Chatham starts at 79th Street and runs south toward 95th. The Metra Electric line marks its eastern border, with stops at 79th, 83rd and 87th Streets. On the west end, the Dan Ryan Expressway cuts through, and the Red Line stations at 79th and 87th sit inside the community area. Most Chatham addresses carry the 60619 ZIP code, and roughly a quarter use 60620.
Locals still use the older names: Chatham-Avalon, Chatham Club, Chesterfield, East Chatham, West Chatham and the top of West Chesterfield. Historically the area was three neighborhoods, Avalon Highlands, Chesterfield and Chatham Fields. If you tell us “East Chatham, near the 83rd Street Metra stop,” the driver already has a good idea where to go.
From South Yale Avenue up the Dan Ryan to Chatham
Our trucks leave from South Yale Avenue in West Pullman. For a Chatham pickup the usual run is up Princeton Avenue to 115th Street, east to Michigan Avenue, then north onto the Dan Ryan. Most of the time the driver exits at 87th Street, heads east, and turns north onto the side streets around Prairie Avenue. It’s about five miles, which is one reason same-day pickup in Chatham is often possible.
If your car is north of 83rd, the route changes a little, but the expressway still does most of the work.
Chatham bungalow blocks and their alleys
Two parts of Chatham are on the National Register of Historic Places for their houses. The West Chatham Bungalow Historic District covers the blocks between Stewart and Perry Avenues from 79th to 82nd Street, with 283 Chicago bungalows built from 1913 to 1930. The Garden Homes Historic District sits between Wabash and Indiana Avenues from 87th to 89th Street.
Blocks like these shape a pickup more than people expect. The garage is usually at the back, facing the alley, and a car that died in there years ago tends to be nose-in with soft tires. That’s fine. Tell us three things on the call:
- Is it in the garage, on the parking pad, or at the curb out front?
- Do the wheels roll, or is the car sitting on a flat or a missing wheel?
- Is anything parked behind it that needs to move first?
A clear answer to those saves the driver a second trip. If the car is out on 87th Street itself, say which side and which block, because loading on a busy arterial goes faster when we know exactly where to stop.
79th Street and Cottage Grove: two ban streets in Chatham
Chatham has two streets on the city’s Winter Overnight Parking Ban list. 79th Street, banned from Cicero Avenue all the way to South Shore Drive, forms Chatham’s northern edge. Cottage Grove Avenue, banned from the Midway Plaisance down to 103rd Street, runs straight through the middle of the community.
From December 1 to April 1, parking on those streets is off limits between 3 am and 7 am, whether or not it snows. The signs stay up all year, so neighbours sometimes forget about them until a car is gone. A dead car that can’t be moved is the most likely one to get caught, and towed cars from this part of the city go to Pound 2 on South Doty Avenue. Our guide on moving a dead car before the winter parking ban covers timing and what to do if the city tows it first.
Landmarks for finding your car in Chatham
Drivers do better with a landmark than with an address alone, especially on long residential blocks. These come up often:
- Simeon Career Academy, the area’s public high school.
- The 87th Street Red Line stop in the Dan Ryan, a clear marker for the west side.
- The 83rd Street Metra Electric station on the eastern border.
- The Four Nineteen Building, a gas station designed to look like a small house.
Elementary schools such as Ruggles, Westcott and McDade are just as useful if your street sits near one.
Chatham family cars, missing titles and the sale
Picture a familiar Chatham situation: a parent stops driving, the car sits in the garage for years, and nobody knows where the title went. Tell us what you have, maybe a registration, an insurance card or an old bill of sale. Illinois rules decide which documents can support a scrap sale, and we sort out what works for your case on the phone. Our page on selling a car without a title explains the usual cases.
Once the paperwork is settled, the rest is quick. The truck comes to you, the tow is free, and you’re paid at pickup. You can read the full step-by-step on how a pickup works before you call.
Next to Chatham
Across 79th Street to the north is Greater Grand Crossing, where Cottage Grove carries the same winter ban up toward 67th. East of the Metra Electric tracks, Avalon Park picks up along 79th and 83rd Streets. To the west, past the Dan Ryan, Auburn Gresham shares 79th Street and 87th Street with Chatham, and we pick up there on the same routes.