Ravenswood

Ravenswood is the neighborhood that my wife and I have called home since 2008. While it doesn't have the fantastic architecture and (formerly) grand theaters, clubs and dance halls that Uptown has to its east, or the locally owned strip of shops and restaurants like neighboring Lincoln Square has to its west, Ravenswood does have a jewel to call it's own: Ravenswood Avenue. 

I have been intrigued by Ravenswood Avenue since we moved into the area. No, there aren't many interesting shops, businesses or restaurants on the street, but it just exudes history to me. There are an endless number of old buildings that were used as machine shops or by other forms of industrial businesses throughout the 1900s, and I often think "This is what Chicago is all about." And while some of these types businesses are still thriving in the area, many of these buildings have since been converted into offices, lofts, and artist spaces, among other things. 

Here is a great article about the recent "rebirth" of Ravenswood Avenue, and the Ravenswoodneighborhood as a whole, that ran earlier this year in the Chicago Tribune: Ravenswood a neighborly 'hood