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DEVON STREET
"Devon Street is a unique place." I am well aware that this assertion that has no critical value. However, when you first see this place, the first thing you think about is its uniqueness. On seeing this street, one feels as if he/she is having a tour in Pakistan, India, some Arab countries, Israel or Russia. It's a salad bowl. The first time when I saw Devon Street was right after 9/11. Nearly all the shops, that were apparently owned by Muslims, had huge American flags hung on their windows. What a flag is able to represent I, totally, don't know. Can it be Peace? Patriotism? Loyalty? Diversity? All of them? None of them? Maybe it just meant that they really loved the, amazingly diverse, Devon Street they lived on.
The following pictures was taken on 26 May, 2002, on an ordinary Rogers Park spring. People from different races were shopping, enjoying the nice weather and just wondering why I was taking those photos.
Russian alphabet following Bismillah Meat store.
Most of the Muslim shopkeepers give religious names to their stores on Devon Street. Bismillah, meaning In the name of the God in English, represents that this meat store sells Halal meat. Like Jews, Muslims don't eat pork and they cut their animals in the name of their Allah. So these kinds of stores are vitally important for Muslims who want to buy halal meat.
The tale of two stores.
Here you see two neighbors of different religions. Iqra' Book Center and Gitel's Kosher Pastry. Both names have religious connotations. Kosher is the kind of food that Jews can consume (similar to the halal of the Muslims.) Iqra is the first word of Qo'ran which means read. After seeing these neighbors, getting along well, one cannot help remembering the recent war in the Jews and Muslims of the Middle East. If only they could...
Hindus crossing the street in their traditional clothes.
Can you see the church building, on the far side of the photo, that watches the religiously diverse Devon Street?
A photo showing Mehrab and Ravi shops, both of which are Islamic names.