View Redfin’s “West Park” boundaries in a larger map
In the process of compiling of Redfin‘s sales data for North Side neighborhoods, I stumbled across this: a neighborhood page, complete with recent sales info, for a place called “West Park.”
“West Park” must be shorthand for “West Wicker Park,” which Realtors and apartment agents still use regularly, usually as an alternative to “East Humboldt Park.” Redfin’s boundaries stretch from the Bloomingdale line (which the ‘Fin, in a surprisingly traditionalist move, still regards as Wicker Park’s northern boundary) to Chicago Avenue — thus swallowing whole the western quarter of Wicker Park and the northwest corner of Ukrainian Village — and from Leavitt Street all the way west to Humboldt and Sacramento boulevards. They even toss in all of the actual Humboldt Park for good measure. Think of it as the southern neighbor to “West Bucktown.”
This all falls within the boundaries of West Town, so Redfin can argue it’s not technically rebranding a part of Humboldt Park community area. However, we — and probably a lot of other people — think of Humboldt Park the neighborhood (a nebulous, evolving area not bound by legal definition) as starting somewhere around Western Avenue. I’m sure the Puerto Rican community does, given the placement of the large, flag-shaped monuments arcing over Division Street.