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DunhamThe set was founded around 1980 and originally located at Gunnison and Mason, which was a half a block from the major intersection of Lawrence and Austin. Within a year or so, the set would move a few blocks east to Dunham Park (Lawrence and Narragansett).
The set was founder by a Moffat and Campbell Gaylord, who moved into the area. Dunham was not a branch of Moffat, which was a full eight miles away. Though an independent set, Dunham would remain extremely tight with Moffat, and senior Moffat GL’s who worked on the far Northwest Side would often stop by and hang for a while. Dunham was a welcomed break from the war zone of Moffat.
The DGL’s were also extremely tight with the Jousters. Dunham was founded around the same time as the Hanson Park Jousters and the two sets - though miles apart - quickly bonded. The DGL’s Moffat roots also made them tight with the Honore and Bloomingdale Jousters - who were just a few blocks from Moffat and one of Moffat’s closest allies. The Octavia and Pratt Jousters, a few miles northeast of Dunham, were founded a few years later by a Hanson Park TJ. The O-P founder would eventually join Dunham.
A retired PGL recently commented that he was always surprised to see so many DGL’s hanging out at M-C and H-P. He never knew that a Moffat GL started Dunham or that Dunham had a senior Hanson TJ added to its ranks.
Added to the strong presence of Dunham hanging out at other sets was the fact that Dunham itself was not a “hot” neighborhood. It was practically a world away from traditional rivals such as the Kings, Gangsters, Disciples, OA’s, or Royals. Dunham was at peace with the various near-by Freak and the PVR set the hung around the Harlem and Irving Park area. The only potential rival was a C-Note set at Central and Giddens, which was composed primarily of younger members. One of the top C-G C-Note midgets actually switched to Dunham early on.
It was also made painfully clear that an attack on a DGL would invoke the swift wrath of other Gaylord and Jouster sets. A local Freak set made the mistake of jumping a Dunham midget who they claim had tagged - and thus disrespected - a bench they had dedicated as a monument to a lost brother. The next day the Freaks discovered that their bench had been reduced to splinters compliments of the H-P Jousters. That night the senior Freaks went looking for pay-back and found what they thought to be couple of lone DGL midgets on Melvina Avenue. The two turned out to be very senior guys - Dunham’s Vice-Pres. and the O-P Jouster’s Pres. - neither of whom where about to back down from any club or overwhelming numbers. Confident in their numbers and not yet aware of who they were confronting, the Freaks compounded their mistake by saying “who the f*ck do the H-P Jousters think they are.” The O-P Jouster - a former H-P Jouster - got in their face and said they could find out right now and represented Hanson Jousters. Dunham’s Vice-Pres. announced that the Gaylords and Jousters were brothers and also got right in their faces. The Freaks soon realized that they had failed to scout out the scene before beginning a confrontation. The two would-be midgets turned out to be two senior guys that wouldn’t back down, and it soon became clear that the two were not alone. Dunham’s Pres. had been tending to nature’s call in a near-by gangway and came up right behind the Freaks’ senior guy and proceeded to pick him up and power slam him right into the street. The Freaks were now in trouble and quickly changed their tune - saying they that they just came to talk things through and not to fight.
Dunham was also one of the various sets that did not agree with the People Alliance. While Dunham itself did not lose any guys to the People clubs, the senior guys that made up Dunham had come from older sets and were involved in bitter battles with the Kings and others People clubs. Dunham was briefly caught-up in the internal struggle between the pro-People sets and the anti-People sets. Many old schoolers may recall this unfortunate period where Gaylord sets were on the brink of civil war with other Gaylord sets. Many old schoolers in all of the People clubs who were close to retirement never really embraced the alliance and simply left it up to younger members to make the peace among the respective clubs.
Most of the clubs that did exist in the area around Dunham were mainly party clubs and/or younger clubs, neither of which wanted to tangle with a club that had senior veterans from battle-hardened sets and dedicated younger members. Clubs from other areas also knew that Dunham had senior veterans from battle-hardened sets backed by dedicated younger members and therefore would not be an easy set to take on. As the mid-80’s approached, the senior members moved on with their lives and left the set to a group of proven younger brothers to carry-on through the 80’s and into the 90’s.
