A Walk Through Chicago's Wicker Park

Wicker Park is a small commercial and residential area of Chicago, surrounding a little triangular park of the same name and located a little to the northwest of the downtown area, just west of I-90. Melissa and I probably would have missed it on our recent visit here were it not for our son Will, who made the journey with us, mentioning a few places he wanted to check out there.  It's a place known for attracting hipsters and being a little counterculture in nature, not exactly Greenwich Village but more working class.  After our excellent Architecture Tour on the morning of Monday August 12th, we got on the C.T.A. Blue train at Lake and Clarke and rode to Wicker Park, getting off at the Damen Avenue station.  Like myself, Will digs bookstores and coffee shops, so we checked out Quimby's on North Street and Myopic on Milwaukee Avenue for their books, after which we stopped off at Wormhole Coffee further down Milwaukee.  Quimby's Books more or less specialized in radical and counterculture-themed books and was big on poetry as well...I imagine that it would be the kind of place that the Goth Kids on South Park would hang out at.  Myopic, on the other hand, was loaded with many, many used books, fiction and nonfiction, and reminded me of the sorely-missed Book Gallery on Main Street many years ago in Gainesville...now that kind of bookstore I could relate to.  Wormhole was cool, the coffee was good, the alternative rock music was good and loud, and the barista there recommended Handlebar, a vegetarian restaurant further west on North, as a good place for lunch.  Handlebar's food was great, although I'm not a vegetarian.  I ordered their sloppy joe and a side of chili...both meatless and delicious.  After lunch the rain began to fall and we made it back to the train station before needing to take out our umbrellas...

Wicker Park...at least the North Street and Milwaukee Avenue section we walked through...seemed more to be oriented for tourists as the sidewalks were full of people who were obviously visitors and not just residents.  I imagine that Chicago has a lot of little enclaves like this, each with its own personality and attraction...but we simply did not have the time to explore around.  The brick buildings in various shades of brown were a lot shorter than the downtown Loop's skyscrapers, so for a change of scenery and atmosphere Wicker Park suited us just fine...