same as one of the apartments in our building was gutted in flames. (Luckily nobody died in this one.)

Made me wonder what might have happened if we had ever had a block party.
Jimmy TKB
QUOTE(Ballbag Hitter @ Apr 11 2006, 12:59 PM) [snapback]62202[/snapback]

Not too odd:

a perfectly good leather chair at the side of a curb for the picking that I've taken as my own.



Ever get the cigar smoke out?

Also, I do the garage sale thing too. My dad is a carpenter, and brings all kinds of furniture to my house, and then I sell it off around Memorial Day every year. Made $500 last year!



Oh, almost forgot, one of my neighbors hoisted up a huge bag o' the ol' funny tobacco like it was a gold medal he just won. That was pretty funny...
sin city
my neighbor across the street still has his nativity scene on his front lawn. Last week the wind blew it over- did he go out and take it down? No. He set it back up straight and re-arranged the figurines. dry.gif


I hope his house burns down.



Hips
we live right a few doors down from the metra tracks on ravenswood. never fails at least once a month or so, some idiot with a big truck will try and see if he can make it under the bridge(he usually can't). resulting huge crash sound that gets the street a talkin.

oh and there's my neighbors with the hud house that think they are doing the homeless guys in the area a solid by letting them store their shopping carts over night in their garbage filled backyard. FUCKERS!!!!

oh and we have the syrup kid on our street as well. this kid is a comedy gold mine. bangin his crotch into handrail of the stairs of his front porch, running around with a cape and a football helmet and climbing on peoples cars.
actually TerryKath's avatar reminds me of him a bit.
Jimmy TKB
Actually, sounds like something I would do.
held
QUOTE(Skippy @ Apr 11 2006, 11:57 AM) [snapback]62120[/snapback]

sounds to me like the old lady died and her family is throwing away all her stuff.


They were not related and it really doesn't seem to be what would have been her stuff.

This morning there was a fairly trashed white leather jacket lying in front of our garage and a few feet away a bra.

I often see folks who decide our alley is a safe place to piss or drink a beer.



QUOTE(skinnyhipsrivers @ Apr 11 2006, 01:41 PM) [snapback]62260[/snapback]

we live right a few doors down from the metra tracks on ravenswood. never fails at least once a month or so, some idiot with a big truck will try and see if he can make it under the bridge(he usually can't). resulting huge crash sound that gets the street a talkin.


The Howard St. overpass is hilarious. A season doesn't go by without someone thinking they'll fit or simply forgetting that they're driving a tall rig. Only to rip the roof off of their trailer if not crush the frame. They tried to pretty it up by putting a big sign in front of the bridge but the twisted rusty metal just sticks out anyways like a big blue ribbon on a pig. rolleyes.gif
Hips
QUOTE
This morning there was a fairly trashed white leather jacket lying in front of our garage and a few feet away a bra.


your lucky ballbag doesn't live in your neighborhood. he'd be walking around the neighborhood sportin a new coat right now.

oh and starting a thread about it. hehehe
Howard Rock
QUOTE(sin city @ Apr 11 2006, 02:30 PM) [snapback]62246[/snapback]

my neighbor across the street still has his nativity scene on his front lawn.


laugh.gif

Take a picture.
Angrimorfee
QUOTE(without_opinion @ Apr 11 2006, 11:41 AM) [snapback]62102[/snapback]

the dealers are named Kevin.


That sounds too South Side. Should be Tyrone or Latrell. biggrin.gif
velocity
My last place, a rental, overlooked a golf course where migrating Canada geese occasionally stopped for a snack on the 10th tee. Beyond that was a park, and most weekend mornings I'd wake up to really bad karaoke, courtesy of picnickers.

Before that, I lived in suburbia and over the years came to idolize a neighbor across the street: He completely landscaped his front & back yards, installed irrigation systems, put paneling on the stucco exterior, added an addition out back, built really nice, stepped fences down the slope of his front yard, re-roofed, painted several times, installed new windows & doors, etc. All while he had a full-time job @ IBM, not sure doing what.

Another neighbor pulled up after work one day without a shirt, wearing a shoulder holster and with a 2nd gun sticking out of the back of his pants. Turns out he was an FBI agent, working w/ the DEA.
without_opinion
QUOTE(agrimorfee @ Apr 11 2006, 02:48 PM) [snapback]62341[/snapback]

QUOTE(without_opinion @ Apr 11 2006, 11:41 AM) [snapback]62102[/snapback]

the dealers are named Kevin.


That sounds too South Side. Should be Tyrone or Latrell. biggrin.gif


kevin is based on a real person. my roommate was walking down clark one evening when a guy tried to sell him something. he asked his named specifically so we could use it to describe the dealers. kevin is also the name of several pothead friends of ours, so it stuck, and seemed somewhat appropriate.

otis comes from the guy i talked to outside of a bar one evening for 10 minutes. he said he needed $17 so he could have a place to stay that night, and i made him explain to me how $17 would get him a roof for the evening.

we saw an Otis walking down the street wearing a black jacket, with the name 'beverly' in gold cursive script over the heart, and that's where beverly comes from.

this reminds me of the game we play when visiting my aunt in denver, specifically at the intersection of Colorado & Colfax (ryan, you should try this), it's called "homeless or waiting for the bus?". self explanatory. i suppose you could play it anywhere.
NumberTenOx
QUOTE(without_opinion @ Apr 11 2006, 03:11 PM) [snapback]62362[/snapback]

this reminds me of the game we play when visiting my aunt in denver, specifically at the intersection of Colorado & Colfax (ryan, you should try this), it's called "homeless or waiting for the bus?". self explanatory. i suppose you could play it anywhere.


When I lived in Denver, I lived not too far from that intersection, and grew up pretty close to Denver so I went quite a bit as a kid-- that's been a homeless hangout for as long as I can remember.
Freddie Freelance
Not much out my windows at home, lots of joggers & dog walkers mostly.

There was one little old lady who'd walk her garbage out to the dumpster every hour or so. She fell down while looking at the laundry room and I helped her back to her apartment (she refused to stay on the ground) and called the paramedics. She was completely disoriented and didn't even know the name of a family member to call to help (and we know she always had kids & grandkids over every weekend).

The people who take care of the centigenarian next door are freaky: someone took the resin chairs the lady stole from the laundry room and she blamed us, saying: "Our Daughter works for the FBI and we can tell these things!" I told her, forcefully, that I didn't touch the chairs and didn't know who did, and now her husband refuses to look at us. Whenever we see him standing outside smoking he turns his back to us & refuses to acknowledge that we're there.

The last time I took my Gran'Daughter to the local park there was an Einstein-haired older Eastern European or Caucasian (as in the region) man either doing Tai-Chi really badly or pretending to lead an orchestra really badly. He kept hanging off of the monkey bars and getting in the little kids' way. He was acting freaky enough that I had my little knife open & just in my pocket in case he tried to grab a kid or something. He then had to take a series of cell phone calls, loudly, where he kept saying that someone had to get him more money for the rights to something.

One place I lived in in Hollywood was a magnet of weirdos: There was an opera singing homeless man who often slept in the bushes out front, and part of my rent was paid by the fact I was willing to chase the crackheads out of the back cottage every morning with a six foot long closet bar with a pair of ten penny nails sticking out of the end. Then a pair of them tried to cut the brake cable on my scooter and I started chasing them out at night & in the morning, too. The guy we rented from ended up having to retire 'cause he was beaten up twice by people who rented our place afterwards, once with a hammer and once with a plastic milk carrier, leaving him with memory problems & blackouts. The homeless people were so thick on the ground that the local Ralphs had 3 pickup trucks that did nothing but cruise Hollywood looking for their carts.
Dag Nasty
QUOTE(Freddie Freelance @ Apr 11 2006, 04:20 PM) [snapback]62466[/snapback]

...There was an opera singing homeless man who often slept in the bushes out front, and part of my rent was paid by the fact I was willing to chase the crackheads out of the back cottage every morning with a six foot long closet bar with a pair of ten penny nails sticking out of the end. Then a pair of them tried to cut the brake cable on my scooter and I started chasing them out at night & in the morning, too. The guy we rented from ended up having to retire 'cause he was beaten up twice by people who rented our place afterwards, once with a hammer and once with a plastic milk carrier, leaving him with memory problems & blackouts. The homeless people were so thick on the ground that the local Ralphs had 3 pickup trucks that did nothing but cruise Hollywood looking for their carts.


Nice...that bit right there reads like "Neon Wilderness" - and what's a "local Ralph"? A cop, I assume, but I don't get the slang...
tjenz
QUOTE(velocity @ Apr 11 2006, 02:51 PM) [snapback]62346[/snapback]


Another neighbor pulled up after work one day without a shirt, wearing a shoulder holster and with a 2nd gun sticking out of the back of his pants. Turns out he was an FBI agent, working w/ the DEA.

across the street from me live a couple of feds. He's Homeland Security & she's DEA. You can always see their guns when they go to get the mail.
NumberTenOx
QUOTE(The Priest @ Apr 11 2006, 04:31 PM) [snapback]62487[/snapback]

QUOTE(velocity @ Apr 11 2006, 02:51 PM) [snapback]62346[/snapback]


Another neighbor pulled up after work one day without a shirt, wearing a shoulder holster and with a 2nd gun sticking out of the back of his pants. Turns out he was an FBI agent, working w/ the DEA.

across the street from me live a couple of feds. He's Homeland Security & she's DEA. You can always see their guns when they go to get the mail.

But they never communicate. Damn government agencies.
zolacolby
QUOTE(Alan @ Apr 11 2006, 04:23 PM) [snapback]62478[/snapback]

Nice...that bit right there reads like "Neon Wilderness" - and what's a "local Ralph"? A cop, I assume, but I don't get the slang...

Ralph's is a grocery chain.
KaBoom21
My neighbor was running prostitutes and dealing crack and heroin from a studio condo. Pretty quiet building near Foster/Cumberland. Fairly high concentration of Eastern Europeans hotties with steely blue eyes in that area.

Why wasn't I aware of this at the time?
Freddie Freelance
QUOTE(zolacolby @ Apr 11 2006, 02:36 PM) [snapback]62501[/snapback]

QUOTE(Alan @ Apr 11 2006, 04:23 PM) [snapback]62478[/snapback]

Nice...that bit right there reads like "Neon Wilderness" - and what's a "local Ralph"? A cop, I assume, but I don't get the slang...

Ralph's is a grocery chain.

Ralphs is the Southern California version of Krogers, the chain was founded by George M. Ralphs.
Rad Monkey
I remember Potato Sack man as a kid, in the lakeview neighborhood. No one else remembers seeing him, so I wonder if I just made him up.
Let's not forget the pigeon person of lincoln square either.
kalmia
QUOTE(The Priest @ Apr 11 2006, 04:31 PM) [snapback]62487[/snapback]

QUOTE(velocity @ Apr 11 2006, 02:51 PM) [snapback]62346[/snapback]


Another neighbor pulled up after work one day without a shirt, wearing a shoulder holster and with a 2nd gun sticking out of the back of his pants. Turns out he was an FBI agent, working w/ the DEA.

across the street from me live a couple of feds. He's Homeland Security & she's DEA. You can always see their guns when they go to get the mail.



bastards
ginNY
funny you ask:
cause this morning i walked out onto third avenue to pick up some cat food for my hungry kitties and there was a "bum" who was drunk, with his red penis sticking out of his pants peeing....he wasn't even holding his penis...just let the thing out and peed. breakfast of champions...ugh!
held
When I got home last night there was a huge pile of shelving, shoes, more clothes, books, etc.
I swear somebody was a packrat I guess. Still surprised to see that yet another building around me may in fact also gettign renovated.

This morning it was a black tweed blazer that lay in front of the garage. Soaked from the rain.
Gargbage truck drove up just as I was leaving. I'll be interested to if there's more or less crap out there when I get home.
Undercooked Sausage
Maybe he wasn't pissing. Maybe he was shitting and it was so hot outside his poo was red and leaking fluid.
ginNY
it was red...not pink...not skin-colored (cream-colored peachy...whatever)

it was red!! like if you get super hot and your face gets all red, RED!

methinks if he just whips it out and pees like that in public, he probably isn't taking care of things...cleaning himself and such...

i swear it was red!
biggie mcsmalls
Not quite sure which of the last two posts is more disturbing.

sin city
QUOTE(ginNY @ Apr 12 2006, 08:13 AM) [snapback]62861[/snapback]
just let the thing out and peed. breakfast of champions...ugh!


you drank it?!?!
Freddie Freelance
QUOTE(ginNY @ Apr 12 2006, 11:37 AM) [snapback]63249[/snapback]

it was red...not pink...not skin-colored (cream-colored peachy...whatever)

it was red!! like if you get super hot and your face gets all red, RED!

methinks if he just whips it out and pees like that in public, he probably isn't taking care of things...cleaning himself and such...

i swear it was red!

Maybe he'd been wandering around with wee willy winkie hanging out all day & got sunburned?
Hips
QUOTE(ginNY @ Apr 12 2006, 01:37 PM) [snapback]63249[/snapback]



it was red!! like if you get super hot and your face gets all red, RED!

methinks if he just whips it out and pees like that in public, he probably isn't taking care of things...cleaning himself and such...

i swear it was red!

it's probably either wind or sun burned..thats all. offer him some aloe tomorrow.
biggie mcsmalls
QUOTE(skinnyhipsrivers @ Apr 12 2006, 02:16 PM) [snapback]63304[/snapback]

[offer him some aloe tomorrow.



Yeah, be nice to the crackheads, just like Ghostface taught us.
ginNY
you guys are all gross...

i did see a drunk guy passed out in johannesburg, south africa with his legs spread eagle and his balls hanging out of his shorts...I guarantee you, they got burned by that sun! i can't even imagine the pain he must have felt when he came to!
biggie mcsmalls
Back when I lived in Wicker Park I saw a dude taking a shit in front of that jewelry store on Milwaukee & Ashland at about 2 o'clock on a beautiful Summer Saturday afternoon.

He didn't even look up or anything. Just stared straight ahead and went about his business.
Mr. Sinistro
Has anyone who rides the Red, Purple, or Brown lines daily ever noticed that apartment building just south of the Diversey stop (I think) that has the treadmill on its flat roof, about 10 feet away from the outermost tracks on the west side?

I keep hoping I see some joker up there running in the morning, keeping my fingers crossed that I'll see some dude up there in running in the morning.
held
QUOTE(Mr. Sinistro @ Apr 12 2006, 03:16 PM) [snapback]63361[/snapback]

Has anyone who rides the Red, Purple, or Brown lines daily ever noticed that apartment building just south of the Diversey stop (I think) that has the treadmill on its flat roof, about 10 feet away from the outermost tracks on the west side?

I keep hoping I see some joker up there running in the morning, keeping my fingers crossed that I'll see some dude up there in running in the morning.


I've seen it and the guy riding it but it was years ago when I witnessed it. Kinda cracked me up too.
Mr. Sinistro
I swear, I'd love to know a bunch of people that lived in a building with rooftop access RIGHT BESIDE the El, especially near where trains slow down entering a station.

I'd just love to get people to do odd things, 10 people doing pushups with someone acting as a drill instructor, or having a tea party in Victorian dress, or boxing ring set up, or playing ping-pong, or shaving in front of a mirror, or riding bicycles in circles, or watching tv, stuff like that. I could go on and on.

But if I were to see any of the above in a split second as I look out the window, oh man, that would make my week!
biggie mcsmalls
I go by there every day, and have never noticed this. I'll have to look for it today.

Shit, am I living on the edge, or what?
tjenz
QUOTE(ginNY @ Apr 12 2006, 08:13 AM) [snapback]62861[/snapback]

funny you ask:
cause this morning i walked out onto third avenue to pick up some cat food for my hungry kitties and there was a "bum" who was drunk, with his red penis sticking out of his pants peeing....he wasn't even holding his penis...just let the thing out and peed. breakfast of champions...ugh!

things like this
this is why you should always carry a camera
Kate
I see a woman riding her bike past my house all the time. She's probably pushing 60, is always dressed for winter regardless of the weather, and is always wearing a surgical mask. I wonder what her story is.
ginNY
QUOTE(Mr. Sinistro @ Apr 12 2006, 05:02 PM) [snapback]63404[/snapback]

I'd just love to get people to do odd things, 10 people doing pushups with someone acting as a drill instructor, or having a tea party in Victorian dress, or boxing ring set up, or playing ping-pong, or shaving in front of a mirror, or riding bicycles in circles, or watching tv, stuff like that. I could go on and on.

it's funny you say that...cause directly outside my window: or my view...is the roof of the NY police academy and every morning they line up like in the army and say things like yes drill seargent and they do push ups and work out....it's funny...
i wake up to the synchronized yells every morning...

on the weekends i watch the fattys try to get over the wall...it's like my own olympics...

QUOTE(The Priest @ Apr 12 2006, 05:08 PM) [snapback]63410[/snapback]

QUOTE(ginNY @ Apr 12 2006, 08:13 AM) [snapback]62861[/snapback]

funny you ask:
cause this morning i walked out onto third avenue to pick up some cat food for my hungry kitties and there was a "bum" who was drunk, with his red penis sticking out of his pants peeing....he wasn't even holding his penis...just let the thing out and peed. breakfast of champions...ugh!

things like this
this is why you should always carry a camera

um....i particularly don't want to see his red penis again! it's sad that the memory is burned in my brain right now...but i may take picts of the police academy for everyone!
held
Well the garbage got picked up but there's shards and nails and crap all over the alley now.
Suppose I'll be the better neighbor by sweeping up someone elses mess to avoid getting a flat tire from there yahoos..

this recalls the other neighborly annoyance. People who don't clean up after their dogs. Why do they treat my lawn like it's their private litter box? Have they never experienced the annoyance of stepping in dog shit? Why are people such lazy sods about it? Isn't rude to have someone come by and let their dog piss on your plants?

biggie mcsmalls
Totally forgot to look for that treadmill by Diversey.
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