As Mr Dooley might have once said, Archer Avenue is the life blood, the anchor of Chicago’s Southwest side. Actually, the fictional saloon keeper of “Archey Road” considered the diagonal-running road as the center of the universe. If not quite the center of the universe, Archer Avenue is the hardworking gateway to the Southwest side, despite the advent of the Stevenson Expressway.
Archer Avenue, which follows a similar path to the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and the Santa Fe railroad tracks, is a handy compass point for exploring the distinct characters of neighorhoods such as Chinatown, Bridgeport, McKinley Park and Brighton Park. CTA’s No 62 bus, which trundles down Archer Avenue, is so well patronized that city officials have observed that the Orange line hasn’t picked up the number of riders that officials expected it would.
As Archer Avenue winds through Chinatown it hums with the activity of markets, fabric stores, Dim Sum sellers and the Chinese American Veterans Memorial and any number of small Asian businesses. Lemon-colored apartment buildings with green-framed windows. Push farther Southwest and you’ll see start to see establishments such as Connie’s Pizza, scattered body shops, car dealerships and a bank or two. A few blocks off Archer Avenue is Bridgeport Village, the collection of high-end single-family homes that has spurred further development of the Bridgeport neighborhood. The Chicago Department of Planning and Development is in the early stages of establishing a plan to stimulate retail along the stretch of Archer between Ashland Avenue and Halsted Street. Further south there’s a tavern here, a Mexican restaurant there, and Riverside Square, the modest but hardworking shopping center that includes a Dominick’s, a Blockbuster, a Payless Shoes and a Dollar Tree, along with other unfancy meat-and-potatoes retailers.
Near Archer, at the intersection of Western Boulevard and Pershing Road is McKinley Park Lofts, the Habitat Co’s development which observers say is stimulating interest in the quiet neighborhood of McKinley Park.
Mingled among the coin laundries, the McDonalds and the Burger Kings is the Mexican restaurant Tio Luis, which we’ve talked about before. It’s perhaps the most notable eatery in the predominantly Latino neighborhood of Brighton Park, where locals and some outsiders are starting to invest in and renovate two-flats, making them attractive rental properties or converting them single-family homes for their extended families.
There are no really grand plans for developing most of Archer Avenue aside from the stretch that I mentioned previously. The focus is more on stimulating retail along Western Boulevard and Halsted Street, and perhaps that’s because Archer Avenue already does plenty of heavy lifting. Yo welcomes your thoughts on Archer Avenue, its history, how it reflects the surrounding communities, and the role it plays in those communities.