I totally get what ya mean and yes we had neighborhoods like that as well...where I'm from in Peoria it's always been known as Little Chicago it's made up of 4 sections the North End, South End, East Bluff, and West Bluff...I grew up on the Westside and my neighborhood was known as The Hilltop back then... It was never so much races havin beefs with each other but more each neighborhood of kids would just go at it anywhere or any reason ...for example we were known for "bag snatching" on especially we would cross over one of the main streets that split the East and West Bluffs called Forrest Hill Avenue and when street lights came on whatever kids were still out we start stealing bags from kids until the kids that we were lookin for found us or we would eventually run into them and would have huge fights that would talked about the following weeks thru out the other neighborhoods... I loved it...like you said back then you were numb a lot to what was going on around you I know a lot of kids who have died by senseless killings some well known gangsters and some outstanding athletes in highschool who would get caught in wrong place at wrong time...then again I grew up in a bar my father owned in the South End and he would always let Outlaws drink there and later on years later he held there annual Xmas party for there kids and families at a banquet hall he operated...he loved the relationship he had with them especially at the bar because they brought in so many people that would spend money...but the small twist in things is my mother was Italian not my father he is Lebanese... My mother passed in 98 from leukemia... Worst of the worst of cancers...hence why I don't trust doctors anymore.... But all in all don't mean to get carried away haha but ya your stories of the neighborhood remind me of mine as well your are just much more higher on the shelf then mine in my opinion lol.