Calling All Chicanos In Chicago
19 June 2007, 4:20 PM. By Carlos Posas
A tip from friends of ours who live in Chicago led us to rummage through the internet for stories about the town’s supposedly Mexican-heavy neighborhood of Pilsen. Lucky for them, an article from yesterday’s Chicago Flame proves with the following history lesson that our amigos weren’t just jerking us around about the barrio’s make-up:
Historically, Czech immigrants made Pilsen their home in the 1850s until the 1950s, when Mexican immigrants populated the area and are currently the main residents, making up 93.5% Latino, mainly of Mexican descent.
Which begs a question we’ve had since before Guanabee launched: where the hell are all these Windy City Latinos? Correct us if we’re wrong, but they haven’t exactly made their presence known on the web. Consider this an open call for all Latino and Chicano bloggers in or around Chicago to step forward and say hola. We promise not to bite.
On a side note, Pilsen is home to the National Museum of Mexican Art, whose website brags about it being not only the country’s largest Latino institution of art but also the only one that’s officially recognized by the American Association of Museums. Not bad for a place we never knew existed.
As a footnote, one of our favorite stories to come up when we Googled ‘Pilsen’ read something like this: ‘An off-duty Chicago police officer has been found dead at a home in Pilsen.’ There are certainly better ways to rep one’s neighborhood, so speak up!
Pilsen adds variety in entertaining [Chicago Flame]
Image [Association of American Geographers]
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How about this fact…Chicago’s Hispanic Market surpassed that of Miami in 2006 (Synovate Research) taking the ranking of 3rd largest Hispanic Market. Those bastards! Kidding.
They mostly live in Ciscero and Cook County. They are acculturated and high-earning (average $60k+ for Hispanic is good) making them more attractive than “tough-to-crack” Miami.
There are Pilsen Chicano bloggers. Give me a couple days and I’ll post links to their blogs.
hell, what about the _rest_ of latino chicago? i never hear a damned thing from any of them online. _someone_ has to have a blogger account, right?
Chicago has a HUGE population. I’m a Puerto Rican from Chicago so I should know. They are everywhere — Cicero, Pilsen, Humboldt Park, Melrose Park, Belmont Cragin, Hermosa…Hispanics have practically taken over the city. You can’t drive a few blocks down Fullerton without a people trying to get into a carniceria — causing traffic on a Saturday. It’s a shame — I can’t find a Latino blog for Chicago for the life of me. It would be good to see someone writing about Chicago Latino life without including “gang violence” and “drug related” in the articles.
we exist, haha, i am mexican and live in little italy, which is a few blocks north of Pilsen where many other mexican-americans live, i studied in the National Museum of Mexican Art, they have really beautiful things in there. The neighborhood is getting trendier and mort art-hippie every time i stop by to visit, lots of restaurants and small buisnesses, busy churches, murals, museums, radio arte , panaderias, libraries, mercados and cafes. always fun to stop by. i am just worried that the yuppies are going to come in and start building, and then prices are going to go up and slowly the original mexicans are going to be pushed out, but thiey have held their ground for a while now , thats why its still so nice there.