ukrainian village

chicago’s triumvirate of coolness is comprised of wicker park, bucktown, and ukrainian village.  the "uke," as locals call their neighborhood, is the most restrained.

the primary source of architectural pride in ukrainian village are the century-old worker’s cottages, built by german craftsmen with their eyes trained on every detail.  these mission-style structures are primarily single-family homes today, but two- and three-flat apartment buildings are renter-ready.  dwellings of all types are crowded together, and the neighborhood feels oddly cozy and charming.

ukrainians settled here (duh), and their culture is still very much alive.  there are three ukrainian churches in the ukrainian village, including architect louis sullivan’s holy trinity cathedral, built in 1903.  old-timers still speak the mother tongue.   in the past decade, second-generation ukrainians, many of whom grew up in this tight-knit community, have begun to return “home” with their own families, along with a growing number of non-ukrainian professionals.

within the wide selection of restaurants (chinese, mexican, sushi, and more) are traditional restaurants like old lviv and kasia’s deli.  kasia’s is known for its kovbasa, or polish sausage.  oh, and pierogi’s.  and blintzes.  in the ukrainian village, they stuff those doughy pockets of love with mushroom, cabbage, potato, bacon, and more.  do your post-blintz drinking at the darkroom or tuman’s (which was once called the tuman's alcohol abuse center).  a reliable source tells us the word “tuman” means “fog” in ukrainian, which can also be roughly translated to “drunken fool.”  which leads to our next language lesson: the ukrainian phrase “zimne piwo” means “cold beer.”  learn it.

commuters should know that the closest two el stops are each at least a half a mile from the outer reach of ukrainian village, so bundle up in winter.  as for the buses, they run up and down damen and western with regularity.