Hispanic comunity

[pandabear]

It seems to me that the hispanic population just balooned over the past 15 years. I can still remember a time when I went to McDonalds and everyone was either black or white or a high school student and everyone spoke english.

[gardener34]

Yes, ever since the drug cartels got heavy into Mexico - they all fled here. Illegally and legally. You can also check out the suburbs, aurora, elgin, and cicero all have heavy mexican hispanic populations in certain areas.
I would not limit yourself to hispanic areas for nice places to live, though.

[eljaykay]

Hi -
I work in a neighborhood that's largely latino and caribbean - it's a bit dicey, [90th and Exchange / Commercial Ave.] but there are a lot of great people there.
Many of my colleagues live on the eastside - around 106th / 107th and East of Ewing - close to Indiana. It's a pretty nice area - surrounded by industry but not scary in terms of crime. The homes are very affordable, too.

El

[Yahwee]

Originally Posted by Drover

But here's the thing: Not all Hispanics speak Spanish. Plenty have been here for numerous generations and now speak only English. So even that isn't a common identifier. I had a friend in college who was like 3rd or 4th generation Mexican and he looked rather, well, Mexican, but didn't know a word of Spanish. He told me, "every time someone comes up and just starts yapping at me in Spanish, I ask them, 'what country do you think we're in?' "

the hell Hello America Duh Free country we could speek whatever language we want

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Yahwee

the hell Hello America Duh Free country we could speek whatever language we want

Thanks for resurrecting a 7-month-old thread to admonish me on account of you completely and totally missing the point. Now scram.

[Albert0]

It's a little funny (in an ironic sort of way) to hear someone talking about the annoyance of being forced to speak Spanish all day because they know it... as they are latino. My friends were always griping about that in Houston. I, as a caucasian ended up being one of the first attendants to speak Spanish to the 80% Spanish speaking clientele at my work as my kind-of... bigoted (?) or something white boss wouldn't even allow his latino or other employees to speak it... Outrageous! For me it just made a dull job more interesting as it allowed me to practice and learn a new language. I don't know, perhaps my boss found it harder to tell me not what to do than his other employees... because I was also white? Later, the other spanish speaking employees started speaking it as well. Wow. I started a revolution? I moved to Kansas City later. I applied for a job with the health department where one of the prerequisites was being able to translate between English and Spanish languages. When I saw I was competing with a latino for my job, I thought, darn, I guess I don't have chance. And then I found out that I had scored higher on my translations than the latino had. Unfortunately after my experience in Houston I found myself with the bothersome feeling as to whether one of the reasons I might had come out on top had nothing to do with language at all? One never quite knows. Chicago indeed has plenty of latinos, I hear that the city of Aurora has a lot of rural latinos from Mexico. I don't think that latinos have to worry about being away from some element of latino culture. Of course, as a latino has so well pointed out... what the heck is that?!!! If you are looking to find a specific group, it's always good to find a few cultural events, for example those that feature a type of music significant to your area. In the case of Peruvians, the obvious choice might be a restaurant which features local Andean music. Look for a bakery, etc, some such thing. Find the heart of the culture and there will be people that can point you to other appropriate areas. In Chicago, big as it seems, you will always find neighborhoods in neighborhoods, a little bit of everything. There is a surprising amount of intimacy for so many people being located in such an area. My favorite detail of Chicago has been what I perceive as a default manner of inclusion... Is anyone a stranger here? There are always neighborhoods of people which is sometimes a plus, sometimes a minus.

[Doriano]

I have been living in the Chicago Suburbs for all my life..from West Chicago to Batavia. West Chicago is a Mexican community that has surpassed a bad past and is now thriving economically and their downtown is only looking more and more beautiful...all with the help of the Mexican community (Well, the whole community). But this is often overshadowed by neighbouring Aurora and Elgin.
Now, I live in Chicago now, moved here from being in London, and I can see the differences (Especially in entertainment, but whatever!). My roomie and I went to Pilsen to try Mexican food and check out the Mexican culture there. I had only been to Little Village before, and I remember it being huge, colourful, and crowded, with that big Hacienda entrence.
It wasn't that, but it was gorgeous. Mexican artists and artists of other backgrounds concentrate here and you can tell! The murals are amazing, and that beautiful Church only makes me think I'm back in some Mexican town. But the decor and church are Bohemian?? Well, Bohemians (And Germans) greatly impacted Mexican culture. A group of these immigrants settled in Sinaola, Mexico (Mazatlan I believe) and brought with them their music and gastronomy. Today that is greatly reflected in Ranchero music, Mexican Polka in other words, Mexican beers started by German emigres in Mexico, and the hundreds of surnames all over the country, the largest German school in the world outside of Germany (Being in Mexico City actually), the German villages in the state of Chiapas..etc...and it is funny that Mexicans came to Pilsen and settled here and put on that Mexican Polka in their homes and share it with the streets linned up in those Bohemian buildings. Weird coincidence. Now, I also noticed how different these two "Barrios" are. La Villita (Little Village) is mainly conformed by southern Mexicans, mainly descendents of native americans, while Pilsen is mainly central mexicans, the hybrid of natives and europeans. Maybe that has something to do with it?
Like people here said, not all Hispanics are the same at all. Why are they all bunched up together? Well, like the US tries to make all whites (Non-Hispanic whites) Anglo-Saxons, this is absurd. For Americans have Latin backgrounds (Italian, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian, etc...), Slavics and Balkans, Greeks, Celtics....Hitler would of killed all of these in other words! Hispanics from Latin America have diverse backgrounds, but nations do tend to have majorities. Argentina and Uruguay for example are 90% white.european descent. Carribbeans and Panamanians are manily of African descent. Guatemala, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras, and Paraguay are mainly Native Americans. Mexico, Chile Colombia, Venezuela are like Portuguese speaking Brazil, a mix, the Mestizo countries. But we all have a little of everything, and we can even divide nations culturally. Mexico for example, south is mainly Native American, north is mainly European, and the centre is a mix of every culture in the world.
I am a perfect example of this "mestizaje" or mixiage (Is that even a word??). Both my parents are from a central state in Mexico, but have different backgrounds. My dad's Spanish (Asturian and Cantabrian) and Italian (Veneto and Calabrian) while my mother is Spanish (Castillian and Galician) and Native American (Perepucha/Tarasco). What am I now? Born and raised in the US? I'm glad I still speak Spanish fluently (Didn't learn English till I was 9 years old). Very proud of it. It has helped me out a LOT! I am very good at understanding mainly every nation except the Carribean Spanish which is very loud and influenced by the Africans, sorry, did not want to offend anyone, I just don't know what they are saying...if speaking spanish or not. Heck, I have problems understanding mexican-americans, they are very influenced by the english speakers and end up speaking this horrible thing called Spanglish which I think is a problem and not something good for it only inflicts loss of if identity and culture, but you see that with every spanish speaker, especially Mexicans, central americans and oh God Carribeans, which makes it worse to understand.
Being in Mexico, every region has a different accent, south very influenced by the Mayans, north very influenced by the Basque settlers, especially from Chihuahua to Sinaloa to Durango. Tabasco is very influenced by the southern spanish from Andalucia. Puebla and others very near, by the Nauhatl dialects. Veracruz by the Afro-Carribean immigrants and African slaves. North of the city of Veracruz in Martinez de la Torre is very French, they still speak a Patois. West of Veracruz very Italian influenced, by the Trentino and Veneto immigrants. Tampico and southern Chihuahua very Germanized, especially by the menonite communities. Mexicaly very influenced by the Chinese. Tijuana and down very mixed, but pretty much very Spanish and Russian...other influenced by the Kino indians and french and italians. From Queretaro, Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, Michoiacan, Jalisco and others are very influenced by the northern Spanish such as Galicians, Asturians and Cantabrians. Everyone has their little way of speaking spanish.

[Doriano]

And since most Mexicans who come to the US, and many central Americans as well, like the poster above me said, they come from rural areas. It is such a culture shock for them to come to the US. They get very influenced by the US culture, and the mexicanamerican culture (That is NOTHING like Mexican culture, or the cultures of Mexico I should say). Many coming from the south don't even speak spanish at all, they speak native dialects, they have suffered from racism back in Mexico (It is very evident that the natives in Mexico are treated very bad by mestizo and white mexicans. Being in these enclaves, only makes them able to survive if they live like the mexicanamericans in those enclaves, forced into gangs and such things. Hope more mexican enclaves like West Chicago grow economically and educationally as well! Will go to Little Village next time!

[Drover]

I think that "Bohemian" church you're referring to is St. Aldabert's, in which case it's neither a Bohemian-influenced Mexican church, nor a Bohemian church in its own right (which would actually be more likely when you stop and think about why the neighborhood is called "Pilsen"). St. Aldabert's is actually a Polish church, or at least it was originally. And at nearly 100 years old, it was there LONG before the Mexicans were.

[Doriano]

Yeah, you're right, it's the mother of all the Polish Churches in the West and SOuth sides of CHicago. St. Adalbert's Church still gives mass in Polish, as well as in Spanish. Still beautiful Church, and bautiful neighbourhood...can't wait till it gets warmer to take full advantage of it and visit it's many areas!
PS: I never said the Mexicans built the Church...but they have contributed to it...like putting a shrine to Our Lady of the Lakes from Jalisco...which both churches, in Pilsen and Jalisco, look similar. And the shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe...of whom Pope John Paul II was a devout follower, the Polish Pope who named himself Mexican. Interesting stuff!