Scrap Yard: Sept.27th

my absolute favorite place to go in the city is this scrap yard over
by where i work. i'll grab lunch at whole foods, or pack something and
then go there for lunch and just watch old metal get tossed around. i
actually don't know the name of the street. BUT - if you walk west on
north avenue - from the north and clyborn stop - clyborn will be on
your right when you leave the station - the next road about two blocks
down will be sheffield - and then the next street on your right will
be the one that leads you into what is called "the industrial
corridor" of chicago. you know all those pick up trucks you see in the
city with plywood sides in the bed and the trucks are just loaded with
bikes and water heaters and stuff. where this is where they all go.
there's a whole street of places to bring different types of scrap.
homeless folk will bring shopping carts full of stuff, for money. i
once saw this woman carrying a whole range on her back with a knotted
piece of rope. there's always neat bolts and antiquated logo's of
busted machines littering the street. you can even buy stolen bikes
there sometimes. and at the end of this one stretch is this huge yard
where they have three big claw machines just picking up piles of
wreckage and tossing them onto conveyor belts to be shredded up. it's
so loud - and from a distance it's fun just to figure out what's in
the claw. old cars. exercise bikes. old lockers. i guess i just like
it because it's so loud and consuming that for three blocks i just
feel like i'm in almost not in the city anymore.