Where are the Chicago Italians?? (Naperville, Joliet: neighborhood, zip codes, stats)

[jonnynonos]

Originally Posted by JosephM1994

That doesn't explain why you have the very heavy Italian element in the Northeast, it's all the same country. Btw Italian immigration to the USA continued en masse through post war period until '65 when the immigration laws were changed.

There's no point in arguing over meaningless characterizations; the statistics are widely available.

Italian immigration patterns:

https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~molna22a/...anhistory.html

Italian immigration to Chicago:

Italians

[PerseusVeil]

As others have stated, you're really not going to find something similar to NYC in Chicago in regards to Italians. I honestly wouldn't even say that Chicago has the most intact/best Italian neighborhood(s) in the Midwest.

[marothisu]

Whoever put out the 15% max thing iswrong. It's not like NYC but the highest percentage census tract in Chicago for people who identify as Italians is over 35%. There are actually more over 20%

Census Tract 760802 in Cook County, Illinois

As someone else said though, Italians are scattered all over.

[JosephM1994]

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

There's no point in arguing over meaningless characterizations; the statistics are widely available.

Italian immigration patterns:

https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~molna22a/...anhistory.html

Italian immigration to Chicago:

Italians

As a New Yorker who knows Chicago well, I know that there aren't Italian areas akin to what we have in NYC (I live in Howard Beach home of John Gotti lol) but your "Italian immigrants haven't been coming since the 20s" spiel doesn't explain Italian neighborhoods in NYC and Boston that are pretty much intact. Italians in Chicago have had incredibly bad luck in preserving their areas, seriously they all turn Mexican.

[JosephM1994]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Whoever put out the 15% max thing is full of it. It's not like NYC but the highest percentage census tract in Chicago for people who identify as Italians is over 35%. There are actually more over 20%

Census Tract 760802 in Cook County, Illinois

And it's in the area I mention between East River, Cumberland, Montrose and Lawrence.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by JosephM1994

And it's in the area I mention between East River, Cumberland, Montrose and Lawrence.

There are more Italians than people think closer to O'hare in Chicago in areas like Dunning and suburbs like Elmwood Park. Though the 2nd highest percentage in the city is still around Smith Park in West Town.

It's true that you won't find in Chicago any longer what you can still find in NYC (though even, sadly, Little Italy in Manhattan has waned quite a bit nowadays).

[jonnynonos]

Originally Posted by JosephM1994

As a New Yorker who knows Chicago well, I know that there aren't Italian areas akin to what we have in NYC (I live in Howard Beach home of John Gotti lol) but your "Italian immigrants haven't been coming since the 20s" spiel doesn't explain Italian neighborhoods in NYC and Boston that are pretty much intact. Italians in Chicago have had incredibly bad luck in preserving their areas, seriously they all turn Mexican.

That's just immigration/cities. You're telling me that Brooklyn or the Bronx let alone Manhattan look anything even remotely close to what they did even in the 80s?

Of course NY has more: NY has more of everything.

[JosephM1994]

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

That's just immigration/cities. You're telling me that Brooklyn or the Bronx let alone Manhattan look anything even remotely close to what they did even in the 80s?

Of course NY has more: NY has more of everything.

Well the inner areas see a lot of turnover, but both the area I grew up in and the area I live in now (Bay Ridge born/raised and live in Howard Beach) look essentially the same and both have the same majority ethnicities as they did when my parents were growing up yeah. It's only the rich and poor areas that have seen a lot of flux, solid middle class homeowner areas out on the fringes are the same yeah.

[JosephM1994]

Originally Posted by marothisu

There are more Italians than people think closer to O'hare in Chicago in areas like Dunning and suburbs like Elmwood Park. Though the 2nd highest percentage in the city is still around Smith Park in West Town.

It's true that you won't find in Chicago any longer what you can still find in NYC (though even, sadly, Little Italy in Manhattan has waned quite a bit nowadays).

Around Smith Park? Is that the Western & Chicago area? Hipster/Puerto Rican I thought over there?

And yeah little Italy is now a two block tourist trap surrounded by Chinatown, the only time you'll hear Italian there is from a tourist from Milan. Still plenty of Italian stuff in the outer boros though.

[lifelongchicagoland]

Your post was interesting. There are a lot of opinions about the "Italian" community here, so here's my two-sense.

The largest Italian communities where Italians actually reside (versus where stores and restaurants are located) seems to be the far northwest side of Chicago by Dunning and Edison Park/Norwood Park. The commercial businesses are clustered on Harlem Ave on the Chicago-Montclare border with Elmwood Park. In the suburbs, Elmwood Park and the Northwest suburbs from Addison/Bloomingdale stretching northwest to Lake in the Hills and Algonquin seems to be the prime areas for Italian families. Elmwood Park is losing some of it's Italian population as older Italian families they sell their houses, and Puerto Rican families moving west from Logan Square and Hermosa replace them. The apartment buildings already have a significantly Puerto Rican population, and now single family homes are being purchased as well.

The other posters are correct, in that the Italian community was largely in the West Side of Chicago. As the neighborhood became increasingly violent, Italians followed main roads west like Grand Ave (Elmwood Park) Lake St (Melrose Park, Addison, and Bloomingdale) and Roosevelt Road (Cicero and Berwyn). As younger Italians like myself become less connected to the community and marry outside our ethnic group, being in an "Italian" area became less important to many of us. Although it's sad that we're losing out culture, it's also good that we are not separating ourselves from the America around us.

Where I reside in Berwyn, there is a mix of Italian and Czech's (all older families btw) Mexican, Puerto Rican, Columbian and general White. The latest wave of newcomers to Cicero and Berwyn are African Americans, who are moving west to escape the violence of Garfield Park and Austin. Like Elmwood Park, they started moving to the apartment buildings off Ridgeland, Oak Park and Harlem Ave and now are purchasing homes throughout Berwyn and Cicero.

Out of all this, the most STABLE and consistent Italian area continues to be parts of the Northwest side of the city and Bloomingdale area. Elmwood Park, Addison, Berwyn and Cicero have already changed or are in the process of losing rather than gaining Italian families. Hope this helps.