25,000 Movies and a Mural Coming to 35th Street: McKinley Park's Video Store Defies the Odds — and a $200K Public Art Grant Is About to Transform the Corridor Around It
By Socialhood News · Mckinley Park ·
At a moment when streaming services have made the local video store feel like a relic, McKinley Park's own Joe Trutin is proving that a neighborhood institution with the right character — and 25,000 titles on the shelf — can still thrive. This spring, Block Club Chicago spotlighted Trutin's video store on the neighborhood's commercial corridor, a business that has quietly evolved alongside the film and streaming industries rather than being swept away by them. The store stocks an extraordinary 25,000 titles alongside popcorn and pop culture collectibles, and has added a practical modern twist: it also serves as a UPS drop-off site, weaving itself into the daily rhythms of neighbors who might stop in for a package pickup and leave with a movie they'd never have found scrolling an algorithm.
The Block Club Chicago profile, published April 16, 2026, captures what makes Trutin's shop something McKinley Park residents understand instinctively — that as the film and streaming industries have shifted, so has the store, adapting to meet the neighborhood where it is rather than clinging to a single model. That kind of resilience is deeply in keeping with McKinley Park's character: a Southwest Side neighborhood that has never waited for the market to come to it.
And now, the street that Trutin's store calls home is about to get a significant upgrade. The McKinley Park Development Council has been awarded a $200,000 grant from The Chicago Community Trust to enliven 35th Street between Archer and Ashland with public art and creative street fixtures — including new seating and trash cans that reflect the neighborhood's identity. The grant, announced on the MPDC's news page, marks the next chapter in the ongoing transformation of the 35th Street corridor, a stretch that has already seen a $2.5 million Complete Streets investment, new dining concepts arriving, and steady commercial momentum building over the past several years.
The MPDC has been clear that this public art initiative is meant to be community-driven, not handed down. The organization put out an open call for neighbors to weigh in on mural designs and street furniture concepts, inviting residents to show up, share a meal, and bring their ideas to the table. That process of designing with the community — rather than for it — is a hallmark of how the MPDC has approached corridor work, and it means the murals and fixtures that eventually land on 35th Street will carry the actual tastes and stories of the people who walk those blocks every day.
Taken together, these two stories — a beloved local business adapting and enduring, and a six-figure public art investment reshaping the public realm around it — paint a picture of 35th Street at an inflection point. The corridor has been in motion for years, but the combination of cultural anchors like Trutin's store and new physical investments like the MPDC's streetscape art is exactly what turns a commercial strip into something that feels genuinely alive.
For neighbors who want to support the corridor, the simplest starting point is showing up: stop into the video store, browse the 25,000 titles, and drop off a package while you're at it. And for those who want to have a say in what the murals and street furniture on 35th Street look like, keep an eye on the McKinley Park Development Council at mpdcchicago.org — the community input process is ongoing, and your block deserves your voice in it. Stay connected to everything happening on the Southwest Side at mckinleypark.news.
Sources:
1. https://blockclubchicago.org/category/bridgeport-chinatown-mckinley-park/mckinley-park/
2. https://www.mpdcchicago.org/news