The 15 Sub-Cities of Chicago

[Steely Dan]

The 15 Sub-Cities of Chicago
These cities within the city boast distinct foodways, ethnic makeups, political outlooks, and locals-only bars.

BY EDWARD ROBERT MCCLELLAND
AUGUST 19, 2022, 11:01 AM

Over the past year or so, I have visited all 77 of Chicago’s community areas by bus, train, bicycle, or gym shoe. Much has been written, much has been broadcast, about how Chicagoans talk, or how Chicagoans like their pizza, or what Chicagoans like to drink, or how Chicago’s woke prosecutors have made the city as dystopically anarchic as Somalia, circa 1992, or what constitutes a real Italian beef sandwich. Yet Chicago is too vast and contains too many multitudes for such generalizations. It’s been said that Chicago is a city of neighborhoods. Having traveled from Rogers Park to Mount Greenwood, from Edison Park to Hegewisch, and all the way down Ogden Avenue, until it turns into Cicero, I prefer to think of it as a city of sub-cities, each with distinct foodways, ethnic makeups, political outlooks, and bars you probably shouldn’t go into if you don’t look like you’re from around there. I’ve identified 15, and will proceed to make generalizations about them, rather than Chicago as a whole. (There is one hard and fast rule I can offer about life in Chicago: Don’t ride a bicycle on 130th Street. There’s no bike lane, and you may get sideswiped by a truck under the viaduct near the Ford plant.)

click this link to read the author's descriptions of the 15 sub-cities of Chicago as he sees them:

https://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/the-15-sub-cities-of-chicago/


A fairly interesting take. Lots of very general truths in the piece.

A few immediate quibbles I might make:

- I'd put armour square (34) with Bridgeport, together they are now the Asian powerbase in Chicago.

- I'd put Ashburn (70) in with el sur as it's now plurality Latino.

- I'd put Avondale (21) in with wicker square because the Milwaukee Ave gentrification train is still rolling hard.

- I don't share the author's faith that clear ridge will remain an independent thing. It's absorption into el sur seems pretty inevitable to me. Both CA's completely flipped from white majority to Latino majority last decade.