Posted inStreet View

Family style

Alanna Zaritz, 39, was born and raised in Chicago and is one of our city’s treasures. She is a familiar, welcoming, and eye-catching figure at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA), where she has worked since 2005 (she’s currently the MCA’s store manager).  Zaritz’s awe for her hometown is contagious, and very handy, since […]

Posted inAgenda

Dia de Muertos celebration, Shape Shifter Night Market, cat films, and Starcrawler

The Pilsen organization SGA Youth and Family Services hosts the annual Dia de Muertos parade and celebration this afternoon at Dvorak Park (1119 W. Cullerton), celebrating life and honoring the memories of community members and loved ones that have passed away. The event has been happening for 43 years, making it the longest-running free Dia […]

Posted inAgenda

House of the Exquisite Corpse, Pilsen Open Studios, Panther Party, and more

Pilsen Open Studios is happening from noon-8 PM today and tomorrow along 18th Street and elsewhere in the neighborhood from Halsted to Western. Galleries, artists, and vendors invite visitors and neighbors to experience the hyperlocal arts community. This 20-year-old event celebrates aesthetic traditions and innovations within hip-hop, muralism, screenprinting, self-publishing, graffiti, and more. Appreciators, admirers, […]

Posted inStaff notes

The road ahead

“Good things come to those who wait,” the adage goes. Back in the summer of 2009, I found myself in Chicago as an alternative journalism fellow at Medill, and I quickly fell in love with the city, its people, culture, and greasy spoons (if I close my eyes and concentrate hard enough, I can still […]

Posted inArts & Culture

Sweat equity, radical politics, and gentrification

Before Pilsen welcomed gallery spaces and Little Village became La Villita, the city’s Mexican population fought to make their voices heard and for places to live. Georgetown University historian Mike Amezcua chronicles this decades-long struggle in his compelling Making Mexican Chicago: From Postwar Settlement to the Age of Gentrification, published in February by University of […]