Boystown, Chicago

Lakeview, also spelled Lake View, is one of the 77 community areas of Chicago, Illinois. Lakeview is located in the city's North Side. It is bordered by West Diversey Parkway on the south, West Irving Park Road on the north, North Ravenswood Avenue on the west, and the shore of Lake Michigan on the east. The Uptown community area is to Lakeview's north, Lincoln Square to its northwest, North Center to its west, and Lincoln Park to its south. The 2020 population of Lakeview was 103,050 residents, making it the second largest of the Chicago community areas by population.

Lakeview includes smaller neighborhood enclaves: Sheridan Station Corridor, Northhalsted, Southport Corridor, Wrigleyville, and Wrigley Plaza. Boystown, famous for its large LGBT population, which holds a pride parade each June. Wrigleyville is another popular district. It surrounds Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs. Lakeview is home to the Belmont Theater District showcasing over 30 theaters and live performance venues located near the Belmont "L" station. In 2013, ''Money Magazine'' named Lakeview as the number three of its top ten big-city neighborhoods for its selection of the Best Places to Live.

History

Settlement

Lakeview was used as a camp and trail path for the Miami, Ottawa, and Winnebago Native American tribes. In 1837, Conrad Sulzer of Winterthur, Zürich, Switzerland, became the first known European settler to live in the area. In 1853, one of the first permanent structures was built by James Rees and Elisha Hundley on the corner where present-day West Byron Street (or West Sheridan Road) meets North Lake Shore Drive and was called the Hotel Lakeview, named for the hotel's unobstructed view of the shore of Lake Michigan. It gained what was characterized as a resort atmosphere.

The early settlement continued to grow, especially because of increased immigration of farming families from Germany, Luxembourg and Sweden. Lakeview experienced a population boom as Chicago suffered a deadly and devastating cholera outbreak. The Hotel Lakeview served as refuge for many Chicagoans but became filled to capacity. Homestead lands were sold and housing was built. Access to the new community was provided by a wooden plank road connected to present-day West Fullerton Parkway, which was called Lakeview Plank Road and is the present-day North Broadway. With infrastructure and growing population, residents realized it was time to organize formal governance to provide essential public services.

Lakeview Township

Also according to the Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce, Lakeview was an incorporated Illinois civil township with a charter granted by the Illinois General Assembly, independent of neighboring Chicago. Lakeview's first township election was held in 1857. The main building was Town Hall at the intersection of present-day West Addison and North Halsted streets. A building still bearing that name stands today as the former headquarters of the Chicago Police Department's 23rd District. Lakeview Township included all land east of Western Avenue, between Devon Avenue and North Avenue, generally encompassing the community areas of Edgewater, Uptown, Lakeview and Lincoln Park, as well as the eastern sections of what are now the community areas of North Center and Lincoln Square.

During the Civil War, the present-day bustling intersection of North Broadway, North Clark Street and West Diversey Parkway was home to Camp Fry. When the camp opened in May 1864, it served as a training facility for the volunteer 132nd and 134th Illinois Infantry regiments. Shortly after their deployment to Columbus, Kentucky, the camp was converted to a prison for Confederate soldiers, where conditions were markedly different from those of many other prisoner-of-war camps. The few residents of the area known as Lakeview Township often complained of rebel sing-alongs held in the camp from time to time.

Lakeview's early industry was farming, especially crops of celery, and at the time it was considered a celery-growing capital. From 1870 to 1887, the population of the township grew from 2,000 citizens to 45,000. As a result, there was growing need of more public-service access, and Lakeview was absorbed into Chicago in 1889 as a way of meeting those demands. In 1889, a real estate boom became a major economic stimulant. According to the Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce, over forty percent of the neighborhood's present-day buildings were constructed during that time.

Streets

West Addison Street was named after Thomas Addison, an English doctor who first described Addison's disease.
West Barry Avenue was named after the commander of the Continental Navy ship '' Lexington'' during the Revolutionary War, John Barry. West Belmont Avenue was named after the American Civil War's Battle of Belmont on November 7, 1861, in Mississippi County, Missouri. North Broadway, which used to be called Evanston Avenue after the nearby municipality of Evanston, Illinois, was renamed after Broadway in New York City. North Clark Street was named after the legendary frontier explorer George Rogers Clark. West Diversey Parkway was named after beer brewer Michael Diversey. William Butler Ogden, the first mayor of Chicago, named North Halsted Street after financiers William H. and Caleb Halsted. It was formerly called Dyer Street, in honor of Thomas Dyer, mayor of Chicago. West Irving Park Road was named after the author Washington Irving.

Philip Sheridan features prominently on the corner of West Belmont Avenue and North Lake Shore Drive, memorialized as a towering statue depicting Sheridan on horseback. The U.S. Army general is the namesake of North Sheridan Road. In 1871, he brought troops to Chicago in the aftermath of the Great Chicago Fire and was authorized by Mayor Joseph Medill to take control of the city under martial law. He was later made commanding general of the U.S. Army by President Chester A. Arthur.

Notable residents

* John Peter Altgeld (1847–1902), 20th Illinois Governor and significant progressive era politician. He resided at the Brewster Apartments at 500 W. Diversey after leaving the governorship in 1897.
* Charlie Chaplin, the silent film comedian, lived at the Brewster Apartments when he was filming movies with Essanay Studios in 1915.
* Lucy Flower, the social reformer who was instrumental in establishing Cook County's juvenile court system, lived at 1920 W. Wellington.
* Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983), the famous inventor, lived at 429 W. Belmont and had his studio at 729 W. Belmont.
* Pearl M. Hart, Chicago criminal defense attorney known for representing homosexuals, juveniles, and others, lived at 2821 N. Pine Grove.
* Paul Harvey (1918–2009), radio broadcaster for ABC News Radio notable for his '' The Rest of the Story'' segments. He resided at 3400 North Lake Shore Drive in the 1950s.
* Cody Keenan, Director of Speechwriting for President Barack Obama from 2013 to 2017. He was a childhood resident of Lake View until his family moved to Evanston, Illinois.
* Robert S. Kennemore (1920–1989), recipient of the Medal of Honor for conduct at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. He resided at 746 West California Terrace prior to his enlistment in the United States Marine Corps in 1940.
* Minnie Miñoso, the first Afro-Cuban player in Major League Baseball and first first Black player to play for the Chicago White Sox. He lived in Wrigleyville after his retirement from baseball.
* Mike Nussbaum, actor and director of stage and screen. Currently resides in Lakeview East.
* Mike Royko (1932-1997), author and Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper columnist. He lived in Lake View from 1981 to 1985 during his self-described ''Condo-Man'' period.
* Michael Silverstein (1945-2020), linguist, MacArthur Fellow, and pioneering professor of linguistics, anthropology, and sociology at the University of Chicago. He resided at 3800 North Lake Shore Drive.
* Art Telcser (1932–1999), 64th Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives. Telcser was a resident of Lake View during his legislative career including his two-day stint as Speaker.
* Elizabeth Wood, the first executive director of the Chicago Housing Authority, lived at 3145 North Cambridge Avenue.

Communities

Lakeview is divided into Lakeview East and Lakeview West, with Lakeview East having distinctive areas that include Wrigleyville, and North Halsted with the latter including Boystown, the city's gay village. Lakeview East expanded borders to also include the Central Lakeview area which is home to Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs. The boundaries of Lakeview are 1800 west to the west, Montrose to the north and Clark to the east north of Irving Park, but the rest is of Irving Park to the north, Lake Michigan to the east, and Diversey to the south.

Lakeview (East)

Lakeview East is considered the Greater Lakeview area. Lakeview East expanded its boundaries in 2017 to include the Central Lakeview area which is home to Wrigley Field. Lakeview East boundaries are defined as: Lake Shore Drive on the East, Racine on the West, Diversey Parkway on the South and Irving Park on the north. Lakeview East area consists of two of the largest entertainment districts in Chicago, Boystown and Wrigleyville. Lakeview East is notable for its Jewish population and has Four synagogues
Chabad of East Lakeview
Anshe Sholom B'nai Israel ( Modern Orthodox), Anshe Emet Synagogue (Conservative), and Temple Sholom (Reform and largest synagogue in the Chicago area).

Lakeview, especially along the Lake Shore Drive and Broadway corridors, consists of upscale condominiums and higher-rent mid-rise apartments and lofts. Small businesses, boutiques, restaurants and community institutions are found along North Broadway and North Halsted Street.

Gentrification, diversification and population shift have changed Lakeview, with new developments and new businesses such as Mariano's and Target. Historic churches remain preserved as integral parts of the community, such as Lakeview Presbyterian Church and Saint Peter's Episcopal Church. Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church is the residence of an episcopal vicar and auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago. It is also the mother church of the local vicariate and the Archdiocesan Gay and Lesbian Outreach, controversially created by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, which is one of the largest of the few gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Catholic welcoming congregations created and authorized by a diocese in the United States.

The Lakeview Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is in southeastern Lakeview, as is the Newport Avenue District, which spans Newport Avenue between Halsted Avenue and Clark Street and includes the historic Vautravers Building.

Wrigleyville

Formerly a working-class neighborhood, Wrigleyville is the nickname of the neighborhood directly surrounding Wrigley Field. Wrigley Field is the home of the Chicago Cubs. Within Lakeview East, its borders run from north to south, Grace Street to Cornelia Avenue and from east to west, Wilton Avenue to Racine Avenue.

Wrigleyville features low-rise brick buildings and houses, some with rooftop bleachers colloquially called Wrigley Rooftops where people can purchase seats to watch baseball games or concerts that, while generally more expensive than tickets for seats within the park itself, come with all you can eat and drink service. Proprietors are able to do so under special agreements with the Cubs organization. Many Wrigleyville bars and restaurants (particularly on North Clark Street) feature sports-oriented themes. Bars such as Sluggers, Murphy's Bleachers, Casey Moran's, Merkle's, Sports Corner and The Cubby Bear host the Cubs crowds near the Wrigley Field intersection of North Clark Street and West Addison Street.

Boystown

The Boystown section of Lakeview holds the distinction of being the nation's first officially recognized gay village. In 1998, then Mayor Richard M. Daley endeavored to create a $3.2 million restoration of the North Halsted Street corridor, and the city erected rainbow pylon landmarks along the route. In 2012, the Legacy Project began the ongoing process of installing plaques on the pylons that commemorate important people and milestones in LGBT history.The Legacy Project
Legacyprojectchicago.org (2013-06-01). Retrieved on 2013-07-21. It is also the cultural center of one of the largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities in the nation. Boystown has grown into a cultural center for the LGBT residents living within the Chicago metropolitan area. The area caters to Chicago nightlife, featuring more than 60 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender bars, restaurants and nightclubs. It is now home to Center on Halsted, a LGBT community center that hosts an array of public programs open to the public that provide fun, educational and enlightening opportunities for members of the LGBT community and allies.

The Area is host to the Chicago Pride Parade, one of the largest gay pride parades in the nation, takes place in Lakeview on the last Sunday of each June. The community area has also been host to several other major events: In 2006 it played host to an international sports and cultural festival, Gay Games VII, with its closing ceremonies held at Wrigley Field and headlined by Cyndi Lauper. The area also holds the Northalsted Market Days, an annual two-day festival event geared toward the LGBT community. Northalsted also includes some of Chicago's off-Loop theater, specialty restaurants, greystone and brownstone walk-up buildings and other historic architecture, trendy fashion outlets, wine boutiques, chain stores, and independent shops.

The district's informal boundaries, overlapping with Lakeview East, are Irving Park Road on the north, Broadway on the east, Wellington Avenue on the south, and Sheffield Avenue on the west. The Center on Halsted, an LGBT community center, is also located in this area.

=Northalsted name change

=

North Halsted, styled Northalsted in 2021 by its business association. Due to inclusiveness concerns, the Boystown name has been dropped by some businesses and some community organizations in exchange for Northalsted, though the area is still colloquially called Boystown.

Lakeview (West)

West Lakeview is located along the border of the Roscoe Village community area. West Lakeview Neighbors, a residential organization, defines West Lakeview as the area bounded by West Addison Street on the north, West Diversey Parkway on the south, North Southport Avenue on the east and North Ravenswood Avenue on the west. Affordable real estate and popular culture, such as that found along busy Southport Avenue, draws young adults from all over the city for quiet living or casual dining. A historic destination that opened just north of West Lakeview on August 22, 1929, is the Music Box Theatre, which opened as a new technology sound film venue. The theater brands itself today as "Chicago's year-round film festival". Dinkel's Bakery, which was located in West Lakeview near Lincoln and Roscoe, operated in the neighborhood for a century (1922-2022).

Sheridan Station Corridor

Sheridan Road, from Irving Park Road to the North and Byron/W.Sheridan Street to the South, home of the CTA's Sheridan station. The neighborhood name, although only comprising a small area, helps to differentiate this particular Sheridan Road from the other parts of Sheridan Road in Lakeview, Uptown, Edgewater and Rogers Park (and into the North Shore suburbs). Once known colloquially as "Restaurant Row" the strip has seen some hard times but is on the verge of a rebirth as two new large developments flanking the street, are about to come to life. This will bring it from mostly one-story brick and stone buildings to new residential heights, both figuratively and literally, as the new developments will be some of the neighborhood's tallest buildings. The strip itself has been located at various times in either the 44th or 46th ward. It is distinguished by the Sheridan "L" Station as well as its proximity to Wrigley Field. Neither technically East, West or Central Lakeview, it is seen as the gateway between Uptown to the North and Lakeview to the South. The residential neighborhood organization is Lakeview East Neighbors Association and the business district has recently been enveloped by Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce. It is suspected the new developments will contribute to more restaurants, retail, boutiques and community institutions, as well as a sense of community structure by reviving the strip into a thriving commercial and residential corridor with excellent transportation access.

Government and politics

Elected officials

Lakeview belongs to four Chicago City Council wards, electing four aldermen as representatives of these wards. Business owner Thomas Tunney represents the 44th Ward. Social worker James Cappleman represents the 46th Ward and Scott Waguespack represents the 32nd Ward. A small portion of the Lakeview community (which includes Lakeview H.S., the Graceland West neighborhood and a small part of the Southport Neighbors Association) is represented by Matt Martin of the 47th Ward. Tunney is the first openly gay alderman to serve in the Chicago City Council.

Lakeview residents are represented in the Illinois Senate by Sara Feigenholtz

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