Life in Uptown

Uptown is a neighborhood on the northside of Chicago. I'm house sitting for my brother in the heart of uptown, right near Viettown. Hungover and starving, I ventured the neighborhood in search for food. I did a really cool thing. A very weird thing. A very Phill thing. I bought food from 3 different places and ate it on the curb.

First, I got a BBQ pork sandwhich and an apple from the Vietnamese grocery store on Kenmore and Argyle. Then I got a jackfruit bubble tea from Hai Yen, a well known Vietnamese restaurant. Lastly, I bought sponge cake from Lucky bakery for only $1.00. This was a very good meal, eaten on the north side of the street where the sun would keep me warm from the lakefront breeze.

Uptown is a very mixed neighborhood. First, I noticed the presence of Vietnamese people shopping at the oriental market, eating nostalgic foods, and hunting for parking spots. My socialized perceptions only rarely made out Asians who weren't Viet, like the Filipinos who bought their Asian commodities at the same grocery. As my friend Sebastian would say, this was a Vietnamese ethno-space.

Then there is presence of white people who seemed to fall into two groups: those who lived there and those who didn't. The ones who didn't had a certain curiosity about a neighborhood with Asian characters on store signs, counterfeit goods at display windows, and cheap foreign food. Perhaps they crept in from Lakeview to the south or Andersonville to the West. Or maybe from travelers who wanted to see one of the City of Neighborhoods' ethnic niches. The ones who lived there were used to the Uptown's ethnic vibes and edginess.

Uptown is very edgy with a certain dangerousness lingering in the air. Unshaven black men walk down a street with businesses up and running on the south side, and boarded up ones on the other. It's not just the boarded up shops, it's the iron bars over glass storefronts and an unfriendly sidewalk lacking color. A certain impoverished feeling hits the visual landscape of uptown. For me from my curb, I asked why there are not benches to welcome pedestrians like me. The answer I drew was that it would also welcome homeless men in search of a bed off the ground. Uptown clashes in this way as mixed housing leads to clashes of race and socioeconomic class.

I love the edginess and diversity of Uptown. The last 2 days have been pretty sweet. I can be in more high-end hoods in a matter of minutes via bike or just take the red line from Argyle. This is so useful. I got a haircut from Andersonville. I've been partying in Boystown the last few nights. And a drunk taxi ride home is not expensive with this proximity. But Uptown has its own unique nightlife. There's Big Chicks on Sheridan which I've been to 3 times in the last 2 months since they have awesome parties every 1st thursday of the month. Then there's always good bars around Lawrence.

As I seep Internet from my neighbors in this 5 story apartment complex, I've got to say I loved living in Uptown for the past 4 days. It has good food, great access to the rest of Chicago, and an edginess and life of its own. Or Maybe I just love having my own place with 2 cats.