Spending a Week Walking Chicago
It’s the time of year when many young adults are leaving home to begin studying at college. For many, this means traveling to new cities, new states, or new countries. For me, this meant moving to Chicago. Beginning my studies at DePaul University, I enrolled in a class entitled “Walking Chicago.” This course, as its name suggests, aims to familiarize the student with the city of Chicago by walking through it. The class spent a full week simply walking through several of Chicago’s neighborhoods, immersing ourselves in all of the sights, sounds, and smells.
Before fully immersing ourselves in Chicago, however. we made a trip to the top of the John Hancock center to get a bird’s eye view of The Windy City. Seeing the city from such a high and almost inhuman vantage point gives the viewer an interesting and unique perspective. From such heights, the viewer is removed from the experience of living in the city — exempt from following the patterns and expectations of what it means to be a Chicagoan. They are simply an observer.
Venturing to the top of Chicago’s 5th tallest skyscraper was not only important because of its view, but also provided our group with point of contrast. We were about to walk the equivalent of 2 marathons through Chicago over the next few days, an experience which would be much more immersive and sensual than our isolated bird’s eye view of the city. From the sky, the city was beautiful, but lacking character. It lacked history, lacked stories, and lacked people. At the end of the day, a city is a macrocosm of the people who dwell within them; and seeing the city from afar is not a viable way to measure or experience the nature of the citizens. Walking the city on foot, however, would.
Our Immersion into Chicago began by following one wide bustling avenue for miles, seeing different neighborhoods and developments come and go along the way. We joined Division Street near the Loop in Gold Coast, one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the country. Throughout the course of the day, still following Division Street, we saw Gold Coast fade into Old Town, Old Town fade into Goose Island, and eventually found ourselves in the neighborhood of Humbolt Park, an area which is home to many people of Puerto Rican descent. This is immediately evident by the large number of Puerto Rican flags, an abundance of Latin music, and an increasing amount of roadsigns written in Spanish.
Having followed Division Street for only a few miles, we had seen the median household income drop by nearly $20,000, the ethnic demographics drastically change, and an increase of industry and noisy infrastructure. Walking along this road, experiencing the transitions between neighborhoods, provided an interesting perspective on the city. It showed us what it was like to live in the Gold Coast or to live in Humboldt Park. We got a hands-on lesson on what it’s like to shop in Old Town, or go out to eat near Goose Island. This ant’s-eye perspective on Chicago was polar-opposite to our bird’s-eye view from the tower. We were now exploring the city using all 5 senses, beginning to understand what Chicago felt like to everyday people who live here.
I have always believed that art is one of the most clear reflections and expressions of the human experience. By analyzing the art of an area, one can find a deeper understanding of the sorts of people who may live there. To that end, our immersion group took a tour of murals and street art through the primarily Mexican-American neighborhood of Pilsen. The city of Chicago has commissioned several murals in the area, many of which reflect the Aztec, Catholic, and Mexican routes of many Mexican-Amercians living in Pilsen today.
The art does a great job of telling the history of the neighborhood, but also serves another important function — making the neighborhood feel welcoming, vibrant, and pretty. The murals add to the ambience and aesthetic of Pilsen, as the neighborhood proudly wears its history on its sleeves.
The aesthetics and ambience of neighborhoods are some of the first things a visitor notices. They set the tone for the neighborhood’s socioeconomic, ethnic, and cultural history. How neighborhoods look and feel are great indicators of what the neighborhoods have been through and the stories that lie within. This was especially true when we visited Uptown.
Once a vibrant area for nightlife, present-day Uptown is home to several abandoned theatres and venues. Through the deserted theatres, we began to catch glimpses into the story of Uptown — a story which involves immigration, gentrification, discrimination, and growth.
Seeing the vacant buildings in Uptown was chilling; it was strange to see such grand, intricate theatres left to crumble away. Seeing proof of Uptown’s radical transformation reminded our group that neighborhoods and cities are dynamic. The Chicago of today is very different than the Chicago of yesterday. The Uptown of today is completely different from the Uptown of tomorrow.
Neighborhoods change with new people, and this became more evident than ever by slowing down and taking the time to really understand where I was walking.
