Beverly’s borders on the ridge
Officially the community area is called Beverly Hills, and the name goes back to the 91st Street/Beverly Hills station the Rock Island Railroad opened in 1889. It sits on the Blue Island Ridge, running from 87th Street on the north to 107th Street on the south. The western line follows Western Avenue down to 99th Street, Fairfield Avenue to 103rd, then the rail line to 107th. On the east it follows Vincennes Avenue from 107th up to 103rd and Beverly Avenue north from there, with I-57 just beyond. Most addresses use the 60643 ZIP, which Beverly shares with Morgan Park, and about a fifth use 60655.
From S Yale Ave up to Beverly
Our trucks leave from 11616 S Yale Ave in West Pullman. The usual route is south on Princeton Avenue, west on 115th Street, north on Halsted Street, west on 103rd Street, then up Beverly Boulevard to 99th Street. It’s about five miles to the middle of the community.
Big lots, side drives and the alley out back
Beverly grew as a streetcar suburb on the ridge, and its houses and large lots still show it. Most Chicago blocks have an alley running behind the houses. Where a Beverly garage opens onto one, that’s often the easiest place for a tow truck to reach the car, and we can load there instead of crossing the front yard.
Not every car is that simple. A vehicle at the end of a long side drive, or in a garage with a tight turn, needs a word of warning on the call. So does one sitting on the slope of the ridge. Our guide to garage and alley pickups covers what to clear and what to tell us before the truck arrives.
A car that hasn’t started in years is fine. Dead batteries, seized engines and lost keys are all fine: we buy non-running cars in that state. Old trucks, vans and SUVs are welcome too.
Paperwork is the other question people ask. If the title for your junk car has gone missing, tell us what you still have, whether that’s a bill of sale, an old registration or an insurance card. Which of those can stand in for a title on a scrap sale is set by Illinois rules, so we go through your papers on the phone before a truck heads your way.
103rd Street, from Vincennes to the tracks
103rd Street runs through the middle of Beverly, past the 103rd Street station and the Givins Beverly Castle at Longwood Drive, and the area around the station is zoned for business. It’s also a Winter Overnight Parking Ban street. The city’s list covers 103rd from Torrence Avenue all the way to Kedzie, so Beverly’s entire stretch is included. Between December 1 and April 1, no car may sit there from 3 am to 7 am, and the rule holds on dry nights as well as snowy ones.
If your car has quit and it’s parked on 103rd, the simplest fix is to sell it before December 1.
Landmarks a Beverly driver knows
The Rock Island Line stops about every four blocks here, at 91st, 95th, 99th, 103rd and 107th Streets. Several of those stations belong to the Beverly/Morgan Railroad District, made a Chicago Landmark in 1995. The welcome sign at 95th Street and Western Avenue is a good marker too, and so is the Longwood Drive District, landmarked in 1981, where some of the community’s grandest houses sit along the top of the hill. Robert Givins built his castle at 103rd and Longwood in 1886 and 1887.
For parks, Ridge Park has the 1913 fieldhouse and the Vanderpoel Memorial Art gallery. Beverly Park sits beside the 10200 block of South Maplewood Avenue, which carries the honorary name Cpl. Conner T. Lowry Way. King-Lockhart Park is at 10609 S. Western Ave., on the site of a tire store lost to a 1998 fire. The post office at 10238 S. Vincennes Ave. and Engine 121 at 1724 W. 95th St. are easy references as well.
Architecture fans will know a few more. Frank Lloyd Wright designed the two American System-Built houses at 10410 and 10541 S. Hoyne Ave., and his William and Jessie M. Adams House stands at 9326 S. Pleasant Ave. The Walter Burley Griffin Place District covers the 1600 to 1800 blocks of West Griffin Place. Naming the nearest of these gets a driver to the right block quickly.
Around Beverly
South across 107th Street is Morgan Park, which shares the ridge and the ZIP code. East past Beverly Avenue and Vincennes is Washington Heights, whose 1874 village took in much of Beverly. To the west and southwest is Mount Greenwood.
Curious what happens between the call and the payment? Read how it works.