>> Funding for "Journey Indiana" was provided in part by: The WTIU Vehicle Donation Program.

Proceeds from accepted donations of a car, or other vehicle, make this program possible.

Most vehicles are accepted, and pickup can be arranged at no cost.

Learn more at WTIU.org/support.

>> Charitable IRA rollover gifts, individuals aged 70 and a half or older may make a tax-free charitable distribution from their IRA to WTIU.

Consult your advisor and visit Indianapublicmedia.org/support for more details.

>> WTIU sustaining members, committing to regular monthly contributions, providing WFIU and WTIU with reliable ongoing support.

Becoming a sustainer is one of the most effective ways to support public media.

>> And by viewers like you.

Thank you!

♪ >> Today on "Journey Indiana," we're headed to Gary.

Meet a group of explorers helping to revitalize the city.

>> Tours for me are kind of twofold.

I love to, not just highlight the history, but invite people to step outside of the space that they might have a preconceived notion about.

And when people come out and they meet local citizens, they tend to get a different vibe.

>> Learn about a trailblazing Gary leader.

>> Mayor Hatcher is one of the first African American mayors of a major city in the United States.

He was able to take a smaller city like Gary, and make it a political player in the national arena.

>> Chow down at a local mainstay.

>> We depend on the customers, and they depend on us.

I don't think that Glen Park would be the same without Koney King.

>> And take in some awesome lakefront views.

That's coming up on this episode of "Journey Indiana."

♪ >> First, we'll take a tour of downtown Gary with the urban explorers known as the Decay Devils.

This is not your typical walking tour.

>> We're going to do a quick safety spiel, and then we'll get moving.

>> That's because it's hosted by the Decay Devils.

>> So what we're going to do today, we're going to stop in the park.

We're going to stop at Gateway.

>> And today, they're taking a group from the Duneland Photography Club on a tour of downtown Gary, including some of the city's notoriously abandoned spaces.

♪ >> Tours, for me, are kind of twofold.

I love to not just highlight the history, but invite people to step outside of the space that they might have a preconceived notion about.

So some people come on the tours, hey, I heard things about Gary, not-so-nice things, et cetera.

Can we go with you all?

And when people come out and they meet local citizens, they tend to get a different vibe.

♪ >> It's fascinating to see how it's just kind of a snapshot in time, and you see the stuffed animal on the ground or, you know, a shoe, one random shoe.

You kind of invent stories in your head about the people who lived there or the lives passing through there.

♪ >> Before their tour guiding days, the Decay Devils were a group of urban explorers.

Bound by their love of photography, the group scoured the region's forgotten spaces.

♪ Tyrell Anderson is one of the group's founders.

>> When we first started, traveling, taking pictures, everyone would just say, you guys are crazy.

You are daredevils.

Why would you go into these buildings?

And when we were trying to pick a name, Decay Devils stuck.

At our core, we're all artists.

We're all photographers, and that's how we came together.

We all got together taking pictures, traveling, trading photography tips.

What camera should I buy?

Can I borrow this equipment?

Honestly, like, it was just a group of people who just wanted to learn how to be better at this hobby.

>> I used to want to go to those spaces, abandoned spaces, not just to see what's around each corner and document, but I used to want to be an architect.

So it's like you get to see some of the roots and the bones, right?

>> These days, the group is less concerned with exploration and more concerned with conservation.

>> This park is real special.

We're in Gateway Park.

>> In 2015, the Decay Devils became a nonprofit.

Their goals were simple, advance preservation efforts and beautify Gary.

And if you scan the QR code, you can learn a little bit more about the history of the buildings we're in front of.

So we went to 11 different sites downtown, and we put these on the ground and tried to use that to encourage people to learn a little bit more about the history and about us as an organization.

>> The goal was, hey, Gary can be spruced up in certain areas.

We think we can help in these areas.

>> The group began volunteering.

They cleaned up sites downtown and sponsored numerous art projects.

♪ The tours were a way to show off their work and promote Gary.

And the abandoned buildings, including them on the tour was just a natural extension of the Devils' origins.

However, they're careful not to encourage anyone to break the law or endanger themselves.

>> You know, there are dozens and dozens of people and corporations who helped get us to this level and this point.

So we want to make sure that everything we do is respectful and tasteful.

>> But safety isn't the only concern.

>> For individuals who might look at our group and say, hey, why do you guys celebrate abandon spaces?

Why take people to abandoned spaces?

For Decay Devils, that's not really our MO.

>> We had a member who was real passionate about this train.

>> So you are not just going to come on a tour with us and just see all abandonment.

That's not what we do.

We highlight the good, the bad and the ugly, and that's life.

Nothing is super perfect.

Why do we act like it is?

>> That's the Standard Liquors Building.

It was renovated to have a college on the bottom level, apartment living on the higher levels.

>> Our vision is to -- let's talk about the history.

Let's celebrate the history and talk about what's next.

And a part of what's next is dealing with what may be abandoned.

>> Dealing with what may be abandoned is exactly what the Decay Devils are planning next.

In 2018, the city gave the group ownership of the long abandoned Gary Union Station, where Tyrell is sitting now.

He dreams of a mixed use hub for businesses and creatives, right here at the Gateway to Gary.

>> We want to restructure downtown.

We want to bring more attraction, more business.

This could be a hub to just get that conversation started, an example, a small-scale example of this is what we can do as we expand.

>> That dream may be a long way off, but Tyrell understands that embracing the past can sometimes help you move forward.

>> Each city has its own hurdles and its own obstacles, but at the end of the day, these spaces allow us to not just learn, but put together a solid game plan on how to ensure that whatever this is moving forward, we don't end back in the same spot.

>> Next, let's learn about Former Mayor Richard Hatcher, a pioneering advocate for the city of Gary.

♪ >> Mayor Hatcher is one of the first African American mayors of a major city in the United States, and it's significant because he was able to politicize the Black agenda at the height of Black Power and take a smaller city like Gary and make it a political player in the national arena.

♪ Lift him up ♪ Lift him up >> In the 1960s, a new generation of leaders was emerging in the U.S. Civil Rights movement.

During this era, Americans would discover a powerful path forward to greater racial equity through the vision of a soft-spoken attorney from Gary, Indiana, Richard Hatcher.

>> It wasn't just Civil Rights for Black people for him.

It was Civil Rights for everyone.

Whatever it was, that was going to help us move forward, that's what he was there for.

♪ Lift him up ♪ Lift him up ♪ Lift him up ♪ ♪ Lift him up ♪ >> Richard Gordon Hatcher was born in 1933 in Michigan City, Indiana.

The son of a Georgia sharecropper, and one of 13 children.

>> He grew up very poor, very poor.

He's the one that kind of got out of that poverty cycle.

Especially his father was a sharecropper in Georgia, and so he was kind of first generation out of the sharecropper slave hold that so many Black families come from.

>> Despite their meager savings, Hatcher's parents sparked his vision to excel in school.

He attended Indiana University on an athletic scholarship.

After earning his law degree at Valparaiso University, Hatcher served as deputy prosecutor before being elected to the Gary City Council in 1963.

>> When he got on the city council, and that's where he started in 1963, that was the goal.

What can I do to make things better?

>> U.S. Steel founded Gary and was Gary.

>> Even the smaller businesses, tool and die businesses, all through Gary depended on this one giant, U.S. Steel.

♪ >> Established in 1906, just southeast of Chicago, Gary, Indiana, was founded by U.S. Steel and its corporate interests.

By the 1960s, a large democratic political machine had risen to power.

A history of corporate corruption cast a long shadow over the city.

Richard Hatcher envisioned a city free from graft and deceit and decided to take on the powers that ran the city government as a candidate for mayor in 1967.

>> He represented a real beacon of light, a real beacon of hope, of what the possibilities are, and they're realistic and pragmatic, that we can actually win.

>> Hatcher hoped to clean up Gary.

But to do so, the young activist would have to confront racist attitudes, a corrupt city government, the Chicago mafia and powerful business interests.

>> He was not going to be told who to hire.

He was not going to be told who to put in what position.

He was not going to be bought.

You were not going to bribe.

And the decisions that he made were going to be the best ones for the City of Gary.

>> Hatcher was no stranger in the fight for Civil Rights.

He marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

He helped stage sit-ins to desegregate restaurants in Indiana.

And he formed alliances with many top cultural and political leaders, including the Reverend Jesse Jackson, President Lyndon Johnson, Vice President Hubert Humphrey and Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

>> He got help, in terms of money, from people out East.

He certainly had the support of, you know, Lyndon Johnson's Great Society.

>> The Democratic party machine in Gary initially supported Hatcher, but when the candidate refused to appoint machine-backed officials to his administration, he lost the support of many in the party, including the local party boss, who then came out in support of his Republican opponent.

♪ >> In what was to be one of the most controversial moves of his campaign, Hatcher boldly took his case to the nation.

He spent a huge portion of his campaign dollars on a single full-page advertisement in the "New York Times."

In it was a clarion call to all citizens, Black and White, who believed in equal rights.

"For God's Sake, Let's Get Ourselves Together."

>> Dad was always talking about unity.

It was always about unity.

Let's come together and figure out how we move forward as a people.

>> He's looking around, and he's trying to get together all of these different factions.

Can there be some common agreement?

Can be there some common consent?

>> Just days before the election in November 1967, the federal government was tipped off to a scheme that would effectively purge many registered voters from Black neighborhoods in Gary.

The FBI and the National Guard were sent in to help prevent voter fraud and ensure a free and fair election.

When the final numbers were tallied, Hatcher prevailed by less than 2,000 votes.

>> This has been one of the most significant campaigns in the history of our city.

It marks the end of years of corrupt machine control of the city's government.

This is, indeed, a great day for the City of Gary.

[ Cheers ] >> There was a huge crowd at his storefront headquarters.

The crowd was so eager to see him and -- and so boisterous and so huge.

And it was a real celebration.

He was looked on as a liberator.

>> On November 5th, 1967, the citizens of Gary, Indiana, elected the first Black mayor of a major American city.

>> That sends a huge signal to those in national politics.

How can we emulate what took place in Gary in other spaces?

So folks are using leverage at the national stage, by fostering connections with Mayor Hatcher.

But he's also using leverage to get what the City of Gary needs as well.

>> In the years that followed, Hatcher raised millions to create advanced housing and job programs for local residents.

He also devised a roadmap to allow other Black candidates to run for local, regional and national offices.

In March 1972, Hatcher helped coordinate the National Black Political Convention in Gary.

The vision was to help guide both major political parties to adopt more inclusive policies and to encourage more Black citizens to run for elected office.

>> I think all of us are saying this afternoon, that if the two major parties in this country fail us and reject us once again in 1972, then they must accept the consequences of that act.

[ Applause ] >> The convention in Gary attracted many of the nation's top names in entertainment, politics and sports.

The effects of the National Black Political Convention were profound.

Within 20 years, there would be more than 300 Black mayors in the United States.

>> He's bringing in as many elected officials as can be.

So they are state legislators.

They are city council people.

His genius to get to the office, to try to bring every resource he could to -- to make Gary an important place and space in Indiana can't be denied.

>> There is no Barack Obama if there's no Richard Hatcher, period.

>> Richard Hatcher served as mayor of Gary for 20 years.

He was an advisor to President Jimmy Carter and worked with TransAfrica to end apartheid in South Africa, even helping to negotiate the release of Nelson Mandela from a South African prison in 1990.

>> He told us we could do anything.

We could be anything.

And I don't think that was just us.

I think he told people that they could be whatever they wanted to be.

And I think just that spark of inspiration or that confidence was enough to move many people on their way.

♪ >> I hope you are not hungry, because our next story, we're headed to a mouth-watering local hot dog joint, Koney King.

♪ >> Koney King sits on the corner of 46th and Broadway in Gary.

They offer burgers, fries, Polish sausages, and yep, you guessed it, a mean Koney dog!

Just ask any of the Glen Park locals.

>> I usually get the Koney dog.

That's my favorite.

>> Koney dog.

It's just a little different.

They add the onions, mustard, always good.

>> Koney dog with cheese and everything on it.

>> Koney dog, man.

Always.

I get the exact same thing every time.

Koney dog with chili and onions.

>> You can't get away from the Koney dog with mustard and onion.

You cannot!

>> And it's that chili sauce that keeps people coming back, no matter what you put it on!

>> Well, you gotta get the chili.

Chili burger, chili fries, the chili Polish, the chili hot dog.

You gotta get the chili.

>> Double chili cheeseburger.

>> And I went with a Koney grilled Polish.

>> The double chili cheeseburger with everything on it, ketchup, mustard, onion and pepper, and then I take a few fries and stick 'em in there.

>> My favorite thing is the Koney Polish and the chili cheese fries.

I had some earlier.

They're real good.

The chili sauce is really good today.

>> And these folks know what they're talking about.

This isn't their first time inside Koney King.

>> I've probably been coming here 30 years.

>> Hmm, about a good 20 years.

>> My grandfather used to always come here.

So it's just always been in the family to come.

>> And I can remember almost 50 years.

>> I would say 20.

>> Since I was in high school.

>> I grew up here.

So all the time.

>> My brother-in-law introduced me to Jimmy about two years ago, and I've been a customer ever since.

>> We got some of the finest ingredients that make some of the best chili.

>> Jimmy is James Hendricks.

He runs the place these days, but the restaurant had been in the hands of the same family for nearly 100 years.

>> Mike Petroff started the shop back in 1920, and it stayed in his family all the way up to 2018.

>> Paul was the third owner of Koney King, and I was Paul's barber.

So in the midst of being his barber for about maybe four or five years, he decided he was done with Koney King.

He was 75, ready to retire, and he just offered the opportunity to really take the building.

Let's be clear.

Koney King was not up for sale for the business, but I didn't know that day one.

A couple weeks in, I'm, like, when you gonna show me how to make the chili?

He's, like, I wasn't selling you that.

You know, he thought that the business was so far gone.

So with that, we agreed that I wanted to continue the legacy on.

He showed me, and here we are today.

>> And if you ask Hendricks for that recipe, he'll give you the same answer he gives everyone else.

>> That would be a no.

You know, I was honored enough to have it passed down to me, and the next wave would hopefully be my grandson, and to keep continuing on, you know?

But that's a legit question, and it happens all the time.

>> But he did walk us through some of the process, leaving out the trade secrets, of course.

>> This is every day.

We make chili fresh every day, sometimes two, three times a day.

You don't have one of these, you're not making real Koney sauce, period.

No cans being opened.

No, this is all 100% fresh ingredients.

It's a no tomatoes or bean sauce that's been in business now for 104 years.

You could get the burger, the dog, the fries, with an add chili to all of them.

Everything on this menu is exceptional.

>> And since Hendricks still cuts hair at his shop next door, a lot of folks come around for a cut and a Koney.

>> Next to the barbershop, Jimmy cut my hair, and then afterwards, I come over here and patronize the restaurant.

>> So of course the fellows in the barbershop have big opinions on what to get next door.

>> The number two.

>> The dog, the burger.

>> Number two with some onions and fries.

>> That double chili cheeseburger.

You get that, that will fill you up.

But it fills you up.

It's good.

>> What do I get?

Absolutely everything.

I love everything.

I frequented it for years.

>> I get an egg sandwich.

>> Egg cheese sandwich is the bomb.

>> People in this neighborhood see Koney King as a lot more than just a hot dog shop.

>> It's an old staple in the community.

So it's always good to come back to support.

It's always good food too.

>> I look it as a social location.

You can sit and discuss current events.

You know, I think it's an asset to the community.

>> Make you think of that song from "Cheers" where everybody knows your name.

>> And Hendricks understands the value of a place like Koney King better than anyone.

>> I mean it was a pleasure and an honor to actually get this handed down.

A lot of people depend on this place.

We see people five times a week.

We depend on the customers and they depend on us.

I don't think that Glen Park would be the same without Koney King.

>> Thanks for watching.

We'll leave you today at Gary's Miller Beach, overlooking beautiful Lake Michigan.

♪ >> Funding for "Journey Indiana" was provided in part by: The WTIU Vehicle Donation Program.

Proceeds from accepted donations of a car, or other vehicle, make this program possible.

Most vehicles are accepted, and pickup can be arranged at no cost.

Learn more at WTIU.org/support.

>> Charitable IRA rollover gifts, individuals aged 70 and a half or older may make a tax-free charitable distribution from their IRA to WTIU.

Consult your advisor and visit Indianapublicmedia.org/support for more details.

>> WTIU sustaining members, committing to regular monthly contributions, providing WFIU and WTIU with reliable ongoing support.

Becoming a sustainer is one of the most effective ways to support public media.

>> And by viewers like you.

Thank you!