Juke Town polishes

I was talking with a young woman from St Louis recently, who described a recent trip to Chicago. She had visited relatives on the South Side, she said, and seen the sights, but the highlight of every trip was the chance to go somewhere near her aunt's house and eat "Juke Town polishes" (now there's a name with a lot of pizazz!). Unfortunately, she couldn't remember where they had gotten this last item, but it was her favorite delicacy.

Ok, I understand that she was talking about Polish sausages, but what refinements or map coordinates create a Juke Town Polish sausage? Has anybody else heard this appellation? Seen it on a menu board? google is not helping me here.

I have a very strong gut feeling that either you heard wrong, or your friend from St Louis heard or remembered wrong and/or pronounced it incorrectly. If you are familiar with The Maxwell Street Market, I believe your answer lies in its history. About a generation and a half has been hatched since Maxwell St Market has been called by its colloquiallism of "Jewtown." It was famous for polish snausages and pork chop sammiches smothered in grilled onions (among other foods as well.) Near south side.

MariaTheresa wrote:Ok, I understand that she was talking about Polish sausages, but what refinements or map coordinates create a Juke Town Polish sausage?

The original version, “refined” with fried onions and mustard, came from around Maxwell & Halsted—crossroads of what was once commonly referred to as Jew Town. You don’t hear that term too often any but the delicacy—more often called a Maxwell Street Polish these days—has spread throughout the city and beyond. Here’s a picture I took last year on Highway 61 in the Mississippi Delta that uses the “old-fashioned” nomenclature.

Quick search netted:

http://www.maxwellstreetdocumentary.com/

Look at the menu links. " Jew Town / Maxwell St Polish etc."
I'm sure others here remember probably even more stuff than me. I have limited knowledge, but my dad would take us kids when we were knee high to a grasshopper on a few Sunday mornings per year. Usually to walk off the big lunch at Manny's and to wait for the Chernin's Shoes to die down a little bit. (That place was BUSY!!) Anyway, I think there are stll little huts named "Maxwell St Food" that are fast food joints, but one of the most famous spots for the "real deal" is "Jim's Original." I've never been a polish fan, but Jim's gets much love on LTH. Search, you will assuredly find.

I had no idea! And thanks, Rene G, for the photograph. If I had seen that sign, I think I'd just have been baffled.

In the mean time, following everyone's suggestions, I searched for more information on Maxwell Street. The young lady was absolutely certain about "Juke Town," and I wanted to see if there were any evidence of an alternate name or a confusion of names. My search turned up the following:

"Frank 'Little Sonny' Scott Jr. is a blues musician, singer, songwriter, the inventor of the Blues percussive House Keys, and a self-taught artist. . . . A few years ago, Mr. Scott recorded with Jimmie Lee Robinson for the acclaimed CD, The Lost American Bluesmen, and is playing guitar on two recent CDs for Maxwell Street Blueswoman and legend Johnnie Mae Dunson. In the 1990s, he, Dunson, and Robinson (recently deceased) became among the most active members of the Maxwell Street Historic Preservation Coalition . . .

Influenced by the work of two other Maxwell Street self-taught artists . . . Mr. Scott has long created art work about Maxwell Street including his famous Maxwell Street crosses and the Juketown Community Blues Bandstand. In 1997 he built the Bandstand in an empty lot at the northeast corner of Halsted and Maxwell as a place for weekly Blues jam sessions to keep the Blues tradition alive."

Well, I don't know what to make of that. Maybe it's an alternate name, a polite revision of "Jew Town," or maybe it's just a coincidence.

In any case: thanks everyone for you help -- I knew I could count on the wisdom of LTHers!

MariaTheresa wrote:Maybe it's an alternate name, a polite revision of "Jew Town," or maybe it's just a coincidence.

My gut sense (like seebee's) is that it was a corruption of "jew town," but it could be just a coincidence, as you suggest. Another Maxwell St. Market Mystery.

Incidentally, The Wife and I are headed down there in a few hours, so call my cell if you happen to be there too (708-902-3969) -- we can meet up for some huaraches, churros, etc.

If it helps, some anecdotal evidence...Back in 1995 (I remember the year, because I was driving the new car I had just bought days earlier) some friends and we were making our way from the Southwest Side to the Northwest Side, and decided (for variety) to take Pulaski all the way. As we approached Madison, on the block of Pulaski just south of Madison, we saw a place on the west side of the street with a handpainted sign announcing the name of the business as Jew Town Polish.

Being Jewish and not having the Maxwell Street reference in my mind (I wasn't born and raised here), I found the image especially indelible.

May be more to it then a corruption of "Jew Town", this from a quick search on Wiki.

"Classic juke joints found, for example, at rural crossroads began to emerge after Emancipation."

"Juke joint music began with the black folk rags ("ragtime stuff" and "folk rags" are a catch-all term for older African American music[7]) and then the boogie woogie dance music of the late 1880s or 1890s and became the blues, barrel house, and the slow drag dance music of the rural south (moving to Chicago's black rent-party circuit in the Great Migration) "

Well, I think it's a clever corruption of Jewtown that accurately reflects the black presence in the area. But I've never seen anything but Jewtown in older sources on the era.

There's no question that it's a reference to a "JewTown Polish." Ask any African American 40 or older who grew up on the South or West sides and they'll straighten you out on it.

Mike G wrote:Well, I think it's a clever corruption of Jewtown that accurately reflects the black presence in the area. But I've never seen anything but Jewtown in older sources on the era.

I hate to go on record as being in favor of corruption in Chicago, but in this one case, I do prefer it!

MariaTheresa wrote:

Mike G wrote:Well, I think it's a clever corruption of Jewtown that accurately reflects the black presence in the area. But I've never seen anything but Jewtown in older sources on the era.

I hate to go on record as being in favor of corruption in Chicago, but in this one case, I do prefer it!

Interesting ... nobody thinks twice about Greek Town ... there are signs on the expressway about "Korea Town" ... Boys Town is common parlance and Bronzeville is a designated historic district ... but somehow, "Jewtown" seems offensive.

They should have made it Roumanian Town, then it wouldn't be a problem.

"but somehow, "Jewtown" seems offensive"

Well, Korea and Greece are places and the reference is to a cuisine. "Jewtown" with respect to a Polish (also a place) sausage is not a reference to a culture or cuisine. It's a step away from Jesse Jackson's "Hymietown" slur. There's no "Blacktown" or "Hindutown" in Chicago or elsewhere. It's one thing to group people by their geographic origins, quite another to lump them together by other characteristics.

As for "Boystown" - it's okay when you self-designate.

There's no "Blacktown" in Chicago or elsewhere.

What do you think Bronzeville was in reference to?

(And as far as the elsewhere goes, there's this.)

Personally, I think "Jewishtown" would have been fine, but something about "Jewtown" sounds more derogatory.

Bronzeville is a name adopted by the residents in a historical context. It's not Blacktown or Darktown. And if there was resistance to the name in the community it would have been dropped. Jewtown is offensive (and Jewishtown no less so). We have evolved somewhat over the last century to stop differentiating by race or religion.

You evidently see logic, not to mention a firm unanimity of opinion, where I see amusingly inconsistent historical curiosity, is all I can say... without getting into a big magillah.

Let me predict how this one will go: several pages from now, we will have learned that some people find "Jewtown" offensive, and other people don't.

Kennyz wrote:Let me predict how this one will go: several pages from now, we will have learned that some people find "Jewtown" offensive, and other people don't.

Cue the posts being offended that you would trivialize this important debate in 3... 2.... 1.....

Mike G wrote:amusingly inconsistent historical curiosity

Yes, that's what I meant, too. There are a lot of places, Jerusalem, for example, where there is a "Jewish Quarter" -- in some cases one where Jews were confined by law -- yet that term is not seen as derogatory. There's something about the juxtaposition of "Jew" and "Town."

Here's a 1986 article in which people were getting huffy about it. And an item about a place in Texas that serves a "Jewtown Polish."

There's a Jew-Town Polishes Facebook fan group.

Hmm...

Maybe I'm not reading correctly, or maybe I have it all wrong. The old nickname that we are talking about here should be extremely offensive. As I understood it, the nickname was not really given because of a grouping of ppl.
As my grandfather explained it, and later, my father explained it again, it was called that primarily because of how sales were made. I.e, using the first part of that compound word as a verb instead of a noun. My understanding could be completely incorrect, but my father and grandfather were both west siders from Ms., and went there often. Very often. For the record, papa seebee still uses a hushed voice if using that nickname, and he did, in fact, properly explain to us that the name was basically an impolite, incorrect slur, and was not to be used freely in conversing with others. The term is really only used around my family when papa seebee gets together with his siblings and the old stories start flying about as in, "Remember that time when we all went down to Jewtown because we needed to get a six pack of sox so we could each have a new pair, but the fudge guy was there so we all got a quarter pound of fudge and came home with no socks, and Mom asked us where our new socks were and blah, blah, blah..." (these stories all end the same way involving a belt, one of my granparents, and one of my aunts or uncles getting punished for something they didn't do.)

As I understood it, the nickname was not really given because of a grouping of ppl.

Well, it was a Jewish neighborhood, with a famous Jewish market, so I don't know how you determine that it was only called Jewtown for some other reason besides the exact same reason that Chinatown was called Chinatown and Andersonville was nicknamed for Swedes.

The name may strike our ears as harsh and likely bigoted today, but for many, I'm sure it was simply the logical descriptor by the standards of the day.

seebee wrote:Hmm...

Maybe I'm not reading correctly, or maybe I have it all wrong. The old nickname that we are talking about here should be extremely offensive. As I understood it, the nickname was not really given because of a grouping of ppl.
As my grandfather explained it, and later, my father explained it again, it was called that primarily because of how sales were made. I.e, using the first part of that compound word as a verb instead of a noun. My understanding could be completely incorrect, but my father and grandfather were both west siders from Ms., and went there often. Very often. For the record, papa seebee still uses a hushed voice if using that nickname, and he did, in fact, properly explain to us that the name was basically an impolite, incorrect slur, and was not to be used freely in conversing with others. The term is really only used around my family when papa seebee gets together with his siblings and the old stories start flying about as in, "Remember that time when we all went down to Jewtown because we needed to get a six pack of sox so we could each have a new pair, but the fudge guy was there so we all got a quarter pound of fudge and came home with no socks, and Mom asked us where our new socks were and blah, blah, blah..." (these stories all end the same way involving a belt, one of my granparents, and one of my aunts or uncles getting punished for something they didn't do.)

As in Barter Town?

Honestly, this is an interpretation that did not occur to me, but there may be some validity to it,

seebee wrote:The old nickname that we are talking about here should be extremely offensive. As I understood it, the nickname was not really given because of a grouping of ppl.
As my grandfather explained it, and later, my father explained it again, it was called that primarily because of how sales were made. I.e, using the first part of that compound word as a verb instead of a noun.

I believe you've hit on it. Wasn't there a documentary about Maxwell Street called "Cheat You Fair"? The news article linked above touches on this, too. That usage would definitely explain why the term was seen as as a slur.

(It doesn't exactly explain my personal visceral reaction to it as offensive, though, because I wasn't thinking about it in those terms. Not consciously, anyway.)

And seen that way, the corruption to "Juketown" doesn't improve things much.

I believe you've hit on it. Wasn't there a documentary about Maxwell Street called "Cheat You Fair"? The news article linked above touches on this, too. That usage would definitely explain why the term was seen as as a slur.

I'm happy to believe that that's why it came to be seen as a slur, but I don't believe that the name originated that way, as if it would have been called Jewtown for the hard bargains driven there even if it was tightfisted Scotsmen or Dutch uncles driving them. From the Encyclopedia of Chicago:

In the late 1870s Eastern European Jews, especially from Russian and Polish areas, started arriving in Chicago in large numbers. They came mainly from shtetlach (small rural villages or towns) and by 1930 they constituted over 80 percent of Chicago's Jewish population. They settled initially in one of the poorest parts of the city, the Maxwell Street area on the Near Westside. There they created a community with some resemblance to the Old World shtetl with its numerous Jewish institutions, including about 40 synagogues and a bazaar-like outdoor market that attracted customers from the entire Chicago area. They eked out a living as peddlers, petty merchants, artisans, and factory laborers, especially in the garment industry, where many men and women became ardent members, organizers, and leaders in a number of progressive unions.

I know what I would have called that part of town in 1930. Polynesiantown!

Mike G is absolutely correct, and I should point out that I was referring to when "Jewtown" specifically referred to the Maxwell St. Market, and not the neighborhood as a whole. Either way, gramps and pop used to shop there a lot, and both thought the name was not very friendly. Neither were of the Jewish Faith. So, my basis is from two ppl who qualify as someone to ask per spynorman:

spinynorman99 wrote:There's no question that it's a reference to a "JewTown Polish." Ask any African American 40 or older who grew up on the South or West sides and they'll straighten you out on it.

I'm only a few years from qualifying myself. Again, I'm nowhere even remotely close to being some historian on this subject, and I will (and have already) said that my understanding could be incorrect. But, if you want another side to it, there's one for you from a few ppl who used to regularly go there. Pop would take us too sometimes after church on Sundays. Manny's deli, Chernin's shoes, bluesmen, and cheap sox. Oh and used tires too. And cassette tapes that didn't work. "Fur" hats. And the unmistakable smell of onions on the grill. And a poke chop sammich was a "chop."

David Hammond wrote:
As in Barter Town?

Honestly, this is an interpretation that did not occur to me, but there may be some validity to it,

Yes, as in Barter Town.
Thank you for the better, concise wording. I really tiptoed around that, because I really have no desire to be labeled as "that person who posted that." My upbringing was very contrary to even being remotely close to bigoted. My parents wouldn't even let me watch shows like Archie Bunker, or the Jeffersons because of the bigoted content. Seriously. As for the validity, I can only speak for a few ppl who went there regularly, and lived pretty close.

Mike G wrote:Well, it was a Jewish neighborhood, with a famous Jewish market, so I don't know how you determine that it was only called Jewtown for some other reason besides the exact same reason that Chinatown was called Chinatown and Andersonville was nicknamed for Swedes.

I don't think it's only our modern PC sensibilities. The fact that the name didn't persist, was never official and was considered offensive even back in the day supports seebee's explanation.

FWIW, I walked out of a party just last year after somebody used the phrase "jewed me down" and would not understand why I was offended.

As I'm now confused as to what we're disputing, but I'm firmly convinced that regardless of whether the chicken or the egg comes first, the chicken soup comes after both, I agree with everyone and retire for the evening.

The chickens came, and lived in Cooptown. The chickens left, but some people still called the main market Cooptown because of a stereotype, even though the chickens were long, long, gone.