Wicker Park

Understand

Among the most pointless topics of debate in Chicago life is whether Wicker Park has changed, is full of yuppies now, isn't what it used to be, etc. The answers are simple: yes, maybe, and who cares? Just like the Velvet Underground would have been playing stadiums if everybody who claimed to have seen them in 1967 actually did, if everybody who claims to have been there when Wicker Park was cool actually was there, it would be a city roughly the size of Cleveland. Wicker Park is uniquely well-served by transportation among West Side neighborhoods, with the CTA's Blue Line elevated train and the major arteries of North, Milwaukee, and Damen all converging upon the center of the area.

Wicker Park was founded by the Wicker brothers in the 1870s, and it became part of the row of prosperous immigrant neighborhoods on the West Side of Chicago — the German and Polish beer barons of Wicker Park were neighbored by the farmers of Bucktown, the Ukrainians in their titular Village, the Greeks and Italians of the Near West Side, and the Czechs of Pilsen. The brewery fortunes left two legacies that survive today: gorgeous, European-style mansions and apartment buildings, and a truly world-class set of dive bars. By 1900, Wicker Park had become Chicago's Polish Downtown. The city's oldest and most prominent Polish settlement, Polish Downtown was the political, cultural, and social capital of not only Poles in Chicago but for Polish Americans throughout North America. The area around Polonia Triangle at the intersection of Division, Ashland and Milwaukee Avenue played host to almost every major Polish organization in the United States.

After the economic decline of the West Side, Puerto Ricans became the majority population in Wicker Park. With them came the other two elements that would turn the neighborhood's commercial fortunes around: low rents in those great buildings, and an art scene that became known for exciting new work. Artists and musicians from outside the area moved in, finding cheap studios in places like the Flatiron Arts Building and good venues to exhibit and perform like the Double Door and the excellent Empty Bottle. Among many others, the Smashing Pumpkins were formed in the area, and Liz Phair's album Exile in Guyville re-cast the Rolling Stones' Main Street in Wicker Park; on the visual arts side, the long-running Around the Coyote festival continues as an annual gathering of the neighborhood's artistic highlights. (Years later, the John Cusack film High Fidelity attempted to capture Wicker Park in all of its elitist, obnoxious, trend-setting glory, and was generally well received. However, when MTV's The Real World arrived in 2001, it sparked off a memorable neighborhood-wide fit.)

Of course, all vinyl pants must split in the end, and by the mid-90s, real estate prices were on the rise, and bar stools were colonized by conversations about who had been priced out (the Puerto Rican artists, for one) and where the next hot scene would be (opinions vary). Demand for housing in proximity to Wicker Park turned its neighbors Bucktown and Ukrainian Village into hot residential properties, and the boundaries between neighborhoods have become less meaningful with time. There are still a few Ukrainians in what's affectionately known as The Uke, but there are only a few places where their paths cross with the condo conversion kids: aside from the sidewalks in front of the astonishing churches in the area and in line at the terrific old bakeries, all style becomes equal at the historic Division Street Bath House.

Today, a few national chains have settled in among the independent fashion boutiques in Wicker Park, but it still raises a righteous middle finger to the glossy shopping on the Magnificent Mile, still offers the best places to get a cheap beer, and still has residents who, per capita, care more about quality music and restaurants than anywhere else in the city.

With the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, many Ukrainians have fled to Chicago as refugees, resulting in the revitalization of the eponymous community in the Ukrainian Village.

Get in

By train

The O'Hare branch of the CTA Blue Line has stops in West Town (Chicago, Grand), Ukrainian Village (Division) and Wicker Park (Damen). The Damen stop is particularly useful, as it's right at the epicenter of Wicker Park and the border of Bucktown, and a short walk south to Ukrainian Village and the nightlife on Division.

If you're going further afield in Ukrainian Village than Division — say, to the Empty Bottle (see Drink) — get to know the relevant bus routes, as the CTA trains don't run particularly close.

By bus

• 9 Ashland is an all-nighter that runs within walking distance of the shops and bars in Wicker Park (on Milwaukee) and the nightlife on Division.
• 49 Western runs down Western Avenue for nearly the full length of the city, passing through the western edge of Ukrainian Village. It's an all-night route.
• 50 Damen runs through the heart of Wicker Park and Ukrainian Village, but lacks night-owl service.
• 56 Milwaukee is the king of the West Side, running through the center of Wicker Park and along the eastern fringe of Ukrainian Village.
• 65 Grand runs from downtown to West Town, connecting with the Grand Blue Line stop, and the southern fringe of Ukrainian Village.
• 66 Chicago runs from the Near North through West Town (connecting with the Chicago Blue Line stop) and Ukrainian Village, and onward to Austin. It's also an all-night route.
• 70 Division is vital for the nightlife on Division, connecting to the Blue Line at the Division Blue Line stop.

By car

I-90/94, that shining exemplar of Chicago gridlock, runs close to Ukrainian Village — exit at Division and head straight west, or make a right off Division on Milwaukee to reach Wicker Park.

This isn't one of the worst parts of the city for parking, but it can still be a challenge, and there are no public lots or garages in the area. Be patient and circle the side streets. Many upscale restaurants offer valet parking for $10 or so. Permit-only parking is in place on many side streets, so check street signs. Damen in particular has some oddball no-parking hours.

Stay safe

Wicker Park keeps a slightly rough appearance, but that's mainly for the enjoyment of the younger residents. Use common sense while out and you'll have nothing to worry about. (Don't leave valuables in cars, though.) Ukrainian Village is much the same, but stay alert around alleys while walking on side streets. In that distinctly Chicago fashion of invisible barriers respected on both sides of the law, crime stays almost exclusively on the west side of Western Avenue. But if you parked on the west side of Western, take care while walking back to your car after dark.

Go next

• If you're looking to check out one of the city's best collections of commercial Art Deco architecture by greats such as Z. Erol Smith, head north to Belmont-Central in what is one of the few intact streetcar shopping districts in Chicago and an Eastern European culinary heaven.
• Pilsen is the most-quoted inheritor of Wicker Park's original bohemian mantle, and makes for an interesting contrast.
• However, its become apparent in the last couple years that nearby Logan Square may have actually taken that mantle.
• Looking for traces of the neighborhood Nelson Algren wrote about in Wicker Park's heyday as the center of Chicago's Polish Downtown? You'll find the sausage shops and old-style Polish restaurants that carry on as if health food and celebrity chefs never happened in Jackowo — Chicago's Polish Village.
• If, on the other hand, it is the demise of Wicker Park's Puerto Rican community that you are lamenting, retrace its migration west along Division Street into Humboldt Park on the Far West Side — the best Puerto Rican food in the city awaits.