Merrionette Park, ringed by Chicago
Merrionette Park is just 0.38 square miles, home to 1,969 people at the 2020 Census, in ZIP code 60803. Its boundary is almost entirely shared with the City of Chicago, the Mount Greenwood and Morgan Park community areas, while Alsip and Blue Island touch it only at a corner. Merrionette Manor, the curving-street neighborhood in Chicago’s South Deering, is a different place with a similar name.
No state or federal highway runs through the village. Kedzie Avenue is the main north-south road, with 115th and 119th Streets crossing it, and a CSX freight line cuts through. CTA bus route 52A serves it.
From our lot at 13720 S Lowe Ave the truck runs north on Halsted, west on 127th Street and north on Kedzie Avenue: about 6.2 road miles, 13 minutes in light traffic. It’s one of the farther trips on our list, but it’s a simple one.
Landmarks on 115th Street
Two shopping plazas on 115th Street are named in the village’s own traffic code, which makes them reliable landmarks: Stonebrook Plaza at 3205 to 3243 W. 115th Street and Handy Andy Plaza at 3305 to 3339 W. 115th Street. If the car is in a residential block nearby, the plaza and a side street are enough.
Who lives here and where the car will be
About 59 percent of homes are single-family detached houses, nearly a quarter are mobile homes and about 18 percent are in buildings of five or more units, by the Census Bureau’s 2020-2024 estimates (a small sample, so treat the numbers as rough). About 73 percent of households own their home.
So a pickup here is a driveway, a mobile home site or an apartment lot. For the mobile home and apartment cases, tell the office or manager before the truck comes and give us the space or site number.
Rules that affect a junk car
Chapter 72 of the village code is the one to read:
- Junked vehicles out of view. It’s unlawful to store or park damaged or junked vehicles in any open lot or on premises open to public view. A wrecked car in the driveway is exactly that.
- Paved surfaces only. No parking on open private land, meaning anywhere that isn’t a garage, carport, or asphalt or concrete driveway or lot. Fines are $25 to $500, with each day a separate offence.
- Snow. No parking on any residential street when 2 or more inches of snow are on it.
- Heavy vehicles. Second-division vehicles over 5,000 pounds can’t park on streets beyond loading time. An old work truck you’re junking falls into this group, and it’s another reason to keep a tow quick.
- Trailers and campers. A non-motorized vehicle on a street or parkway needs a village permit and can stay at most 48 hours.
- Towing. Any vehicle parked in violation of the chapter is a nuisance and may be towed to the village pound.
The village sticker costs $15 for a passenger car ($7.50 for a senior’s first vehicle). It’s due by July 1 and expires June 30.
Free means free here too
The longer drive doesn’t change the deal. Towing from Merrionette Park is free, nothing is taken off the price for distance, and you’re paid by cash, Zelle or Cash App at pickup. Our guide to whether junk car removal is really free explains what to ask any buyer so a “free tow” doesn’t turn into a smaller check.
We take wrecked cars, non-runners, and pickups, vans and SUVs, including heavier work trucks. No title? Tell us what you have; Illinois rules decide which papers work for a scrap sale, and we’ll confirm on the call.
Around Merrionette Park
Blue Island is just south down Kedzie, and Calumet Park is a few minutes southeast. Every place we serve is on the towns page.