Jefferson Park

Jefferson Park boasts one of the largest Polish-American communities in Chicago. The Polish Cultural Center hosts regular events in the Copernicus Center, one of Chicago’s earliest movie palaces whose exterior was modified to resemble Warsaw’s Royal Castle. Numerous restaurants and an annual food festival offer an authentic taste of Poland. Jefferson Park is also home to a sizeable Irish population, and serves as a transportation hub for Northwest Side and suburban commuters.

Jefferson Park: Where Pierogis, Irish History and Ample Transportation Meet 

Written by Alan Solomon, with research assistance from the Chicago Neighborhood Tourism Project.

To many Chicagoans, the Jefferson Park neighborhood means Taste of Polonia, an annual September celebration of the joys of pierogi and kielbasa. To many, it means a taste of Ireland.

To others, it's a key transportation junction, where the CTA's Blue Line 'L' trains (Loop to O'Hare) meet suburban Metra trains, with CTA buses waiting just up the escalator.

Some, but not all of the good stuff happens to be near the intersection of Lawrence and Milwaukee Avenues, steps from the train station and the Copernicus Center.

The cultural center is named for the Polish astronomer/scholar (sometimes also claimed by Germans, but not in this neighborhood) who, among other contributions, popularized the notion that the sun, not Earth, is the center of things. It sponsors the Polonia food, craft and polka fest from a building that once was the Gateway Theater (1930), the first of the city's movie palaces built specifically for talking pictures. Its exterior has been handsomely refashioned to resemble Warsaw's Royal Castle, complete with characteristic clock tower, and it remains a venue for film and other cultural programs.

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