Living in Lincoln Square, Chicago

Giddings Plaza forms Lincoln Square's central gathering spot, a small fountain-and-mural plaza where Lincoln Avenue narrows into a pedestrian-friendly stretch of independent shops and cafes, benches and a maypole giving the block a village-square layout unlike most Chicago commercial strips. The Old Town School of Folk Music's campus sits nearby, drawing steady foot traffic for classes and concerts held inside its two performance halls. Sulzer Regional Library, one of the Chicago Public Library's three regional branches, anchors the neighborhood with murals and frescoes inside a building that spans a full city block. The Brown Line's Western stop puts most addresses within an easy walk of downtown, keeping a car optional for daily commuting, though Lincoln Avenue's angled path through the neighborhood breaks from the street grid, and drivers unfamiliar with the area often find the turns and merges confusing compared with the numbered streets nearby.

Lincoln Square's German and Central European roots show up mostly in the built environment now, from the plaza's ornamental ironwork to the older storefronts along Lincoln Avenue, a layer of history that sits comfortably alongside the restaurants and shops that have since filled in around it.