Living in Lincoln Square & Ravenswood: a neighborhood guide

The lay of the land

Lincoln Square centers on the plaza at Lincoln, Lawrence, and Western, where Giddings Plaza’s fountain and the surrounding pedestrian block host music all summer. Lincoln Avenue south of Lawrence keeps the German inheritance visible: the DANK Haus German cultural center, the 1918 Davis Theater, and Merz Apothecary, in business since 1875. Ravenswood is the eastern half, quiet residential streets on either side of the Metra embankment, whose old brick factories now hold studios, offices, and a run of breweries.

Getting around

The Brown Line wraps the neighborhood with four stops, Western at the square itself, Rockwell tucked into a storybook corner, and Damen and Montrose serving Ravenswood. The Metra UP-North Ravenswood station doubles the options with a quick ride to Ogilvie.

• The #49 Western, #81 Lawrence, and #11 Lincoln are the workhorse buses.
• The river and its trail sit a few blocks west; the lakefront is a ten-minute bus east.
• Drivers reach the Kennedy at Western in minutes.

Parks and green space

Welles Park’s gazebo lawn at Lincoln and Montrose is the neighborhood’s front yard and home of its farmers market; Winnemac Park to the northeast mixes prairie plantings with ballfields under a big sky. The river edge west of the square keeps adding trail segments, and Horner Park is just across Montrose.

The housing stock

Ravenswood’s residential streets are the classic North Side mix at its best kept: brick two-flats, American Foursquares, and large frame houses from the 1890s through the 1920s on parkway-tree streets. Around the square itself, vintage flats sit above the shops with condo buildings filling corners. Greystones and two-flats reward the usual homework: our masonry guide and the plaster guide tell you what you are looking at.

The calendar

• Maifest raises the maypole at the square each spring; German-American Fest returns in September.
• Square Roots, the Old Town School’s festival, fills Lincoln Avenue in July.
• Ravenswood’s art walk opens the corridor’s studios each fall, and the breweries along the embankment run tap rooms year round.

Coffee, close by

An easy first errand in a new place: the nearby rooms with good espresso and a table to land at, each checked as open when this guide was last updated.

Oromo Cafe · 4703 N Lincoln · map
On Giddings Plaza’s corner of Lincoln Avenue, with a menu of spiced lattes it is known across the city for.

Side Practice Coffee · 5139 N Damen · map
A neighborhood-run bar on the Ravenswood side, one of the best-regarded newer rooms on the North Side.

Guides worth reading before you tour here

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