December has four dates on West Chicago Avenue between Ashland and Damen. Galleries stay open late on Friday, December 4. The West Town Chamber's holiday shopping kickoff is Saturday, December 5. Santa visits a park a block north on December 12. Two gallery shows close on December 19. In earlier years, a visit to this stretch for art meant coming in the evening and leaving afterward. This year two new businesses opened on the blocks, a bakery that opens at 7 a.m. and a store with a cafe inside, and they change what a day on these blocks can look like.
Local press often calls these blocks West Town. By the neighborhood map, the addresses from 1600 to 2000 West, Ashland to Damen, are East Village. Everything below is within a short walk of the next stop.
The gallery addresses that set the block's rhythm
This stretch has long been tied to art, and the galleries still set its schedule. On the first Friday of every month, West Town's galleries and arts businesses stay open until 8 p.m. for West Town First Fridays, a program the West Town Chamber organizes. Four of the participating addresses sit on this short run of Chicago Avenue:
- Western Exhibitions, 1709 W. Chicago Ave., a commercial contemporary art gallery
- Chicago Truborn, 1741 W. Chicago Ave., which showed "The Seer, The Slayer, and The Stray" by Kolormore for November
- West Town Chamber of Commerce, 1819 W. Chicago Ave., where the office gallery hosts rotating exhibitions by arts-based members and showed Elsie How's "For Here!" in November, a series of paintings about diners
- Altar Home, 1858 W. Chicago Ave., which showed mixed-media work by Georgios Angelakopoulos
The Elsie How series is a good fit for this block. According to the Chamber's description, her paintings are a "visual ode to an American institution: the diner," about the quiet meals that come after a show or a night out. A gallery program that runs until 8 p.m. depends on the food and drink around it. Until this summer, the gallery addresses on these four blocks had little nearby built for the morning.
Guillotine Bakery took over a gallery space and opens at 7 a.m.
The clearest sign of the change is at 1711 W. Chicago Ave., two doors from Western Exhibitions. Guillotine Bakery opened there on Wednesday, June 17, in a space that used to be an art gallery, according to Eater Chicago. The owners are Alizé Bikard, Vincent Didry, and Vince Le Bec, and Le Bec is the head baker. The bakery is French in style. When it opened, Eater listed hours starting at 7 a.m. on the days it was open and said it closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. That schedule can shift as a bakery settles in, so check the current hours before you go.
By fall, people outside the neighborhood had noticed it. The Infatuation's October 1 review called Guillotine "a solid spot for lamination geeks and bread heads passing through West Town." The review singled out the cinnamon roll for its "many buttery layers" and said the seeded baguette "practically demands a picnic." It also pointed out a practical detail. The bakery has plenty of tables and room for a crowd, but no Wi-Fi.
For neighbors, the change is easy to see. A storefront that used to show art in the evening now serves pastry and bread in the morning, with room to sit. A Saturday on these blocks can start at breakfast.
Every Now and Then fills the hours in between
Guillotine covers the morning. Every Now and Then, at 1843 W. Chicago Ave., covers the long middle of the day. Joe Freshgoods, the Chicago streetwear designer whose real name is Joe Robinson, opened the store at this address in July, according to Block Club Chicago. Block Club reported that it sells sneakers and apparel designed by him and others. It also has a DJ booth, designer furniture, art by his friends, items reflecting the history of Black Chicago, and a full-service cafe named Josephine's after his grandmother.
Freshgoods told Block Club Chicago that he hopes the store becomes a gathering place for the city's creative community. "Obviously there are one zillion cafes and there are one zillion retail spaces, but there's only one me," he said. According to Block Club, he also plans to carry apparel from smaller, up-and-coming designers from around the world that isn't sold anywhere else in Chicago. When it opened, Josephine's served Metric Coffee, espresso, matcha, house lemonade, and pastries.
The store's schedule has also grown. Block Club's July story said Wednesday hours might be added. The store's website now lists these hours:
| Day | Store hours |
|---|---|
| Wednesday | 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
| Thursday to Saturday | 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. |
| Sunday | 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
The Saturday close is the useful number here. On most Saturdays the store stays open until 7 p.m., which covers the afternoon after a bakery stop and runs close to the evening hours the galleries keep on First Fridays.
How December lines up on the block
Taken together, the two openings and the galleries give the stretch a full day. December puts that to use, with four event dates across three consecutive weekends.
| Date | What's happening | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Friday, December 4 | First Friday of the month, galleries and arts businesses open until 8 p.m. | Participating spaces across West Town, including the Chicago Avenue addresses above |
| Saturday, December 5 | "It's a Wonderful West Town" Sip & Shop kickoff, noon to 5 p.m. | Businesses across the neighborhood |
| Saturday, December 12 | Santa & S'mores, 2 to 4 p.m., free | Commercial Club Playground, 1845 W. Rice St. |
| Saturday, December 19 | Last day of both current Western Exhibitions shows | 1709 W. Chicago Ave. |
The Chamber's It's a Wonderful West Town holiday shopping promotion runs from December 5 through December 24. It starts with a Sip & Shop from noon to 5 p.m. on December 5, with carolers, drinks, treats, and deals across the neighborhood. Because the kickoff spreads across many businesses, it works well as a walk along Chicago Avenue with stops between Ashland and Damen.
The next Saturday's event is a block north of the avenue. The Chicago Park District's Santa & S'mores at Commercial Club runs from 2 to 4 p.m. on December 12 at Commercial Club Playground, 1845 W. Rice St. It's free and open to all ages, with music, holiday arts and crafts, hot cocoa, s'mores, and photos with Santa. Pets aren't allowed, and the Commercial Park Advisory Council co-sponsors the event. The park sits almost directly behind Every Now and Then's block, so a family can go from Santa photos to the avenue in a few minutes.
The month's last date is the one people miss most easily. Western Exhibitions is showing Miller & Shellabarger's "Always Now" and Paul Nudd's "Plasticakes and Gore Orbs," and both run from November 6 through December 19. The First Friday on December 4 is the last time either show falls on a late-hours night before it closes.
A December Saturday, block by block
The order of the addresses makes a day easy to plan, because the morning stops sit at the east end and the afternoon stops sit at the west end.
- Morning at 1711. Start at Guillotine Bakery. Get the cinnamon roll The Infatuation liked, and a seeded baguette if you need bread for later. Plan on staying a while, since the bakery has tables but no Wi-Fi.
- Next door at 1709. Western Exhibitions is two doors away. Before December 19, both current shows are on view.
- Midday along the 1700 and 1800 blocks. Walk west past Chicago Truborn at 1741 and the Chamber's gallery at 1819. On December 5, this part of the walk overlaps with the Sip & Shop from noon to 5 p.m.
- Afternoon at 1843. Every Now and Then is open until 7 p.m. on Saturdays, and Josephine's is inside if you want a coffee.
- Turn north on December 12. Commercial Club Playground on Rice Street hosts Santa & S'mores from 2 to 4 p.m.
- Finish at 1858. Altar Home, near the Damen end of the stretch, is the last of the First Fridays addresses on this run of the avenue.
The whole route is about four blocks of Chicago Avenue plus one block north. None of it requires crossing Ashland or Damen.
These blocks are also a good example of what we look at when we work with East Village homeowners. A bakery moving into a former gallery, a store that adds Wednesday hours, and a park event a block away all shape how a block is used every day. If you live near this part of Chicago Avenue and want to know how your home is valued today, KD Homes can walk you through the neighborhood details that go into that number. Request a Free Home Valuation, and we'll start with your block.