About the work

A closer look.

Someone you know keeps describing a store that is not there anymore. A corner that changed names three times. A shop they swear was on that block. Give me one Chicago street address and I will write down what actually ran there. Every business licensed at that address, the date each first appears, and where the record goes quiet. Where the sign in your memory disagrees with the paper, I say so instead of smoothing it over. This is a small thing made for one person: the store someone you know keeps talking about, or a building you are about to buy, lease, or walk past every day. What you get: a one-page sourced sheet (PDF, plus a PNG you can send on), and a plain note on the gaps and the conflicts. Limits: screen-based. I read the city license record and dated street imagery only. I do not verify ownership or current operation. Records before 2002 are often thin, and I will say so rather than guess. Delivery in 2 days. One revision included.