How Lincoln Park Gentrified - Chicago Magazine

[montréaliste]

Originally Posted by 10023

I would define it as anything I do after work. Could be a pub, could be a restaurant, could be an art gallery, could be a music venue. Could be something different like rooftop cinema or booze heavy mini golf for grown-ups. In London it’s often something at a members’ club.

Generally speaking, the vast majority of this stuff is in cities and not suburbs. When it’s in a suburb that’s generally because it’s a SINO (suburb in name only) and actually fairly urban.

That's where the suburbs will clip your wings; they have the booze intensive maxi-golf for grown-ups.

[10023]

Originally Posted by montréaliste

That's where the suburbs will clip your wings; they have the booze intensive maxi-golf for grown-ups.

But this isn’t nightlife... and I don’t golf.

[montréaliste]

Originally Posted by 10023

But this isn’t nightlife... and I don’t golf.

You haven't had a true taste of night life if golfing under klieg lights is unknown to you.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Golfing is something you do instead of working, not something that you do "after work" as night life was originally defined above...

[killaviews]

Gentrification in Lincoln Park definitely caused the decline of anything interesting. The main retail corridor went from Barney's Co-Op from and nationally recognized independent shops to Flirty Girl Fitness and nail salons (Flirty Girl Fitness has since been replaced by something even more basic). Lincoln Park and parts of Lakeview has become not only boring, but unattractive. The businesses don't put in the effort, I think, because so there are so many residents with money that you don't need to try very hard to get customers. New places open up with just a vinyl sign.

It's not all the neighborhood's fault, though. Something that bugs me is that local media is only fascinated with the next trendy spot. Restaurants and stores flock to Logan Square and Fulton Market because that is where all the attention is. There have been a few decent places in LP that have tried and failed. It's sad because they get no coverage. And the residents of LP and Lakeview also flock to these neighborhoods because that is where they are told to go, and their local spots flounder.

I'm optimistic that the tide will turn again. Eventually, the concentration of people and money will win out. I think the Viagra Triangle is the perfect example. It wasn't blighted with empty storefronts, but it was not interesting. It has been shifting towards interesting again with restaurants like Nico and Somerset.

Lincoln Park's return to destination-status may be starting with a Parsons Chicken and Fish. While it seems like a no-brainer (dense and wealthy), but business are afraid to step up and the cost has to be higher as well. I was in LP recently, on Clark street, trying to find a place for dinner - and there is nothing and everything at the same time. It's like a mall food court.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by killaviews

Restaurants and stores flock to Logan Square and Fulton Market because that is where all the attention is.

Broadway in LV and Clark in LP are probably, in terms of urban form, the best neighborhood urban corridors in Chicago, and they have the surrounding wealth, density and transit.

But it seems all the best restaurants/destinations are in that Randolph corridor, which is lacking urbanistically, to be charitable. It looks more like the Clybourn corridor, but with Au Cheval instead of Target. An interesting business would probably do well to locate where customers actually live.

[10023]

That’s not really right Crawford.

For one thing that West Loop corridor is Chicago’s “meatpacking district”. And like NYC’s years earlier, that meant that the neighbors wouldn’t complain about noise in the small hours of the morning, so it became a nightlife district. Eventually both will be filled with expensive condos and the nightlife will be gone, but the Chicago one has a lot more runway on that front.

Secondly it’s well positioned for people to go to from the Loop after work before heading back to wherever they live, or even scooting up the Kennedy or on a Metra train back to the North Shore after dinner. That’s why it’s the West Loop and not the South Loop that got cool. The other places that work in this way are generally in River North or maybe Old Town/Gold Coast (15-20 years ago the Viagra Triangle around Rush & State was the place to be). LP is a pain in the ass to get to because the streets are narrow and the traffic is bad. It’s not a destination, or trendy, so the restaurant scene is more like the Upper West Side. Which is to say, nothing you’d get in a taxi for.

Lastly, there is actually some cool warehouse space over in the West Loop that has been adapted to restaurant use well. Think places like Green Street Smoked Meats. Anything old generally beats anything new when it comes to placemaking and human spaces, so that’s an advantage over anything that could be built from scratch elsewhere in the city.

[mrnyc]

no, more like 30+yrs ago. rush/state was the cool place to be in the 1980s yuppie era, not by the 1990s.

[10023]

Originally Posted by killaviews

Gentrification in Lincoln Park definitely caused the decline of anything interesting. The main retail corridor went from Barney's Co-Op from and nationally recognized independent shops to Flirty Girl Fitness and nail salons (Flirty Girl Fitness has since been replaced by something even more basic). Lincoln Park and parts of Lakeview has become not only boring, but unattractive. The businesses don't put in the effort, I think, because so there are so many residents with money that you don't need to try very hard to get customers. New places open up with just a vinyl sign.

It's not all the neighborhood's fault, though. Something that bugs me is that local media is only fascinated with the next trendy spot. Restaurants and stores flock to Logan Square and Fulton Market because that is where all the attention is. There have been a few decent places in LP that have tried and failed. It's sad because they get no coverage. And the residents of LP and Lakeview also flock to these neighborhoods because that is where they are told to go, and their local spots flounder.

I'm optimistic that the tide will turn again. Eventually, the concentration of people and money will win out. I think the Viagra Triangle is the perfect example. It wasn't blighted with empty storefronts, but it was not interesting. It has been shifting towards interesting again with restaurants like Nico and Somerset.

Lincoln Park's return to destination-status may be starting with a Parsons Chicken and Fish. While it seems like a no-brainer (dense and wealthy), but business are afraid to step up and the cost has to be higher as well. I was in LP recently, on Clark street, trying to find a place for dinner - and there is nothing and everything at the same time. It's like a mall food court.

How would gentrification cause the departure of Barney’s? I’m pretty sure that was Net-a-Porter/Mr. Porter, the general decline of department stores, and the fact that the location was probably never productive enough for Barney’s’ private equity owners compared to their stores on both coasts.

Isn’t Parson’s he place in Logan Square with negroni slushies? If so then the whole point of going there is to sit at a picnic table in the back and get wasted on those while playing bocce. It won’t be cool if it sets up in a former chain restaurant space in LP.


News flash kids - the most wealthy neighborhoods are never the most trendy or interesting, anywhere in the world. Downtown is cooler than Uptown, and Brooklyn is cooler still. East London is cooler than West London. Eastern Paris is cooler than Western Paris. In all of these cases ‘cooler’ includes better shopping, better restaurants and better nightlife... in our opinion. For other people, like the average Lincoln Parker or Upper West Sider, the best shopping means Banana Republic, best restaurants means a nice Italian that doesn’t serve anything ‘weird’, and best nightlife means closing before midnight so they don’t hear any noise. All cities have both types of neighborhoods.


Lincoln Park is Chicago’s Upper West Side, not its West Village. It has never been cool.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by 10023

Lincoln Park is Chicago’s Upper West Side, not its West Village. It has never been cool.

True, but the W. Village isn't poorer, less urban or less established than the UWS. It looks and feels different, of course. Meatpacking is essentially a sub-neighborhood of W. Village.

Randolph, to me, seems notably less urban/established than the lakefront areas, and less proximate to wealth, though maybe that will change. It doesn't seem like an easy schlep from the lake, though maybe access to Ogilvie helps.

Lincoln Park is more the Park Slope of Chicago with nice homes, lots of kids/entitled helicopter parents and generally mediocre food and retail.

[the urban politician]

Nearly every remaining vacant lot in the West Loop is spoken for by some kind of development, with millions of SF of office in the pipeline. The "non-urbanity" that you observe is likely due to its unfinished appearance, plus just how wide Randolph St is.

West Loop will never compare to LP because it will probably end up being far more commercial and vibrant than LP is.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

plus just how wide Randolph St is.

randolph, from the kennedy out to ogden, has THE stupidest street set-up arrangement in the entire city of chicago. hell, it's one of the stupidest i've seen in any city anywhere.

and with a streetwall-to-streetwall distance of ~150', it is ridiculously wide.

rip-out the stupid double medians, make it a street of two lanes of two-way traffic, buffered bike lanes, and have the rest go towards extra-wide sidewalks with generous tree planters for giant sidewalk cafes.

[killaviews]

Originally Posted by 10023

How would gentrification cause the departure of Barney’s? I’m pretty sure that was Net-a-Porter/Mr. Porter, the general decline of department stores, and the fact that the location was probably never productive enough for Barney’s’ private equity owners compared to their stores on both coasts.

Isn’t Parson’s he place in Logan Square with negroni slushies? If so then the whole point of going there is to sit at a picnic table in the back and get wasted on those while playing bocce. It won’t be cool if it sets up in a former chain restaurant space in LP.


News flash kids - the most wealthy neighborhoods are never the most trendy or interesting, anywhere in the world. Downtown is cooler than Uptown, and Brooklyn is cooler still. East London is cooler than West London. Eastern Paris is cooler than Western Paris. In all of these cases ‘cooler’ includes better shopping, better restaurants and better nightlife... in our opinion. For other people, like the average Lincoln Parker or Upper West Sider, the best shopping means Banana Republic, best restaurants means a nice Italian that doesn’t serve anything ‘weird’, and best nightlife means closing before midnight so they don’t hear any noise. All cities have both types of neighborhoods.


Lincoln Park is Chicago’s Upper West Side, not its West Village. It has never been cool.

Gentrification caused dullness, and dullness killed the interesting stores.

Also, Parsons in LP is going into an old auto repair shop with a large outdoor patio - just like Logan Square's Parsons.

There is no rule that wealthy neighborhood can't have interesting retail and food. I bet Parsons purchased that property instead of getting price gauged by a landlord looking to capitalize on LP status alone and the neighbors Ok'd the zoning change probably because they realized their neighborhood was becoming boring as hell.

All hope isn't lose. Trendy neighborhoods swings hard one way, and just as hard the other way. But eventually, equilibrium is achieved.

[the urban politician]

Yeah, crossing Randolph as a pedestrian is a bitch.

Driving on Randolph is also a bitch--it's confusing.

So it sucks for pedestrians, it sucks for drivers, and I'm betting it sucks for bikes. Nobody wins. Definitely ripe for a reconfiguration

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by killaviews

There is no rule that wealthy neighborhood can't have interesting retail and food.

It's probably the wealth typology. Tribeca is very wealthy but has interesting retail/food; Carnegie Hill is just as wealthy but will never have interesting retail/food.

[10023]

Originally Posted by Crawford

It's probably the wealth typology. Tribeca is very wealthy but has interesting retail/food; Carnegie Hill is just as wealthy but will never have interesting retail/food.

New York has so much wealth that even the wealthy are segmented into establishment (boring) wealth and more emerging (cooler) wealth. Or at least wealthy people who identify that way and want to be around the cool kids.

The West Loop is basically a small sliver of what in NYC is a quite large area of downtown affluence. And it’s a fairly new thing.

And I’m still going with Lincoln Park as the Upper West Side rather than Park Slope. It’s more central and more established. Sure it’s not as dense as the UWS, but we’re talking about Chicago not NYC. And it has never had interesting food. It certainly didn’t lose this due to gentrification. LP was gentrified before interesting food really became a thing in America.