Week Six: Business Addresses

Namaskar (greetings) everyone!

This week all the interns had to begin documenting all businesses and their addresses from Broadway to Kedzie on Devon Avenue. This information will be needed in the future for the website that is being designed by fellow interns Bridget and Harman. This was a daunting and enormous task for simply one individual to take on alone, so the work was divided amongst us four ladies.

I had the pleasure of recording down all business names and addresses between Damen Avenue and Western Avenue on Devon. This was a tedious task, but using the street view of Google Maps made it much easier to record all this information and saved me from facing Chicago's bipolar weather and boots from facing the un-plowed, icy, or over salted streets of Devon. Unfortunately, some businesses did not have visible signs of the addresses so I had to Google the names to get the exact address. Also Google Maps does not update at the frequency that businesses on Devon tend to open and close down. Thus, I took a quick stroll through some of the blocks to make sure that the store still existed and not been replaced by a new business or "for rent" sign. I also divided up the addresses by north and side of Devon, because the website and tasks along with it have been divided as such. I wanted to make it easier on the interns working on the website. This task was highly beneficial for me because I was able to re-accustom myself with Excel spreadsheets and using Google Maps.

The next task I am going to take on is going through my own family albums to find pictures taken on Devon. I also want to try to find pamphlets or flyers of events that took place within the neighborhood that my family has attended. So stay tuned for pictures documenting my own history!