...plus a little bit of Bucktown, from a recent visit to Chicago.  I was up there for a show at the Mexican Fine Arts Center, and architecture show at the Art Institute, and to catch Billy Bragg and a venue in Bucktown. 

 

This visit starts with the usual Pilsen shots on Calle Diez y Ocho (18th Street), but spends more time in the oldest  (eastern) part of the neighborhood, around Halstead and Canalport Avenues.

 

Harrison Park, and oldtime Chicago neighborhood skyline....

 

Side street.....

 

Funky attic treatment on this two-flat

 

18th Street.

 

 

 

Cafe Mesitzo was a new find..they just opened at this location...its sort of an art gallery/performance space/bookstore/cafe for the more bohemian/artistic chicano crowd...sort of like Cafe Jumping Bean further east on 18th...

 

 

heading to the eastern side of Pilsen.

 

 

 

 

This is sort of neat. This used to be a German Lutheran church (based on the German writing on the plaque over the door). It burned, and, according to some folks at SCC a local developer took it over and saved the facade, but turned the basement into a sunken garden/private park.  This part of Pilsen is a block off of Halstead and is ungoing gentrification. 

 

 

 

 

Three-flats....

 

 

Housing here probably dates form the 1870s and 1880s....

 

 

 

 

Moving even further east, in the vicinity of Canalport avenue, between the Dan Ryan expressway and the South Branch of the Chicago River....you can see the angle of the river reflected in this factory....

 

 

lift bridge visible in backround....

 

 

 

I thought that these might have been pre-fire, but a poster at SSC said probably not, though there are prefire cottages scattered around, the neighborhood was mostly rebuilt in the 1870s-1890s since the original housing was so poorly constructed.

 

 

Example (maybe not a good one) of new infill (there is starting to be more of that in this area), and, behind it an unsual for Chicago 19th century house, unusual in the way the roof runs parallel to the street....

 

 

@@@@@@@@

 

On to Bucktown, via the old Logan Square L.

 

 

 

 

Milwaulkee Avenue, once the main street for Chicagos Polonia, now hipster ground zero.  The place where I saw Billy Bragg is on the right, with the big "Liquours" sign.  Crappy venue (I'm used to the intimate Dayton clubs).

 

 

note the infill on the left..there is a lot of that going on here..teardowns and infill....

 

two early commericial buildings...note the particularly tall false fronts hiding a gable roof.  Sort of "wild west"....you see this construction approach every so often in the city and out in the old suburbs and countryside in Chicagoland...

 

 

And, what is an old Chicago neighborhood without some sunken houses.  They are really not sunken, just that the street grade has been raised...3 to 8 feet depending on where you are at.  In the poorer outlying (at that time) neighborhoods, the houses where never raised and lots filled in, thus have this sunken appearance.

 

 

 

 

..in parts of Pilsen the houses are nearly a full floor below grade.  These look to be about three feet or so...(but note the infill housing to the right...they didn't raise the grade of their lot....

 

 

Political mural....with the traditional "anarchy & revolution" colors of red and black....

 

 

Ghandi and Che, together at last! (somehow I don't think they where coming from the same place, in terms of politics & strategy?)

 

 

Not in Bucktown,but sort of fits...Anarchist agit-prop group in front of the Art Institute.

 

 

 

 

 

...back to Bucktown, the ubiquitous Chicago corner tavern....thought I understand these are a dying bread.

 

 

City scenes with watertowers...interesting to compare and contrast these houses with the types we have in old Dayton.

 

 

 

 

...and, finally some shots of the neighborhood landmark, this wonderfull art deco flatiron building....here from the L platform (with those antique lights...where do they get the bulbs for these?)

 

 

...from Milwaulkee

 

...from North.

 

closer

 

the spire, with bas-relief figures...

 

The Paris of the Midwest....

 

 

(be sure to see this painting in the Art Institute when you visit Chicago)

Hey, Detroit is the Paris of the Midwest!!!

 

But great shots.

Wonderful thread. I've never visited that neighborhood.

Great neighborhood.  Those sunken houses are interesting.

Interesting-looking places.  Thanks for the tour!

fantasic job. the sunken houses are fun. there are a few in ny but not too many, mostly near overpasses. i walk by a few in the hunt's point nabe in the bronx where i often work that are getting hud rehabs -- because of a bridge ramp approach the whole first floors are now a "second story" of the basements!

 

I love these old industrial/wearhouse buildings!  These, IMO, would be great for loft/condo conversions.  There are a few a them along I-75 here in Cincy that I belive would be great if transformed.

 

Thanks for the photos!

I love Pilsen.  When I go to Chicago, its where I end up spending most of my time.  I've got a lot of friends who live and work in the area. Viva el Cristo Rey!

The 18th Street platform on the Blue Line is a great place to get pics of the streetscape -- and the new-old streetlamps.