Broadway and Argyle Street. Photo: Warren LeMay from Chicago, IL, United States / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Long before food tours and social media lists, Argyle Street used a summer festival to tell the rest of Chicago it was there. Taste of Argyle began in 1981, when the street’s Asian commercial district was still young.
The idea was simple: close the street, set up booths and let people eat their way from one end to the other. Restaurants got new customers. Visitors got an introduction to Vietnamese, Chinese and other Southeast Asian food that many had never tried.
The early years
The district grew out of an effort by local businesspeople, including Charlie Soo, to build a new Asian commercial area on the North Side as Chinatown on the South Side became crowded. Refugees from Southeast Asia arriving after the Vietnam War opened many of the businesses that still define the street.
Signs and gateway elements once marked the area as Asia on Argyle. A sign was removed during the station reconstruction work in recent years.
A festival that grew with the street
Over time the festival became a regular summer event, with food booths, music, dance performances and family activities. It helped introduce generations of Chicagoans to pho, banh mi and other dishes now common across the city.
Why festivals still matter
For small restaurants, a festival weekend can bring a burst of sales and new regulars. It also gives the street a sense of identity and draws media attention. For the city, it is a way to promote neighborhood business districts that cannot compete with downtown on marketing budgets.
Today
Argyle now has the rebuilt Red Line station, a shared street design and a historic district listing from 2010. The festival tradition continues to give visitors a reason to come and a way to sample a lot of the street at once.
Linh Tran-Whitaker covers Argyle Street, dining and community life.
