Out Of The ‘Loop’ And Into Two Of Chicago’s Trendiest Neighbourhoods!
Wicker Park
“Many tourists come to Chicago and only see the central area. That’s a shame as the neighbourhoods are where the locals live, eat and play,” says Chicago native Allen Schwartz as we stroll down the shady streets and past the impressive stone mansions of Wicker Park, north-west of the city’s famous downtown area known as ‘The Loop’.
Allen, a volunteer guide known as a Chicago Greeter, and I had met up at The Robey hotel, a Wicker Park landmark, an Art Deco gem and, at 13 storeys, the only high-rise building for miles around. From both its top floor and its 6th floor, enhanced by the Cabana Club bar and outdoor wading pool, you can get an eagle’s eye view of the shops, restaurants and other attractions lining the avenues below.
A multi-ethnic mural along the Bloomingdale Trail
Soon we are climbing a flight of steps on to another neighbourhood landmark, the 2.7 mile Bloomingdale Trail, also known as the 606. Converted like Manhattan’s High Line from a former railway track, it is now a popular hiking and biking trail. In the background is a colourful mural indicating the multi-ethnic nature of Chicago.
Why, I ask Allen, are there so many Chicago neighbourhoods (77 at the last count). Because, he says, Chicago has always been an immigrant city. The newcomers tended to cluster in areas already settled by their countrymen, such as Chinatown, Greek Town, the Ukranian Village and Pilsen, originally predominantly Eastern European and now predominantly Mexican. Other neighbourhoods resulted from the exodus of residents from central Chicago after the October 1871 fire destroyed 3.3 square miles of the city.
A stroll down Milwaukee Avenue indicates its appeal for the ‘well-off hipsters’ who, says Allen, inhabit the area.
WICKER PARK ATTRACTIONS
FOODIES: Publican Anker promising a fab fish stew, and Devil Dawgs Wicker Park, “a foodie take on classic Chicago dogs”.
ART LOVERS: The Flat Iron Arts Building filled with studios and galleries.
THEATRE: The 200-seat Den Theatre staging a mixture of classic and contemporary work.
WAY-OUT AND FAB FOOTWARE: John Fluevog’s only Chicago store.
VINTAGE JEWELLERY: All that glitters may not be gold at Vintage Underground but it certainly is eye-catching.
VINTAGE CLOTHING:Want to look boho chic? Search for bargains at Buffalo Exchange and Store B Vintage.
USED BOOK LOVERS: Some 70,000 treasures are stacked floor to ceiling in Myopic Books. (I depart with a fascinating paperback, The Devil in the White City, set in the midst of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.)
Logan Square
The Logan Square neighbourhood’s Lula Café
Another day, another neighbourhood and I’m off to nearby Logan Square, where I join a colleague at Armitage Avenue’s Table, Donkey and Stick, its odd name, explains the waiter, inspired by an old folk tale and its menu – cheeses, charcuterie, breads and crispy duck with figs – inspired by the food of the Alps.
Armitage Avenue, I discover, has now become quite a foodie destination. Among the places later enjoyed were Dos Urban Cantina for Mexican cuisine and the tearoom-like ambience of Katherine Anne Confections for hand-dipped truffles and honey caramels.
Nearby are other tempting eateries: North Kenzie Avenue’s Lula Café, credited for being a forerunner of the city’s ‘farm to table’ movement, and California Avenue’s Bang Bang Pie & Biscuits where owner Michael Ciapciak enthuses to me about both the neighbourhood – “Logan Square for me is like a small town inside Chicago” – and his specialities: “It’s comfort food – grits, chicken pie that give you a fling, and a skyscraper of a biscuit!”
But, of course, there’s more to this neighbourhood, which fans out from a park named for a Civil War general, than food.
LOGAN SQUARE ATTRACTIONS
TRENDY FROCKS Logan Boulevard’s Wolfbait & B-girls, the boutique where local lassies go to choose from the creations of 150 local designers.
And then southwards on North Milwaukee Avenue:
WITTY, SOMETIME SALACIOUS ARTWORK Galerie F’s owner, Billy Craven, says all his prints and posters are by local artists – and he also sponsors some of the street artists whose flamboyant murals adorn the avenue’s walls.
PINBALL PLEASURES At raucous Emporium Arcade Bar you can practice your skill at Donkey Kong while swigging beer and whiskey from an astonishingly varied list.
AMAZING ALES I sample a ‘flight’ of four at Revolution Brewing, Illinois’s largest independently-owned brewery.
COCKTAIL HEAVEN Joining co-owner Vic DiPrizio and his dad over exotic cocktails in the Chicago Distilling Company, I ask how the family became involved producing as many as 12 different spirits and he replies: “well, my sister-in-law played around in the backwoods of Wisconsin making moonshine and then my brother and I made beer”.
Their spirits are now available in 400 bars in Illinois, other states and internationally. (It is one of the numerous places in the Chicago neighbourhoods – and elsewhere.
The evening ends with me back on Armitage Avenue enjoying the blues at Rosa’s Lounge but I, for one, certainly wasn’t singing the blues after enjoying four days in two of Chicago’s liveliest neighbourhoods.
