Prairie Avenue and Chinatown

Geography is the main thing linking the Prairie Avenue Historic District and Chinatown. Prairie Avenue (two blocks east of Michigan Avenue, between 18th and 22nd streets) was Chicago's first Gold Coast. Many prominent merchants and manufacturers, including George Pullman and Marshall Field, built their homes here in the 1870s through the 1890s. New condominium construction has helped give this neighborhood more of its old vim, but it's nothing compared to the compact commotion to the west in Chinatown, a neighborhood packed-in with restaurants and shops. Tour the historic commercial district along Wentworth and Archer avenues and you might just forget you're in a Midwestern city.