Where do most of the Chicago Irish live? (Cicero, Oak Lawn: neighbourhoods, subdivisions)

[BRU67]

The last wave of Irish immigrants was, what, 1907? They’ve long since assimilated into society and are all over the City, most often mixed with 7 other nationalities. Beverly and Mt. Greenwood have always been considered Chicago’s "Most Irish" but I think their image is more about branding than anything of real substance nowadays.

[scottl333]

Bridgeport, Canaryville, Mt. Greenwood and Beverly are the Irish strongholds today. If you want to experience the Irish nightlife go to the bar/dives in carnaryville but that may not be a good thing to do if you are not familiar with that area because they are a different breed down there. Very secretive. Go to the Irish pubs on Western around Beverly and Greenwood and you will see a lot of IRish people.

[Drover]

I'm not sure I'd go to the "dive bars" in Canaryville unless I go with someone from the neighborhood. They are the kind of places where interlopers are not warmly welcomed.

[nanannie]

It seems like all the Irish live at my house on holidays. I come from a large Irish Catholic family and it seemed growing up in Elmhurst you were Irish Catholic or Italian Catholic. If there were "prots", I never knew them.The ones in the city were south side/sox people.

[maluminse]

Irish own Chicago. daley all the judge or many are irish. their everywhere. summer? whole place floods from irish kids working for summer.

[reppin_the_847]

I agree. It appears that the wave of immigration from Ireland to Chicago has pretty much ended, and most Irish folk in Chicagoland are very much assimilated into mainstream society. The Irish thing almost seems more like a fad here in Chicago and the Midwest, especially around St. Patrick's day when everyone and their mom claims to be Irish. Some of the Irish people I ran into in NYC seemed to have more in common with the Irish people of Ireland than assimilated Irish-Americans. New York City still seems to attract a healthy amount of Irish immigrants. One of the magnet neighborhoods for them is the Woodlawn neighborhood in the Bronx. I agree with the other posters here, that some of those south side neighborhoods of Chicago have retained a good amount of Irish heritage and flavor.

Originally Posted by BRU67

The last wave of Irish immigrants was, what, 1907? They’ve long since assimilated into society and are all over the City, most often mixed with 7 other nationalities. Beverly and Mt. Greenwood have always been considered Chicago’s "Most Irish" but I think their image is more about branding than anything of real substance nowadays.

[monty124]

Originally Posted by ArizonaBear

And the irony today is that many of the real Irish AKA citizens of Ireland can be of any race/ethnicity.

What do you mean exactly, I thought Ireland was a mostly Celtic White Country. I don't think your right, I have family that lives in a mostly Irish Community and they basically Celtic White people?

[PAKennedy]

Originally Posted by monty124

What do you mean exactly, I thought Ireland was a mostly Celtic White Country. I don't think your right, I have family that lives in a mostly Irish Community and they basically Celtic White people?

I think his comment was more along the lines of possibility. The fact is that Ireland is statistically not a very diverse country. While I was there, i saw only 6 black people, one of them was in the airport in Dublin and the others were together in a random, small town of about 500 people at a Burger King. There is however, a much more significant amount of Indian folks.

[nJohn]

Beverly and Mt. Greenwood supposedly have a lot of Irish. When I was in my high school marching band, we participated in St. Paddy's Day Parade on 103rd and Western, which, to my surprise gave me a couple of good memories. Drunk people throwing chicken and saying, "THE TUBA!", stepping in horse crap, seeing kids that you went to grammar school with, hearing bagpipes, people decked in green. But in all honesty, it's a fad. I'm not Irish so I'm biased but I never thought of the parade as awesome like some people do. I think the Thanksgiving Parade downtown is rather cool, and I participated in that one. I find the kids in Beverly and Mt. Greenwood a little defensive when it comes to their turf. Just never saw what was the big deal of being Irish besides drinking alcohol before your non-Irish classmates.

[KevK]

The old Irish live in Bridgeport and Canaryville. The new Irish (their Americanized kids and grandkids) live everywhere like all Americans. The old ethnic neighbourhoods of Chicago are dying as their older residents die and few new immigrants from Europe come and replace them. Their kids who were born and raised in the USA prefer the lakefront. Loop or suburbs. The old Mayor Daley lived in an Irish enclave (Bridgeport) but his kids do not. The new Mayor Daley lives in the South Loop. Berwyn and Cicero weere once Italian but few of them live there anymore.