Bridgeport / Chinatown

Once known as Hardscrabble, Bridgeport was established to house the workers who built the 1848 Illinois and Michigan Canal. Five Chicago mayors have called Bridgeport home, including Edward Joseph Kelly in the 1930s and '40s and both Daleys, father and son. Today, Bridgeport boasts a vibrant arts community and numerous cafes and restaurants.

The neighborhood is a melting pot and one of the most diverse areas of Chicago, with descendants of the early Irish, Italian and Lithuanian communities mingling with first and second-generation Mexican- and Chinese-Americans.

Chinatown was established near Wentworth Avenue and 22nd Street (now Cermak Road) around 1905. Prior to that, Chinese immigrants lived and worked mostly in the Loop near Clark and Van Buren Streets. Chinatown Gate, built in the 1970s, greets visitors with a Chinese inscription that states, “The World is for All.” Pagoda-like structures and buildings with elaborate reliefs of dragons, lions, birds and Chinese characters are found throughout the neighborhood in places like Ping Tom Memorial Park, the Pui Tak Center and Chinatown Square Mall. Today, the neighborhood is both a bustling commercial hub packed with restaurants, bakeries and specialty stores, and a home for thousands of Chinese Americans.