In the early 20th century, the Greater Lawndale area housed the largest Jewish community in the history of Chicago. Home to 110,000 Jews and 60 synagogues, the area is remembered fondly as "The Great West Side" or "Jerusalem of Chicago." In Lawndale, kosher delis and Jewish bookstores abounded and life followed the weekly and annual rhythms of the Jewish calendar. On Rosh Hashanah celebrants walked to the Douglas Park lagoon to symbolically cast off their sins, and on Hanukkah, menorahs shone from most windows.