(photo by Lee Bey)

Street repairs near Lake west of Odgen have revealed a pretty sturdy-looking old brick road beneath layers of asphalt.

You see this and you imagine the then-young city bustling with people and the “clop” of work horses tromping across the brick surface—maybe as the old Lake Street Elevated Railroad roared overhead.

The bricks soon will be covered again with new pavement. But their short visit is worth noting, as is the case when old street car tracks come up for air every now and then during road-fixing season. That’s the funny thing about Chicago: The past never lurks too far below the surface.