Neighborhood Field Trip: Lincoln Park

In describing Lincoln Park, the neighborhood (and not to be confused with Lincoln Square, up northeast by me), the Lonely Planet guidebook starts off by saying that it's the place you would go if you were looking for that long lost sorority sister or fraternity brother. The name Lincoln Park is loaded with implications in Chicago, some of which are captured by that guidebook description.

Home to DePaul University, there is a strong collegiate influence throughout the neighborhood, which is overrun by energetic young adults "omygod"-ing into their cell phones, hunched over their laptops in cafes, or jogging around the neighborhood and into the nearby Lincoln Park itself. The other big contingent is young families, mostly Caucasian. Well-appointed couples behind either designer strollers or the wheels of luxury SUVs on their ways to who knows where, or simply out to see and be seen. There is a considerable affluence to the area, and several big name fashion labels keep active boutiques along Halsted, one of the main thoroughfares. The streets are wide and clean, the shopping and dining options seemingly endless, and the condos start in the mid- to high- six figures.

Lincoln Park is undeniably nice. For me, perhaps a little too nice. There's very little grit to the neighborhood, and not as much diversity, socioeconomically or even racially, as what you get in other parts of the city. With its Home Depots and Chipotles and picture-postcard streets, I couldn't shake the feeling that it was like a swanky suburb transplanted into the middle of the city, if that even make sense.

But enough color commentary. Lincoln Park is a fairly large neighborhood, bounded on the east side by the actual Lincoln Park itself, just beyond which is Lake Michigan. Only about another mile or two south and you're in downtown and the same distance north will get you up to Wrigley. A choice location.

I started by walking the main north-south commercial boulevards, Halsted and Clark, and the same diagonal stretch of Lincoln Avenue that defines Lincoln Square to the northwest ends after it cuts through the Lincoln Park neighborhood.

I may have been unimpressed by the lack of vibrant street life, but it is hard not to be at least a little dazzled by all the shopping and eating that can be done along these streets. I also worked a few side streets, marveling at the handsome brick and stone townhouses and manicured greenspace.

Lincoln Park is also home to Oz Park, dedicated to the memory of Chicago resident L. Frank Baum, author of "The Wizard of Oz". On the north side of the park are some pretty great statues of the Tin Man, The Scarecrow, and Dorothy and Toto, as well as some small sections of yellow brick road, and beautifully landscaped garden that is apparently quite popular with sunbathers. The south side of the park has several ball fields and basketball courts, filled with college-aged athletes working out a little academic malaise.

I had scheduled a haircut at a combination boutique and salon that specializes in cuts for men called, cleverly, Guise, so I worked my way over there after grabbing a bite to eat at a great little cafe called The Bourgeoisie Pig, specializing in Americanized French and Italian light fare, like the tasty Salad Nicoise I ordered for lunch. The salon itself was a pretty great experience (sorry to get your hopes up, Man Mane Maligners, it was a strategic job that kept most of the length and added some bangs and layers to make it a little less neo-hippie Prince Valiant and more urban gentleman. Hair in photo is bizarre looking and finished result is quite different).

After the haircut, I hightailed it over to the actual Lincoln Park park itself, starting with the renowned Lincoln Park Zoo.

For the sake of full disclosure, I have to admit that I have this strange, strong, nearly spiritual connection to the St. Louis Zoo. It's partly a function of having lived so near to it for so long, walking in and around and through it so many times, and also a testament to just how quality of an institution it is. All that to say, the poor Lincoln Park Zoo didn't stand a chance with me. It's a nice facility and I have to give the leadership credit for keeping it free to the public, but I found it to be surprisingly small and most of the exhibits unexceptional. The penguin exhibit especially, usually a favorite of mine, was depressingly cramped and obscured by heavy condensation on the plexiglass.

Far cooler to me was the Conservatory, nearly adjacent to the Zoo and separated from the main Zoo entrance by a beautiful formal garden. The Conservatory houses several rooms with everything from unusual orchids to a vast variety of ferns. Again, this is probably not unlike anything you could see at the Missouri Botanical Gardens, but it was free, and the Conservatory building itself, made up of several different rooms for the various species, was a great place in which to wander and and get lost.

By this point, dinner plans with friends were taking shape, and I was due to start heading home in order to tend to the pooch for a bit before heading out. I left the park behind, saving the discovery of its other greenspaces, beaches, and marinas for another day. The guidebook says that in total, Lincoln Park is about six times bigger than Central Park in New York. That's a lot of "another day"s.

I'm sure that there's a lot to Lincoln Park that I'm just not getting. The nightlife, for one, I am told, is pretty good. And the luxury of quiet, bountiful living in the heart of the city is not something to be summarily dismissed.

As I was talking about my trip with friends at dinner, little things would come up, like "that's where my dentist is" or "I go there just because this one great little shop has this one thing I need". Perhaps moreso than most any other neighborhood I've visited so far, Lincoln Park is vitally connected to the Chicago experience, typifying the city's residential heart (for the north side at least) and setting the standard for how life can be lived. As my own life works its way into the mix, it will be interesting to see how, or if, Lincoln Park can grow on me.