My Elmhurst Neighborhood
365.75 (more photos below)
Since I moved to Minneapolis last August, I’d been to Chicago twice last September for Notre Dame football weekends, but this was my first trip back in six months. Let me tell you: It’s weird being a visitor in a city where you once lived. For more than four years, I called Elmhurst, Illinois home. I’d never taken any photos of the neighborhood because there was “always tomorrow,” so I spent my morning here on a photo walk. Elmhurst was close to my old office and while it assuredly was not a popular place to live among single, late twentysomethings, I loved that town:
- the Jewel grocery store literally next door for last-minute ingredients or a beer & wine run.
- the Metra train station 4 blocks away which could reliably take me to the city in 30 minutes for weeknight dinners or weekend fun.
- Fleet Feet specialty running store next door, where I could roll out of bed at 6:45am with plenty of time for a spoonful of Nutella and stretching before 7am Saturday runs.
- Ace Hardware, my dry cleaner and White Hen Pantry (now 7-Eleven) just outside my back stairwell
- My doctor’s office across the parking lot, and my optometrist four blocks north.
- The funky Effigy salon that cut my fancy textured hairdo, which I didn’t understand but was noted by my female friends. The business also included an art gallery, wine bar and ice cream shop. (Where else do you find that?!)
- The 8-screen York movie theatre, one block away
- My favorite Chicagoland pizza, Roberto’s (though I do love Giordano’s stuffed pizza)
- Elmhurst Public Library, ranked among the Top 5 public libraries nationwide in its category. (Nothing says nerd quite like visiting your old suburban library in the first hour after arriving in Chicago, but I digress.)
- And a diverse mix of 30-40 shops and restaurants in an 6 block radius.
More incredible than the physical neighborhood of Elmhurst is the neighborhood of people I’d surrounded myself with and gotten to know in Chicagoland. After lunch at Ditka’s with close friends and a visit to my former office at McDonald’s HQ and healthclub, I contemplated how many connections and friendships I’d cultivated in Chicago. When I moved there in 2007, I had a dozen or so friends and contacts; since then, my Chicago network has easily grown by 40 times that many. It’s crazy awesome to think how many Chicagoans have enriched my life experiences, my perspectives, my ongoing quest for learning. Futhermore, I’ll always fondly remember the city that offered a sense of small town familiarity: my Elmhurst neighborhood.
NOTE: I’ve been traveling 11 of the past 14 days and have continued taking my photo of the day. I have lots of blog entries to write this weekend and get caught up!
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