#4 Cottage Grove bus line

Once upon a time I was living downtown. I had to commute every day to Hyde Park and was constantly trying to find the best option (understand — the one that made me walk the less) especially during the winter months.
And one fine morning I opted for the #4 «Cottage Grove to 95^th» (of course imagine this line pronounced by the suave voice of our favorite CTA announcer).
First everything was fine. It goes down Michigan, the scenery is cool, nothing special. But after a while I, freshly arrived in Chicago from France via the woods of Connecticut, started freaking out. The bus turned east at 35^th and Cottage Grove — and I thought I was in a totally different city. Everything was run down, the streets, houses, cars, pavements… it was a gloomy day and it made it look all the worse. I was glad to get off at 58^th and was feeling real uneasy and radically white after this new experience. But I decided to give it another try. I liked discoveting my city of adoption under another light. And I liked the ambiance on the bus — the little skirmishes, the socks vendors, the baby faces.
Five years later things have changed dramatically. I can still get a few glimpses of what I saw on my first ride but gentrification is on the way. For the better or the worse.