Humboldt Park

Humboldt Park is a largely Puerto Rican neighborhood in West Town with plenty of delicious cafes and eateries to grab a jibarito or café con leche (coffee with milk). Each year, Humboldt Park hosts the Puerto Rican Day Festival and Parade, a five day celebration of Chicago’s Puerto Ricans and their proud heritage. The festival features live music, festivities, and tons of family-friendly activities. Topping off the annual festival is a parade that starts downtown and winds its way through the city to Humboldt Park.

The neighborhood takes its name from Humboldt Park, a 207 acre greenspace of walking and biking paths; sports, boating and skating facilities; and picnic spots. The Humboldt Park Boathouse and Pavilion, an architectural jewel, sits along the park’s pleasant lagoon. Among the park’s most recognizable features are an enchanting circular rose garden and intriguing sculptures that include the World's Fair bison that were originally cast in bronze for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Many of the neighborhood’s boulevards showcase well-maintained greystones that date from this period, the late 1800s. Tours of these and other Humboldt Park sights are available through Chicago Neighborhood Tours. Visitors are encouraged to make reservations well in advance.

Although still a proud Puerto Rican neighborhood (the dual 59 foot steel gateway-styled Puerto Rican flags are hard to miss), Humboldt Park has seen some gentrification in the past decade with restaurants such as the Flying Saucer and Pizza Metro leading the way. A longtime neighborhood bar established in 1937, the California Clipper, has become a popular nightspot for hipsters and locals alike. The Clipper offers live music every Friday and Saturday night, bingo on Mondays and the city's only grape soda-based cocktail, the Purple Martin, every night of the week. A block south of the California Clipper is the hip late-night bar, The Continental, where deejays provide a danceable soundtrack until 4 am every night of the week.

Located throughout the city, Chicago Tribute Markers of Distinction celebrate notable Chicagoans by marking the places where they lived or worked. A marker commemorating writer L. Frank Baum is located at 1667 N. Humboldt Blvd. in Humboldt Park.

Read, Learn, Discover at the Chicago Public Library. Search programming and event information at your neighborhood branch.