Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
wrecking ball. Old Town's biggest
claim to fame, the legendary Sec-
ond City comedy club, has served
up the lighter side of life to
Chicagoans for more than 30 years.
Lincoln Park
Chicago's most pop-
ular residential neighborhood is
fashionable Lincoln Park. The
neighborhood is notable for visiting
families because it is bordered on
the east by the huge park of the
same name, which is home to two
major museums and one of the
nation's oldest zoos (established in
1868). The trapezoid formed by
Clark Street, Armitage Avenue,
Halsted Street, and Diversey Park-
way also contains many of
Chicago's most happening bars,
restaurants, retail stores, music
clubs, and off-Loop theaters—
including the nationally acclaimed
Steppenwolf Theatre Company.
Lakeview & Wrigleyville
Wrig-
leyville is the name given to the
neighborhood in the vicinity of
Wrigley Field—home of the Chicago
Cubs—at Sheffield Avenue and
Addison Street. Many homesteaders
have moved into these areas in recent
years, and a slew of nightclubs and
restaurants have followed in their
wake. Midway up the city's North
Side is a one-time blue-collar, now
mainstream middle-class and bohe-
mian quarter called Lakeview. It has
become the neighborhood of choice
for many gays and lesbians, recent
college graduates, and a growing
number of residents priced out of
Lincoln Park. The main thorough-
fare is Belmont Avenue, between
Broadway and Sheffield Avenue.
Uptown & Andersonville
Up-
town, along the lake and about as far
north as Foster Avenue, is where
the latest wave of immigrants—
including internal migrants from
Appalachia and the Native American
reservations—has settled. Vietnam-
ese and Chinese immigrants have
transformed Argyle Street between
Broadway and Sheridan Road into a
teeming market for fresh meat, fish,
and all kinds of exotic vegetables.
Slightly to the north and west is the
old Scandinavian neighborhood of
Andersonville, whose main drag is
Clark Street, between Foster and
Bryn Mawr avenues. This neighbor-
hood is friendly to families, with the
feel of a small Midwestern village,
albeit one with an eclectic mix of
Middle Eastern restaurants, a dis-
tinct cluster of women-owned busi-
nesses, and a burgeoning gay and
lesbian community. You'll find Ann
Sather restaurant, the Swedish-
American Museum, the Swedish
Bakery, and Women and Children
First, a great bookstore.
Lincoln Square
Families flock to
Old Town School of Folk Music's
theater and education center, a beau-
tiful restoration of a former library
building, in this neighborhood
located west of Andersonville and
slightly to the south, where Lincoln,
Western, and Lawrence avenues
intersect. Lincoln Square was the
home to Chicago's once-vast Ger-
man-American community. Lincoln
Square now also has a distinctly
Greek flavor, with several restaurants
of that nationality, to boot. The sur-
rounding leafy residential streets are
now experiencing an influx of white
middle-class families.
Rogers Park
Rogers Park, which
begins at Devon Avenue, is located
on the northern fringes of the city
bordering suburban Evanston. Its
western half has been a Jewish
neighborhood for decades. The
eastern half, dominated by Loyola
University's lakefront campus, has
become the most cosmopolitan
enclave in the entire city: Asians,
East Indians, Russian Jews, and
German Americans live side by side
