Comptroller Mendoza advances tourism video series with a fun look at Chicago’s Southeast Side

Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza – with 10th Ward Alderman Peter Chico and, of course, special guest star retired Western Illinois farmer Dick Bigger, Jr. – toured Chicago’s sometimes forgotten Southeast Side to encourage more people to visit and to shine a light on all that makes the area so great.

“I had so much fun exploring and highlighting the Southeast Side,” said Comptroller Mendoza. “Did you know you can go wall-climbing here on the old U.S. Steel Site or fishing at the William W. Powers State Recreation Area? This is what Chicago is all about – unique neighborhoods with rich histories for all to enjoy.”

The 10th Ward on the Southeast Side is home to several sites in the Blues Brothers movie like the Pilgrim Baptist Church where Jake Blues was inspired to get his band back together; the 95th Street Bridge over the Calumet River that the Blues brothers jumped in their former Mt. Prospect Police Cruiser; and the new PsiQuantum campus, which will breathe new life into the former South Works site.

Comptroller Mendoza and friends also stop at the oldest smokehouse in Chicago – Calumet Fisheries, Steelworkers Park, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, Birrieria Ocotlan, the Crow Bar and Pope Leo’s former church, St. Mary of the Assumption.

“The old joke is that Chicago’s East Side is Lake Michigan, but there is so much to explore here that people don’t know about,” Comptroller Mendoza said.

Comptroller Mendoza has made videos all over the state, encouraging people to visit Southern Illinois; Galesburg; Springfield; Illinois’ earlier capitals – Kaskaskia and Vandalia; and our Illinois State Fairs in Springfield and downstate DuQuoin.

Earlier this year, when Little Village restaurant owners told her business was down because some customers feared stepped-up immigration enforcement, Comptroller Mendoza began making a series of videos encouraging people from all over the state to visit the city’s ethnic enclaves like Little Village, Chinatown, and Asia on Argyle.

Boosting tourism – including areas that may not traditionally have been considered tourist destinations – brings in more sales taxes for the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois, which strengthens the economy and helps Comptroller Mendoza pay the state’s bills.

And for your entertainment, here is the Bloopers Reel.