Pilsen

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Pilsen is a neighborhood in the lower west side community area of Chicago. The Germans and Irish were among the first who settled in this neighborhood in the 1840's (Pilsen). The name owes to the next generation of Eastern immigrants, the Czechs. A restaurant owner named his restaurant "At the City of Plzen" and as people liked it they ended up calling the entire area Pilsen. Now Pilsen is a largely hispanic, predominantly Mexican neighborhood on the south side of Chicago bordered by the Chicago River north to 16th St (1600 S), and the Chicago River west to Damen Ave (2000 W) (Chicago Neighborhood). It is known for its proud Latino heritage, vivid outdoor murals and authentic Mexican cuisine.

Being in Pilsen and seeing all the murals, the different shops and restaurants gives a very different feeling. The murals are very creative and each of them kind of have some meanings. My friends and I started our excursion by first of all being late. We had to wait for the bus but instead we started walking towards 18th street from Roosevelt and finally when we got on the bus we were almost there but yeah we finally got off at Paulina and walked to the pink line. On our way there we saw parts of the neighborhood and it was not surprising to see that almost all the shops, restaurants etc were Mexican.

As we walked through from the train station towards West 19th street we came across different murals. The first one probably represents the ancient history of the neighborhood. The second one shows the diversity among the people as people from different country has a part to play. There are some gangs in that part of the area and they often mark their territory using murals or writing on the walls. I was able to safely view some of those without being attacked by any gang members.

 

The neighborhood is full of residential houses and shops. The residential houses are normally for family but we saw a student housing on 18th and Paulina. It was a pretty nice place with Dunkin Donuts in the first floor. We also went in to have some food there but that did not have any Mexican taste in it though.

We came across a school on the way to the National Museum of Mexican Art. Even the school had murals painted on it. We were a bit far away so we couldn't get a clear view of it but this shows the importance of murals as a form of public communication. These were probably painted by some students of the school.

Also there was a park named Harrison Park which has a huge area offering lots of sports including soccer, baseball, tennis, playground and even a swimming pool. The people coming to the museum probably go there after visiting the museum and we would have gone there too but we did not have enough time. Maybe next time we will. When we were passing by we saw a lot of people there playing soccer or baseball. I think there were students from a school that came on a field trip there on that day too as the museum was crowded too. 

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Finally we reached the museum and the art that we saw was mesmerizing. It had all the cultures and all the different aspects of Mexican culture, the past, the present, the future everything. It took us about an hour to go through it all and we were able to get some very good pictures of the arts inside the museum. 

After our tour of the museum we got pretty tired and hungry and being in Pilsen surrounded by all those Mexican cuisines was probably a very good thing. All the Mexican restaurants have so many delicious foods and some of them cater food as well and not only to people living very near but also to people living a bit far away. We went to Sabas Vega on 1808 S. Ashland to have lunch and I'm glad that we did because the food there was so delicious. Although the restaurant was not very big and there were only two people managing it the food was so good. We were offered free chips and the sauce was really good. I ordered a Tostadas while my friends ordered Burrito and Torta. All of these were too delicious but we could not eat much as we were full. But the next time we go we will definitely go in with an empty stomach. 

As I roamed through the neighborhood all I saw was Mexicans and Mexican restaurants, shops etc although it was founded by Czechs. This is a good example of the diversity and change of community with the change of time. Since the immigration of the Mexicans they have adapted quite well with the culture and traditions of the US. This shows the diversity of Chicago as it is another neighborhood full of colors, cultures and traditions like most of the other neighborhoods.

References:

"Pilsen." Pilsen. Web. 2 Apr. 2015. <http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/2477.html>.

"Chicago/Pilsen." Pilsen Travel Guide. Web. 2 Apr. 2015. <http://wikitravel.org/en/Chicago/Pilsen>.

"Pilsen." Chicago Real Estate. Web. 2 Apr. 2015. <http://www.chicagoneighborhoods.cc/neighborhoods/pilsen.html>.