On Tuesday, Hyde Park’s favorite son became the first black President of the United States. Throughout the day, the South Side neighborhood was buzzing as crowds swelled in storefronts once frequented by Barack Obama.
“He worked very hard for the people of Hyde Park, especially the poor people,” said Lennean Williams, who lives in the neighborhood. “The people love him.”
Before the inauguration, Williams ate breakfast at the president’s favorite diner, Valois Restaurant. She ordered “The Obama:” scrambled eggs, a New York strip steak, hash browns and toast.
A line of Hyde Park residents and other Obama supporters snaked through the packed restaurant, which was teeming with a sense of anticipation in the hours before he was sworn in.
“My mother and my father marched with Martin Luther King for this day, ” said Brenda Clay, a 58-year-old accounting analyst. “I feel different today. I feel proud.”
Rahn Harris, a public service officer at the nearby University of Chicago, has eats at Valois every day.
“On a normal day, it’s packed,” he said. “But this is exhilarating. I’ve seen him here and I just want to take part in the festivities.”
For sociologist Mitchell Duheier, who wrote a 1994 book about the ascending black middle class in Hyde Park based on his observations of Valois patrons, it was no surprise Obama associated himself with the restaurant.
“Obama is the ultimate cosmopolitan president and VaLois is the ultimate cosmopolitan restaurant,” he said at the restaurant Tuesday. “When Obama moved to Chicago, he was interested in becoming a part of the community.
An Obama impersonator who appeared on the Today Show also ate at the restaurant before the inauguration.
“I put a video on YouTube because I saw a lot of guys out there who may have had the voice but didn’t have the look,” said Chicago native Reggie Brown, an Obama look-alike who is pursuing a career in broadcasting. “I’ve been working on my impression for a while.”
Down the street at the Hyde Park Hair Salon and Barber Shop, where Obama used to get his hair cut, a crowd watched the inauguration on a big screen television.
“There are no words to describe it,” said Monique Blanton, who owns the business. “We’re proud to be associated with the first black president.”
Blanton’s mother, Denise Edge, said Obama’s election erased her previous cynicism regarding inequality in the United States.
“I’m so tired of the racism,” she said through tears while holding her 6-month-old granddaughter, Mié. “I’m tired of people losing their houses. I’m tired of hunger. I’ve been waiting a long time for this.”
Tony Coye, a barber who was cutting a customer’s hair while watching Obama’s address, said the speech was exactly what he wanted to hear.
“It seems like he was committing to doing what he set out to do in his campaign,” he said, still buzzing a sideburn.
Before beginning his political career, Obama was a law professor at the University of Chicago. During his speech, students packed into a room in the school’s student center to watch the event together.
“It was an amazing experience to share with a room full of people who were equally excited,” said Priya Mathur, who researchers cell biology at the school. “We all stood up when Obama took the oath.”
About fifty people, many of whom attended Chicago, watched from the Woodlawn Tap, a bar just north of campus.
“We saw it coming,” said bartender Matt Calhoun, who worked on election night when the crowd was even larger. “I’m stoked. I am so glad for the changing of the guard.”
