Randolph Street: Let's Keep Rollin' Down The River

Our resident photojournalist, Jon Randolph, is back from the land of sweet air and crystal clear Canadian waters, where he's spent the last couple of weeks reeling in a big haul.

"Caught fish like crazy at Lac Seul - walleyes and northerns," he tells us. "Got me a 36-inch pike and a 25 1/2-inch walleye. As old Mayor Daley used to say, 'There is nothing so wholesome as a fish.'"

We're sticking with Jon's series of pix shot between 1975 and 1986 along US Highway 61, following the Mississippi River.

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"Mobile Home," Luxora, Arkansas

"Soul Bar," Mississippi

"Hunter," Arkansas

"Felix," Minnesota

"Cabbies," New Orleans

"Beach Boys," Wacona, Minnesota

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"I've got at least three to four weeks-worth of pictures left," Randolph says. "Unless you're tired of them or something." Hell no! We feel Jon is our own Walker Evans or Dorothea Lange - and this series proves it.

Join us next Friday for another Randolph Street. We're here everyday with new posts by Benny Jay, Big Mike Glab and the eagerly awaited Letter From Milo.

Randolph Street: The American Carnival

... But yes, I think it can be very easily done

We'll just put some bleachers out in the sun

And have it on Highway 61.

from "Highway 61 Revisited," Bob Dylan, 1965

Here's the third and final installment of Jon Randolph's series of pix taken along US Route 61 following the Mississippi River, from 1976 through 1985.

"Mailboxes," Keeler, Wisconsin

"Three Gents," Mississippi

"Eagle," Davenport, Iowa

"Edsel," Burlington, Iowa

"Hat," Mississippi

"Wait," Minnesota

Good old Jon Randolph - as we speak, he's sitting back in a fishing boat on a crystal clear Canadian lake, keeping an eye on his line for action, pulling his cap low against the morning glare, perhaps even enjoying a cool libation. That's the life. We have only one thing to say - get the hell back to work, you bum!

Randolph Street, featuring the work of Chicago's premier photojournalist, appears here every Friday. The Third City brings you the best in writing, opinion, memoir and other gibberish every day. Keep an eye open for the move to our very own website - swear to god, it's coming soon!

Randolph Street: Rollin' Up The River

While photojournalist Jon Randolph lolls the days away on a fishing boat in a Canadian lake, we're presenting pix from his trips up and down US Highway 61. Here's the second batch. - The Eds.

"Raccoon," Minnesota

"Celose" (note the sign in the window), Minnesota

"Merchant," Minnesota

"Country Kitchen," Iowa

"Yard Sale," Tennessee

"Mirror," Duluth, Minnesota

This is a personal look at mid-America that I shot between 1976 and 1985. At the times I shot these pix, the approximately 1700 miles of US Highway 61 roughly followed the Mississippi River from New orleans to Minneapolis, then jutted northeast to Duluth and then along the western edge of Lake Superior to Thunder Bay, Ontario.

This is the second installment - part three will run next Friday. There's a lot to look at. - JR

Visit The Third City every day for new posts, treats, surprises, words and pictures. We'll be moving soon! Our new home will be thethirdcity.net. We're building the site right now - knowing us and our meager technological talents, it'll actually be up sometime around the turn of the next century. Anyway, we'll keep you up to date. - The Eds.

Randolph Street: The Secret Chicago River

"I did these pix in 2007. The idea was to shoot along the North Branch of the Chicago River from Belmont Avenue, just west of Western Avenue, north to the Sauganash neighborhood." - Jon Randolph, photojournalist.

Just north of Belmont Avenue.

4100 North at the river.

A river house, 4500 North.

Between Wilson and Lawrence avenues.

A river house porch, looking across the river toward Horner Park.

The Ravenswood el (Brown Line) from the Wilson Avenue bridge.

West River Park between Argyle and Foster avenues.

West River Park at the confluence of the North Branch and the North Shore Channel of the Chicago River.

Join us every Friday for more peeks at Chicago through the lens of photojournalist Jon Randolph. The Third City is here with a new post every day. - The Eds.

Randolph Street: Bob Dylan In Chicago

Jon Randolph is alive! Randolph Street is a day late but well worth the wait. Chicago's finest photojournalist tells the tale of today's pix in his own words. Take it away Jon. - The Eds.

I took these photos in September, 1975, when I was working for WTTW Channel 11 in Chicago. I'd loved Dylan since the Freewheelin' album was released in May, 1963. It was a dream come true that he was scheduled to appear on Soundstage for a tribute to John Hammond....

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I'm not sure Dylan was even the biggest star of the show - after all, Hammond had played a key role in the careers of Marion Williams, Helen Humes, Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson, George Benson, Red Norvo, Philly Joe Jones, Milt Hinton, and even John Hammond, Jr.

With Scarlet Rivera playing violin, Dylan sang "Hurricane," "Simple Twist of Fate," and "Oh, Sister." It was well after midnight when Dylan finished his set. I was standing next to a young hipster record producer when he said to his pal, "He's still got it. Goddamn, I thought he was through."

Amen.

Randolph Street: The World In Chicago

Photojournalist Jon Randolph owns Fridays on The Third City. Today, he offers us peeks at Chicagoans who've come from all over the globe.

Fatima Mohammed, a Somali, at Ronan Park.

A kid on a carousel at a Neighborhood Boys and Girls Club carnival, Irving Park Road and Campbell Avenue.

A worker in the meat market district, 853 W. Fulton St.

A man at El Pinguino ice cream company, 3244 W. Lawrence Ave.

A Little Leaguer at Horner Park,

Irving Park Road and California Ave.

Join us tomorrow for more hot air from the keyboard of Big Mike Glab. Look for a Letter From Milo the day after. Benny Jay opens the week Monday with more gas. And, of course, Randolph Street will be back next Friday. The Third City is here for your reading pleasure every day.

Randolph Street: This Business Is Full Of Hot Air

Photojournalist Jon Randolph takes us into a firm that boasts it has more than a million balloons in its warehouse. MK Brody Company has been selling novelties and party tchochkes since 1911. The company moved to the wholesale market district west of the Loop in 1960, when the area was a gritty, tough spot populated by men walking around wearing blood-soaked aprons.

The district, surrounding the CTA Green Line elevated tracks between Halsted Street and Ogden Avenue, still is home to meat, seafood, and floral wholesalers,

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but chic restaurants and clubs now dot the landscape there. And, of course, the area was granted its holy imprimatur when Oprah Winfrey opened her Harpo Studios on Washington Boulevard.

Brody sells everything from champagne glasses to breast cancer awareness pink ribbons to hand fans with Barack Obama's image emblazoned on them. But after the company bought out the giant 800-4-Balloons outfit in 2005, its business, well, soared.

See you here next Friday for another glimpse of Chicago brought to us by Jon Randolph. See you here tomorrow for more of Benny Jay, Big Mike Glab, and those all-too-rare Letters From Milo.

Randolph Street: Westward Home

If it's Friday, this must be Randolph Street. Photojournalist Jon Randolph takes us on a tour of the West Loop, a neighborhood bounded by the Eisenhower Expressway on the south, the Metra commuter rail lines on the north, the Kennedy and Dan Ryan expressways on the east and Ashland Avenue on the west. The area is home to a dizzying variety of residents and...

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Willis Tower from the 200 block of N. Peoria St.

The Palace Grill, 1124 W. Madison St.

In the meat market district,

800 block of W. Fulton St.

The Lyon & Healy harp factory loading dock,

near Ogden Ave. and Lake St.

The Chicago Boyz Acrobatic Team,

practicing at Union Park,

Randolph Street and Ashland Avenue

Looking north from W. Fulton St.

Whitney M. Young Magnet High School,

211 S. Laflin Ave.

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... businesses, from the meat and seafood wholesale markets near Lake Street to the chic restaurants on Randolph Street, and from the young professionals near Grand Avenue to the single-room-occupancy hotels around Union Park.

Jon Randolph shares his peeks into Chicago life every Friday on The Third City. Join us every day for the (take your pick) well-reasoned observations or fanatical ravings of Benny Jay and Big Mike Glab. And, hey, don't forget our frequent Letters From Milo, penned by Gary's Greatest Writer.