Wicker Park, West Town

Wicker Park, West Town continued...

The rest of West Town is here.

The southeast corner of the community is all but overwhelmed by the Kennedy Expressway (Interstate Highway 90-94). Two of the city's historic and historically Polish churches -- St. Stanislaus Kostka (1881) on Noble Street north of Division, and Holy Trinity Church (1906) on Noble south of Division -- survive despite the displacement of worshippers by the road-building. Both interiors are exquisite.

Also in this part of town is Chopin Theatre. On Division just east of Ashland Avenue, the theatre -- a former nickelodeon built in 1918 -- specializes in international performers and productions, but director David Cromer's re-think of Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" began here in 2009, won raves, then moved to New York to more rapturous notices and a long run Off-Broadway. Podhalanka Restaurant, with its classic and reasonably priced Polish goodies, is next door.

What this area has in common these days with the Wicker Park neighborhood is, mainly, Milwaukee Avenue. But a few blocks north of Division Street, the stores selling functional furniture end and the boutiques kick in.

They're on Milwaukee (Futurgarb and Eskell and others) and on North Avenue (three Akira stores, and others), and they're on Damen, there a continuation of the stylish shops and design centers of the Bucktown neighborhood immediately north.

But Wicker Park isn't Bucktown. In Wicker Park, the shops selling trendsetter clothing and cool shoes share blocks with tattoo parlors and smoke shops and stores selling recycled music and clothing and even games.

One of the mainstays is a used-book store. Myopic Books has been around this neighborhood for 20 years. Its 80,000 books live on three floors of tightly spaced shelves in what was a jewelry store; floor-to-ceiling iron bars on the main floor provide one hint, and there's another.

"The mystery section," explains clerk Chelsea Senibaldi, "is in the vault downstairs."

The neighborhood, once noted for the 1890s mansions that circled Wicker Park's cozy namesake park, had by the 1960s become a hardscrabble area of Chicago's Northwest Side. Over the next couple of decades, artists priced out of the Old Town and Lincoln Park neighborhoods found low-cost refuge here.

Inevitably -- as in those other neighborhoods -- real estate visionaries followed the artists. A walk or drive through Wicker Park's residential streets brings visitors to blocks of restored buildings dating to the 1880s interspersed with newer housing, some in scale with the old places and some dwarfing them.

Wicker Park the Park -- especially pleasant during garden season -- once again is bordered by fine homes, including lovingly restored mansions.

And the artists are still here.

The Flat Iron Arts Building, at the North-Damen-Milwaukee junction, has more than 50 studios and galleries. Most are open only on Fridays and Saturdays or during special events, such as smARTshows held four times annually; some welcome visitors and buyers only by appointment.

"It's a really unique building," says Liz Tuckwell, whose work in oils -- she calls it "abstract expressionism," is startling in its use of color. On her blog she wrote: "I love that each studio in our building is like walking into an entirely different world."

One of the worlds belongs to Adam Siegel, who has had exhibitions at Chicago's Spertus Institute on south Michigan Avenue and a major installation at the city's Museum of Contemporary Art. And there's the world of JoJo Baby, who is many things artistic, including a maker of dolls that, it's safe to say, most people would consider . . . unusual.

What kinds of artists find their way here? Baby laughs. "Anybody who can pay the rent."

Restaurants, like everything else near the North/Milwaukee/Damen axis, are an eclectic mix. While entree prices at popular Cafe Absinthe average $25, Earwax Cafe -- just around the corner -- continues to offer its mostly vegetarian standards for less than $10. People Lounge takes both its tapas and its lounge seriously, and Salud's tacos and tortas compete for attention with more than 75 tequila options -- but if you just want to knock down a few beers or listen to some live music or both, Wicker Park has that, too. Then cleanse the palate with flavor-it-yourself ice cream from iCream.

So that's Wicker Park/West Town: rack of Lamb, pieczen wieprzowa or Ostrich Boy. No dress code. Tattoos optional but welcome.

For more information about Wicker Park, West Town please contact the West Town Chamber of Commerce (312.850.9390) or the
Wicker Park-Bucktown Chamber of Commerce (773.235.6385).