Riches to Rags and Back Again

Chicago radio personality Herb Kent was elected mayor of Bronzeville by an informal ballot vote in the South Side neighborhood in August 1999.

Since the 1930s, the honor has been bestowed upon prominent residents, who have contributed to the neighborhood. After his election, Kent promised to use his influence to bring citywide attention to events in Bronzeville.

Born and raised in the Ida B. Wells public housing development, Kent has lived in the neighborhood most of his life. “I’m very proud of [the title],” said Kent, a 74-year-old DJ who still spins contemporary R&B and “dusties” on Saturday and Sunday mornings on WVAZ-FM, a black-oriented radio station known as V-103.

“I’ve been so indigenous to music and people, and so many folks have grown up listening to me,” said Kent. “I guess I was just kind of a poor guy from Ida B. Wells that really didn’t go too far from Bronzeville. I ended back up here and I’m part of it.”

Kent spoke with The Chicago Reporter about the history of Bronzeville and how the recent revitalization has affected its legacy.

What is Bronzeville’s cultural significance?
A lot of entertainers came out of Bronzeville, like Nat King Cole. Some blues artists came out. Some noted educators. It was just the heart of everything. The Regal [Theater], the Metropolitan Theater, [and] Gerri’s Palm Tavern. All around 35th [Street] and Cottage [Grove Avenue] were blues clubs that are all gone now. The place was just alive at one time.

47th Street was really just flowing with merchants like the South Center Department Store, Max Taylor and just many, many, many places. All of that began to fade. In the 1960s, a lot of the merchants left because it was getting poor.

It’s changed for the better. When I grew up in it, it was just another neighborhood. It was very poor. I think that, if anybody really knew, you could probably have picked up a greystone or a brownstone for $10,000. They were just kitchenette apartments.

For an investment of $100,000, you could have been a millionaire today because these greystones and brownstones are selling for $500,000 or $600,000 now. It’s really been updated and rehabbed since I was younger. It went from riches to rags and has gone from rags to riches again.

You know how growth is—you don’t see anything, and then you look up and say, ‘Wow. It’s all changed.’

What about low-income Bronzeville residents who have been scattered because of the teardowns of public housing units?
That is indeed unfortunate. If you continue to let them proliferate, you still have the drugs and the gangs. There was no way out from that. Then again, there were some very nice people who had to be relocated in order to effect this change. I don’t know any other way to build this area up and to clean it up.

When the projects first came out, I used to live in them—Ida B. Wells. They were two-story things. People were really screened before they got in there. And, in my particular block, [which included] about six buildings and maybe 18 families, [we had] a jazz trumpeter, one gentleman became a doctor, and then, of course, I went into radio. And that all happened in that small area there. I’m sure that was multiplied many times all over, because it was exactly what it was designed to be: a place where single mothers could maybe bring their families, or families with low income could live and prosper.

What about the controversy surrounding Second City opening a venue in Bronzeville?
I’d love to see Second City in [Bronzeville] because perhaps we can discover some more great artists who would go on to stage and screen. So many things have been taken away from us. The Metropolitan [Theater] is gone. And we need the spirit to keep going. The Supreme Liberty Life Building has been granted landmark status. There are a lot of things left, and I don’t think that the addition of Second City will hurt us. I think it can only help us. It would be just another place for black people to get a foothold in this world.