Photo by David González Romero via Flickr
Clark and Halsted, Chicago
This morning I awoke, peeked out my window, and double-checked the weather forecast on WGN before deciding that, yes, I would participate in Walk to Work Day again this year. Last year I met some colleagues for a group walk, but this year I went solo, enjoying the chance to walk at my own pace and along my chosen route, Clark Street. It’s a well-known street that radiates north from the center of the Loop, veers northwest at North Avenue, and follows that trajectory through Lincoln Park and Lakeview, before straightening out again as it passes through Andersonville on the city’s north side.
I started where I live, near the intersection of Clark Street and Irving Park Road, just west of a string of cemeteries and wholesale distributors that separate Lakeview from Andersonville. It’s a quiet, residential neighborhood, but it doesn’t take long before Clark becomes a bustling, lively street, thanks to Wrigley Field. Today happened to be Opening Day for the Cubs, the team my family and I have rooted for since I can remember. I walked past my brother’s red brick, one of thousands that commemorate die-hard fans and pave the northeast corner of Clark and Addison Street, just outside the entrance to Wrigley. Already, at around 7:15 a.m., the Friendly Confines and its surrounds were bustling with Opening Day excitement; I could even smell hot dogs broiling, and I think perchance the faint whiff of my game day snack of choice, nachos (extra hot, extra cheese, please!)
As I continued on, I passed many an early-morning dog walker. My favorite dog that I spied along my route looked just like this one:
As I walked, I realized that Clark Street is one of the city’s strongest (and longest) retail and entertainment corridors. Close to the Loop, Clark Street is a haven for tourists, with such family-friendly vacation staples as Hard Rock Café Chicago, Rainforest Café, and Rock ‘n’ Roll McDonald’s.
But further north and south, there’s truly something for everyone, resident and visitor alike. For a solid four-plus-mile stretch, Clark is chockablock with clothing stores, antique shops, bars, theaters, restaurants – you want it, you can get it on Clark. Even if I could have ditched work and taken all day to explore (which I’ll admit I was tempted to do!), I still wouldn’t have been able to take in all Clark Street has to offer.
Walking along Clark also brought back 10 years of accumulated memories, which to me is a true sign of an enduringly great place. As I passed Fullerton, I thought of my college days when my friends from Northwestern would take the Purple Line to the Red Line to meet up with friends from DePaul. We’d prowl Clark Street looking for fun and harmless mischief. This morning, plenty of bleary-eyed DePaul students were out jogging or heading to their favorite coffee shop to get an early start on studying (or maybe just getting home after a wild night!)
Onward to North Avenue, I passed Lincoln Park and pined for the wonderful Green City Market, which will set up near the corner of Menomonee and Clark streets once again starting May 4. It’s a fantastic market, and at its peak in July and August, there’s always tons of produce fresh from the farm plus plenty of entertainment, from cooking demos to people watching. Just east of there, I spied Lincoln Park Zoo and thought of my sweet little nieces: The two-and-a-half-year-old, who now lives far away in Macedonia, visited the zoo with me twice before she and her parents made their big move. She was captivated by the gorillas, and I was captivated watching her watch the gorillas. My other darling niece is just three months old, but already my sister and I are planning her visits to Chicago with Auntie Mandy, and we will certainly hit the zoo before too long.
Along my route, I passed many restaurants where I’ve enjoyed memorable meals: Mia Francesca, where one of my close friends hosted her wedding shower; Perennial, where I celebrated another dear friend’s 30th birthday last year; good old Maggiano’s, where my husband and I had our first proper date during our age of innocence (we were just 20 and 22!); Frontera Grill, where James Beard Award-winning Rick Bayless cooks up fantastic Mexican feasts; and of course who can ever forget her first dog at the salty, sassy Wiener’s Circle?
Crossing the Chicago River, I headed into the city’s core, the Loop. Just a few blocks from my office, City Hall towers across the street from Daley Plaza and the famous Picasso statue. There’s always something happening in Daley Plaza, and today about 100 City Year volunteers were gathered around the statue singing a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday” to one of their own.
My office was just a few blocks away, but I overshot it by a block to pick up my reward: a nice cup of coffee from Intelligentsia. It had taken me a little under two hours to walk about five miles, and it was well worth the effort. The whole way, I marveled at how Clark Street became and remains today such a lively, inviting thoroughfare. As I walked into MPC’s office at 140 S. Dearborn, I felt a bit of pride knowing that my organization has worked for 77 years to nurture great places like Clark Street not only in Chicago, but in communities around the region. These kinds of places don’t often come about by accident; they are planned, designed, and invested in year and year, by residents, elected officials, local business owners, service organizations, churches, and, yes, nonprofits like my own. I felt really lucky, not only to live in a city where I can walk to work along a safe and enthralling route, but also to know that today it would be both my job and my pleasure to sit down at my computer and share my experience walking to work along Clark Street with you.