Lincoln Square appears to be on the verge of something big. A wave of young professionals is moving into the area, new restaurants and bars are opening and there is even talk that Starbucks is sniffing around for a site.
Locals welcome the outsiders, but not with surprise. They say it was only a matter of time before the rest of the city figured out that Lincoln Square had plenty to offer, from cafes like Selmarie to a newly opened coffee stand at the Italian restaurant, La Bocca Della Verita, with a genuine Italian coffee jerk.
The Chamber of Commerce markets the North Side neighborhood as a touch of Europe, and its unique charm becomes apparent during a Saturday stroll along Lincoln Avenue.
“This is an area for walking around,” said Philip Bernstein, owner of the Fine Wine Brokers on the mall tucked away on Lincoln Avenue, just east of the intersection of Western and Lawrence Avenues. “In the suburbs everything looks the same, not here.”
Packed with shops, restaurants, cafes and stores, the Lincoln Square Mall is a welcome break from the busy nondescript city streets that surround it. Timeless Toys sells toys from Europe. Merz Apothecary offers homeopathic remedies and top-notch soaps, hand creams and bath salts. And Delicatessen Meyer sells a variety of meats and cheese that draw shoppers from the city and suburbs.
Germans who grew up in the area and moved to the suburbs still return for the Bavarian Leberkae, a pork-and-veal meat loaf, and six types of liver sausage, returning home with their goods in sturdy brown paper bags. And the deli is a popular stop for parents after they drop their children off for German-language lessons at the nearby Chicago chapter DANK House.
The Germans still coming here are first and second generation, said Klaus Koetke, owner of the Meyer. But not all his customers are of German descent. They include anyone looking for Dutch and French cheeses, or Finnish low-cholesterol, full-flavored cheese that is popular with people on restricted diets.
But there’s more to Lincoln Square than just shopping. The ingredients have always been here: the Ravenswood train, affordability and safety, said John Burns, 43, who grew up in the neighborhood and has spent his career selling realty at Fox Realtors, 4601 N. Western Ave. This area stretching west to the North Branch of the Chicago River from Damen Avenue and from Montrose Avenue north to Peterson east of Western and to Bryn Mawr west of Western works very well for people.
Despite the growing interest in Lincoln Square, housing prices have remained steady, according to Robert Dougherty, deputy chief executive officer for the Chicago Association of Realtors. In 1995, a single-family home sold for on average $145,000, an increase of just 1 percent from 1994. Average prices for condos, townhouses and other attached homes decreased an average of 5 percent in 1995, to $79,500, according to figures supplied by the association.
The steady prices reflect a solid community that includes apartment buildings, greystone two-flats, frame houses and grand Victorian-era homes on quiet, tree-lined streets, all within walking distance of the mall and the Ravenswood elevated train.
One niggling problem, though, is parking on Lincoln Avenue and near the Western Avenue “L” stop, where commuters compete with restaurant patrons and shopping for a few dozen spots.
Richard and Susan Hendrick moved to Lincoln Square six years ago to begin renovating a 99-year-old Victorian house, a project that is ongoing. “We had known about (the neighborhood), but we didn’t know it was this nice until we moved in,” said Richard Hendrick, who is called the Mayor of Leavitt.
The major shopping area along Lincoln Avenue was built in the mid-1920s, at a time when the area was called Bowmanville. In the 1960s, after the city annexed an area southwest of the Loop for the University of Illinois at Chicago, a large part of the Greektown neighborhood moved north to Lincoln Square. Today the well-organized Chamber of Commerce boasts members from all over the ethnic map, but the German community retains a strong political base in the area.
Jo Damico first came to the neighborhood about a year and a half ago for a job interview, knowing nothing of its charm. “It’s so different,” said Damico, who took a job in the neighborhood . “When I first went dow Lincoln Avenue I wondered, `Am I still in Chicago?’ ” Damico said. “It’s like a different world.”
Francene Ryerson, co-owner of Catranis Florists, 4712 N. Lincoln Ave., has a slightly different perspective, having grown up in Lincoln Square. She welcomes the young professionals moving in as long as they don’t replace old-timers who add to community’s ethnic diversity.
“It feels really comfortable here, really safe,” she said. “The latest retail wave began a few years ago when the Daily Bar & Grill opened on Lincoln Avenue in the site of a century-old tavern. The retailers moving in the area in the past 18 months are more upscale, but always with a European flavor, complementing businesses with long histories in the area. One of them, the Chicago Brauhaus, serves traditional German food with dancing and live bands from the old country.
Susan White moved back to Lincoln Square after a three-year stint in Europe and said the neighborhood has grown since she left. “In terms of the commercial areas it is definitely coming up,” she said. “But not too much. That’s one of the reasons I like it, it’s not a real yuppie area.”
One of the most highly anticipated arrivals in Lincoln Square is the Old Town School of Folk Music, which is abandoning its longtime digs in congested Lincoln Park. The school is expected to move into the former Hild Library in late 1997 or early 1998 if all the lease negotiations can be worked out, said Jim Hirsch, the school’s executive director.
“As we looked at the neighborhood, we felt it was appropriate and a good fit,” Hirsch said. “I think its a neighborhood that has a lot of elements that would fit in well with the school. There are families with kids for our programs, diversity in the population base and it’s burgeoning with development. It certainly seems ripe.”
The growth of Lincoln Square doesn’t surprise longtime residents like Realtor John Burns. “I view Lincoln Avenue as a river, and it just keeps flowing north.”
Philip Bernstein, owner of Fine Wine Brokers, said he considered moving his business to Andersonville but settled on Lincoln Square because the elevated train was more convenient. “It reminds me of Andersonville; it is trending like that,” he said. “I think in two or three years this area will be unbelievable.”
