Chicago porch

plural Chicago porches

1. A fire escape-like wooden structure affixed to the backside of buildings, particularly in the American city of Chicago.

   A YOUNG man sitting on a Chicago porch with his date sees an armed robbery taking place at the gas station next door.

   1975, Illinois Issues, number 1, number 1, Sangamon State University, page 43

   4 more examples

   While the family were at dinner a Chicago porch climber secured $39,000 worth of jewelry from the home of Edward T. Jefferey.

   1904 March 31, “Casualty Insurance”, in The Spectator, volume 40, number 15, page 168

   Three Chicago porch-climbers were arrested in Cincinanti [sic]. Glad of this, as peaches are getting ripe in this latitude and we hope the Cincinnati police will send them back to us so that they can pursue their vocation uninterrupted.

   1909 April 10, “Chicago Section”, in The National Provisioner, volume LXXII, number 13, Chilton Company, page 34

   [d]rying on a Chicago porch, the soldier stood in shirtsleeves, his ornate military decorations pinned across his chest.

   1992, “Masthead”, in The University of Chicago Magazine, number 85, University of Chicago Alumni Association, page 2

   Notwithstanding (3) and (4), no public or private regulations governed the number of people permissible on a Chicago porch.

   2008, Ed Zotti, The Barn House: Confessions of an Urban Rehabber, New American Library, →ISBN, page 119