The name has nothing to do with woven baskets but instead comes from
the neighborhood's founding fathers, Joel and Charles Wicker. In 1870,
the Wicker brothers bought eighty acres of land in the center of what
is now the Wicker Park neighborhood. The Wicker's donated four acres to
the development of a park, (the triangular-shaped Wicker Park) and
began developing the rest. Their efforts were recognized as middle and
upper class families migrated to the neighborhood, especially after the
Great Chicago Fire devastated downtown and pushed residents outward
from Chicago's center. The influx of new populations to the area hasn't
stopped since. With a gentrification process that began in the late
1980s, Wicker Park has managed to maintain some of its bohemian charm
with vintage and resale shops, record stores and live music venues
coexisting with an influx of chain stores, banks and high-end
boutiques.
Nightlife in Wicker Park has long been a key attraction to the
neighborhood. While the character of the community has gradually
transitioned from a mecca for the hip and edgy to a party destination
for weekend warriors, Friday and Saturday nights at the corner of
Milwaukee, North and Damen is still a spectacle of urban entertainment.
This is due in part to Wicker Park's reputation as a hot destination
for live music, with both local and touring bands making stops at
venues like Subterranean and Double Door or catching a DJ spin at The
Note. If it's just the bar scene you want to enjoy, there are also
plenty of places for that. Rodan, while also a restaurant, is a haven
for twenty-somethings to see and be seen; and an evening hanging out in
the patio at Nick's Beergarden is a great way to enjoy Chicago's warm
weather months. Wicker Park's southern border of Division Street has
lately become a rival to the action of Milwaukee, North and Damen with
several great new restaurants and bars opening on the stretch from
Ashland to Western Avenue. You can sample fine handmade truffles at the
retail space of Coco Rouge, a supplier of chocolate goodies to many of
Chicago's finer dining establishments. Phyllis' Musical Inn is another
neighborhood institution that has turned into the go-to place to get a
cheap beer and watch live bands.
Wicker Park has also
provided a home to many Chicago artists over the years and the annual
Around the Coyote art festival is a popular walking tour of the
neighborhood's galleries. Wicker Park Summer Fest is a weekend of sun
(hopefully), music, shopping and beer. With a few blocks of Damen
Avenue closed to traffic, the stage is set for local and touring bands
to entertain the throngs of fair-goers as they visit arts and crafts
booths and sample the local cuisine.
Real estate in Wicker
Park has risen along with the median income level of its residents and
the resulting shift has transformed this Chicago neighborhood from a
bohemian paradise to a more upwardly mobile and family friendly
environment. Wicker Park features a plethora of beautiful brick
Victorian mansions, but new development and construction have led to an
increase in new condominiums. Like in most Chicago neighborhoods, off
the bustling commercial intersections lay crisscrossing side streets of
quiet, tree-lined solitude. An ideal residential haven.
The
CTA Blue Line stop at Damen, North and Milwaukee drops you off at the
center of the action in Wicker Park. Several major CTA bus arteries
intersect the neighborhood: North, Division, Western and Ashland, with
Damen cutting directly through the middle. Wicker Park's eastern
border, the Kennedy Expressway is a transportation bonus.
