South Side as Culture: Arionne Nettles

Growing up in Chicago, the South Side was my playground. And Englewood, where my family lived for three generations, was home base.

Playing at Hamilton Park and swimming at Kennedy-King College filled my summers. It felt like I could swing higher than anybody, swim faster than a fish, and find joy in all the places it can lie. And as I grew older, the entirety of my side of this beautiful city was in my reach. Whether it was spending all day at Evergreen Plaza on a Saturday or catching a movie at the Chatham Theater with my friends, there wasn’t a place I didn’t go.

I was born in 1985, so although I might’ve been young, I came into the world right at the time. 1990s Chicago had a certain energy, and that energy was heavy on the South Side. I was here for the Chicago Bulls championship run and the pride that ensued. I was around for house music at skating rink parties and rap groups selling CDs on 87th and the Dan Ryan. I was at the big radio summer jam concerts, and I called in to try to get on WGCI’s Birthday Line. And even now, with Chicago looking and feeling different, I see the DNA of our great South Side all around me, running through everything I love.

That’s because when my grandparents came to Chicago from Greenwood, Mississippi, during the Great Migration, they saw the South Side in the same way: as a community that was limitless, and one they were a part of. They worked and lived and loved here. And they instilled in our family that a community is not just a place, but also a gathering of people and a wealth of opportunity. This is where we grow.

For me, the best of the South Side are the places that connect us to each other, to these feelings, and to ourselves.

Best Place to Get Grounded in Community at Any Age: Deeply Rooted’s Mature H.O.T. Women Classes

For the past couple of years, my Saturdays have always started with Deeply Rooted Dance Theater’s education program. At 10 a.m., I start with hugs and laughs with my favorite dance teacher, Dereque Whiturs, who teaches Mature H.O.T. Women, a class for ladies (and a few men) to get technical training in modern, ballet, and African dance.

Being in a class with women ranging in ages from their twenties to their eighties is a treat. The wisdom, the care, and overall, the love, makes it an environment that’s impossible to duplicate. For me, personally, it’s a lesson in getting grounded in community.

“It’s not just about the steps that are happening, it’s the conversations after,” explained Kelli David-Low, Deeply Rooted’s dance education director. “It’s how loud everybody is in the hallway when class is over, because you’re talking about whatever is going on. … That’s part of that building of that community, because you’re carrying that out of the interactions in the studio.”

Whiturs is a former Alvin Ailey dancer and acclaimed choreographer. At sixty-seven years old, his energy and love for his dancers extends to his focus on challenging everyone at every level. Because of his creativity and dedication, the Mature H.O.T. Women do perform, and as we work together weekly, it’s a reminder that it’s not how I look individually, but how we dance as a collective.

As a writer, so much of what I do is based on my own performance and growth. It can be a solitary experience to sit down and create something. Working with the Deeply Rooted education program, I’m reminded about the beauty of group work. When I’m on that stage with other people, every move I make is tied to all of us. 

“It’s not just about us teaching a step,” Whiturs said. “It’s about us connecting to the people in the room. And when you make that connection to the people in the room, it builds stronger relationships. It builds relationships where you can communicate from an honest place, and be held accountable and hold people accountable.”

For me, accountability looks like the fundamental reminder that we have to follow each other—a lesson reinforced when we’re visited by Deeply Rooted Company members, like Mekeba Malik, Nyemah Stuart, and Joshua Ishmon (who teaches the Men’s Moving class, which meets right after ours most weeks).

“When the company members come and they’re teaching, they’’re continuing what is being taught to them and being given to them,” Whiturs told me. “They say, ‘In order to keep something, you got to give it away.’ So they’re giving it away to you guys. They’re giving away to this program so that we also stay in the true commitment to what the values and principles are of this organization.”

Deeply Rooted is currently fundraising to open its own facility, the Deeply Rooted Center for Black Dance and Creative Communities, in Washington Park. But in the meantime, our Saturday class is held at Mayfair Arts Center at the same time tons of littles take their own dance classes with other theaters, such as Black Girls Dance. With dancers of literally all ages dancing under the same roof every week, this class has turned my Saturdays into a multigenerational oasis.

Best place to run into someone you know: Dawn A.M. Eatery – Hyde Park

On my thirty-ninth birthday, my friend Jenny LeFlore and I wanted to try a place in Hyde Park neither of us had ever been to. So, on a bright August morning, we headed to Dawn A.M. Eatery. We soon found out that we must be the only two people on the South Side to have never tried its delicious fried catfish and grits.

Jenny is my breakfast and lunch friend—my ride-or-die for an all-day eats adventure or a multiple-stop snack and sip day—so it’s very rare that there is ever a restaurant on ourside of town we haven’t tried. But we were happily stunned to run into so many people we knew, people we loved, people we hugged.

This place, full of cheer with its bright and airy atmosphere, reminds me of the stories I used to hear about The Stroll, a strip of State Street in the 1910s and ’20s that was known for being the place for gathering. It was said that being on The Stroll, in any form or fashion, during the day or night, would lead into run-ins with everyone you knew.

Dawn A.M. is just a little over a year old. And unsurprisingly, it shares the same owner as another newer Hyde Park spot—14 Parish, a Caribbean restaurant that immediately gained popularity in my own social circles when Chicagoan Racquel Fields opened it in 2020. Dawn seems to be the result of Fields’ love, because she has said in interviews just how much she views brunch as a time for connection. And that’s exactly what me and my friend experienced. The energy in Dawn is not one that can be fabricated. It’s real.

The restaurant also has a full bar. So in addition to the catfish, which had a perfect crunch, we had delicious drinks. Cheers to another year, cheers to me! And we followed it up with Aunt Lou’s Strawberry Crunch Cake—a yummy pound cake that reminded me of the kind my grandma used to make, topped with ice cream and fresh strawberries.

Best Place to Go Green: Mamie Till-Mobley Forgiveness Garden

Living in the city, the hustle and bustle of urban life can have us forgetting to seek out moments of calm. But we actually are lucky enough to have green spaces on the South Side that can help us slow down.

The Mamie Till-Mobley Forgiveness Garden in West Woodlawn is a new and special addition to the neighborhood because not only is it a place for people to sit and take in the greenery, it’s named for a very important reason. After Emmett Till was murdered by a white mob during a visit to Mississippi in 1955, his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, became an important part of the civil rights movement.

Environmental advocacy group Blacks in Green created this space in her honor. It sits alongside the Till family home the group is working to turn into a museum. And as Naomi Davis, founder and CEO of Blacks in Green, has explained, Till-Mobley spoke about forgiveness. This space is an open invitation to sit, to meditate, and to think.

Just the idea of slowing down and thinking through forgiveness is an essential one for us. Our city—especially our part of the city—is particularly maligned. In stories that others tell about us, the violence that we have experienced often overshadows all of the good that happens here. As someone who has experienced great loss myself, I would never want to downplay how much violence hurts, how much it takes away.

But, we are also a place of healing. Here in Chicago, every single day, there are people working to build a better city, and so much of that work is being done on the South Side. It starts, though, with creating a spirit of calm. So, I’m appreciative of this space where I can usher in a more positive energy when I’m feeling down.

Best Place to Get Lost in History: Carter G. Woodson Regional Library

Carter G. Woodson Library and I have had a long love affair. When I was in seventh grade, my teacher assigned us a big Black History Month project. My classmates and I started to go to Woodson after school to do research, and pretty soon, I was begging my mom to take me there. I even lied to my parents a few times and snuck off to this library. So, trust me: When I say affair, I really mean it.

And now, as a full-blown adult, Woodson Library is still my refuge. It’s still where I go to get lost in a book, to get lost in the unknown, to get lost in history. A few years ago, I felt that same spark I first felt as a preteen when I discovered the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection, which Woodson now houses on its main floor after a beautiful renovation. Now, the Harsh Collection had been at Woodson for decades, but now, with its prominent eye-catching space, it’s able to host events, pull in the community, and make history feel even more like a celebration.

Last summer, during Black Music Month in June, I went to Vivian G. Harsh Society’s “Harsh Remixed” event in the library’s beautiful yard. It featured renowned music historian and DJ Duane Powell along with musician/composer/producer Sam Thousand, who remixed historic blues and jazz songs from the collection. Even with the sun beating down on us, many could find refuge in the shade as we bobbed our heads to the beat and relaxed into the sounds, eating individually wrapped charcuterie snacks and sipping on cold water.

For me, it felt like a balm to be in this place that had meant so much to me, and so much to so many people. My relationship with Woodson started off as a working one, and now, it was one of recreation. It made me grateful to know there are very few places where this could be the case.

As Elizabeth Todd-Breland, historian and board member of the Vivian G. Harsh Society, explained, we are really lucky to have the largest collection of African American history and literature in the Midwest right here at our fingertips.

“When we’re thinking about what the Great Migration wrought not just to Chicago but to the entire Midwest, the Harsh is the place, and its documents certainly have a focus on the history of Black Chicago, but also on Black history more broadly,” she said. “And so, to have this rich collection right here on 95th Street in the Woodson Library, it’s just a treasure.”

Best Place to Have Breakfast With Friends: The Original Pancake House (in Beverly) – Beverly

The Original Pancake House in Beverly is a restaurant I’ve been going to since high school. It’s a place I go to get a little bit of everything: two pieces of bacon, two eggs scrambled hard, two pancakes. The only time I switch it up, honestly, is when I add strawberries to my pancakes. It’s almost the same as my breakfast “order” at my mama’s house. It’s that kind of place.

No matter how many breakfast places Chicago may have, this pancake house will forever be my favorite place to meet up with a group of friends and hang out, chat, and catch up on life until the morning turns into the afternoon. We can relax into the familiar and we can create the kinds of mornings we’ll always remember.

This is perfect for a group of South Side career mamas. We pull up after school or summer camp drop-off and order the same thing every time. The conversation ranges from work to kids and family to community news. And we’re never the only group doing this, either. There are groups of Chicagoans of all ages getting together. There are tables full of laughs. The coffee is always flowing.

There is a simplicity in this act that brings me a great amount of comfort, and I can tell why. The Pancake House has been a family-owned business since the Harrigans bought the franchise in 1965. When you walk in, decades later, it still has the warmth of a local restaurant. There’s no ninety-minute table limit, no rushing you out, and still no long waits. It’s a not-so-hidden gem of a place that we’re still so lucky to have—and one that’s still affordable enough to keep it in your restaurant rotation.

Best Place to Get a Taste of a Family’s Legacy: Haire’s Gulf Shrimp

Sometimes, what I’m craving is a steaming hot bag of fried shrimp, with a breading recipe so specific I can only get it from one place. I think that’s what the late Finnie Haire wanted when he first created Haire’s Gulf Shrimp, using his retirement savings from his long career as a U.S. postal worker. That first location was in a train caboose on Stony Island, and the famed restaurant is now on 75th and Vincennes in Greater Grand Crossing. They also now have a food truck.

Even though it’s been over three years since Haire has passed away, Aisha Murff, the company’s president and owner, says when Haire died in 2021, she promised her husband she would continue his legacy. “Every day when a customer comes in, I feel they’re still tasting a piece of the Haire love,” she told me.

And it’s true. The recipe, which Haire learned from his own mother, is still the same one we can expect when we stop by for its famous “bomb bag” filled with fried shrimp. Also, in true Chicago fashion, you can get either fries or spaghetti as a side from Haire’s as part of your dinner—a perfect blend of Haire’s Louisiana shrimp recipe and our own local flair.

Outro: Best of Being Connected

That’s one of the best aspects about being a South Sider. Our people, our places, and our traditions are a beautiful mix of where we came from and what we are today—of our roots and the flowers we’ve sprouted.

This year, my book, We Are the Culture: Black Chicago’s Influence on Everything, came out. This means that I’ve spent the entire year talking about how amazing Chicago is, how resilient Chicago is, how Chicago is the heart of the country. And, that’s naturally included my love for the South Side.

So, it’s been pretty difficult to transition to Florida, where I will now be during the school year to teach at my alma mater, Florida A&M University. (As soon as school wraps for breaks, the South Side will see me. I’ll be home all summer.)

But, I am so grateful that the South Side is a part of me. Everything that’s considered good about me was formed there, everything I hope to be was planted there, and any good I plan to spread—whether in Chicago or in another part of the world—is because of the best of the South Side.