- The Chicago Skyway spanning the Calumet River, it's the gritty back door to Chicago's lakefront.

I love this area in all its Rust Belt glory.

And right below the Skyway, you can see its red roof from the bridge, is a local legend, Calumet Fisheries, a famous smokehouse and one of the last survivors of Chicago's legacy of commercial fishing.

(patrons chattering) - The whole point of Calumet Fisheries is the experience.

And we like to explain to customers, like hey, what the process is, so that way they're part of their experience as well.

They don't just eat the smoked stuff.

They actually seen how it's done.

- [Geoffrey] And how it's done is the old-fashioned way, splitting oak and cherry by hand.

Remember how we said Du Sable had a smokehouse back in the 1790s?

It was probably a lot like this.

So how long has this smokehouse been here?

- From as far as I know, this is the original smokehouse when they first opened up in 1928.

- 1928?

- Yeah.

- [Geoffrey] And how often does it get cleaned On the inside?

- Haven't cleaned, kind of just preserved since 1928.

As far as I'm aware.

- [Geoffrey] And back then commercial fishing in Chicago was still going strong.

The smokehouse would take in white fish or trout right off the boats.

They served steel workers getting off a shift at local factories.

Calumet Fisheries was here in 1937 during the Memorial Day massacre at Republic Steel when Chicago Police fired on striking steelworkers, killing 10 people.

These days, the Calumet River steel mills are gone.

Commercial fishing is also gone.

But Calumet Fisheries remains.

It even survived a fire that closed its doors in 2023.

This is like Chicago history here.

- I didn't notice it until we closed down and opened back up.

But people really do, they missed us.

They really missed us and they really came out to show support.

We get stories of people coming in and saying, "I remember coming in when I was 5 or 2 years old with my grandfather," and now they're bringing their grandchildren.

- Hi.

You got customers in there, - The demand.

The demand's high.

Have you ever had the smoked salmon before?

- I want to try it.

- Well, lemme get you a tray and then get you set up.

Just peel back the skin and start flaking it out.

- Oh, look at this.

Check that out.

Ooh, it's hot.

It's too hot to touch.

Pepper and garlic right there.

The smokehouse is right at 95th Street Bridge, which is often raised for passing ships and barges, snarling traffic.

And certainly the Calumet River itself defines this area.

It cuts off one neighborhood from the rest of Chicago.

So this is really like a world unto itself, isn't it?

- [Javier] Yeah, a lot of people like to clump us up with Indiana 'cause we're so close to the border, but we're like, no, we're still in Chicago and it's called the East Side.

- A lot of people don't even know there is an east side of Chicago, right?

You know, we got a north side and a west side and a south side.

- Yeah.

And then they're like, "That south side.

That's it."

It cuts off on south side.

But no, we're southeast.

So yeah, there's still, there is an east side.

- [Geoffrey] There is an east side.

- [Javier] Yeah.

- Do people in the neighborhood connect with the lake much?

'Cause you know, it was usually, for decades it was just blocked off by steel mills.

- Yeah, so there's a park literally probably like two minutes down, straight down 95th.

That's called Calumet Park.

Come by any Saturday, Sunday, Friday, and a nice weather day, you'll see the whole community out there.

People grilling out, people playing soccer, people playing basketball.

It's just you see the community there.