There is a wide median surrounded by curb and filled with grass and bendy trees, located in the center of one small stretch of
Randolph Street; just the block between Harvey and Lombard in
Oak Park, IL. This small oasis has been known as Monkey Island by generations and generations of Oak Park youth because all of us have climbed its trees and swung from their branches at some point.
I was driving through my hometown the other day and turned down that small stretch of Randolph. The small and insignificant looking tree-filled median made me laugh, but I saw one small girl playing with her toys at the base of a center tree. To her, the island was still a big place, magical, a child's recluse.