Ask someone from here where they live and you’ll usually hear “Marquette Park,” not Chicago Lawn. Both names mean the same place to us. Masters Cash for Junk Cars picks up junk cars from any street in Chicago Lawn, which runs from 59th Street south to the Belt Railway of Chicago, and from Central Park Avenue east to the CSX and Norfolk Southern tracks.
The park in the middle of everything
Marquette Park is the reason for the nickname, and it’s huge. The Park District’s page puts it at more than 315 acres, the largest of the neighborhood parks the South Park Commission created, on a plan the Olmsted Brothers drew up in 1903. Inside it you’ll find a nine-hole golf course and driving range, a lagoon, a prairie, a rose garden and a sculpture honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who led a fair-housing march here in 1966.
That size matters for a pickup. “By the park” covers a lot of ground. So we’ll ask which side:
- North side, along Marquette Road (67th Street). The monument to the Lithuanian pilots Darius and Girėnas stands near the California Avenue corner.
- West side, on Kedzie Avenue. The Park District lists the park’s address on Kedzie.
- South side, toward 71st Street. Tarkington School sits on 71st at the park’s southern edge.
Other landmarks that pin down a Chicago Lawn address
Holy Cross Hospital, at 68th Street and California Avenue, is an easy one. The Lithuanian Sisters of Saint Casimir founded it in 1928, and it’s now part of the Sinai Chicago system. A block over, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church at 69th and Washtenaw was founded in 1927 as a Lithuanian parish and still holds services in Lithuanian. On 63rd Street, the Chicago Islamic Center and Mosque has Middle Eastern shops and restaurants close by. Any of those, plus a cross street, gets the driver to the right block.
Kedzie, California and the City’s parking rules
Chicago runs two snow-related parking bans, explained on the City’s winter parking restrictions page. The first is the winter overnight ban, nightly from 3 to 7 a.m. between December 1 and April 1, snow or not. In Chicago Lawn the street that matters is Kedzie Avenue, which the City’s route data lists for that ban from North Avenue all the way down to 87th Street. That puts the park’s whole west edge inside it.
The second ban applies only after 2 inches of snow. Its routes here include Kedzie, California Avenue north of 71st, 63rd Street, 71st Street and Marquette Road. A car that can’t start is the worst thing to have parked on any of them.
Then there’s the abandoned-car rule, which applies all year. Under the Department of Streets and Sanitation’s abandoned vehicle criteria, a car parked on a public street may be treated as abandoned when it can’t be driven, when it has sat unmoved for over seven straight days looking deserted, or when its state registration has been missing for two days or more. Neighbors report those through 311.
Getting a truck to Chicago Lawn
From 79th and Pulaski, our route is about three miles and roughly six minutes of driving: north on Pulaski, east on 71st Street, then up Kedzie Avenue to the park. The east end, nearer the tracks, is a little farther. A same-day visit is often doable.
What selling a car here looks like
Start with a call to (708) 838-5553 or the online cash offer form. We’ll want the year, make and model, the condition, and which papers you can show. If you’re short on paperwork, read the Illinois no-title guide first, then tell us what you’ve got.
Condition rarely rules a car out. We buy fire and flood damaged cars, stripped shells and cars with no keys. Bigger vehicles are fine too: our page on junk trucks, vans and SUVs covers those. Once you accept the offer, the driver tows the car at no charge and pays you right there.
Around Chicago Lawn
North across 59th Street is Gage Park. East over the tracks is West Englewood. West Lawn starts on the far side of Central Park Avenue, and Ashburn lies south of the Belt Railway. You can see everywhere else we go on the service areas page.
Map of Chicago Lawn
Chicago Lawn questions
Do you buy junk cars in the Marquette Park neighborhood?
Yes. Marquette Park is the everyday name for Chicago Lawn, and we cover all of it, from 59th Street south to the Belt Railway and from Central Park Avenue east to the CSX and Norfolk Southern tracks. A cross street, or a landmark like Holy Cross Hospital, is enough for us to find the car.
My car is parked on Kedzie by the park. Is that a problem?
Between December 1 and April 1 it is. Kedzie Avenue is on Chicago's winter overnight parking ban, so parking there is off limits between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m., even with no snow, and violators are towed. Kedzie is a 2-inch snow route as well. If it will roll, get it onto a side street first and then give us a call.
Can you collect a car from an apartment building lot?
Yes, as long as you can get us in. Tell the building manager a tow truck is coming and make sure nothing is parked in front of the car. If there's a gate, a code or a fob, sort it out before the driver arrives so the pickup doesn't stall at the entrance.
Do I need a title to sell my car in Chicago Lawn?
A title makes it simplest, but tell us what you really have. Whether a bill of sale, registration or insurance card is enough depends on Illinois rules and on the car itself. We tell you which way it goes before we book the tow, not after the truck shows up.