The continuing recession and high unemployment means food security is at a low point in Chicago. more ›

So how did Wal-Mart's meeting with concerned Lakeview residents Monday night go? About as well as can be expected. more ›

Sometimes it pays to walk around the neighborhood after a long day in front of the computer. We captured this colossal cockup last night outside Zaytune Mediterranean Grill in Bridgeport. Eyewitnesses we spoke to at the scene said the truck at the right of the frame was chasing a dark blue Jeep on South Morgan for no other reason than it was a dark blue jeep. The truck clipped the Jeep and spun out of control, crashing into the truck in the middle of the frame. The white car sandwiched between the middle truck and the white truck got the worst of it. more ›

What does the neighborhood you live in say about you? That is a question popping up all over the place in a variety of ways lately as the City faces a significant change in leadership. more ›

Until a couple years ago, the viaduct at 47th and Lake Park, just on the north edge of Hyde Park, was covered in murals that were more reminiscent of street graffiti than the narrative, community-painted murals we’ve previously covered in Pilsen and Hyde Park. The slightly recessed concrete rectangles formed natural canvasses, and a number of muralists took part in the project (which seems to have been completed in the late 90s or early 00s). Most of the murals boasted a street graffiti style, with spray painted words bleeding off the edges of blackened concrete. Some of the murals were beginning to flake and fade, and some had suffered vulgarities at the hands of late-night passersby with cans of cheap spray paint. more ›

After some good old-fashioned community organizing, leaders in Chinatown have a political victory under their belt: the state legislature sent Governor Quinn a bill that once signed, will consolidate the 59 precincts in Chicago's Chinatown into one legislative district. more ›

The fine folks at Forgotten Chicago have posted a history of the former Edgewater Golf Club and its kicking-and-screaming-all-the-way fight to the beautiful homes and egalitarian warren Park that it is today. more ›

Earlier this year 49th Ward Alderman Joe Moore opened up hearings to his constituency on how to best spend $1.3 million in funding for infrastructure improvements. So-called participatory budgets have been around for years in South America, but the 49th Ward was the first place in the United States to try this out. more ›

Local bicycle tour website Chicago Velo and real estate company Big Shoulders Realty have put together a series of guided bicycle tours through some of Chicago's classic neighborhoods. Their current season is winding down in a month, but you can still register for Saturday's tour of Bridgeport and Armour Square. more ›

According to the study the plants cause more than $127 million in 2010 dollars in health damages yearly, based on 2005 emissions. Particulate matter released into the air causes cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, heart attacks, premature death and more. A spokeswoman for Midwest Generation told WBEZ that there is no tie between the plants and public health, putting the blame on traffic instead. The ELPC supports the Chicago Clean Power ordinance, which would require Midwest Generation to reduce PM pollution within 4 years. Howard Learner, executive director for the ELPC said via press release “Soot and smog from Chicago coal plants is making us sick and costing us millions. Cleaning them up is the right thing to do for our health, our environment and our economy.” more ›

Landmarks Illinois is hosting a historic pub crawl of Bridgeport taverns this evening. Walking tours are great ways to discover new neighborhoods and walking around Bridgeport did wonders for me when I first moved to the neighborhood eleven years ago. So did visiting some of the taverns like Shinnick's, Bernice's Tavern (pictured), Schaller's Pump, Catcher's, Maria's and Mitchell's Tap (the bar formerly known as Puffer's). If Chicago is a city of neighborhoods, then a pub crawl through one of the oldest is a fine way to spend a Friday evening. more ›

Interesting conversation over at Everyblock Chicago from a man with the screen name "Ron Tough." Seems Mr. "Tough" has watched the increase in crime in his home neighborhood of Old Irving Park, is mad as hell and isn't going to take it anymore. In fact, "Ron Tough" is so angry about it he's thinking of taking a stand and moving to the northwest suburbs, like his parents and grandparents before him. more ›

WalletPop, a consumer finance website I never heard of until today, got my attention with a list of the 25 most dangerous neighborhoods with the highest predicted rates of violent crime in America. Topping the list: the West Town area bordered by Lake Street, Damen, Western Avenue and Kinzie. more ›

Inspired by Bill Rankin's map of Chicago that laid out the city's racial and ethnic dividing lines, photographer Eric Fischer wanted to see what other cities looked like when mapped the same way (Fischer previously geo-tagged the entire city). Last week, Fischer shared the findings via his Flickr page, also making his own map of Chicago. Both Rankin's and Fischer's maps use data from the 2000 Census, with Fischer matching his map to Rankin's key in which each dot represents 25 people: Red = White, Blue = Black, Green = Asian, Orange = Hispanic. Rankin's maps, created in 2009, also map out race and income. more ›

Pilsen's annual ¡Buen Provecho! restaurant tour is fast approaching. Slated for September 16, which also marks the Mexican Bicentennial, the $25 tour of 20 Pilsen restaurants, hosted by the Eighteenth Street Development Corporation, is one of the more thorough neighborhood food tours in the city, and one of the more popular. more ›

The erstwhile anniversary celebrators over at Chicago Magazine, the folks who brought you that movie list that ranked Barbershop ahead of Blues Brothers, is back with another list, this time detailing the top 20 Chicago neighborhoods and suburbs (10 each). Roscoe Village (pictured above) made the cut, as did Bridgeport, Beverly, and Holstein Park. It's a pretty small list, considering the number of neighborhoods the city has, and it's sure to generate a lot of discussion. Swing by to scope out the entire list as well as check out the list's qualifiers. [h/t Gapers Block] more ›

As Chicago heads out to vote in today's primaries, here's a look at campaign signs and election miscellanea around one of our neighborhoods. more ›

We spent a cold Saturday evening in Chinatown, eating hot food and braving the cold weather. We took the camera along and hope you enjoy some pictures of Chinatown at night. more ›

The Andersonville Development Corporation is sponsoring its 4th annual dessert crawl Sunday from 2-5 p.m. A celebration of all things sugar, spice and everything nice, the crawl is divided into two routes. "Sugar" consists of participating businesses like Ann Sather's,George's Ice Cream and Sweets, Hamburger Mary's, In Fine Spirits, La Cocina de Frida. The "spice" route includes Andie's, Big Jones, Charlie's Ale House, Fireside, M. Henry and others. It's also a good walk along either route, so all those sweets don't go to your, um, wherever. more ›

More people are moving south to Pilsen and Bridgeport in search of cheap housing and rents, and that's led to a slow but steady increase in dining options for our part of town; we'll have a review of Nana Friday. 18th Street in Pilsen has even seen some diversity with the recent openings of Ristorante al Teatro and Ciao Amore, and Honky Tonk BBQ before that. more ›

A list of the nation's 25 most dangerous neighborhoods based on neighborhood statistics shows Chicago has landed four on the list, the most of all cities listed. The highest ranked Chicago neighborhood - well, more like "sections of larger neighborhoods" - on the list belongs to a part of Washington Park - State St. & Garfield - that comes in at number two overall. As the Sun-Times points out, that particular neighborhood formerly consisted of the well-documented Robert Taylor housing project. more ›

A wave of nostalgia takes over us whenever we find ourselves on the Northwest side of the city. Thirty years ago, the Belmont-Central retail area in the Cragin neighborhood was a bustling, thriving commercial area. Although it's a shadow of what it once was, to this day folks driving to shop in the area can park for free in the parking garage located just south of Belmont on Central Avenue. more ›

A "food desert," by definition, is a geographic area with no or distant grocery stores served by a plethora of fast food restaurants. An estimated 500,000 Chicago residents live in a food desert and the health implications can be staggering. more ›

A new study from the Chaddick Institute at DePaul examines Chicago's diversity by neighborhood by creating a "composite diversity index." The study measured ethnic diversity, income diversity and age diversity. According to their findings, more ›

In case there were any lingering skeptics, this recession thingy is for real. more ›

The crowd at Bernice's Tavern was separated into smaller groups. They were huddled together, studying a board containing ten photographs of church steeples and facades. more ›

Where Can I See the Best Christmas Lights in the City? more ›

Now this brings back some memories. We've always had this fascination with old movie houses. It probably started with Sunday family days at the Will Rogers Theatre at 5641 W. Belmont in the mid-70's. It was the perfect capper to a day in Belmont Central. Mom would take us shopping for clothes at Goldblatt's — those stores were actually respectable then — or Jack Robbins, maybe have some lunch under the Golden Arches. Then we'd stop at a Rexall Drug store, buy candy and pop (movie theater concessions were always expensive), sneak it inside, and watch cartoons followed by a Disney movie, or maybe an old Benji flick. more ›

Of all the egregious things the city can do to property owners, from jacking property taxes to the current favorite, the misuse of TIFs, none seems more unfair and ripe for abuse as eminent domain. For the uninitiated, eminent domain allows the city government to seize ownership of private property, paying the owner whatever the city deems as "market value". It's supposed to be used for the "greater public good", such as the expansion... more ›

As Frank Burns says, it's nice to be nice to the nice. And it seems like people are getting on the kindness bandwagon today. First the Neighbors Project wants us to give out thank you for shoveling cards. The folks at NP will send you free postcards to pass out to your shovel-inclined neighbors to thank them for their magnificent de-snowing skills — and it's also a way to shame your blockmates into clearing... more ›