Still trying to process last night--race/diversity or lack thereof (Chicago: neighborhood, school)

[Swandaddy]

I went out with a group of friends last night to celebrate somebody's birthday, and the birthday girl chose wanted to go this place called Weegee's. It was like 3600 W. Armitage or something. At first I'm like, OK this is going to take 6,000 years to get to so if I'm going all the way that far away from the train it had better be worth it. So, I Yelped the place and it had almost 200 reviews and 4 stars so I was like OK I"ll go.

So, we get there and the place is nice, really cool old school décor, quality drinks, etc so yeah the place did it's job. But I'm still trying to figure out the demographics: First of all, I didn't realize Logan Square went that far west. Also, as Logan Square is impossible for me to get to I never make it over there unless there's a specific reason to do so.

The thing that stuck in my mind really was this though: the whole diversity/gentrification question. I thought Logan Square was diverse, and that it had a sizable Hispanic population, and that there was some gentrification. However, inside the bar literally everybody--except the "token smoking hot (as in he was FINE) but unfortunately straight Asian guy"--was white hipster. As in EVERYBODY in there. It was like white Chicago hipster central or something, as in whiter than even the white exurb I transplanted from. And very hipster. Which OK but is there diversity in Hipster-dom?? IDK? I casually mentioned this observation to my friends and it was acknowledged, but we quickly veered back to the much more important manner of our collective lack of love lives.

I'm officially confused--I conceptually understand kinda what's going on, but as somebody who's used to having a very diverse set of friends and co-workers, both LGBT and straight, it was weird to experience the nexus of white hipsterdom (which of course is very different from the white Americana-Wrigleyville next to Boystown), and it's just weird trying to process that whole experience. Like, is that the experience of most Chicagoans? Do people theoretically try to include more diversity and then end up subconsciously falling into patterns of self-segregation without realizing it? Or am I being overly self-conscious? Also inserting thoughts of Logan Square vs Edgewater/Rogers Park (which I'm infinitely more familiar with) in terms of diversity/gentrification/"getting discovered."

Thoughts? Comments.

[urza216]

A bar is just a bar. Last night I was at Dunnigans in south suburban Park Forest. After midnight, it was wall to wall people in thier 20s. This was a suburb. The demographics were like 80 percent white and 20 percent black or something. Park Forest is predominately black.. Of course, the reason why it was wall to wall with people is because there was a going away party going on..

The point is that a bar is just a bar.. What exactly are you asking or trying to imply? What else is on your mind? I too wonder about things like this..

[Drover]

Yeah, Logan Square has a substantial Hispanic population. Not only that but that specific part of Logan Square is majority Hispanic by a pretty wide margin. So why weren't there many Hispanics in this particular bar? My hypothesis/observation is that by and large the Hispanic population, or at least the variety most likely to inhabit the western fringes of Logan Square, aren't particularly interested in the "hipster" scene. That's more of a SWPL kind of thing. So yeah, in this case there's quite a bit of self-segregation by way of different cultural norms.

[williepotatoes]

Originally Posted by Swandaddy

I went out with a group of friends last night to celebrate somebody's birthday, and the birthday girl chose wanted to go this place called Weegee's. It was like 3600 W. Armitage or something. At first I'm like, OK this is going to take 6,000 years to get to so if I'm going all the way that far away from the train it had better be worth it. So, I Yelped the place and it had almost 200 reviews and 4 stars so I was like OK I"ll go.

So, we get there and the place is nice, really cool old school décor, quality drinks, etc so yeah the place did it's job. But I'm still trying to figure out the demographics: First of all, I didn't realize Logan Square went that far west. Also, as Logan Square is impossible for me to get to I never make it over there unless there's a specific reason to do so.

The thing that stuck in my mind really was this though: the whole diversity/gentrification question. I thought Logan Square was diverse, and that it had a sizable Hispanic population, and that there was some gentrification. However, inside the bar literally everybody--except the "token smoking hot (as in he was FINE) but unfortunately straight Asian guy"--was white hipster. As in EVERYBODY in there. It was like white Chicago hipster central or something, as in whiter than even the white exurb I transplanted from. And very hipster. Which OK but is there diversity in Hipster-dom?? IDK? I casually mentioned this observation to my friends and it was acknowledged, but we quickly veered back to the much more important manner of our collective lack of love lives.

I'm officially confused--I conceptually understand kinda what's going on, but as somebody who's used to having a very diverse set of friends and co-workers, both LGBT and straight, it was weird to experience the nexus of white hipsterdom (which of course is very different from the white Americana-Wrigleyville next to Boystown), and it's just weird trying to process that whole experience. Like, is that the experience of most Chicagoans? Do people theoretically try to include more diversity and then end up subconsciously falling into patterns of self-segregation without realizing it? Or am I being overly self-conscious? Also inserting thoughts of Logan Square vs Edgewater/Rogers Park (which I'm infinitely more familiar with) in terms of diversity/gentrification/"getting discovered."

Thoughts? Comments.

This post has my head spinning, with all the categories, subcategories and labels applied to people. Diversity isn't about tagging people, it's about enjoying people for who they are and not being so cognitive about what they are.

Jeez, maybe it's a good thing that I don't live in Chicago anymore if I'm going to be so defined by my neighborhood, gender preference and attire. Race, ethnicity and religion can be hard enough for many people to get over, without all this silly jibberish.

[Nafster]

Swandaddy, it was one bar.

I have a great diverse group of friends but I don't choose who I'm friends with because of their race, sexual orientation, etc.

It just happens. I think you need to relax.

[campsdeloscamps]

Originally Posted by Swandaddy

However, inside the bar literally everybody--except the "token smoking hot (as in he was FINE) but unfortunately straight Asian guy".

damn that's the worst!

[trailblazer33]

Living in a highly racialized city, don't feel bad taking note of your surroundings. What you observed is just the state of affairs in this city.

[Warsie]

lol, ****inh hipsters.

well the wicker park hipsters are more....diverse i think. well those who go to art showings. the bars....yeah i can see that.

[Aleking]

The latino population of Logan is in the middle of a nose dive....it's about as diverse as an abercrombi ad.

[Huckleberry3911948]

on the bar scene. 20 or more of white guy 1 black guy no problem. 20 black guys and one archie bunker ??? lets put it this way if you are the only white there u had better be a cute blonde.