In Drew Foley’s 3-part series, “The Losers: Changing the Climate of Lake Forest” he explains the influence that a street gang, The Losers, had on Lake Forest more than 30 years ago.
Nice cars, expansive houses, well-kept lawns, and success breeding in the schools. These are just a few things that come to mind when you see the words Lake Forest neatly printed in script on the town’s welcome sign. Within the last 30 years, the city has changed the way it has viewed its youth drastically. Recently, the city has been very instrumental in helping its youth feel involved and equal. With the creation of CROYA in the 1980’s–possibly the biggest step towards helping the youth of the city–kids of all ages can have a place that will make them feel needed and equal.
However, if you take a leap back in time to Lake Forest at the beginning of the 1970’s it’s almost a different world. CROYA is non existent and the youth were divided into many social groups. “The jocks” and their rivalry with the bottom tier kids labeled as “the losers” are focus of this 3 part story. The Losers were not just a label outcast kids were given. According to The Losers: Gang Delinquency in an American Suburb, the name was something they decided to keep and use as a name for their gang, which originally stemmed from the insult, “You guys are nothing but a bunch of losers.” I know what you’re thinking: there is no way a gang would have ever existed in the wealthy suburban bubble of Lake Forest. Well, I must say I had some speculations myself. Let me be the first to tell you–you are wrong.
I had a chance to sit down with one of their leaders and according to him, “There wasn’t a day where [The Losers] all gathered and had an official meeting establishing that we will be called The Losers. No, it was what people would yell at us out of their cars passing by, so one day when that happened we just decided why not just keep the name–The Losers.”
Before getting into who The Losers were and the role they played in changing Lake Forest, there are a few things to clear up. The Losers were not a drive-by shooting, gang rivalry, initiation-by-murder type of gang. It was simply a large group of youths who felt outcasted and treated unequally within the Lake Forest societal landscape. Their response to this involved destruction of city property in order to have authorities step in so The Losers could discuss the youth issue at hand.
“The Losers welcome you to sin city”
If you drive over to Highwood under a viaduct on Westleigh, then you probably had the displeasure of it being closed for a short time in June last summer. This is because the above quote was originally written in graffiti in the 1970’s into the bridge and stayed there until its removal last summer. The Losers had so many long lasting, resonating effects on Lake Forest. Some were helpful, such as helping create and orchestrating the organization of CROYA, while others were more serious an openly detrimental, such as an old hotel described as “The Roach” being torn down due to each floor being used for a specific elicit activity.
Nonetheless, a few of their pranks were intended to be comical and used city property, such as the fountain in uptown Lake Forest’s Market Square. Many people, myself included, have been wondering why the fountain is so shallow. According to one of the leaders of The Losers, “About where Chief’s Pub is today there was an old pet store. So I bought a few dozen goldfish and just dumped them into the fountain when it was still about 3 feet deep. This irritated the city something awful but the citizens didn’t mind. I remember seeing a little boy and his grandpa looking into the fountain and scooping up one of the fish and the little boy just being so happy and excited. It really made me feel good. Not too long after that a police officer scolded me to get those fish out of there. So I did–with a snapping turtle I waded into a pond to get. This aggravated them even further, so much so that not long after that I walked by to see them filling it with cement.” It wasn’t until more and more youth started to gather into the square that the conflict started to arise between The Losers, the police, the shop owners of Market Square, and soon enough, the city.
For the purposes of this article, I had the chance to learn about the intricacies of the gang from one of their leaders as well as learning more about it via the book The Losers: Gang Delinquency in an American Suburb by sociologists Gene Muehlbauer and Laura Dodder.
Scott • Apr 27, 2017 at 5:41 pm
I remember The Losers very well. A few of them moved in across the street from my parents house on Vine Av in Highland Park when I was a kid. They were all good guys. We never had any problems with them.
Ken Robson • Apr 27, 2017 at 4:20 am
Back in the early to mid 70’s the LOSERS were a consistant presence at the outskirts of South Park where we lived in the Northmoore subdivision. They were pretty harmless drinking their Oly tall boys with the old pull tab open tops. We used to collect beer cans so we knew what they drank. Me and my south park gang were all about 10-12 at the time.
They congrated just outside of the wire fence rope on the dirt access road by the bike path when the bike path was a gravel road. They partyed there because it was out of the jurisdiction of the lfpd or so they thought. I remember their choppers screaming down Maywood. “Here we go again” was all we used to say.
Laura • Apr 26, 2017 at 9:30 pm
In my mind, all it took to be a “loser” was to not have enough magic cash. You could be at the top of your class, but woe betide you if you weren’t wealthy in ways that showed. This breeds anger in some, and independence in others. Don’t forget that your “losers” were perhaps masters of irony.
Kit Helliwell • Apr 25, 2017 at 6:06 pm
Was that bullshit written as part of someones thesis? I was part of it in market square and thats not the way it was…
George • Apr 25, 2017 at 9:31 pm
Who made all this up? That’s not the way it was!!!
Laura • Apr 26, 2017 at 9:31 pm
But when was was?
Pat Kelley • May 26, 2017 at 2:27 am
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….
Pete Bussone • Apr 25, 2017 at 4:35 pm
Graduated in 1970.
I didn’t see this happening or was I aware of it but understand!
Great start!
Look forward to 2 & 3
Can you post names just for a reference?
Understand if you cannot!
Thanks
Sean Murphy • Apr 25, 2017 at 4:32 pm
In the late 70s, we had “the jocks” and “the burnouts”…I had friends in both..ha. All good people for sure. I do remember some talk of “the losers” though. Very cool that you are bringing life to this story. I look forward to the rest!
wendy chester • Apr 25, 2017 at 11:22 pm
I remember the jocks and the burnouts going to new trier
John Holt, LtCol,USAF • Apr 25, 2017 at 2:18 pm
I attended LF College in 1951 and lived in Highland Park. I remember no gangs. I was a Kappa Sig. I was also poor. I was always treated like everyone else and never felt any different than the rich both at school and in town. LF was always considered up scale school when I was there. I graduated from Nebraska but had more fun at LF.
Drew Foley • Apr 25, 2017 at 5:55 pm
I understand this is hard to believe, I was in disbelief myself. There is a book titled The Losers: Gang Delinquency in an American Suburb by sociologists Gene Muehlbauer and Laura Dodder, two people from the very college that you went to. It gives all the information about what happened and when as well as why. There is also a CROYA book called Empowering Teens that talks about the youth problem that was at hand. 1951 and 1970 are 20 years apart leaving a lot of room for change, as well as college having a much more different social feel than high school.
Linc Wonham • Apr 25, 2017 at 11:41 am
Well done, Drew. Looking forward to parts 2 & 3.