Auburn Gresham

Auburn Gresham continued...

More good things: Old St. Leo's Catholic Church is gone, but its 1904 bell tower was preserved as a focal point of what today is the St. Leo Campus for Veterans, with residences, an outpatient clinic and a garden. It's just north of 79th Street on Emerald Avenue.

There's the AFC Center at 79th and Ashland Avenue, the beautifully restored 2,000-seat former Highland Theatre (1926), used for shows and conferences. If you can't catch a performance here, try a door and ask for a look inside.

Hamilton Park, on 72nd Street east of Halsted, was designed in 1904 by firms linked to the Olmsted Brothers (Atlanta's Piedmont Park) and Daniel Burnham. On 76th Street, the Martin Luther King Family Entertainment Center, opened in 2003, includes bowling, a roller rink and other facilities – is less a visitor attraction than more evidence of a neighborhood looking ahead, not back.

Which brings us to St. Sabina.

The current church was dedicated in 1933. As the parish's racial and cultural makeup changed rapidly in the 1970s – and as other institutions deserted – this church changed with it, that change accelerated when Michael Pfleger, at age 31, became pastor in 1981. He's still here, and he's a force.

If you visit the sanctuary – and by all means do it, during services or not – you will see church transformed physically and spiritually from the familiar European Gothic to a place where African and Roman Catholic traditions merge. A stunning "Black Christ" mural dominates the interiors.

And the music at the 11:15 a.m. Sunday mass, to which all are welcome . . .

"Uplifting," says Delores Wedgeworth, a member of the church staff. "Music that touches the inner core. A blend of old and new gospel songs – which is unusual for a Catholic church."

Steps from St. Sabina is Renaissance Park, an English-style garden. Within it is a monument to prominent African Americans, many with Chicago links: Muddy Waters, Mahalia Jackson, Gwendolyn Brooks, Dinah Washington and more.

For dining options, Lagniappe is a much-praised New Orleans-style restaurant on 79th Street at Justine opened in 2004 by Mary Madison, and now offering jazz nights (there's an upstairs show room) with plans to add blues nights.

Other restaurants have opened: BJ's Market and Bakery and Perfect Peace Bakery and Cafe, both on 79th Street, added their flavors to Soul Food Unlimited, which has expanded its operation. Morrison's "Southern Cuisine" Restaurant, around the corner on Ashland Avenue, has become a neighborhood favorite since its 2001 debut.

And we come back to Auburn Park, because there's nothing in the city quite like it.

"That," says Nelson, "is an area where you can park and picnic and really enjoy a part of nature takes you far away from inner-city Chicago."

Some of the housing along the lagoons dates to the 1880s, when this was a private park. Those old frame homes are not in great shape. Nelson says his organization is looking for funds to revitalize those houses.

Meanwhile, they have been joined by new ones, built by people who believe.

An urbanologist's dream.

For more information about Auburn Gresham, please contact the Greater Auburn-Gresham Development Corporation at 773.483.3696.