The Windy City — A Multimedia Essay
For my long walk through the city, I decided to walk around Lincoln Park and Bucktown, stopping along the way in a few stores, and a park. I started my journey by leaving my dorm room, Clifton-Fullerton hall, and making my way onto Fullerton Avenue moving west.
Morning traffic seemed to be pretty heavy, being around 10am, I assume some people were still making their way to work or wherever they needed to be. This was actually one of the busier mornings on the street I’ve seen this close to the Lincoln Park campus — I feel like there’s not too much street traffic on campus, probably because most students don’t own cars.
Anyways, after crossing over Ashland Avenue, probably about halfway to the Microcenter store in Bucktown that I intended to visit, there was some construction going on. It was hard to see exactly what was going on over the barrier put up, which actually forced me out onto the street for a moment, as it partially blocked the sidewalk.
I kept on walking, stopping to take another picture where North Clybourn Avenue and Fullerton Avenue meet, because well, I need more pictures. Once I passed this intersection, I started to question the direction of my walk a bit. The sidewalk started to get much rougher, the street more industrial looking, and traffic seemed to thin out.
This reminded me greatly of our walk to/through Goose Island; it felt similarly unwelcoming and especially as though it was not meant to be walked, but driven. I took a picture of the street at this point, and I think my point is clearly seen. There’s no storefronts or restaurants anymore, there’s potholes in the road, the traffic has disappeared, and things overall seem less welcoming. I continued on, however, because at this point, I’d invested to much time into this direction, and wasn’t going to turn around. So, I kept on going, toward Microcenter. One of the reasons I chose to walk in this direction was so that I could visit the store on my way — I wanted to compare it to the one in Cincinnati, and was excited to have a store so close. Back home, getting there was about a 30 minute drive, as it was in Sharonville, a northern suburb of Cincinnati. This store is, comparatively, much closer, although walking there does take quite some time.
After reaching Microcenter, and taking about a ten minute break from my walk by going inside and checking the store out, I continued on past it, going toward North Western Avenue. It’s important to note that, at this point, I was relying heavily on my phone for navigation. I’ve been to Bucktown before, but I’m much less familiar with the streets, the surroundings, etc. It became a bit more stressful and distracting to navigate — instead of simply venturing down Fullerton Avenue, I now had to pay attention to my phone, where I was going, and my surroundings, where I actually was.
Anyways, moving towards Western Avenue, I really wanted to stop by the skate park on Logan Boulevard, but didn’t out of my own distaste for spectators when I’m skating. As part of the assignment was to walk our routes, so no skating of course, I did not have my skateboard, and I know that personally, non-skater bystanders can be distracting, and pressuring, which makes things more difficult. So, I passed on by the skate park, and went south on Western Avenue.
This is where things began to feel a bit monotonous. I lost interest in my walk a bit, and just kept on walking straight. It took maybe 15 or 20 minutes before I reached my next turn, on to Milwaukee Avenue, which brought me close to the next stop on my walk, Uprise.
Uprise is a little skate shop in Bucktown that I learned about the first time that I visited DePaul, back when I was still a senior in high school, and when I was still unsure of what college I wanted to go to. The first time that I went there, I was headed to the airport, and got off at the Western blue line stop to walk to the store. I remember that the employees working that day made pleasant small talk — I don’t normally like small talk, but when its about something that interests me I can appreciate it — and then I went on my way. This time in the store, though, was different. I live in the city now; I’m not a tourist, not a visitor, but a regular customer. Including this trip, I’ve been here twice since moving here, twice in a month. I’ve bought something both times, not just looked around.
Anyways, leaving Uprise, I walked a bit further down Milwaukee Avenue, and onto the 606. If you’re not familiar, the 606 is an old elevated rail line that has been converted into an elevated pedestrian and biker path. I walked the 606 back eastwards, on the return portion of my journey now. Personally, I find the trail to be quite peaceful, relaxing. There are no cars to watch or worry about, and lots of other people.
Reaching the end of the 606, I stopped in Walsh Park for a brief, 5 minute rest. I had originally planned on staying here a bit longer, but to be perfectly honest, I am not a huge fan of this park. I’d never been there before, but it seems fairly dull, and I’d rather not spend much more time there. So, I began venturing back home.
I walked back over the river, and eventually found myself on Racine Avenue. From here, all I had to do was go north, and so I walked my way back. When I reached Trebes Park, I turned onto Webster Avenue (instead of moving through the park like my Google Maps screenshot indicates, there were a lot of kids there), and then onto Clifton. From here, my return home was very easy, as I’ve walked this area many times.
