Cops in Chicago 1950's

Pepper's Lounge and Teresa's, both on the South Side, were archtypal blues clubs back in the day. Don't know about Mafia involvement. There were some black cops in the sixties, I believe, but not many of them. Cops carried .38 revolvers.

This is not 100% gospel. I was very young and my memories of those days, for some reason, are a bit...fuzzy.

The police of the days typically carried Smith and Wesson 'K' frame revolvers, which can be chambered for 6 shots of .38. The smaller 'J' frame (5shots) would often be carried by officers as a back up weapon (ankle holster, anyone?).

A popular alternative to the S&W would be the Colt Detective Special, which is only chambered for 6 rounds of .38

This is back in the days when law-enforcement firearms were rather... boring by comparison to the choices these days, though I must say, the 6-shooters does have a certain amount of classiness to 'em (of course, I'm biased, I'm a revolver owner0

Hi Miki,

The answer from my father, the retired Cook County copper (and yes, he hasn't yet learned that all-caps is shouting, LOL).....not Chicago, since the county and city dept's are separate, but the numbers should be comparable.....

IN MY CLASS IN 1967 THERE WAS ONE BLACK
GRADUATE OUT OF FORTY (TOTAL OF 15 BLACK OFFICERS OUT OF 400
PERSONNEL)....THIS BEGAN TO INCREASE AS AFFIRMATIVE ACTION TOOK OVER
AND
FEDERAL GRANTS NEED MINORITY NUMBERS TO BE AWARDED

38 CAL SPECIAL WAS THE WEAPON OF CHOICE TILL THE 357 MAGNUM COLT
TROOPER
(ALSO SMITH & WESSON HAD A VERSION) TOOK OVER IN THE EARLY SIXTIES
FOLLOWED BY THE 44 MAG AND THE GLOCK

NO CLUE ON THE BLUES CLUB QUESTION

LOV YA
POPS

Hope this was helpful,
Audrey