Old Town
Old Town is a neighborhood within Community Area 8, Near North Side.
Old Town is a Chicago neighborhood bounded by the North Avenue on the north, Larrabee Street on the northwest, Division Street on the south, Clybourn Avenue on the southwest, and LaSalle Street on the east. It crosses portions of the community areas of southern Lincoln Park, as well the northern Near North Side, and is part of Chicago's 43rd ward. Old Town includes the Old Town Triangle Historic District which is bounded on its northwest side by the former Ogden Avenue right-of-way, its northeast side by Lincoln Avenue and Wells Street, and on its south side by North Avenue. This historic district sits within the Old Town Triangle Association (OTTA), a Lincoln Park neighborhood bounded by the former Ogden Avenue right-of-way, Clark Street and North Avenue. It sits inside the community area of Lincoln Park and is part of Chicago's 43rd ward. Old Town north of North Avenue is in Lincoln Park, and south of North Avenue is part of the Near North Side. It is now an affluent gentrified neighborhood. Old Town south of North Avenue is a mixture of rich and poor with CHA housing projects (including Marshall Field Apartments and parts of Cabrini–Green) as well as gentrified areas.
Old Town is now considered an affluent and historic neighborhood, home to many of Chicago's older Victorian-era buildings. In the 1950s, the majority of this area was an enclave to the first emigrants from Puerto Ricans to Chicago referring to it as part of "La Clark" until commercialization decorated late 1960s shop signs with the name of Old Town. The neighborhood is home to St. Michael's Church, originally a Bavarian-built church, and one of 7 to survive the great Chicago fire. St. Michael's, Holy Name Cathedral, Immaculate Conception and St. Joseph's Catholic churches all catered to Latinos with Spanish-speaking masses.
The neighborhood is home to the famed The Second City improvisational comedy troupe. Many of the streets and alleys, particularly in the Old Town Triangle section, predate the Great Chicago Fire and do not all adhere to a typical Chicago grid pattern. In 1927, sculptors Sol Kogen and Edgar Miller purchased and subsequently rehabilitated a house on Burton Place, near Wells Street, into the Carl Street Studios. Through the 1930s, an art colony emerged in the neighborhood as artists moved from the Towertown neighborhood near Washington Square Park.
Old Town was home to many gays and lesbians from the 1950s through the 1980s. There were numerous gay bars, lining Wells Street, which are now closed. This was the first "gay ghetto" in Chicago, predating the current Lake View neighborhood. As the area gentrified, people espousing a gay lifestyle moved further north to Lincoln Park and then to the Lake View neighborhood.
Old Town has one Brown-Purple Line 'L' station at 1536-40 North Sedgwick Avenue. It is one of the oldest standing stations on the 'L.'
