While I lucked out and the weather warmed considerably over the week I stayed in America's Second City, and while …show more content…
Yes, there are plenty of other cities with much larger and strikingly modern buildings than Chicago, but Chicago's skyscrapers give off a decidedly dated grandeur. This stateliness and sense of power imposes itself most clearly in the Chicago's downtown, where the perfectly symmetrical street grid offers the perfect foundation for the city's hefty, precisely-cut buildings. Compared with the haphazardly crowded jumble of structures competing for real estate and the prestige in many other major cities, in Chicago's center everything feels very planned and very much in place. Downtown Chicago feels decidedly ordered, and that is a rare quality in most American …show more content…
There are still plenty of cool things going on north of the downtown Loop but Wicker Park neighborhood has long since been renovated and lost its de-facto cool factor, traded in for established "hip" brands like Urban Outfitters. Wicker Park may still be home to misidentified hipsters but the real cool kids have moved down to the Ukrainian Village, locally called "The Village."
The Village not only still offers the low rent and authentic dive bars Chicago is known for, it also offers some of the best cheap restaurants in the city. This is largely due to the surprising number of Mexican families living in a neighborhood with the identifier "Ukrainian" in its name. In addition to the artisan coffee shops, bakeries, and butcheries you'd expect in a proper hipster neighborhood, you'll find a nearly overwhelming supply of taquerias filled with massive and delicious $5 US (€3.75, £3) burritos you can fill with standard fare such as chicken, sautéed vegetables and beef.
It's debatable how long the Ukrainian Village can maintain its cool (the last time I visited I found a distressing number of bro-bars popping up). So make sure you visit before it fully cashes in on its eclectic