Chicago Blizzard 1979

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"Chairs" by Nick Despota, John Mabey, and Bob Snyder. During the 1979 Chicago Blizzard, people saved shoveled parking spaces with chairs. For the entire episode of the 90's, go to:
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[@nicholaskemmerle]

yes they do

[@dorabhar1]

The snow started the day of my father's funeral. All of my family was there from all over the U.S., California, Detroit, St. Louis, Kansas, etc. My father's body stayed at the funeral home for almost a week. Family members were stranded at our house for days. Yes, it was a day to remember. One I will never forget.

[@waltcole529]

My flight was delayed from Buffalo to Chicago during this storm headed to great lakes. It was bad on both ends.

[@juliemcarthur3004]

I remember that

[@musicman257]

i remeber that year i was living in northlake

[@BNforever2009]

i was in high scholl and my parents made me shovel snow all that night and early morning. I shoveled snow in front of the house 6 times!!

[@fnell1959]

@agentk1986 Yes they still use chairs in certain places

[@fnell1959]

@agentk1986 Yes they still use chairs

[@scottdavidson9963]

I loved it. No school.

[@fluffness93]

@agentk1986 yes they still do. i live in chicago, thats how i know. lol

[@winstonsmith60626]

@agentk1986 they try, if I see them on my street which is entirely multi unit apartments, I toss them in a dumpster.

[@richig761]

Get ready for the blizzard that's going to top that... Tonight.

[@ebf1957]

Michael Bilandic's waterloo.

[@TheMrLannes]

@agentk1986 yes they do :]

[@amystreasuresdesign]

@agentk1986 YES!

[@marthaalbear7523]

I remember that day. .I was just 13 years old. I remember schools where close.

[@Thatguyjack758]

my mom got the chicago tribune newspaper with the front page saying 79' blizzard last christmas from my grandparents but my dog chewed and ripped it up

[@Adamas502]

smoking blunts watching the blizzard right now

[@Xoletta]

If you think it's pathetic, I will have to imagine you've never taken an hour of your time, in weather so cold it burns your skin, to shovel out a parking space for your car. If you did this, right in front of your own home, then left to go to work - only to come home and see someone else (who didn't shovel shit) using the spot you worked so hard to clear, and leaving you with no place to park, you would have an entirely different attitude about it. Trust me on that, whoever you are.

[@suspiciouswatermelon7639]

Get a house with your own driveway or garage. Otherwise, it's every man for himself out on the street. The chairs in the street thing is so low class.

[@marinokids123]

Somebody had a great sense of humor to capture this, I remember it well as a kid. .,the great chair wars.

[@shihtzutoy1]

I lived in Wauconda at the time, a suburb. The Illinois National Guard was called out to clear roads and brought in heavy equipment. The piles of snow on the side of the road were higher than 6 feet. It was surreal. People were shoveling their roofs to keep them from caving in. It was crazy.

[@grethomory]

I just moved from there last year and they still do it.

[@LHZZ12MM]

yes we still use chairs...usually the only ones we have...it's all we can afford for furniture due to all the fees and taxes.

[@cocoaorange1]

I was 11 years old, and recall we had to eat crappy lunches, since the trucks were stranded. In addition, the roof caved on an older school building. I was living on the West Side of Chicago.

[@FaganRoberts]

I lived in Berwyn, Ill. @ the time of the blizzard. What a mess. I moved to Florida the following year.

[@rrbond07]

When I lived in Chicago at that time and someone parked in the spot that took me a couple hours to shovel out for my parents, I went back out and shoveled all the snow back in front of and behind their car so they HAD to get out and shovel the snow again if they wanted to get out. Needless to say, they didn't park there again, and yes, we put chairs out there to mark our spot.

[@agentk1986]

Do people in Chicago still use chairs to reserve parking spaces? They were doing that when I lived there in the 90s.

[@creepingnet]

For those of us who were not there, it looks like they had a blizzard of chairs, lol.

[@AtlantaGymFan]

I grew up in Hometown and Arlington Heights before my family moved us to Atlanta. I moved back to Chicago for a year in 2008 and I loved living downtown and being within walking distance to nearly everything, but the city rule of moving your car every 7 days or risk having it towed for "abandonment" was the craziest rule I've ever encountered.

[@Philtration]

@agentk1986 Yes. When someone goes through the trouble of shoveling a mountain of snow to clear a spot then you had better respect that effort. It has been that way for as long as I can remember here in Chicago.

[@ducklandwikeno]

Yes they stil do use chairs for there parking spot over there .

[@cbsctomh]

Why the hell would a human choose to live like these people. Man, what a depressing swamp...not to mention the Cubs and da Bears!

[@Zva26]

Am sorry to say that people in Chicago are still doing the chair/table/couch thing to save their parking spaces. It's of course illegal, but when one shovels out a space, they feel that they own it. This "tradition" began with the 1967 snowstorm (which was REALLY unbelievable!) and it still continues to this day. I'm glad that I live in a hi=rise condo and have indoor parking. When the weather gets bad, the car stays in the garage and I use the bus. Haven't shoveled snow in 35 years.

[@musicman257]

i rember this well. i lived in villa park at the time.now i live in sav ga.dont miss the snow lol.

[@jaeT2]

oh yeah but its true they move your stuff or they take it lolol! we lost about 6 chairs doing that lol!

[@adape0884frank]

What's up with the chairs❓

[@crit1227]

Wow chairs to reserve parking spaces.. the more you know. lol

[@highwaymaintainer]

we still do it

[@ChuckMamuck]

Some of them even use cars, how crazy is that.☺

[@JSQ88]

Nice old footage!!!

[@Xone7]

@Chicago10281 Wasnt born yet in '79 but I remember '99. It was a doozy

[@frednora2864]

I was there for the 99 and 11 blizzards. Was not alive 1979.

[@fnell1959]

@musicman257 I remember this day well too now i am not living there anymore live in tornado alley Tennessee

[@jamesog101]

@agentk1986 lol yeah i live in chicago too and i remember that and for some reson it seems they've stopped doing it so much.

[@lukuleleLOL]

That just shows you how reckless snowplow drivers can be and why you should never trust them with your chairs.

[@Godzie1]

Oh how I remember this storm? I was standing at a bus stop for almost an hour for a Irving park bus in this storm. When the bus finally drove up it was packed w/passengers. The poor bus driver was so upset that he wrote a sign & taped it on the front of his money deposit... I'M SORRY THIS WAS NOT MY FAULT! It did make us laugh!

[@caitlinklask]

this is the prettiest thing on youtube

[@Xoletta]

That will never work, because the chairs have no license plates on them. They could belong to anyone - how will the police know who to give the fine to?

[@Nino_J]

@agentk1986 Yes they do, but the city is gonna start putting out fines for doing it.

[@Fucknuts4u]

@agentk1986 No, they stopped doing that right after you left! *rolls eyes* Stupid ass question!

[@goocharoo58]

we shoveled our spot ,you bet we put chairs out!

[@Xoletta]

Yep - we sure do! And god help the poor bastard who moves them and takes our parking space! haha! So far this year, though, we have not had enough snow to shovel. We only use the chairs when we have to break our back for over a half hour to dig away all the heavy snow, and of course, we limit putting out chairs to the parking space directly in front of our house.