Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Wicker Park, IL

When I moved to Chicago, Andy was living in the Wicker Park neighborhood. When we were in our long-distance neighborhood (I was in MI and he was in Chicago going to school)I took many a trip to go visit him there.

Okay, aparently my job today is to give a more proper definition to the Chicago hoodies I know and love that have already been noded by people who I doubt have spent much time in them.

I guess its true that more 'yuppies' are moving to Wicker Park than there were before, probably because of the relatively cheap rent and fun things to do. Also, the blue-line el and prevalence of key streets make it really convenient to downtown. However when I read this vague write-up by bort13 I was quite taken aback - there is such an incredibly vast world of difference between Wicker Park and Lincoln Park.

Even with all the new kinds of residents constantly streaming in, Wicker Park is still a 'hotbed of artsy types' and is filled with galleries and studios of all kinds. While River North is the real gallery district of Chicago, Wicker Park is considered the center for 'outsider art.' It is also incredibly diverse in the categories of age, race, lifestyle and socioeconomic status.

The main Wicker Park intersection (Damen, Milwuakee, and North) is extremely bustling because of all the things to do there. It is the center of a huge array of clubs, bars, restaurants and cafes of all kinds, and any social person is bound to find their type of place to hang out around there.

On any given day on that corner, one can find a pretty equal distribution of artists, tourists, freaky deaky folks, crack-heads, working people (both yuppie and non), people asking for money, people sleeping on the sidewalk, decked-out clubgoers, hippies, gang-bangers, and salespeople. All races are covered but the majority of people are white, black or Mexican. There are so many great places around there that I think I am suddenly inspired to write a separate 'guide to Wicker Park bars and restaraunts' node.

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