File:Never and Now Clark & Walton (84433621).jpg

The intersection of Clark & Walton in Chicago, right by the Newberry Library. Top photo taken in 1933.

I didn't realize they tore down the entire block to make that park in front of the library. (Update: They didn't. See the comments below.)

Probably I should retake this someday with a lens that lets me better duplicate the original. Note how close the church appears in the top picture; I just couldn't get it to condense the distance like that. The library and sidewalk seem right to me, though. (Ignore that, too.)

Interesting sidelight: if you zoom in to the full size photo, you'll be able to see what was playing at the theater: Convention City, a with Adolph Menjou, Dick Powell, Mary Astor, and Joan Blondell. This is one of the great "lost films" of history; made just before the Production Code went into effect, it was risque to an extent that movies couldn't be again until at the 1970's—it included jokes about bootlegging, jailbait, beastiality, and condom machines, just for starters. After the Code was established, the film couldn't be shown publically, but Warner Brothers would contantly get requests for rentals to be shown at stag parties and conventions, which they would always turn down, for fear of antagonizing the Hayes office. Finally, afraid that a bootleg copy would eventually get out, Jack Warner ordered all copies of the film and the negative destroyed.