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Local Landmarks & Heritage

  • Little Village Arch (1990, Adrian Lozano)
  • 26th Street commercial corridor
  • Piotrowski Park
  • Cook County Jail boundary

Neighborhood History

Little Village, known to its residents as La Villita, took shape after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, when German and Czech immigrants settled the area that would become South Lawndale. Bohemian families fleeing overcrowded Pilsen dominated the neighborhood by World War II, and the bustling commercial strip along 26th Street earned the nickname "Czech California."

Mexican families began arriving in 1962, and by the 1970s the neighborhood had become known as the Mexico of the Midwest, a transformation accelerated as Mexican and Puerto Rican families displaced by University of Illinois construction and Lincoln Park urban renewal moved in throughout the 1960s. Today a terracotta arch designed by Mexican architect Adrian Lozano welcomes visitors to 26th Street, a two-mile shopping district that generates roughly $900 million in annual sales, second in the city only to the Magnificent Mile.

MY-NHD's Little Village collection is built for the neighborhood locals call La Villita, the Mexico of the Midwest and one of Chicago's proudest immigrant success stories.

MY-NHD

Little Village - Chicago - Unisex Cotton Tee

Little Village - Chicago - Unisex Cotton Tee

Regular price $29.95 CAD
Regular price Sale price $29.95 CAD
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Little Village, or La Villita, was settled by German and Czech families after the 1871 fire and became a Mexican American hub from the 1960s. A terracotta arch by architect Adrian Lozano welcomes visitors to its 26th Street shopping district.

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