Well said Kit Helwell!
I think it was part of Gene Muehlbaurer’s or Laura D’s Thesis…Did Gene ever make “tenure” at LF College. hmmmmm….publish or perish…. I read the book and know there were “mis- quotes” & some subjective interpretations made.
Having moved into town from the East in HS during this time period, I really didn’t see too much difference with the social “scene” in LF versus my old Eastern similar socio-economic residence…kids universally just wanted a place “to be” in LF, and the sidewalks rolled up at 5pm. There was never any mention of all the “house parties” and drinking/drugging/private property damage/self injury or even murder done by teens who didn’t hang out regularly in public venues (parks, beach, quarry pits, etc. ), like the “Losers” in the book. A teen just wouldn’t “answer the door” when the police showed up….no search warrant, no entry…That these “like minded” young people claimed the nomer “Loser” for their own is exactly the same as a LF athlete claiming “Jock” as their identified group affiliation. (I always saw this “nomer” as rather tongue in cheek”.) Both groups hung around with a certain set of friends respectively. There were no scientific comparisons/ or analysis of criminal or juvenile delinquency data with other same age peers not “labeled” in the book/thesis as Losers. Yet “Losers in Paradise”, the book, epitomizes the Losers as ne’er do wells, etc. And yes, there were conflicts with the police, store owners, etc. as the problems got “personalized”, publicized, and generational and political “mores” clashed with the more publicly visible “Losers”. The Losers “made noise”. Remember also it was a time that the “Merry Pranksters” hit the news for their pranks that engendered mayhem (and sometimes just amusement). For those who grew up in the 60’s/70’s, recall that there was a hue and cry to become “anti-establishment”, it was “popular”! Does this qualify a “group” to be identified as a gang? There was no hierarchy per se, no beating in or beating out, no initiations…and so on. And yes, laws and ordinances may have been violated, not just by The Losers…but by many of the underage teens in town as they hit the Highwood bars and drove home drunk or high on their own drug of choice. As far as the “The Losers” being “outcasts”….not…I never heard that word being applied by anyone in town…especially other peers/teens in the HS during that time. The term “outcast” connotes “not being a part of”….and the teens/young adults of the Losers were as much a part of Lake Forest as the “jocks”, etc. Who supposedly “outcast” these kids…not other high school students….not the HS teachers…WHO??? Who stuck this negative demeaning descriptor on them, only the highfalutin academician perhaps? An outsider.
Some of those who hung around as “a Loser” were more vocal, maybe some more confrontational, and frustrated perhaps? And then there were many who were very quiet, personable, affable, liked by all…just not into the whole “system” and doing their own “thing”, like music, cars, cycles, etc. And just perhaps “disenfranchised” youth is a more accurate description as the 60’s and 70’s were two decades of immense social and political activism across the United States, and not specific to LF. I often wondered if this “thesis” or book had been written on location in Winnetka if the “burn out” labeled students would have been considered a gang per se. Or perhaps the “jocks”?
The Roach Motel??? Let’s not romanticize it… Specific rooms for specific illicit activities…more like a flop house for those young adults who had moved out of their parents’ homes…..and couldn’t afford anything else but wanted to live in LF.
You may see in some of the comments or responses to these posts that some have a completely different perspective or experience of “The Losers”….
As much as I would like to credit the Losers with seeding the idea to start up CROYA….ummm…never would I have connected the two….I believe it was the general sentiment across Northshore communities to create a “place” for teens to be and participate….examples: Highland Park Youth Services, Northbrook Youth Services, Hanover Township/Schaumburg Youth Services, Glenview Youth Services…all established at the same time….and the list goes on!
To the young people of today…the 60’s and 70’s were tumultuous for the older and younger generations…and “history” according to the “writer” of the said history may NOT be an accurate depiction of actual events/situations/sentiments/ of those living the “history”. In other words, don’t believe everything you read, no matter what credentials the writer holds….