Wicker Park

Wicker Park, the area south of North Avenue to Division Street, is inhabited by creative types, young families, university students, and older but hip professionals. Art galleries, coffeehouses, nightclubs, and funky shops line its streets—it's a far cry from the Mag Mile. Along Hoyne and Pierce avenues, near the triangular park that gives the neighborhood its name, you'll find some of the biggest and best examples of Chicago's Victorian-era architecture. So many brewery owners built homes in this area that it was once dubbed Beer Baron Row. Farther south is Ukrainian Village, so named for the influx of immigrants who began settling there in the late 19th century. The area’s Slavic identity remains very real today; notices written exclusively in Cyrillic script pepper the windows of local businesses, and on Chicago Avenue you’re never more than a varenyky’s throw from a Ukrainian deli. Make no mistake, though: gentrification has arrived here, and old school spots co-exist (for now) with tasting menu restaurants and vintage stores patronized by young residents well-heeled enough to afford the burgeoning rents.