What's living in Canaryville like? (Chicago, Bridgeport: safe neighborhood, restaurants, gangs)

[Chicago_Guy312]

After watching "Shameless", a friend of mine and I decided to take a visit to Canaryville to check out what it's actually like.

We loved it! It's so quaint, non-pretentious, and affordable. Of course, we were just visiting for a few hours. We loved the area around 45th & Wallace.

What's it like to live there? Is it safe? Would it be advisable for someone on a budget to raise a family there?

I heard that the neighborhood has been changing from mostly white to Hispanic, how prevalent is this? Does the neighborhood feel diverse and accepting?

Give me any information/history on Canaryville that you can!

[jonnynonos]

It's an old blue-collar/working poor Irish neighborhood that, yes, has more Hispanics in it now. I don't know a ton about it but the stereotype/CW is more 'rough' than quaint.

[soulful]

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

It's an old blue-collar/working poor Irish neighborhood that, yes, has more Hispanics in it now. I don't know a ton about it but the stereotype/CW is more 'rough' than quaint.

You mean genuine Irish people lived in Canaryville? As in right off the boat escaping the potato famine?

[emathias]

It's set in Canaryville, but it's actually filmed in Lawndale.

Check out these spots:
Sheila's house
Gallagher's house

[Josef K.]

On YouTube, you can find many episodes of something called "The Canaryville Chronicles," which as far as I can tell is just a series of random amateur documentaries of life in that hood. From an aesthetic POV it's execrable - it looks like someone just set up a camera at various locations and shot local folks going about their business; there's no narrative arc or dramatic tension or even much sense of editing. But it's real life.

There seem to be few of these classic white prole urban neighborhoods left. I can think of South Boston or Fishtown in Philadelphia, maybe Bensonhurst in Brooklyn (not sure about that one though), as being in the same category. Sometimes I wonder what keeps these people in the city - maybe residency requirements?

Also worth a read is this guy's blog:
Blue Skies Falling: Canaryville Blues, Part I: Picturing Canaryville

[jonnynonos]

The Canaryville Chronicles are just are videotapes of kids who grew up in the neighborhood.

"Blue Sky Falling" is some art student who decided to "study" the neighborhood from a pseudo-academic perspective.

Yes, it's ethnically Irish. That is interesting considering Bridgeport hasn't been ethnically Irish since the 40s.

I think the best way to sum up Canaryville is to say, picture a really, really, blue collar, working class suburb.

Now put it in the city.

That's it.

There aren't many Canaryville posters on this forum, so you may never get firsthand knowledge.

A few years ago there was a kid from Canaryville who posted here; what I remember most about him is his near psychotic hatred of yuppies.

[Josef K.]

Thanks for clarifying. Reading around, a word that often comes up is "insular." Also, apparently the done thing there is to cheer for the Cubs, due to local rivalry with Bridgeport.

[jonnynonos]

That's true; they have a reputation for being insular. I don't know much, personally. I have been goofing around on these forums for around 5 years and there has only been one Canaryville poster I remember. I've been there a few times. Seemed nice enough.

The conventional wisdom is that it's insular and a few notches below "blue collar." I've also heard the Hispanic influx is exaggerated and it's still, essentially, 5K Irish roughnecks.

I've heard from a couple generally credible people on this forum that Canaryville is one place in the city that you would generally not be wise to wander into a bar; that if they don't know you, at the least, you're going to get some dirty looks.

Again, second hand knowledge, but seems plausible.

There isn't much there. A couple bars, a couple restaurants and St. Gabe's.

From what I've seen they're die-hard Sox fans.

I imagine if you really wanted to move there you wouldn't have too many problems if you just went about your business. But you could probably say the same thing about any neighborhood in the city.

[Chicago_Guy312]

Is it a safe neighborhood?

It just sounds like such an interesting neighborhood to me. I've never heard of anything like it.

[Irishtom29]

My wife has pals from Canaryville who complain about gangs and drug use there. Among their own kind, not from outsiders.