Sheffield & DePaul

DePaul/Sheffield continued...

And yet, to classify the neighborhood as a kind of "college town" within the city doesn't quite work.

The classic DePaul bar -- DePaul neighborhood and college -- is Kelly's Pub, set beneath the 'L' tracks on Webster Avenue. Frank Kelly opened the place in 1933 right after end of prohibition; son John took it over in 1957, and it's still his.

Here, on its walls, can be found photos of Ray Meyer, who coached the Blue Demons basketball team for more than 40 years. But also on its walls can be found other things, including tributes to Maguire University, a mythical "school" populated by a klatch of old-timers that's headquartered here and has little to do with the actual university that sits practically next door.

It's essentially a neighborhood bar that happens to be . . . here, in a neighborhood described by DePaul graduate and Kelly's bartender Tamra Tompkins as "young families. Either that, or really, really old people who have lived here forever."

Students?

"Most of the students here are commuter students," she says. Only about 3,000 live on campus in school housing -- so away from the classrooms, students are a presence, but just a presence and sometimes fleeting.

Those with a thirst for beer and/or conversation who don't have distant homes to go to, or after-school jobs, seldom take over the neighborhood's bars but simply join locals of all legal ages at Kelly's and (mostly) young people from everywhere at McGee's right across Webster, or at State a few steps east, or at Glascott's Groggery a couple of blocks further east at Halsted Street, or up on Diversey Avenue at Durkin's, or at the many watering holes along Lincoln Avenue that make that street one extended non-exclusive party, especially on weekends.

A byproduct of all this -- DePaul students, young people, bars -- is a happy concentration of cheap eats, most of them non-chains and many open late. On Fullerton between Sheffield and Racine Avenues, and on most of Lincoln can be found a delightful array of noodle shops, sandwich places and taquerias, plus the odd sushi shop and, inevitably, pizza -- including Pat's (in the area since 1950) and Lou Malnati's, a popular suburban import.

And even if students aren't necessarily the target audience, the performing arts do well here. Victory Gardens, a much-honored live theater company (among the honors: a Tony), not long ago took over the fabled Biograph Theater. Thoughtfully, the company preserved the original marquee. Across from that Lincoln Avenue landmark, entrepreneurs converted the former Three Penny (another movie house) into a live music venue, Lincoln Hall.

Chicago's tradition as a home of the blues is kept alive in DePaul-Sheffield at Kingston Mines (more than 40 years old) and B.L.U.E.S. (more than 30), both on Halsted just north of Fullerton.

But there are quiet pleasures as well, including somewhat more upscale restaurants (Merlo's on Lincoln for Italian and, on Halsted, Jia's for sushi and Chinese), boutiques on Webster and, for prayer, contemplation or just a few minutes of peace, St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church (1897).

The church is about a block from De Paul's park-like Quad, tucked between Belden Avenue and historic McCormick Row Houses on Fullerton, so subtly isolated that it's likely some longtime residents of the neighborhood don't even know it's there.

And if you don't believe that, ask those longtime residents yourself. You'll find them beside Ray Meyer's pictures, reminiscing about the imaginary Maguire U. at Kelly's.

For more information about DePaul/Sheffield, please contact the Sheffield Neighborhood Association at 773.929.9255.