by Cathryn Jijon
After wandering around Little Village, I hopped on the 60 to Pilsen. Pilsen is lies somewhere in between Little Village and West Loop in terms of gentrification. Its ties to the Latino community are still present, but a walk down 18th street reveals slowly disappearing Latino establishments and an increasing presence of white artists. Upscale stores and restaurants were mixed with Latino establishments.
One of the things I noticed immediately about Pilsen is that the neighborhood was much quieter than Little Village. Fewer storefronts were blasting music, and in my walk I only came across one store playing Latin music. Fewer cars passed by on the street, and those that did were not playing Latino music.
Some of the sounds I heard include: Top 100 music, indie music, hip-hop, and a children's choir. In other words, the sounds seemed less unique to Pilsen than they did to Little Village, which was interesting consider since both neighborhoods historically were inhabited by Mexican immigrants. One of the most noticeably lacking sounds in Pilsen, when comparing it to Little Village, was the sound of the bells from the paleta carts. While walking around, I did see older Latino men pushing carts of food, but the carts were for ice cream, the kind that you could buy from the ice cream truck that parks itself outside the of Reg. It was the lack of this sound that made the gentrification in Pilsen all the more evident to me.
While walking down the street, I stopped to talk to two young women (probably in college or in finishing high school). When I asked them whether or not they saw a link between music and social justice, they responded that they believed the link between music and social justice depended on the type of music. Specifically, they mentioned punk as an example of a kind of music related to justice, with its ideas of challenging 'the man,' etc. I then asked them whether or not they thought gentrification could affect soundscapes. They brought up a new venue that had just opened down the block from us, Thalia, saying that this could attract different crowds of people by introducing different kinds of music to the community, which could both change the soundscape of the neighborhood and further along gentrification.
One of the things I noticed immediately about Pilsen is that the neighborhood was much quieter than Little Village. Fewer storefronts were blasting music, and in my walk I only came across one store playing Latin music. Fewer cars passed by on the street, and those that did were not playing Latino music.
Some of the sounds I heard include: Top 100 music, indie music, hip-hop, and a children's choir. In other words, the sounds seemed less unique to Pilsen than they did to Little Village, which was interesting consider since both neighborhoods historically were inhabited by Mexican immigrants. One of the most noticeably lacking sounds in Pilsen, when comparing it to Little Village, was the sound of the bells from the paleta carts. While walking around, I did see older Latino men pushing carts of food, but the carts were for ice cream, the kind that you could buy from the ice cream truck that parks itself outside the of Reg. It was the lack of this sound that made the gentrification in Pilsen all the more evident to me.
While walking down the street, I stopped to talk to two young women (probably in college or in finishing high school). When I asked them whether or not they saw a link between music and social justice, they responded that they believed the link between music and social justice depended on the type of music. Specifically, they mentioned punk as an example of a kind of music related to justice, with its ideas of challenging 'the man,' etc. I then asked them whether or not they thought gentrification could affect soundscapes. They brought up a new venue that had just opened down the block from us, Thalia, saying that this could attract different crowds of people by introducing different kinds of music to the community, which could both change the soundscape of the neighborhood and further along gentrification.
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