Logan Square, one of many 'cool' neighborhoods in Chicago
Logan Square was named one of the "coolest" neighborhoods in the world by Time Out. It was one of seven neighborhoods across the country that made the cut.
There's no denying Logan Square's charm and we're rooting for the $27 million streetscape project to enhance what makes it so special.
We'll add that the Northwest Side neighborhood doesn't have a monopoly on what's "cool" in the city — no offense to many of the hipsters who live there and the stern eagle keeping watch atop the Illinois Centennial Monument.
Reminding Chicago area readers that there's more to Logan Square, downtown or even the North Side, in a Chicago newspaper is a bit like preaching to the choir. But some locals, along with many out-of-towners, need to be schooled. As historian Shermann Dilla Thomas says in his trademark mantra, "Everything dope about America comes from Chicago."
The South Side alone is in rich history. All of its neighborhoods have a story to tell. Take Pullman, for example, where a deadly railroad strike led to the creation of Labor Day. The Far South Side houses the city’s first National Monument, the Pullman National Historical Park, and a museum, currently with plans to expand, which showcases the Black Pullman porters. That's hardly square.
Coolness, of course, is arbitrary. Six years ago, Forbes placed Pilsen, a distinctly Mexican neighborhood on the Lower West Side, on its “12 Coolest Neighborhoods Around the World” list. There's no argument here. Pilsen has a strong case to be on Time Out's list of 38 coolest neighborhoods in the world.
We're sure many Chicagoans from other neighborhoods, including Rogers Park, which closely matches the entire city’s racial and ethnic diversity, and Hyde Park, where the arguably coolest president, Barack Obama, has called home, rolled their eyes as Logan Square was singled out as "the place to be in Chicago right now."
No, we non-Logan Square residents aren't jealous. We real cool, to lift a line from the South Side-raised Gwendolyn Brooks, the first Black person to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
It is a win, even a relief, that the "eminently walkable" Logan Square inspired a glowing review that lifts up the city, rather than another dog-whistling hit piece that unfairly skewers Chicago. We simply want to bring home that if you only stick with overly-hyped Chicago locales, you'll be closing the door to all the city's other wonders.
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