On the 3rd floor of this apartment building writer Nelson Algren created some of his greatest works about life in the once down-and-out neighborhood. A plaque marks the spot, though unfortunately you can't go inside. Algren won the 1950 National Book Award for his novel The Man with the Golden Arm, about a drug addict hustling on Division St near Milwaukee Ave (a half-mile southeast).
His short Chicago: City on the Make summarizes 120 years of thorny local history and is the definitive read on the city’s character.