Chicago Places

Pilsen, Little Italy, and Chinatown

A jumble of ethnic neighborhoods stretches west of the Loop and from the south branch of the Chicago River to the Eisenhower Expressway (I-290). Once home to myriad 20th-century immigrants, the area is now dominated by Pilsen's Mexican community, Little Italy, and the University of Illinois's Medical District and Circle Campus.

Formerly an enclave of Bohemian and Czechoslovakian immigrants, Pilsen has an arts community with galleries and dramatic, colorful murals that showcase Mexican history, culture, and religion. It's bounded on the east by 800 West Halsted Street, on the west by 2400 West Western Avenue, on the north by 16th Street, and on the south by the Chicago River.

North of Pilsen is Little Italy, which, despite the encroachment by the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), still contains plenty of yummy Italian restaurants, bakeries, groceries, and sandwich shops. Extending west to 1600 West Ashland and south to 1200 South Roosevelt, Little Italy blends into University Village at its northeast corner. The village, UIC's booming residential area, lies west of Roosevelt Road and centers around Halsted Street, spanning south to 14th Street.

In the 1870s, the Prairie Avenue Historic District was Chicago's first Gold Coast. Prominent Chicagoans, including George Pullman and Marshall Field, had homes in the area two blocks east of Michigan Avenue, between 18th and 22nd streets. It's close to Chinatown, where Wentworth and Archer avenues are chockablock with restaurants and shops that might just make you forget you're in the Midwest.