Yo went shopping along the stretch of Lincoln Avenue in the handful of blocks south of Irving Park Road recently, and we were pleasantly surprised at the retail that has sprung up due to all the gentri-attention taking place in those parts.
If locals can afford to buy nice goodies to furnish their new home after they’ve covered the hefty mortgage, Lincoln Avenue has become quite the little homewares stretch in the last couple of years. A few of the highlights: the mid-century cool-tiques (we can’t really call them antiques just yet, surely) at Modlife Furniture; the best European country cottagewares the Czech Republic and Romania have to offer at Praha; the excellent Smythson Yeats Antiques, formerly of Evanston (the good folks there tell us that the aforementioned mortgages seem to curb peoples’ spending a little); the spanking-new Homey Home and Garden Products, which has wonderfully soothing water fountains and great nude art (hey, you can never have too much of either); and of course CB2.
Recharge at one of the new eateries or watering holes that have opened within the last few years, like Sola Restaurant or Mrs Murphy & Sons Irish Bistro.
Bucktown, eat your heart out.