A Must-Visit for Fans of "You Are Beautiful"!…read more If you love spotting You Are Beautiful installations around Chicagoland, you have to check out their storefront/gallery! I stopped in today with limited time and was blown away by how many awesome things they have for sale--way more than I expected. From inspiring artwork to unique gifts, everything in the space radiates positivity. The staff working today were incredible--so friendly and welcoming. I only had time to grab a keychain (and a whole lot of excitement), but I'll definitely be back for more. Highly recommend visiting to learn more about the movement and bring a little extra beauty into your day!

What an AWESOME, unique, and inspiring store that brings to surface the artwork of The owner,…read moreMatthew's, works! The staff was beyond polite, and my time and art I purchased were unforgettable! If you Consider supporting a local artist, do it here!

I absolutely LOVE Old Town!…read more Why? Here are just a few out of MANY reasons... Numerous and diverse restaurants Close to Lincoln Park and the Zoo Farmers Market on Wednesdays and Saturdays in Lincoln Park at Green City You can hear the Church Bells toll during the day on the hour Bike Path along Lake Michigan is close by The Chicago History Museum Annual Festivals...Greek, Hot Dog, Wells Street, etc. A few blocks from North Avenue Beach Fantastic Public Transportation Options via 22/36/73/ and other CTA Buses Close to the Brown Line and Red Line Trains Jewel Osco, Plum Market, Potash, and Aldi Supermarkets within a mile or less walking Unique family owned shops, restaurants, and establishments .... Also amazing sunsets from the West Side toward Chicago O'Hare Airport on a nightly basis!

Sunnyside Mall is a fantastic outdoor community space in the Sheridan Park neighborhood of Uptown…read more I understand it used to be a questionable area, but the neighborhood association has revitalized it in recent years. It's a pedestrian strip between Beacon and Magnolia, paved, with several seats built in various placed around the mall. I'm sure the neighbors use this for all sorts of events. I've been here because my trainer, Dana (see my WHPStudios review), has been doing Saturday morning body strength classes here. Since they're super affordable ($15) I finally made it over here. Today there were just a couple of us but I know in other weekends there's been as many as 10 people at the classes. It's a really lovely, peaceful setting--quiet, with lots of shade from all the trees, and the weather has been great so for someone who doesn't love to work out, it made for a nice morning.

I love the city of Chicago. I love this mural. I think it's a beautiful public art display and we…read morelove finding greetings from our welcome to certain cities everywhere we visit.

If you are into wall art, Logan Square has some quality opportunities for pics and selfies…read more We got off the Blue Line at California, ate at a local place and made our way towards the Robin Williams mural. Along the way though you will run into the Greetings from Chicago and a sports mural by Jappy Agoncillo (formerly the Quincy Jones mural). The Robin Williams/Aladdin genie mural is huge and in a parking lot. It's a nice mural of one of my favorite actor's roles. I don't know if these murals are lighted, but there is plenty of space during the daylight hours. Since we were headed back downtown we caught the CTA back from Western, which was just as far as the stop at California. It's a worth detour if you have the time.

A great opportunity to try multiple vendors for ribs. The disappointment is that there were no…read morelocal options. All were the street festival vendors. So no option to go back. Wonderful weather friendly people and staff. A great thing to do on a nice day.

It's called ribfest, but there's stuff besides ribs. Elotes, carnival snacks like deep fried…read moretwinkies, burgers, and so on. This year (2024) they had folks pay at the vendor instead of the ticket system I know they've used in years past. I like that much better; the tickets are too annoying since you have to know exactly how many to buy and even worse might end up with too many. It's usually hot as heck out here so since I had the baby with me we didn't stay. But there are bands, vendors, kids activities... so there's a bit for everyone. It can get far too crowded for me but we stopped by early and it was not very busy yet. The brown line or bus is probably your best bet to get here.

I know where Chandler and Joey are. But where did Roscoe?…read more Maybe to Yemen? Oh wait that was Chandler. Lovely little village with tons of eclectic ethnic food and awesomeness up in the north suburbs of Chicago. One of my favorite little neighbourhoods, and also has the second best deep dish slice in the city in my opinion. I come to Roscoe Village all the time and it's one of the places I would consider living if I was around here.

IT REALLY IS THE VILLAGE IN THE CITY.Or is it the suburb in the city?…read more I lived here for a few years and since moving away have been reflecting on my honest thoughts with the neighborhood. I will first say that I am not a Chicago/IL native so I was always a little biased in terms of neighborhoods in Chicago and what is deemed "safe" and "nice" and "cool". In all honesty I would rate good old RV 3.5 stars rounding to 4 and here's why. There are no parks. The nearest park is Hamlin and that's not Roscoe Village. That's more west lakeview south on damen. There are also no farmers markets. Like none. The nearest farmers market is in East Lakeview or Logan Square. There is no efficient public transit nearby. Good luck getting anywhere in a timely manner. The nearest trains (brown Paulina and brown Addison are not exactly close nor walkable in sub-zero Chicago winters). Very inconvenient location from the Loop. Most people in this neighborhood seemed to be a two car family. Just like the 'burbs. Traffic is a nightmare. The main thoroughfares (Western, Damen, Ashland, Diversey, Belmont) are all congested traffic nightmares. Western is about to be destroyed down to two lanes from George to Waveland (one north, one south) for the next two years. It will make getting out to this neighborhood from downtown all the more inefficient. Evidently city planners didn't take into consideration the 4k students at Lane Tech, the 1k people at DeVry or the other hundreds of students at the other college prep school on California and Addison. Fail. Restaurants on the main strip of Roscoe are subpar at best. Volo is good but the rest I could pass on. We ventured more into other neighborhoods like Logan Square to do our eating and drinking. Now onto the good which is why it is considered a desirable Chicago neighborhood. It's great for families, very kid friendly at most establishments, and even better if you can afford a SFH. If you have one kid then I suppose a condo works, but since there aren't any parks nearby you may want a yard with that SFH. That'll run a cool $1M or so also so it's not exactly the most affordable. But it's a steal compared to Lincoln Park or Southport Corridor! I grew up with a yard and am partial to my kid having one too. Again if you grew up without a yard or were raised a more urban person you may feel differently. The neighborhood school is a top 5 CPS elementary. Bear in mind it's CPS which is insolvent and "best of CPS" really isn't something that's worth touting. It's like saying "what's the best motel 8 to stay at?" You get my drift. It's one of the worst public school systems in the nation which is why many Chicago parents (even in this neighborhood) go the private school route. It's crime free, relatively speaking by Chicago standards. Petty crimes mostly according to the CPD. Though over the recent fall months there was a crime spree of auto thefts and cars on cinder blocks.... you can imagine the shock when stepping outside and seeing your neighbor's car on blocks with all the tires missing like something Straight Outta Compton/East LA. So yes, crime even happens in Roscoe Village sadly. That said, like any Chicago neighborhood, a garage is a great asset. Overall it's a good place to live with lots of nice people, family oriented, long term neighbors, and a "village in the city" vibe. You lose a little bit of the metro feel out here, it's an outskirt of the city in terms of neighborhoods but can be the perfect blend for folks looking for something a little more quiet.

I love Ryan Tova Katz murals, and love stumbling upon them at random! I saw this one on her…read moreInstagram the other day but just happened upon it when I was driving down Lawrence. It's definitely made for kids, but I don't care; I love an interactive mural. It has a couple people in silhouette, and then a black umbrella and a bouquet of flowers. You can place your hands such that they look like they're holding those two items. Like I said, it's more scaled for kids, but I couldn't help myself!

I am such a huge fan of public art. I am not an artist, I don't understand most art, but I like to…read morelook at and experience it. I drove down here once and found all of the murals along Clinton, each with a sign, but didn't have the chance to look at them any longer than the time it took for me to drive down the street. Today, the block was closed for the block party that took place yesterday. Since this is one of the few times to be able to wander that block with almost no cars and definitely no traffic, I took the opportunity to wander and study them in greater detail. Along this short strip of Clinton, form Broadway to Wilson, is a collection of nearly 40 murals. The works range from the size of a door to multiple stories tall. Most of the murals were painted on wooden board, and transferred to their permanent spaces, but there are a few that are painted directly upon the buildings. They range from whimsical and silly (in a good way!) to more somber and thought-provoking. All are beautiful and make this easy-to-miss street into a destination. Fortunately, this open air gallery is steps from the Wilson stop on the CTA, so you can stop here easily if you wish and parking can be okay sometimes too, with permit parking being free on Sundays, so take a little time to visit yourself. It would take maybe an hour to wander through.

Super kind staff that were willing to work with my request for a salad and sandwich combo. Food was…read moretop notch. I saw they had prepackage lasagna and other goodies I'll have to try in the future

Tuscan Hen is my go-to lunch spot. It's a very welcoming environment, with friendly staff and a…read morebright, clean space. Their sandwiches and pasta (dessert too) blow me out of the water every time. You can tell they take pride in their craft, everything is super fresh. I recommend their Turkey Tom. For the vegetarians, they have great rotating, seasonal options--like one with mushroom or another with eggplant. Just divine!

Logan Square is a continuously gentrifying area of Chicago. It's one of the "hip" neighborhoods in…read moretown. Lots of restaurants, some concert venues and the like. It's got several notable parks, such as Palmer Square Park, Unity Park, and Kosciuszko Park. What makes Logan Square special is that it's part of the boulevard system, and it has these beautiful wide boulevards which have large, park-like medians. I've seen people having gatherings, picnics, barbecues and the like here in the medians along Kedzie. I don't actually spend much time in Logan Square or its environs, but probably should. There's Emporium or Fireside Bowl if you're looking for fun (and I think Pink Squirrel is in the area, if you want to try duckpin bowling); more than one brewery, I think, though Revolution Brewing is the big one I think. Lots of great public art, from the Greetings from Chicago and Robin Williams murals to the most amazing mosaic commemorating L. Frank Baum and the land of Oz that you've ever seen (Oz Park can suck it). Worth a stroll, and get some Puerto Rican food.

Logan Square is an area on the northwest side of Chicago that is dear to my heart. Southeast of…read moreLogan Square is the gateway to downtown Chicago. Northwest of Logan Square is the gateway to the most Polish neighborhood in the United States - almost like a little Warsaw. East of Logan Square leads you into the old German part of Chicago, which once covered over a dozen square miles, had 6 German newspapers, and over 100 German stores, restaurants, bars, bakeries, dancehalls, & cultural centers. And west of Logan Square opens onto a seemingly endless stretch of ethnic neighborhoods and faceless buildings that were flung up in grids during the first half of the 20th century. Once, Logan Square was an affluent neighborhood, a rich area of the city one might say, like a late 19th century suburb on the outskirts of Chicago's center. Even today, one can find the occasional stretch of old stone mansions with carriage houses left standing, tucked in between the many 1930's three story brick apartment buildings where other even older mansions once stood, some stretching back to the Gilded Age. Logan Square offers a bittersweet memory of the glory days of Old Chicago, when Speakeasys dotted the city, Sicilian Gangsters drove the streets, and European Immigrants from Sweden, Saxony, and other cities far and wide were pouring into town daily, enriching our lives with their many cultures and their absolutely delicious cuisines. Now Logan Square is just another place among the many spots in Chicago where it's specific history has been lost. Logan Square has become a Subway Station and a Bus Depot. Today Logan Square is just a big Pillar in the middle of the street.