Panther Pride, Baby!!

Hey Everyone
To all those fortunate enough to have graduated from Von Steuben Metropolitan Science Center High School, I hope you all got to attend the ceremony when the auditorium was dedicated to the Alumni Association. Hey, you can't say no to free food right?
Von Steuben, aside from being a stellar high school (maybe I'm a little biased since I went there) that has been recognized as one of the top high schools in the United States in 2003 by Newsweek, it's also a beautiful landmark in the Albany Park community.
Built in 1930 as a junior high school by architect Paul Gerhard(the famed architect who designed Cook County Hospital. On the facade Gerhard's livens up Von Steuben's brick masonry facade with elaborate terracotta reliefs depicting various aspects of academic life. His mastery of terracotta, which he proved with the beaux-arts Cook County Hospital is quite evident on the exterior of Von Steuben. During the depression (1933), due to budget cuts in the Board of Education and due to an increase population, Von Steuben was converted into a high school.

It thrills me to know that an organization such as Partners Preservation appreciates Von Steuben as much as the local community. The work restoring Von Steuben's exterior is almost complete and it's a testament of what bring a lovely building back to it's original glory can do for an entire neighborhood.

Keep up the good work Albany Park!

And I'll keep writing,

-The Autocrat of Albany Park

Anthony on Albany

Greetings All,
My name is Anthony, the self proclaimed Autocrat of Albany Park and I would like to welcome all of you to my page about the fun-filled neighborhood of Albany Park. Albany Park totally rocks my socks off, I truly think it's one of Chicago's best kept secrets. The rent in Albany Park is amazingly low, depending on where you are located you're surrounded by parks (I myself live by Ronan Park and it's woodland walk near the North shore Canal) and River Park (with it's soccer/track field, swimming pool, amazing field house AND launch where you can hop onto the canal and row away)
I've been living on my own in Albany Park since August, though I lived here for 2 years while I attended North Park University. The neighborhood is a great place to be, roomy, covered in parks, ethnic restaurants galore, and a hell of a lot cheaper than neighboring Lincoln Square (but close enough to get to in 5 minutes!).
Like I said, some of the best ethnic restaurants can be found in Albany Park......and what makes so great is there authentic ethnic restaurants that are also patroned by actual ethnic people, not the bougie, she-she stuff you find in other areas of Chicago. There are also some good places to grab a good cup of coffee and fresh baked goods.

Some Great Places that I've found so far in Albany Park............................


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1. Al-Khymieh RestaurantAddress:‎ (4748 N Kedzie Ave), an ammmmmmazzzzzing Lebanese/Middle Eastern restaurant/bakery just a 5 minute walk from my apartment. Wicked Middle Eastern food, great falafels, and the freshest baked goods this side of Beirut. This is one place NOT to missed.
*On a side note, the building which houses Al-Khymieh Restaurant is a pretty historic building. It was built in the 1910's as the Cuneo Store and Office by the famous Chicago architect Alfred S. Alschuler It's a currently preserved site and still, being almost 90 years old is a lovely piece of terra cotta work.

2. Taquiria Los Mogotes (4959 N Kedzie Ave) MY FAVORITE taco place in Albany Park and what's even better is located on my way to campus everyday! The tacos are amazing......and cheap and authentic, no fake Taco-Bell stuff. You REALLY have to check this place out, the staff is really friendly and serve up constantly good Mexican food.

Full-scree3. Blue Skiy Bakery, an amazing bakery hidden on a side street near Albany and Lawrence Avenue (4749 N Albany Ave). The coffee is amazing, the desserts..............WOW, and what makes it so cool is that it's a non-for-profit bakery, that helps kids with troubled past secure jobs, so along with great food, service and coffee, it goes towards a great cause. Check it, its open 7-2pm

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4. Dawali Mediterranean KitchenAddress:‎ (4911 N Kedzie Ave) Another great Mediterrean restaurant, GREAT food and the staff is wickedly friendly. The Turkish coffee is a must for coffee drinkers.

5. Elston Grill..............yeah I know it's located in the North Park neighborhood but it's one of my favorite diners in the city. It's a REAL old school diner, great food, cheap prices and it's open 24 hours a day. Check it out, it's right on the corner of Bryn Mawr and Kimball


A Little History of Albany Park, taken from the Encyclopedia of Chicago

Community Area 14, 8 miles northwest of the Loop. Albany Park grew from a sparsely settled farming community to a dynamic urban neighborhood in the course of one generation. In 1868 local entrepreneur Richard Rusk turned an initial 10-acre investment of land into a large farm that included a profitable brickyard along the North Branch of the Chicago River and the Rusk Race Track, where late-nineteenth-century Chicagoans often took day excursions to watch horse racing and enjoy the bucolic environs. As Chicago's population exploded in the 1870s and 1880s, the suburban community became increasingly popular. In 1889 Chicago annexed the area along with the rest of Jefferson Township.

In 1893 a group of investors purchased 640 acres of the nearby McAllister farm for development. The real-estate syndicate included four prominent Chicagoans: streetcar magnate DeLancy Louderback, John J. Mitchell of Illinois Trust and Savings Bank, Northwestern Elevated Railroad owner Clarence Buckingham, and transportation mogul Charles T. Yerkes. Louderback, a native of Albany, New York, named the development after his hometown. These investors brought transportation lines to Albany Park that proved essential to the area's early commercial and residential expansion. Electric streetcars ran along Lawrence Avenue between Broadway and Milwaukee Avenue as early as 1896, and the Kedzie Avenue streetcar line extended north to Lawrence Avenue by 1913. Most significant was the extension of the Ravenswood Elevated train to Kimball and Lawrence Avenues by 1907. Beginning in 1904, the Chicago Sanitary District widened and straightened the meandering North Branch of the Chicago River from Belmont to Lawrence Avenues. The river relocation, completed in 1907, defined previously ambiguous property lines and improved sewage disposal in Albany Park.

The completion of the Ravenswood Elevated line set off a building boom clustered around the train terminal at the intersection of Lawrence and Kimball Avenues. Commercial development included small shops, department stores, and theaters. Land valued at $52 per front foot in 1909 sold for $2,750 per front foot by 1929. Residential builders constructed bungalows and two-flats at a furious pace during the 1910s and 1920s. By the 1920s Albany Park was almost completely developed. The 1910 census counted 7,000 inhabitants; by 1920 the number more than tripled to 26,676. In 1930 more than 55,000 people resided in the northwest Chicago neighborhood.

German and Swedish immigrants initially settled the area. After 1912 Albany Park became home to a large number of Russian Jews leaving the crowded neighborhoods of Chicago's Near West Side. The community remained predominantly Jewish through the 1950s. Between 1910 and 1940 several synagogues and churches, public schools, and public parks opened. Albany Park's population reached a high of 56,692 in 1940. After the Second World War, many Jewish families—like the generation before them—moved north, this time to suburban Lincolnwood and Skokie.

The suburban exodus led Albany Park into economic and social decline. Population decreased, homes and stores lay vacant, and property values plummeted. In the 1970s, 70 percent of the commercial property along Lawrence Avenue stood vacant. Empty buildings attracted illegal drug trade, prostitution, and gangs. Relief came in 1978 when city government, the North River Commission, and the Lawrence Avenue Development Corporation cooperated to improve Albany Park's appearance. Albany Park's renewal included streetscape beautification, the Facade Rebate Program, low-interest loans, and other financing packages. Redevelopment efforts led to a decrease in commercial vacancies and an increase in residential property values in the 1980s and 1990s. Albany Park again presented an attractive urban neighborhood for real-estate development and commercial investment.

After the 1970s, Albany Park became a port of entry for immigrants from Asia and Latin America. In 1990 the community area claimed the largest numbers of Korean, Filipino, and Guatemalan immigrants in Chicago. The Korean community played important commercial and civic roles in the revitalization of the area. The number of homes sold increased 125 percent between 1980 and 1989. Albany Park's pattern of population shifts continued in the 1990s, as more prosperous Korean immigrants began moving to northern suburbs. Throughout the twentieth century, Albany Park acted as a gateway community for aspiring middle-class ethnic groups.

To anyone in Albany Park or anyone in general, holler at me!

Thanks for Reading

Anthony

The Autocrat of Albany Park