The
Near North Side is one of 77 well defined community areas of Chicago
, Illinois
,
United States
.
It is
located north of the Chicago
River
and the
downtown central business district (the Loop
).
With the
exception of Cabrini-Green
, the Near
North Side is known for its extreme affluence.
Neighborhoods
Cabrini-Green
Cabrini-Green was a notorious
public housing project. It is located in
Chicago's Northside, near the North/Clybourn
Red Line stop along
with the Chicago and Sedgwick
Brown Line stops. It
is made up primarily of mid- and
high-rise
apartment buildings, many with exterior
corridors so that residents enter their apartments like a motel
room. The corridors were later covered with chain link fencing to
prevent people from being thrown off, jumping, or from throwing
garbage over the side.
Though Chicago has many housing projects with
crime problems, this one is the most
noticeable because it is surrounded by wealthy neighborhoods,
notably the Gold Coast and Lincoln
Park
just blocks away.
The apartment buildings opened in 1958 (the "reds") and 1962 (the
"whites"), while the rowhouses (called the Frances Cabrini Homes)
opened in 1943.
Cabrini-Green stands on top of what used to
be an Italian
neighborhood
called "Little Sicily".
As gentrification began to take hold of the city in the early
1990s, the land on which Cabrini-Green sat became extremely
valuable, and one by one, the buildings have begun to meet the
wrecking ball to make way for new development. Destruction of the
"reds" began in 1995, and were all completely demolished by 2002.
Only 3 of the "white" towers remain standing today, with plans to
demolish them before the turn of the decade.
Low to midrise condominium buildings and rowhouses are being
constructed, as the Chicago street grid is slowly rebuilt through
the area. The redevelopment is riddled with controversy, as the
residents are forced out of the complex to make way for the
wealthy. Although 20% of the new units must be built as public
housing, there is not enough supply to meet the demand for housing,
and former residents of Cabrini-Green find themselves forced to
less expensive areas of the city or to the suburbs.
Gold Coast
The
Gold Coast is the wealthiest neighborhood in
Chicago.
The Gold
Coast consists mostly of high-rise apartment buildings on Lake Shore
Drive
,
facing Lake Michigan
, but also
includes low-rise residential blocks inland. As with many
neighborhoods, its exact borders are subject to dispute, but
generally extend from North Ave. south to Division St. and west to
Clark St. and also includes the areas east of State St. south to
Oak St. and east of Michigan Ave. south to Walton Place.
The Gold
Coast was an unexceptional neighborhood until 1885, when Potter Palmer, former dry goods merchant and
owner of the Palmer House hotel, built
a fanciful castle
on Lake Shore Drive.
Over the
next few decades, Chicago's elite gradually migrated from Prairie Avenue
to their new
homes north of the Loop.
Along almost every boulevard of the Gold Coast, upscale boutiques
and shops have opened up.
Giorgio Armani,
Chanel, Hermès
, Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Cartier
SA, Van Cleef &
Arpels, Yves Saint
Laurent, Harry Winston, Kate Spade, Tory Burch,
DKNY, Ralph Lauren,
Marc Jacobs, Stuart Weitzman, Rolex,
Max Mara, Vera
Wang, Jimmy Choo, Versace, Paul Stuart,
Betsey Johnson, and Lilly Pulitzer are just a few of the dozens
of designers that have locations in the exclusive
neighborhood. Also, Lamborghini, Ferrari
, Bentley, Porsche, and
Bugatti
have
dealership locations in the Gold Coast.
The
"Gold Coast Historic
District
" was listed
on the National
Register of Historic Places on January 30, 1978.
Gold Coast is zoned to the following
Chicago Public Schools schools:
Ogden
School,
O.A.
Thorp Scholastic
Academy (a magnet school) and
Lincoln Park High
School.
Old Town
Old Town
is a neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois, bounded by
Armitage Avenue on the north, Larrabee Street on the west, Division
Street on the south and Clark Street on the east. It sits
inside the community areas of Lincoln Park and the Near North Side,
and is part of Chicago's 43rd ward. The area of Old Town north of
North Avenue is part of the Lincoln Park Community Area, which
includes the Old Town Triangle Historic District bordered by the
former Ogden Avenue right-of-way, Clark Street and North Avenue.
The area of Old Town south of North Avenue is considered part of
the Near North Community Area.
Old Town is today considered an affluent and historic neighborhood,
home to many of Chicago's older, Victorian-era buildings.In the
1950s,the majority of this area was an enclave to the first Puerto
Ricans to emigrate to Chicago.They referred to this area as part of
"La Clark" until commercialization decorated late 1960s shop signs
with the name of Old Town. The neighborhood is home to St.
Michael's Church, originally a Bavarian-built church, and one of 7
to survive the path of the Great Chicago Fire[4]. St. Michael's,
Holy Name Cathedral, Immaculate Conception and St. Joseph's catered
also to Latinos with Spanish speaking masses.
The neighborhood is also home to the famed
The Second City improvisational comedy
troupe. Many of the streets and alleys, particularly in the Old
Town Triangle section, predate the Great Chicago Fire and do not
all adhere to a typical Chicago grid pattern.In 1927, sculptors
Sol Kogen and
Edgar Miller purchased and subsequently
rehabilited a house on Burton Place, near Wells Street, into the
Carl Street Studios. Through the 1930s, an art colony emerged in
the neighborhood as artists moved from the "Towertown" neighborhood
near Washington Square Park.
Old Town was also home to many gays & lesbians from the 1950s
through the 1980s. There were numerous gay bars lining Wells Street
(all of them closed now). This was the first "gay ghetto" in
Chicago, predating the current Lake View neighborhood (which is the
current epicentre of gay life). As the area gentrified, the gays
moved further north to Lincoln Park and then Lake View
neighborhoods.
Old Town has one Brown-Purple Line El station at 1536-40 North
Sedgwick Avenue. It is one of the oldest standing stations on the
'L'.
Goose Island
Goose
Island is the only island on the Chicago
River. It
is separated from the mainland by the North Branch of the Chicago
River on the west and the North Branch Canal on the east. The canal
was dug in 1853 by former Chicago mayor
William Butler Ogden for industrial
purposes, thus forming the island. Because he formed the island, at
times, it has been known as
William B.
Ogden Island. After Irish immigrants moved to the
island, it took on the name Goose Island as well as
Kilgubbin, which was the immigrants' original home
in Ireland. The
Goose Island
Brewery makes Kilgubbin Red Ale, in honor of this name.
The large facility on the north end of the island (visible from
North Avenue, but only reachable from the south: Division Street to
North Branch to 1132 W. Blackhawk) is the
Wrigley Global Innovation Center, a
facility, which opened in September 2005 and was designed by
Gyo Obata of
Hellmuth, Obata and
Kassabaum.
On the south end of the island is
Kendall College's Riverworks campus.
River North
River North is a neighborhood in the Near North
Side community area of Chicago, Illinois. It is bound by Michigan
Avenue to the east,
Chicago Avenue to
the north, and the Chicago River to the south and west. This
neighborhood, home of
The River
North Gallery District, has the largest concentration of art
galleries in the United States outside of Manhattan. Along with
hundreds of art galleries, the area holds many bars, dance clubs,
popular restaurants, and entertainment venues. Subsections of River
North include:
- the gallery district, primarily along Superior and Huron
streets between Wells and Orleans;
- a theme-restaurant area with many tourist-oriented restaurants,
surrounding Clark and Ontario;
- "the
Cathedral District," an area with many new residential skyscapers surrounding Holy Name Cathedral
and St. James
Cathedral 
, located near State and Superior, and Huron and
Wabash, respectively;
- a
design district, with shops and showrooms selling commercial and
luxury interior furnishings, in the blocks north of the Merchandise Mart
;
and
- Kingsbury Park, an area of newly built residential high-rises
surrounding Erie Park, at Erie Street and the Chicago River.
According to a recent article in the Chicago Tribune, the River
North area has been experiencing explosive population growth. An
estimated 25,000 new residents, occupying some 10,000 new
condominiums, have moved into the neighborhood since 2000. If these
estimates hold true, the Near North neighborhoods population is
nearing 100,000 residents at 97,811, a 34.3% increase from
2000.
Streeterville
Streeterville is a neighborhood in Chicago, north
of the Chicago River.
It is bounded by the river on the south,
Michigan Avenue
on the west, and Lake
Michigan on
the north and east.
Streeterville houses some of Chicago's
tallest skyscrapers and most upscale
stores, hotels, restaurants and theaters, as well as Northwestern Memorial
Hospital and Northwestern
University
's Feinberg
School of Medicine, School of
Continuing Studies, Kellogg School of Management's
downtown campus and School of Law
.
The
Magnificent Mile portion of Michigan Avenue is part of
Streeterville, as is the number one tourist attraction in Chicago,
Navy Pier
.
In 2007,
construction started on Chicago's new tallest skyscraper, the
Chicago Spire
.
It is
located in the extreme southeastern corner of the neighborhood,
next to Lake Shore Drive, and is
currently on hold, showing no progress on its construction except a
110' diameter hole for its foundation and construction fencing
around the site.
Magnificent Mile
The
Magnificent Mile is a stretch of North
Michigan Avenue between the Chicago River and
Oak Street in Streeterville. Although
actually about three-quarters of a mile, the name "Magnificent
Mile" has stuck.
Along this street is a mixture of high-class stores,
restaurants, office buildings and
hotels. The area has a high concentration of the
city's major media firms and
advertising agencies, including the
Chicago Tribune newspaper.
It is the
home of Chicago's famous Water
Tower
landmark, Water Tower Park with its historic clock,
and the eight-level Water Tower
Place
shopping center which grew up next door to, and
overshadowed, the comparatively diminutive landmark.
The
shopping center is anchored by Macy's
North
Michigan store. North of the shopping center can be found
the famous John Hancock Center
, the Art Deco Palmolive Building
and the lavish Drake
Hotel.
Washington Square
Washington Square is a public square bounded by Dearborn, Clark,
Delaware, and Walton streets. It was long known as "Bughouse
Square," as orators of varying abilities often used its central
platform for speeches.
It is fronted on the north by the Newberry Library
and
partially bounded by the Washington Square landmark district.
Immediately west of LaSalle Boulevard,
separating this area from Cabrini-Green, is the Moody Bible Institute
, and immediately east is Connors Park.
Census tract 811, a four-block (0.04 sq mi.) area located between
State, Dearborn, Chicago, and Division and straddling Washington
Square and the Gold Coast, had 3,718 residents in 2000, giving it a
population density of — the highest in Chicago.
Connors Park
Named after a small, triangular park bounded by Rush, Wabash,
Chestnut, and Delaware, this small part of the Magnificent Mile
district (west of Michigan, north of Chicago, east of State, and
south of Oak) has recently gained attention due to new development
spilling over from Michigan Avenue.
Much of the Loyola University Chicago
Water Tower campus lies in this area.
Economy
Google's Chicago offices are in the Near
North Side.
At one point
Indigo Airlines was
headquartered in the Near North Side.
Diplomatic missions
Several consulates reside in the Near North Side.
The main building and
visa office of the Consulate-General
of the People's Republic of China are in the Near North Side;
other countries with missions in the Near North Side include
Austria,
Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Greece, India, Republic of Ireland,
Italy, Japan, South Korea, Lithuania, Poland
, Serbia, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Kingdom,
and Ukraine.
Three trade missions have offices at 500 North Michigan Avenue; the
Austrian Trade Commission is located in Suite 1950, the Trade
Commission of Spain and the Italian-American Chamber of Commerce
Midwest is located in Suite 506.
Education
Colleges and universities
Argosy University's classroom
space was located in 350 North Orleans Street in the Near North
Side.
On
June 30, 2008 the classroom space moved to Michigan Plaza in the Chicago
Loop.
Primary and secondary schools
Chicago Public Schools serves
residents of the Near North Side.
References
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