Oak Park, IL is one of greatest hometowns to grow up in

Oak Park is a village that neighbors the West Side of Chicago in Cook County, IL. It lies on the shore of ancient Lake Chicago, which covered a majority of the city during the last Ice Age, and is the predecessor of what we know today as Lake Michigan. Ridgeland Avenue, the street I grew up on, marks the shoreline of the lake. Oak Park is also home to where one of North America’s four continental divides runs through.

One of the things I enjoyed most about growing up in this town is getting to experience the calm and quietness of a suburb, while also being really close to the city and all of it’s excitement. My friends and I spent our summers going to the North Avenue beach, Pride Parade, and Lollapalooza. In the winter we ice skated at Millennium Park and joined all the drunken people downtown for the St. Patty’s Day parade.

Easy access to downtown Chicago

This is honestly one of the greatest features of Oak Park. The town has two “L” trains that run through it, the Green Line and the Blue Line. There are seven stations in and around the border of Oak Park where you can get on.

Hop on one of these and you’ll be downtown in no time.

The only time you should avoid taking the “L” downtown is Lollapalooza weekend. During those three days the trains are packed with excited and intoxicated teenagers, high wasted shorts, crop tops, bucket hats and water bottles full of shitty vodka.

While it takes a little longer to get downtown on the train, you have the perk of avoiding dreadful rush hour traffic. However, if the highways are clear it usually takes a 15 to 20 minute drive on the Eisenhower Expressway to get to the city.

Oak Park’s diversity

Beginning in the 1960s, Oak Park created multiple programs to encourage racial integration, avoid the destructive racial housing practices that were going on in nearby communities, and overall maintain the character and cohesion of the town.

In 1968, the village passed a fair housing ordinance to insure equal access to housing in the community. Then in 1972, the Oak Park Housing Center was created to promote integration in the community by discouraging white flight and ensuring this equal access. Although Oak Park still has it’s problems and is not “perfectly” diverse, I’d say it comes pretty close.

Frank Lloyd Wright and Ernest Hemingway

Oak Park also has some pretty cool people that used to live in the town. The famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, spent the first 20 years of his career building houses in Oak Park, including his own home and studio.

If you drive around you’ll see numerous Frank Lloyd Wright houses. In fact, people regularly come from all over the world to take tours of his architecture around the town.

Another famous person associated with Oak Park is American novelist, journalist, and short story writer, Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway was born in Oak Park on July 21, 1899 in a two-story Victorian home that is now open to the public.

The town also has a Hemingway Museum and Bookstore.

A high school teacher once told our class the one thing we should do before going to college is read a book by Hemingway. That way, when we tell people we’re from Oak Park and they respond, “Oh that’s great. What’s your favorite Hemingway book?” we can actually answer the question instead of giving an awkward smile and saying we’ve never read any of his work.

And yes, I did take his advice. My favorite Hemingway novel would have to be “Across the River and into the Trees.”