Video Gaming in Chicago's 22nd Ward — bars, licensing, status

History

South Lawndale, the community area that holds Little Village, was settled after the Fire of 1871, first by Germans and Czechs and then by Poles, who followed jobs in nearby industry. Most of the housing dates from before World War I. Major economic dislocations began in the late 1960s, including the closure of the International Harvester plant and the Western Electric complex. Hispanic residents made up 4 percent of the community area in 1970 and 83 percent by 2000, and residents know Little Village as the "Mexico of the Midwest."

The ward's southwest tail reaches into Garfield Ridge, which Chicago annexed in pieces in 1889, 1915 and 1921. Chicago Municipal Airport, later Midway, opened in 1926, and by 1950 brick bungalows had filled the blocks.

The area today

Ald. Michael D. Rodriguez represents the 22nd Ward from a ward office at 4035 W. 26th St. Rodriguez won the seat in 2019, after the previous alderperson, Ricardo Muñoz, did not run again. The ward takes in much of Little Village, plus a strip of Garfield Ridge along Cicero Avenue north of Midway Airport. Twenty-sixth Street, which the Encyclopedia of Chicago calls Calle Mexico, runs east to west through the ward, lined with restaurants, shops and banks. The Pink Line stops at Central Park, Pulaski and Kostner just north of the ward's edge. Piotrowski Park on 31st Street, which the Park District acquired in 1949, has a domed pool and a gym. Each September, Little Village hosts the city's largest annual Latino parade.

Bars and restaurants here

On 26th Street near Ridgeway Avenue, a speakeasy-style bar opened behind a liquor store in 2019, and Rodriguez called it the first new bar in the neighborhood in decades. Block Club has also profiled a longstanding Latino drag club on the west end of 26th Street, with two shows a night, Thursday through Sunday.