Terra cotta on the Uptown Broadway Building, one of the landmarks of the neighborhood's commercial core. Photo: nmcgowan01 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
A printed guide to Uptown is landing on doorsteps across the neighborhood this winter. The 2007 Business & Community Guide, produced by Business Partners, the Chamber for Uptown, was unveiled at the group’s annual dinner on Oct. 5.
Pioneer Press is mailing and hand-delivering 10,000 copies throughout the community. The guide is also available online.
More than a directory
The publication goes beyond a list of member businesses. Its pages cover Uptown history, architecture and local trivia, along with business resources and photographs.
There is plenty of material to draw on. Uptown grew up around the elevated line and the lakefront in the early 20th century, when the Essanay film studio on Argyle Street turned out hundreds of silent movies with stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Gloria Swanson. The neighborhood’s entertainment district gave the city the Uptown Theatre, the Aragon Ballroom, the Riviera and the Green Mill.
Later decades were harder. After World War II, Uptown became a landing place for migrants from Appalachia, Native American families and refugees from Southeast Asia, many of whom settled in its older apartment buildings. Argyle Street developed into a Vietnamese and Chinese commercial strip. Those layers show up in the neighborhood’s architecture today, from the terra cotta of Broadway’s commercial buildings to the greystones and courtyard apartments on side streets.
A marketing tool
For local businesses, a guide like this works partly as advertising. Listings put names and services in front of residents who may not realize what is available within a few blocks. For newcomers, especially the many condo buyers who have arrived in recent years, it is an introduction to a neighborhood that can be hard to read from the street.
Residents who do not receive a copy can find the guide online.
Joel Sandoval covers arts, music venues and nightlife.
