You’ll find Bucktown just to the north of Wicker Park, between North and Fullerton avenues and from the Kennedy Expressway west to Western Avenue. The neighborhood is made up of formerly humble cottages now sporting skylights and new condos priced well into the six digits. As in nearby Wicker Park, affordable rents are quickly becoming a thing of the past, and the local artist population is reluctantly giving way to the yuppie crowd. Nevertheless, Bucktown is still populated by artists (those that can still afford the rising rents).
“Gallery Point,” the area’s central art colony, is bounded by Milwaukee, Damen, Wabansia and North Avenues, and the "Bucktown Arts Fest," attracts over 30,000 art lovers to the area every August as it has been for over 20 years.
Small neighborhood bars are found on every corner, and both North and Damen Avenue boast smoky late-night clubs and stylish bars, shops, and restaurants. Both Wicker Park and Bucktown contain several remarkable churches, the legacy of early Polish immigrants (many former farmers). In fact, “Bucktown” gets its name from the goats kept in the backyards of its early residents.
The Poles have all but been replaced by a Latin community, which is in turn fleeing Bucktown for cheaper rents. Still, a walk north from the large six-way corner of Damen, Milwaukee, and North Avenue will quickly take you from posh and hip to downright coarse. All is not yet lost.
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