West Town

The West Town neighborhood is within MLS area 8024. It is located northwest of the Loop and is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas. Its official boundaries roughly correspond to Bloomingdale on the north, Kinzie on the south, the Chicago River’s North Branch to the east, and a shifting western boundary that goes as far as Kedzie. West Town is a collection of several distinct neighborhoods and has long had a strikingly diverse population mix. Pulaski Park, Wicker Park, the Ukrainian Village, East Village, River West, Noble Square, Humboldt Park and Smith Park are the neighborhoods that make up West Town.

By the turn of the twentieth century, Germans, Scandinavians, Polish immigrants, Russian Jews, and Ukranians settled in various parts of West Town, dividing it into different neighborhoods. In the second half of the twentieth century, West Town became a primarily Latino “port of entry” neighborhood for Puerto Ricans and Mexicans. Later, African Americans settled here and finally, at the turn of the twenty-first century, there was an influx of artists, students, and other younger “bohemian” populations.

West Town is an incredibly diverse community, a growing and developing area due to its great location west of downtown with easy access to the highway system. Residents of West Town tend towards Wicker Park for entertainment but West Town has many eclectic restaurants and entertainment venues everywhere, as well as public parks for recreation. Most of West Town consists of two- and three-flats but renovated single family homes and apartments are also found in the area.