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Photo: Joe+Jeanette Archie, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Built in 1914 for the area's Polish community, St. Adalbert's still features murals of rousing crowd favorites like Queen Jadwiga's wedding and the time Our Lady of Częstochowa beat the hell out of some invading Swedes. The church was closed down in 2019 but can be viewed from the outside.
St. Adalbert Church is a historic church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago. The church is located on 17th Street between Paulina Street and Ashland Avenue in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. St. Adalbert has served generations of Polish immigrants and their American-born children; at its peak, parish membership numbered 4,000 families with more than 2,000 children enrolled in the school. Today, the church is an anchor for the Mexican immigrants that have made the Pilsen area their home.
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Art and public transit have had a troubled relationship in Chicago, with awful results almost every time the CTA commissions a mural for a station. This one, however, is a gem. Local youth outreach efforts have borne fruit here, creating a walk from the station house to the platforms is nothing short of awe-inspiring (albeit distracting if you're in a hurry to catch a train).
West Pilsen's studios open up for all to see. Local cafes and businesses get involved, and there's a free trolley on call for the route, too. A similar arts fest is often held in Little Village the same weekend.
An annual mole cook-off and outdoor festival.
The enormous, foreboding stone edifice of the A.P.O. Building houses some worthwhile art exhibitions and the occasional concert along with community programs (such as the pool downstairs). Exhibits are usually free and open to all, but stern old ladies will keep you from wandering elsewhere.
Biblioteca Popular is an autonomous community operated library and art space. As well as providing access to underground, radical, and self-published literature, it is meant to be a safe space for the young and elderly, families, people of color, womyn, queer and trans folk, undocumented immigrants, and working class peoples.
If you have kids in tow and they have been patient through the National Museum of Mexican Art (or they need to burn off some energy before going in), you might reward them with some monkey time right next door at Harrison Park, which has a big play-lot with swings, slides, jungle gyms and more.