Huge, street-spanning red and blue scultured gateways modeled after the Puerto Rican flag bracket the ends of the Paseo Boricua local business district along Division Street (1200 N.) in Chicago's Humboldt Park. Chicago's "Little Puerto Rico" is bordered by Western Ave. (2400 W.), Pulaski Road (4000 W.), Chicago Ave. (800 N.) and Armitage Ave. (2000 N.) Modern-day European settlers named the neighborhood after Alexander von Humboldt, the Prussian naturalist. Like a lot of white Chicagoans in recent decades, he never set foot in the place.

Neither had I, growing up in a bubble on the city's southeast side in Hyde Park, or even footloose and fancy-free in later kid-free adult years while living in Rogers Park, Edgewater and Lakeview before moving to Seattle in 1994. In Chicago last week with my kids, 10 and 6, in tow, I hailed a cab to Humboldt Park from the Fairmount Hotel downtown, where we were ensconced for several days while my wife attended a business convention. We got out right at the eastern gateway of Paseo Boricua, at Western and Division. Here's a picture I took.

Long considered dicey, crime-ridden turf, Humboldt Park has been on the upswing in the last several years and is a great "off the beaten track" day-trip for visitors.

Growing up in Chicago’s Puerto Rican neighborhood, Enrique Salgado only knew of a deteriorating and crumbling Paseo Boricua. The...stretch near downtown Chicago’s skyscrapers and economic muscle was on a fast decline. Vacancies ballooned, infrastructure wilted and crime rose. "The holes were so big in the sidewalk that we could play in them," Salgado, 25, said. It appeared that Chicago’s Puerto Rican community–the second largest Latino population in the city behind Mexicans–was about to be lost. Those who could moved to the suburbs, while others assimilated into different neighborhoods. But in 1995, Paseo Boricua found new life when city officials and Latino leaders offered a symbolic gesture to recognize the neighborhood and the residents' roots. They installed two, metal Puerto Rican flags–each weighing 45 tons, measuring 59 feet vertically and stretching across the street–at each end of the strip.

Under the flags, the blighted neighborhood transformed into one of the hottest Latino neighborhoods in Chicago, uniting the once fragmented Puerto Rican community. Since the community banded, the occupancy rate of the neighborhood rose to about 90 percent, home prices stabilized and Chicago’s 150,000 Puerto Ricans have a place they call their own.

All true, though there are still some empty storefronts to fill and a bit of loose trash found on the streets and sidewalks. The litter is partly just a mindless habit endemic to most parts of Chicago; but a little more pride needs to shine through in Humboldt Park even if the neighborhood is clearly on the rebound. Realtor Online magazine notes what a draw is the neighborhood's sprawling namesake park.

Despite its edgy reputation, Humboldt Park is a magnet for newcomers because it offers amenities that few other communities possess—a 207-acre park with a beach, a swimming pool, lagoons for fishing and boating, 15 baseball diamonds, 11 tennis courts, several playgrounds, bike paths, sprinklers, and formal gardens, among other perks.

Strolling the Paseo, it wasn't long before we spotted Lily's Records (2733 W. Division St., 773-252-7008, no Web site). Lily's specializes in all manner of Latin-inflected tunes and sells a range of percusion instruments, including conga drums decorated with the Puerto Rican flag motif. The blank-faced stare of one the Latino proprietors directed toward this gringo melted pretty quickly when I asked if Lily's had any CDs by the Cuban jazz bandleader and bassist Israel Lopez, a.k.a. Cachao. They did, but not what I was looking for. Spotting some promising-sounding Latin Boogaloo CDs on the wall racks behind the counter, I asked my new friend to engage his musical Cheez Whiz detector - always handy when filtering Latin musics. With his help, I eventually opted for some primo Latin Boogaloo picks. Salsaroots.com explains the genre.

Boogalu (a.k.a. Boogaloo), a fusion of Rhythm and Blues and Cuban son montuno, was popular in the United States from 1966-69. Boogalu was the first contemporary Latin music form that captured my attention because of its funky sounds, engaging choral chants by the audience, English lyrics, references to symbols of African American culture (“cornbread, hog maws and chitlins”), and background sounds of raucous party goers. Boogalu was a highly successful crossover musical style, capturing the attention of audiences who were previously not familiar with Latin music.

Boogalu resonated particularly with African American audiences. Performers such as Jimmy Sabater and Joe Cuba clearly state that Boogalu was inspired by the interaction between African-American dancers and Latin musicians in New York at nightclubs such as Palm Gardens Ballroom. They recount stories of how the structure and tone of Boogalu songs such as “Bang, Bang” were developed in an effort to appeal to African-American dancers who were not responding to their traditional mambos and cha cha chas. Many of the Boogalu musicians report that they were also deeply influenced by the R+B, jazz and Doo Wap bands of that era.

Pete Rodriguez was one of the pioneers of Latin Boogaloo; thanks to Lily's excellent selection, I'm now enjoying his 1969 greatest hits package titled "Mr. Boogaloo." It's hard to find online, but shares a number of cuts with this similar Pete compilation offered for sale by Amazon. I also bought Ricardo Ray's essential "Jala Jala y Boogaloo," originally released in 1967 and then reissued this year; and a sampler on the Fania label titled, "Latin Soul, Descarga & Boogaloo." It's a real throwdown. All three CDs livened up some already-lively dinners with friends in Evanston on two subsequent nights.

On a second visit to Humboldt Park during our week in Chicago, and right across the street from Lily's, we happily stumbled upon La Bruquena Restaurant, probably the best and most nicely furnished Puerto Rican joynt in Chicago. Their motto: "con sabor a patria." (Consumer reviews here; and a Chicago Tribune Metromix review with map, address, hours and contact info. here). La Bruquena didn't seem open for lunch when I stuck my face up to the window early one afternoon last week. We were in need - the kids in low-blood-sugar mode, all three of us having walked a mile or more from the Ukranian Village neighborhood to the south, where lunch options proved dissapointingly thin. The first of La Bruquena's two front doors I tried was locked, and an employee was carrying in a large load of groceries through the other while clutching a handfill of dollar bills. I sidled in behind as she went off to the kitchen, and an older man gave a friendly sort of "why not, sure" reply when I asked if we could get some lunch. Even though they weren't quite ready to get going, they nonetheless did, promptly. Nice.

And what a meal it was. We started with pastelillos; crisp turnovers filled with meat or shrimp. They're also known as empanadas. (Here's a recipe; to lower the calorie count down, try baking these on a cookie sheet at 400 or 425 and flipping them midway, instead of deep frying them). Then, my son had savory fried chicken with crisp pan-fried flattened plantain slices; my daughter a tender steak sandwich on a toasted Hoagie roll with grilled onions and mayo. It's okay, it's okay. They're young and thin. Me, I had a sort of open-topped Peurto Rican shrimp pot pie. A silver pewter serving dish was lined with a "dough" made of mofongo, or coooked, mashed green plantain studded with little bits of crispy pork meat. It's a P.R. staple, and figures into many preparations, either as a side dish or otherwise. Inside was a stew of perfectly cooked, flavorful large shrimp, bathed in a light tomato sauce. On the side in a small cup was a light homemade chicken broth with some tender thigh meat. We drank acerola cherry and pineapple juices. There were blond wood floors, nice artwork, salsa music on the jukebox, and a steady flow of neighborhood regulars dropping to eat, kibbitz, and in one case, enjoy a lunchtime tequila eye-opener.

The Paseo Boricua ends at Division and California Ave. (2800 W.), the latter being another one of those Chicago arterial streets that run through a series of increasingly multi-ethnic enclaves and thus warrant much investigation. Beyond the Paseo's flag gateways, there's still a lot more of Humboldt Park to explore. On our first day there, from Lily's we aimed west by northwest, for the nearby namesake park. The 1906-vintage Prairie School style boathouse perched on the lagoon in Humboldt Park is a Chicago landmark. Here's a picture I took of it.

Fall in Chicago; yes, it can be lovely. A wide boulevard runs through the park on the north-south axis, part of a city-wide boulevard system linked to some of Chicago's larger green expanses. There are a number of eateries in Humboldt Park the neighborhood and even one - albeit seasonal - in the park itself, as detailed in this brief but useful guide to the area from the Office of Minority Student Affairs at the University of Chicago. After a jungle gym workout on the playground north of the lagoon, we headed northwest across the park in search of some eats, passing a lively dice game, a popular taco truck and an apparent drug deal along the way. It was a bit chilly and the kids were - surprize, surprize - H-O-N-G-R-Y. So we chose the first plausible restaurant we spotted on North Ave. (1600 N.) west of Kedzie Ave. (3200 W.), just beyond the park.

Happily, La Perla Tapatia turned out to be a real find (map, address and phone here; a truncated yet enticing-to-burrito-lovers online review here). Never mind the fluorescent lights, the loud buzzing coming from the soft-drink cooler, or the gang graffiti covering the inside of the men's room door. For mere pesos we ate quite well. My daughter ordered her Mexican restaurant classic: rice, refried beans and the cinnamon-flavored rice milk called horchata, the last two especially sublime. My son enjoyed an horchata and a succulent steak taco with sliced avocado. I had one of those, plus a chicken tostada and a sope al pastor. A sope (pron. "so-pay") is a steamed, smallish, round, flat, firm cornmeal cake with raised edges. You can buy them in cylindrical ten-packs in most any respectable Mexican grocery, then steam or oven-warm them (covered in foil) at home and add any sort of bite-sized filling, from a picadillo to refritos and cooked, crumbled chorizo, to...juicy slices of "al pastor" meat. At La Perla Tapatia "al pastor" refers to spit-roasted pork sliced thin, although in my experience, the term is also sometimes applied to spit-roasted or grilled beef. I had it all topped with avocado slices, tomatoes and shredded lettuce. Hold the cheese and sour cream on eveything, thanks. Just ladle on some of the zingy and fresh cilantro-laced house salsa. It's a glorious mess, no question. Eighth year of marriage food, not first-date stuff.

Before catching a bus, we walked back east about two miles along North Avenue, passing this Halloween porch decoration on the stoop of a greystone three-flat across from the park.

Humboldt Park, still just a little bit edgy. It's a large chunk of the city's near Northwest side, hard to fully experience even in two day-trips. Next time I'm back in town, I'll want to explore the parts of the neighborhood I missed last week - from North Ave. up to Armitage; Kedzie west to Pulaski along Division St. and North Ave., and more of the park. I'm thinking that a Saturday afternoon and early evening in May, June or mid-September are probably peak times.

Neighborhood excursions are the best way to experience great American cities. Downtowns ought to have a vital energy and in our nation's bigger cities usually do; but neighborhoods and their own business districts are where you find a city's soul. Wherever you're going, do a bit of homework first to identify neighborhoods worth a visit, and maybe a few top attractions in each. But for the able-bodied and curious, I'd suggest leaving some open space in your itinerary. Go with the flow once you get there; knowing that some local eats should figure in to the outing, and hopefully also exploration of some some parks and residential streets.

Humboldt Park is just one of many parts of Chicago demonstrating the rewards of drilling deeper than many leisure travellers do. This guide to Chicago neighborhoods will help get you started.

TECHNORATI TAGS: CHICAGO, NEIGHBORHOODS, HUMBOLDT PARK, SOPES, PUERTO RICO, MOFONGO, TOURISM, TOURISM BLOGGING, LATIN BOOGALOO

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at October 30, 2006 11:22 AM