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Chicago's
Maxwell Street Market evolved from a 19th
century old-world marketplace, and blossomed
in the 20th century as Chicago's premier open-air
market. Tom Palazzolo, a veteran local filmmaker,
has compiled a unique record of this vibrant
urban bazaar through photographs and the testimonies
of people who lived, worked, and visited there.
This book is a true multimedia portrait of
the Maxwell Street Market, which was razed
by state and local officials and turned over
to real estate developers in 2001. Palazzolo
produced a cinéma verité documentary
film at the Market in 1983, when activity
there was at its height and its ultimate decline
was beginning, and a DVD version of this movie
accompanies the book. There is a bonus feature
on the DVD with an extended slide show and
original blues music, and some additional
images in color.
Tom
Palazzolo started taking pictures at the Market
in the early 1960s when he was an art student
in Chicago. Images in the book are by him,
his wife Marcia Palazzolo, and their friend
and fellow artist Bernie Beckman. Each photographer
has a distinctive style and approach to events,
people, and places at the Market. There are
powerful written testimonies about life in
and around the Market, including one by Lionel
Bottari, whose father was a stall owner there
and who grew up in the area of Maxwell Street.
There is also a selection of poetry, journalism,
oral histories, and stories. Taken all together,
Palazzolo's book offers readers a complete
portrait of the Maxwell Street Market in words,
music, photographs, and moving pictures.
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"Maxwell
Street was a really important place. It
was full of vibrancy and a celebration of
who we are as Americans, with roots from
all over the world. A grassroots avenue
for survival got created there for masses
of immigrants and poor people. It preserved
Old World culture, whether from Ukraine,
Mexico, or Mississippi and mixed it with
the new, creating art forms such as urban
electrified blues. The people to be remembered
are the ancestors of many of us. Maxwell
Street was influential in making us who
we are. By preserving the memory of Maxwell
Street's past, Chicagoans of today give
a gift of heritage to future generations."
—Studs Terkel
"The
gritty personality and irrepressible verve
of our beloved Maxwell Street leaps from these
pages—Palazzolo's keen, yet impish eye
has immortalized a precious slice of Chicago
history."—Laura Washington, DePaul
University Professor, Chicago Sun-Times Columnist
"Ah,
Maxwell Street…nevermore. Thanks Tommy
Chicago for bringing it back."—Tom
Weinberg, Chicago TV Producer
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