West Town (bounded by Bloomingdale to the north, Kinzie to the south, Kedzie to the west and the river to the east) is an official Chicago community area, but the name fell into disuse for many years and has only really come back into popular use over the last few years. You can credit a local bar with reviving the name, some locals say. Businesswoman Susan Goss was trying to think of a name for her bar and checked with the city to see what area her establishment was located in. The West Town Tavern was born. Another businesswoman, Kara Selgado, noticed the West Town name on a matchbox as she sat at the bar, and decided it would make a good name for the business lobby group she worked for, which was known as the Near North West Chamber. The organization now goes by the name of the West Town Chamber of Commerce. The chamber has further branded the name by installing colorful West Town flags along Chicago Avenue. “It defines a larger area than the neighborhoods do – neighborhood boundaries are always up for discussion,” Selgado says.
She says real estate agents initially resisted reviving the name. “I got feedback from real estate people, ‘Why are you calling it West Town – it reminds people of the West Town riots of the 1960s,'” Selgado says, of the race riots of 1966.
Her response? Selgado told them the riots occurred around the time she was born. “I don’t know if anyone’s really thinking about West Town in that way.”