No-show alderman is ward's inside joke; Go looking for the 51st Ward, and you'll find a balloon store worker with a wicked sense of humor

Larry Washington says he's on the lookout for Ald. Lalowe C.Brown of the 51st Ward.

"If you see him, tell him to stop on by here," Washington says."I got a question to ask that man."

Washington works at Balloons Plus just off 79th and Colfax inSouth Shore, a couple of doors down from what a sign says is Brown'saldermanic office.

Below the sign is a storefront that's actually a church thatappears abandoned during the week with its windows guarded by metalfencing and a plastic sign.

Anybody who's lived in that part of town for the last 24 yearsknows "Big" Bill Beavers -- or "the Hog with the Big Nuts" as heonce called himself -- has been the only ward boss around untilrecently, when Jesse Jackson's daughter-in-law took over.

Washington is one of those neighborhood guys. He went to SouthShore High School and has worked at the balloon shop for 20 years.

"People who are new around here are always coming in asking mewhere they can find the 51st Ward alderman. I tell them I've neverseen him," Washington says with a sly grin. "I say, 'You know howpoliticians are. They come around at election time, then disappear.Maybe he's on vacation. A long one. Three years or something likethat.'"

But Washington's just having some fun.

Some rapper called Highbeam claims to be from the 51st Ward, anarea where he says "we all ghetto" -- which certainly isn't a fairdepiction of South Shore.

Harry "Bus" Yourell once ran a south suburban Democraticorganization that was so effective other power brokers called itChicago's 51st Ward. But Worth Township is nowhere near 79th andColfax.

And you can argue there's enough convicted politicians and bagmenserving time at Oxford, Wis., to qualify that federal prison as aseparate Chicago ward.

But it's not. There's only 50 wards in Chicago. And Lalowe C.Brown's 51st Ward -- no matter what the sign dangling above the busstop says -- is pure fiction.

It's just a leftover prop from the filming of "Barbershop 2" backin 2003.

And until outsiders stop wandering into the store asking for Ald.Brown, Washington's sticking with the neighborhood joke.

"I still want to know where he's been," Washington says.

Because after all these years, he thinks it's pretty funny.