Avalon Park, Calumet Heights

Avalon Park and adjacent Calumet Heights are predominantly middle-class residential neighborhoods characterized by large numbers of bungalow-type houses. A retail district at 87th Street and Stony Island Avenue features a variety of high-end clothiers, including Mister Kay’s, whose handmade European-style men’s clothing and shoes attract customers from local connoisseurs to celebrities like Snoop Dogg and Steve Harvey. Among the many fast food dining options along Stony Island are Gianna’s Pizza, a family-owned takeout pizzeria known for a great deep dish, and Angelica’s Bakery next door, specializing in caramel cake and other desserts Visitors to the area should not miss the Bronzeville Children’s Museum, the country’s first and only African American children’s museum.

Of historical note is a small, quiet enclave in Calumet Heights called Pill Hill, so-named because of the many doctors and other medical professionals from nearby South Chicago Community Hospital the lived in the large 1950s and ‘60’s era ranch, split-level and two-story homes. Today, the neighborhood is populated by a wide variety of professionals and white-collar workers, only a minority of whom work in the health-care field, but the name has stuck.