Wrigleyville is one of the city’s liveliest pockets, a boisterous bastion of taverns, restaurants, music clubs and corner stores. Oh, and there’s also some sort of sports attraction…
In all seriousness, you don’t have to be a Cubs fan to love living in Wrigleyville, but it really, really helps. Chicago’s favorite failures are the lifeblood of the neighborhood, a fact that has its good sides (plenty of nightlife, easy access to CTA trains and buses, tons of baseball-related history) and its bad (noisy drunks, non-existent parking and a steady stream of clueless tourists). If the former outweighs the latter for you, Wrigleyville might just be your kind of place.
The allure of Wrigley Field and its adjacent rooftops is obvious, but there’s plenty to do in the off-season too. The neighborhood boasts one of Chicago’s highest concentrations of Irish pubs, many of them operated in authentic fashion by actual Irish folks. Clark Street houses Metro, pretty much the city’s go-to venue for big name indie music acts. For outdoor aficionados, Wrigleyville offers a number of parks and green spaces, including one of the more popular dog runs. On the more macabre side, Graceland Cemetery provides a fascinating snapshot of Chicago history, with resting places ranging from simple marble slabs to towering mausoleums.