Uptown & Andersonville

Uptown runs from Irving Park Road north to Foster Avenue and from the lake west to Ravenswood Avenue, according to the Uptown Chamber of Commerce, and the hub is part of the North Side group. Andersonville is the Clark Street strip north of Foster, roughly to Bryn Mawr, and officially sits inside the Edgewater community area rather than Uptown, per WTTW. The two share the 60640 ZIP code and the same Clark Street bus, so the directory groups them together.

Uptown’s entertainment district centers on Broadway and Lawrence, where the Aragon Ballroom, the Riviera Theatre, the long-shuttered Uptown Theatre and the Green Mill jazz club sit within a block of each other. Argyle Street between Broadway and Sheridan is the Vietnamese and Chinese restaurant row, and the Argyle Night Market runs Thursday evenings in July and August. Montrose Beach, Montrose Harbor and the Montrose Point bird sanctuary are the lakefront. Andersonville grew as a Swedish enclave after the 1871 fire, and Clark Street still has the Swedish American Museum and the water tower, now surrounded by independent shops, bakeries and a large LGBTQ community that arrived in the 1980s.

Housing and prices

Housing is courtyard apartment buildings from the 1910s and 1920s along Sheridan, Kenmore and Winthrop, brick bungalows and two-flats on the side streets west of Clark, and condo conversions throughout. Construction dates run from the 1900s to the present. Prices typically range from about $200,000 for a courtyard one-bedroom in Uptown to $900,000 for a renovated house or large two-flat in Andersonville. These are broad editorial estimates as of September 2026, not appraisals. Andersonville trades higher than Uptown block for block, and the vintage buildings near the lake are where the rentals concentrate.

Getting around

The Red Line has stations at Wilson, Lawrence, Argyle, Berwyn and Bryn Mawr, with Berwyn the closest stop to the Andersonville shops. The 22 Clark bus is the neighborhood’s spine, the 36 Broadway runs parallel, the 81 Lawrence and 92 Foster run west, and the 146, 147, 148 and 151 use Lake Shore Drive and Sheridan for the fast ride downtown. Lake Shore Drive ramps sit at Wilson, Lawrence, Montrose and Foster. Divvy docks stand along Broadway and Clark. Parking is a mix: residential permit zones cover most Andersonville side streets, Clark and Broadway are metered, and the Aragon and Riviera crowds fill Lawrence on show nights.

Where to eat, drink and shop

Argyle’s anchors are https://windycitymagazine.com/business/sun-wah-bbq/ on Broadway for the Beijing duck dinner, https://windycitymagazine.com/business/hai-yen/ on Argyle for Vietnamese and https://windycitymagazine.com/business/nhu-lan-bakery/ on Sheridan for banh mi. Elsewhere in Uptown, https://windycitymagazine.com/business/birrieria-zaragoza/ on Broadway makes goat birria, https://windycitymagazine.com/business/ragadan/ on Broadway is the falafel shop, https://windycitymagazine.com/business/primo-chukis-taqueria/ on Lawrence does tacos, and https://windycitymagazine.com/business/downstate-donuts/ on Wilson fries doughnuts near the Wilson station. In Andersonville, https://windycitymagazine.com/business/big-jones/ on Clark cooks Southern food, https://windycitymagazine.com/business/lost-larson/ bakes cardamom buns and rye, and https://windycitymagazine.com/business/little-bad-wolf/ on Bryn Mawr is the burger bar at the north edge.

Beer starts at https://windycitymagazine.com/business/hopleaf/, the Belgian-leaning beer bar on Clark Street, and cocktails run at https://windycitymagazine.com/business/nobodys-darling/, the queer-owned lounge on Balmoral. Shopping means thrift: https://windycitymagazine.com/business/the-brown-elephant-andersonville/ on Clark supports Howard Brown Health, and https://windycitymagazine.com/business/village-discount-outlet-uptown/ on Clark near Argyle is the big secondhand warehouse.

Businesses in Uptown & Andersonville

Directory listings in Uptown and Andersonville, in alphabetical order.

• Hai Yen Restaurant, Vietnamese restaurant, 1055 W Argyle St
• Big Jones, Southern Restaurant, 5347 N Clark St
• Birrieria Zaragoza, Birria Restaurant, 4800 N Broadway
• The Brown Elephant Andersonville, Thrift Store, 5404 N Clark St
• Downstate Donuts, Donut Shop, 1132 W Wilson Ave
• Little Bad Wolf, Burger Bar, 1541 W Bryn Mawr Ave
• Lost Larson, Scandinavian Bakery, 5318 N. Clark St.
• Nhu Lan Bakery, Vietnamese Bakery, 4810 N Sheridan Rd
• Nobody’s Darling, Cocktail lounge, 1744 W Balmoral Ave
• Hopleaf Bar, Beer Bar, 5148 N Clark St
• Primo Chuki’s Taqueria, Taqueria, 1708 W Lawrence Ave
• Ragadan, Falafel Shop, 4409 N Broadway
• Sun Wah BBQ, Chinese Barbecue, 5039 N Broadway
• Village Discount Outlet, Thrift Store, 4898 N Clark St

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