Neighborhood Field Trip: Wicker Park

I had two goals today. The first was to establish a local bank account. Did you know you can do that entirely by the internet these days? Blew my mind.

The second was to take a trip to a different neighborhood using nothing but public transportation, including a bus.

When I visited Chicago in January, I fell completely bonkers for the area known as Wicker Park. Since I got a bit later start than I had planned today (retrieving pugs from fire escapes and all), I decided I would tackle the 6 mile distance to Wicker Park as my first foray.

Wicker Park, and its sister neighborhood, Bucktown, are located just northwest of downtown, on the west side of the expressway, a bit removed from lakeshore. I traveled there by the Blue Line on the El, after hopping the bus just a few blocks from my apartment (you can read more about that below).

It is a relentlessly energetic neighborhood whose commerical district, at and around the confluence of three major roads, is filled with a dazzling combination of high end fashion boutiques and vintage clothing stores, coffeeshops, sidewalk cafes, used bookstores, tattoo parlors, pubs, lounges, pizzarias, pastry shops, and a little bit of everything in between. (It's sort of like the Loop in St. Louis, on steroids). Wondering off into the side streets finds you on quiet, tree-lined sidewalks with brownstone townhouses and smart, new-construction condo buildings.

What makes Wicker Park the most exciting for me, however, are the people. Young and beautiful, they fill the streets looking, well, young and beautiful. It's a funny cross section of 20 and 30-somethings in skinny jeans and hoodies trying hard to look ultra hip and edgy, without actually looking like they're trying to do so, and uber-preppy young professionals: frosted women with perfect pedicures and toy poodles peeping out of designer handbags and buffed, tweezed, and Italian-jeaned men paying more attention to their iPhones than the blondes on their arms.

I'm exaggerating, for sure, but I do love the maddening crush of it all. Snippets of conversation: people laughing, lovers arguing, singles bemoaning. Interesting food, handsome clothes, fresh music. The clatter of glasses, the smell of tobacco, the clanking of the passing El in the background: it's everything good about urban living.

I met my friend Emily at a coffeeshop across the street from the Marc Jacobs store (where I talked myself down from the ledge of $11 flip-flops). We scored a table on the back patio and caught up, while sharing a ridiculously large chocolate chunk, nugat, raisin, oatmeal, and possibly kitchen sink cookie. She had some work to finish up, so I wandered the streets a bit, braving a few high-end shops just to ogle the merchandise, and finally ducking into a resale shop where I scored some sweet second-hand jeans and a funky t-shirt. I walked around a bit more, found young families picnicking in the actual park known as Wicker Park, admired the combination of old and new buildings, and trying to figure out where I fit into the mix.

I took the Blue Line the rest of the way into downtown, connecting with Brown Line back home, and stopping along the way for my inaugural visit to Trader Joes (!) and carry out tacos at Jimmy's Mexican & American Food at the end of my block (fresh!).

It was a great day, tempered a little by my frustration that I'm away from the people I love the most, with whom I would love to share all this. Give me call, come visit; there are a lot of great neighborhoods left to explore!