Avalon Park, Calumet Heights

Avalon Park/Calumet Heights continued...

In Avalon Park, the pocket is Marynook, a subdivision between 83rd and 87th Streets framed by Avalon and Dorchester Avenues. Like Pill Hill, Marynook's upscale homes primarily date from the 1950s and 1960s; unlike Pill Hill, some streets here wind gently through the community, giving it a distinctively suburban feel.

What Marynook has all its own: a skating rink.

The rink -- called, of all things, The Rink -- is more than a roller-skating venue. It's an experience. Interior decor is highlighted by neon; banners featuring President Obama and Dr. Martin Luther King are suspended from the ceiling. Sessions are split according to age group and music preference -- and when the system is cranked, especially on weekend date nights, the bass can be felt.

Scenes from the 1997 movie "Soul Food" (Vanessa Williams starred) were filmed at The Rink, which has been at this location just east of the Chatham neighborhood since 1985. Even if you can't skate counterclockwise, it's still worth the (variable, but always modest) admission price just to watch -- but call ahead for availability; private parties happen here.

The Bronzeville Children's Museum is just west of Pill Hill, and it is special.

Designed by founder/president Peggy Montes for children 3-9, the museum -- the only African-American children's museum in the country -- provides an opportunity for young people to examine and, in a hands-on way, experience the history and culture of a people from the Africa homeland to the Americas through exhibits, films and hands-on fun.

"The whole idea is to take the visitors through a journey," says Montes, a former teacher who in 2008 moved the museum from a suburban mall to this space 10 times larger than the original and in its own building.

There's no direct connection to the Bronzeville neighborhood five miles north, aside from a cute but tiny version of the old Grand Terrace Cafe jazz club (which was on 35th Street and is now a hardware store), complete with an open mic.

To Montes, however, "Bronzeville" extends beyond traditional borders.

"Bronzeville was a city within a city where our people had their existence," Montes says. "My definition is it's still 'Bronzeville,' even though we're located at 93rd Street and Stony Island Avenue."

And the museum, she says, is not just for African-American kids.

"It's for all children," she says. "Even though we're talking about the contributions African-Americans, we're doing it in terms of wanting everybody to know."

For visitors who would rather shop than skate or learn about Daniel Hale Williams, the black doctor who performed the world's first open-heart surgery, there's shopping.

Mister Kay's, on 87th Street east of Stony Island, is where well-heeled local celebrities including Steve Harvey and Snoop Dogg come for well-tailored clothes and shoes to match. Across the street is Essential Elements, a women's boutique with more modest prices.

Still on 87th Street but went of Stony Island, Brims, a hat shop, caters to the same crowd that favors Mister Kay's. Nearby is A Step Above, another store, this one featuring exotic skins (snake, eel, ostrich) as well as the standard leathers.

Neighborhood dining is limited mainly to franchises, but one of those is worth a special mention. Leona's restaurants -- mostly pizza -- are found all over Chicagoland these days, but this outlet, on Stony Island near 92nd Street, is a little different.

Side dining rooms are named 8th Ward Room and Pill Hill Room; large photographs of South Side scenes -- including an iconic Russell Lee photo of boys in their Sunday best from 1941 -- are on the walls. Facsimile Frank Lloyd Wright stained glass hangs near the entrance. In other words, here you get a sense of where you are.

But without the roller skates.

For more information about Avalon Park/Calumet Heights, please contact the 87th/Stony Island Chamber of Commerce at 773.734.0626.