Neighborhood News – Affordable, Artsy Bucktown
Bucktown is primarily home to millennials and Gen X. The family-oriented, affordable Bucktown neighborhood is the eastern-most boundary of the Logan Square community, and is defined by the North Branch of the Chicago River to its east, Bloomingdale Avenue to the south, Diversey Parkway to its north, and Western Avenue to the west. Moreover, according to the website Rentcafe, Bucktown is the 13th most walkable neighborhood in Chicago. Bucktown has excellent public transportation and is “very bikeable.” That’s how you can get to nearby neighborhoods like Wicker Park, DePaul, East Ukrainian Village, Ukrainian Village, Noble Square, Roscoe Village and Goose Island.
The former industrial corridor has a significant shopping district on Damen Avenue, extending north from North Avenue (in Wicker Park) to Webster Avenue. The neighborhood is readily accessible via the Blue Line and has multiple access points to the elevated Bloomingdale Trail, also known as the 606.
Polish Roots: The History of Bucktown
According to Wikipedia sources, Bucktown gets its name from the large number of goats raised in the neighborhood during the 19th century, when it was an integral part of the city’s famed ‘Polish Downtown.’ The male goat known as a buck, hence the nickname. The original Polish term for the neighborhood was Kozie Prery (Goat Prairie.) In the mid-20th Century, writer Nelson Algren frequented the Polish bars, including the Bit of Poland on Milwaukee Avenue. Those hot spots figure in his novels ‘Never Come Morning’ and ‘The Man with the Golden Arm.’ Algren famously compared Ashland Avenue to “a bridge between Warsaw and Chicago.”
Today, Bucktown is home to historic theatres, artists, and street fairs, single-family houses, and fun, 24/7. Through October 29, dare to enter the HOUSE OF THE EXQUISITE CORPSE, a horror peep-show puppet-theater anthology, at the historic Chopin Theater’sMain Stage, 1543 W. Division Street. As Choose Chicago describes it, this unique experience “beckons audiences to explore the tormented halls, peeping in on the otherworldly ills that plague each room. Through puppetry, physical performance, soundscape, and illusion, each room in the House of the Exquisite Corpse will horrify and mesmerize.” Can’t wait! In lieu of tickets, “pay what you can.”
Celebrate the ‘Season of the Witch’ with a Bizarre Bucktown Walking Tour!
From April 15 to November 1, take a unique and entertaining walking tour of Bucktown and Wicker Park, in a Bizarre Bucktown Walking Tour, focusing on the neighborhoods’ forgotten history and strange mysteries. Your guide is Gordon Meyer, a local resident, performer, writer, and magician. Tours start at the historic Flat Iron Arts Building, 1579 N. Milwaukee, Studio 202, from 8pm -9:15pm. For more information, contact Meyer at info@bizarrebucktown.com
Advance ticket purchase is required. Attendees must be at least 13 years of age.
Alison Moran-Powers and Dean’s Team Chicago
