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Lakeview
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Neighborhood Promotion and Neighborhood Map Thumbnail
Explore This Neighborhood
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Lakeview continued...
Example: No other community's section of Lincoln Park and the lakefront has a totem pole. It's on the east (lake) side of Lake Shore Drive at Addison Street and, yes, it's a real one, imported from western Canada. It's near the Sydney R. Marovitz Golf Course, a nine-hole challenge along Lake Michigan, up the shoreline from lovely Belmont Harbor and across the Drive from Temple Sholom (1928), largest Reform Jewish congregation in Illinois.
And everything there is only a few blocks east of Wrigley Field (Wrigleyville neighborhood).
So enjoy that part of the neighborhood and don't worry about, say, rushing over to take in the masterwork that is St. Alphonsus Church. Not right away. (No one said these choices would be easy.)
Completed in 1896 by and for its then-German parish at Southport and Wellington Avenues just off Lincoln Avenue, masses are still celebrated in German, as well as in Spanish and English. The church's interior is notable for its exquisite white-marble altar, its mosaics and its stained glass, imported from Germany.
Next door is the Athenaeum Theater (1911), formerly a school and community center complete with bowling alleys and now host to a variety of live performances. Nearby along Lincoln Avenue is A La Turka (kebabs and, on weekends, belly dancers) and other ethnic eats. For refreshment, Lincoln Tap Room is an old bar that -- like much of this neighborhood -- manages to be retro (a giant Hamm's bear above the bar) and trendy (DJs, open mic nights) at the same time.
Not so nearby but still on Lincoln and walkable (with the right shoes) are a couple of longtime Chicago Lincoln Avenue institutions, Dinkel's Bakery (owned by the same family since 1922); and Paulina Meat Market (1949), just off Lincoln, which is worth visiting just to inhale the intoxicating aroma of its sausages, made in more varieties than you knew existed.
Heading east -- and yes, this would be a serious hike from those wursts -- the block and a half of Belmont Avenue between Sheffield Avenue and Clark Street, still Lakeview, is a different world representing different worlds. Downstairs from the Belmont 'L' station that serves the Red, Brown and Purple Lines are the following: two Thai restaurants, a Swedish diner, a 24-hour diner, a pizza place, a Mexican place, an Indian place, a Middle Eastern place, a Philly place and a Japanese notions store.
Also right there is Berlin, an interesting night spot for lovers of interesting night spots; and around the corner on Sheffield, the Vic Theater (1912), a concert venue and sometime movie house. West of Sheffield and an easy walk are still more restaurants and the Theatre Building, a multistage complex that's been home to live theater for more than 30 years.
South of Belmont on Broadway are more restaurants, including Oscar Wilde, which doubles as a pub; the Bagel, a Jewish-style deli with walls covered with posters from Broadway (the New York Broadway) musicals; plus Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Middle Eastern, Greek, Mexican, pizza -- and three Chicago originals, the first Intelligentsia Coffee, Pastoral (artisan cheeses and breads) and Bobtail, the ice cream store.
South of Belmont on Clark Street to Diversey are still more restaurants, few of them conventional. La Creperie has been making its Breton-style filled egg-skins since 1972. The Duke of Perth lists more than 70 single-malt whiskies on its card, plus pub standards from the kitchen.
If the Duke isn't Celtic enough for you, head to Ginger's Ale House, back on Ashland, and hoist a pint of Murphy's while cursing whoever is beating your soccer team on one of the tellies. North of Ginger's is more variety: Machu Picchu (Peruvian) and Cy's Crab House (crabs, of course -- and other seafood.)
Which brings us to a symbol of this neighborhood even mightier than the totem pole.
Parts of castle-like Lake View High School, on Ashland Avenue at Irving Park Road, date to 1886. (A fire leveled the original building in 1884.) Its alumni include film star Gloria Swanson, who made early silents at Chicago's Essanay Studios (Uptown neighborhood); and ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, and by extension, his carved co-stars Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd, who would've flopped in movies if it weren't for talkies.
Considering the neighborhood, all were very likely Cub fans, including the dummies. White Sox fans are free to provide a punch-line here.
For more information about Lakeview, please contact:
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