Just another neighborhood

Not having read The Lost City puts me at quite a disadvantage, although the Amazon reviews have given me a good sense of the book. I was wondering whether or not the book addresses the "white flight" that occurred in the 50s.

I ask because my aunt & uncle, and their kids, moved to Elmhurst in '56.  At the time they lived in the same two-flat as my family, just west of Humboldt Park.  But, when word got out that there were Puerto Ricans moving into the area east of Humboldt Park folks got fearful and moved out, many to the suburbs.  A trickle became a flood, property values dropped, and the change in demographics was swift.  I can't back this up with any hard data, but that's my recollection based on anecdotal reports.  I think it took less than five years for the old neighborhood to become mostly Puerto Rican.

But here's the thing, it didn't have to happen that way.  If nobody moves out, nobody can move in. The neighborhood could have remained the same and property values would have remained stable.  This is a vast simplification, but it makes sense to me.  There are many areas in the city where the residents stayed put, and didn't let fear of other ethnic groups drive them out; Little Italy and Ukrainian Village come to mind.

I like a bit of a mix in the neighborhood; too many of the same kind of folks make me wary, as they sometimes have the same rigid mindset.  When we moved further north in '56, it was into an originally German neighborhood which also included Italians, Irish, Greeks, and I think a Lebanese family across the street.  Many years later a Mexican family moved in next door.  There were never any issues, nice folks all.

Once folks moved in, they stayed and property didn't change hands unless the owner needed a larger place for his family or died.  That neighborhood is only a few blocks from me, and I sometimes stroll down  the sidewalk and marvel at how it looks the same, except some of the trees look different.  That area was near ground zero for the Asian Longhorned beetle infestation a while back, and it took out a whole lot of trees, which the city replaced.