As mentioned above, they are models of the kind of architecture and folk art that come from the ordinary people of Chicago. A second reason for preserving Jim's is its historical interest. They mean hot dogs and Polish sausage. Vienna Beef's Maxwell Street posters can be seen wherever their products are sold across the United States and in Europe. The third reason is also historical.
Food is one of the main paths by which immigrants to the city made their way in their new society.
This is the world of the storied petty entrepreneur from whom many an American success story has emerged. There is one more argument for keeping Jim's and its building. I strongly believe that it will be a living part of the open air museum that a preserved Maxwell Street should be, maybe even a tourist attraction in itself. I, for one, would hate to have to say in lectures that someone so lacked historical vision and cultural sensitivity as to have destroyed this important cultural artifact.