The Pilsen neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois was once made up predominantly of Czechoslovakian people and its last identity was a predominantly Mexican community. The east side of Pilsen has undergone a lot of gentrification and the main core and identity of this gentrification has been art.
In the 1990’s Pilsen was a community in which many people would not feel comfortable walking alone at night whereas today it is known by many as a trendy art neighborhood.In just 20 years Pilsen has undergone a large identity change which has impacted the residents and community in a myriad of ways. Pilsen has become more of an art community than an immigrant community and is also now being populated by students due to its closeness to the Columbia College and has made many feel driven out of their homes. According to Flores “Young people gravitate towards art, they gravitate towards culture.When the artists came, young people came, and then the gentrification came,” while many young people are attracted to the art and diversity Pilsen is home to they are also contributing to the problem and in many cases decreasing the diversity of the neighborhood.
Pilsen residents are resisting the gentrification of their neighborhood through festivals and demonstrations as well as making their opinions known through art which is almost ironic considering it is largely due to the influx of artists and students that Pilsen is undergoing gentrification in the first place.It seems that the residents of Pilsen are faced with gentrification on different levels. The influx of artists into the community has created positive change in Pilsen and encouraged art and other cultural outlets to take place. The true gentrification threat to Pilsen is the process of the middle class moving into this working class neighborhood and causing an increase in property values.
This in turn leads to higher takes and eventual displacement of the existing residents who find themselves unable to live in the neighborhood anymore.Without undergoing gentrification Pilsen could have become a very different neighborhood. Perhaps it would have remained unsafe and become more akin to the South Side of Chicago which is overrun by gang violence or maybe it would have continued to flourish in its own way and become a meeting place of different cultures and rich with diversity. Pilsen’s history begins in the 1840’s where German and Irish immigrants ettled due mainly to the construction of the Southwestern Plank Road (now known as Ogden Avenue) which was and continues to be a main route for travel and deliveries.
In the 1870’s the neighborhood was defined mainly by the lumber yards, garment sweatshops, and railroad yard jobs and with this introduction of many unskilled jobs more immigrants relocated to this neighborhood in order to fill these jobs. Many of these immigrants that came to fill these jobs were Czechoslovakian who then made up a huge population of the neighborhood. During World War I, labor shortages in area industries induced over two dozen different immigrant groups to settle in Pilsen, including a modest number of Mexicans. Due to liberal immigration law and the forced removal of Mexicans from the Near West Side to expand the University of Illinois at Chicago, Mexican migrants became predominant in the 1950s and 1960s. This ethnic shift spurred cultural changes in Pilsen, as Mexican artists decorated the neighborhood with colorful murals and mosaics” (Gellman).It seems that with the influx of students and higher education many immigrant groups become pushed aside and made to feel displaced.
This first occurred in Pilsen with the forced removal of Mexicans for the expanding of the University of Illinois and is continuing today with the influx of students pushing out former residents of Pilsen in order to live closer and pay cheap rent while they attend Columbia College. Pilsen has a long standing tradition of being home to a strong working-class community as well as fighting to keep this their home.Currently Pilsen is undergoing a slow process of gentrification, which many of the residents are fighting and hoping to retain their neighborhood as a gateway for Hispanic immigrants. “Gentrification, like the type that has been going on in Pilsen, occurs when upper- or middle class residents move into low-income neighborhoods, raising property values and displacing residents and local businesses.
”The residents of Pilsen are resisting not only through festivals and demonstrations but also through art and different forms of activism.Without gentrification there are many different scenarios for how Pilsen would be as a neighborhood today. Without the neighborhood facing the slow process of gentrification it could have stayed as a safe haven and gateway for Hispanic immigrants. This could have made it into more of an industrial neighborhood seeing as how many of the immigrants come looking for unskilled labor jobs. It could also be a neighborhood based around different factories and sets of small businesses set up by people in the neighborhood and supported by others within the neighborhood.Due to the population being predominantly made up of Hispanic immigrants they would have a neighborhood community based off of a shared set of culture and traditions.
It would be a very culturally rich neighborhood and it would stay authentic to itself without facing the criticism of others. It could have flourished with its culture with the continuation of many different cultural festivals and activities taking place and would have been attractive to many other cultures looking to explore Hispanic culture and to take part in the festivities.Pilsen would have been home to authentic art and food, which would further unite the neighborhood which would see an increase in small businesses and low housing costs for this working class neighborhood. Pilsen could have been something akin to “Chinatowns” which we find in most major cities, which draw in other people so that they may undergo a different cultural experience as well as having fun exploring a culture different from their own. This would be a bright future for Pilsen however it could have also happened that without the gentrification brought on by art and real estate Pilsen may have disintegrated into a cycle of poverty.
In the 1990’s Pilsen was considered to be a largely unsafe neighborhood and perhaps without the effects of gentrification it may have stayed this way as well as facing further disintegration. Without the positive gentrification brought on by art perhaps Pilsen would not have began its art movement and representation of culture and instead it may have become overrun with crime, poverty, and lack of opportunity. Because of its proximity to Columbia College this version of Pilsen could have felt a strong sense of other and a lack of opportunity to seek out this higher education.With this lack of opportunity comes higher rates of crime and poverty which could easily make Pilsen more like the South Side of Chicago which is overrun by gang violence and has many people turning to crime and a division in the neighborhood. This inequality could also create a neighborhood lacking in small businesses and would have all of the qualities of your stereotypical “ghetto” including food deserts and high rates of gun violence.
While this version of Pilsen would be able to maintain its Hispanic community roots it would be doing so by scaring others away and hurting themselves in the process.Pilsen could have become very different from what it is today depending on the levels of gentrification it underwent as well as whether or not gentrification occurred at all. While gentrification can bring about good things for the neighborhood such as an increase of art and diversity it should not be at the disembowelment of the residents who were there previously. Gentrification displaces the same people that it should be trying to help while creating the sense that an increase in wine shops, boutiques, and restaurants are more important than a population of people who will eventually run out of places to relocate to.
Pilsen was a safe haven and home to many different immigrant groups over its history and should remain that way. Although it may come to be that in time the Hispanic community becomes displaced it would be a real shame for the community to turn into some sort of “college town” lacking in diversity and culture. Pilsen should be able to retain its cultural integrity while making its voices and thoughts heard and remaining strong in their continued fight against gentrification.
