Foster Avenue Beach the Place and the Song
We are very happy that pop composer Steve Solomon has allowed us to use FOSTER AVENUE BEACH as the theme song for our Chicago Broadcasting Network podcasts.
It was important for us to have a unique song that referenced Chicago in a meaningful but subtle way.
According to Chicago’s famed numbered grid system, Foster Beach is located fifty-two hundred north off of Lake Shore Drive and is accessible by CTA via the 147 or 151 Sheridan Road buses. Oddly the number 92 Foster bus detours over to the Berwyn Red Line elevated station a few blocks away but it is just a short walk to the beach from there. Arriving by car there is an ample parking lot however it does get pretty full up on busy days.
The beach was partially constructed from landfill provided by refuse from the notorious Chicago Fire and is very near the site of the opulent former Edgewater Beach Hotel at Bryn Mawr a few blocks north, referenced now by the remaining pink stucco Edgewater Beach Apartments.
All of Chicago’s twenty-six beaches open June 28, 2019, for the season through Sept. 2, 2019. Hours are from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily unless signs indicate “from dawn to dusk.” Swimming is allowed when lifeguards are on duty, typically each day from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Just steps from Foster Beach is the exclusive Saddle and Cycle Club and the new Admiral on-the-Lake upscale senior residences. At Sheridan Road and Foster is a Mariano’s grocery store where you can pick-up last minute snacks for an impromptu picnic.
Foster Avenue is the north boundary of the Uptown neighborhood long considered an entry point for many of Chicago’s foreign immigrants, most notably in the past 40 years those arriving from South-East Asia. In fact, nearby Argyle Street to the south is known as Little Vietnam and is host to many wonderful Asian restaurants and businesses.
To the north of Foster Avenue is the Edgewater neighborhood with Andersonville immediately to the West, both of which are more gentrified areas featuring many large single-family homes on larger than average city lots.
Andersonville was established as a Swedish immigrant community and still retains some of that vibe including the presence of the Swedish American Museum.
Edgewater is home to an inordinate number of live theater companies, many of which we have reviewed and continue to review on our Chicago Broadcasting Network podcasts.
Steve Solomon, a recording artist and performer now based in Los Angeles grew up in Edgewater attending high-school at Northside College Preparatory near Foster and Kedzie. It’s his recollection of one less-than-perfect day on the beach that was the inspiration for the song.
Chicago is a city of neighborhoods. Further west on Foster Avenue you will find Hispanic, Middle Eastern, Filipino, Korean, and Polish areas as well as a myriad of other ethnic groups. One thing they all share is Foster Avenue Beach, a place where you can commune with nature, enjoy the waves gently caressing the sandy shore, a chance to cool off on a hot day, stroll with your significant other or good friend, and turn your back on the city for a few minutes, giving your eyes a chance to look off to the horizon while letting the lake wash your face with a misty breeze.
The version of the song that we use was recorded at the Edgewater Art Fair a few years ago but has been recently re-recorded and officially released. You can find it at Steve’s Facebook Page or listen to it at Spotify.
Music promo video by RenoWeb.net.
Note correction in audio “Northside College Preparatory” referenced as “Northside Academy.”
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Editor’s Update to post:
I have always been interested in the people behind the street names in Chicago. Many of whom have fallen into obscurity. After doing a bit of research on the web I have found that Foster Avenue is named for Dr. John H. Foster who was born in New Hampshire in 1796 and died in Chicago on May 17, 1874 after being thrown from his carriage a few days earlier when his horse got spooked.
Dr. Foster’s brother Amos had purchased some property in the up and coming city of Chicago before being killed in 1832 by an insubordinate soldier whom he had reprimanded for drunkenness while serving at Ford Howard, Wisconsin. Dr. Foster subsequently came to Chicago to look after his brother’s estate and eventually settled here.
Later in his life as a valued member of the newly created Board of Education, he established the Foster Medal Fund donating one thousand dollars to award silver medals and eventually paper diplomas to graduates of area Grammar Schools who went on to attend High School.
In May 1882, one of his three daughters Mrs. Julia Porter bought a three-story house at Halsted and Belden to be used as a six-bed hospital for the care of children, of any race, color, or creed or inability to pay. Eventually, she purchased additional land at Fullerton and Orchard which grew to become Children’s Memorial Hospital.