When I’m not manning the kitchen, I’m looking for an edgy Chicago spot that’d be good for working, drinking coffee, and grabbing a bite. If I wanted real, honest-to-god edginess, I’d head for Logan Square, West Town, or Uptown. But if what I wanted were a Disneyland representation of edginess that attempted to present all the “-ness” with none of the “edgi,” I’d head for Wicker Park.
Featured Image: Georama
In its Log On series, miLam will tell you where to find trendy coffee and post-edginess, with open WIFI, in Wicker Park. No one logs on like a man in flannel!
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Coffee and WIFI in Wicker Park, and the Book of Revelation
Log On, Chicago. Edition XI/i
Places to Work: Filter, La Colombe, Wormhole Places to Eat: Filter, Stan’s, Glazed & Infused
Wicker Park is a revelation.
“… and that’s how you make cold press.”
Most thought the very idea of non-homosexual gentrification was an abomination. Yet Wicker Park defied the natural order and gentrified without the assistance of the gays, relying instead on artists and musicians. Sure, prior to the 70’s, artists, poets, and musicians gentrified countless neighborhoods going back practically to the middle ages, but everyone knows that by using words like “artist,” “poet,” and “musician” prior to the 70’s, what everyone meant was “gay.” But in the 80’s, the gays were busy gentrifying Boystown, and Wicker residents were impatient. There was also a fear that the gays, when they got around to it, might re-do the intersection of Damon, North, and Milwaukee in actual wicker, and this was way before the time when you could get that really cool metal wicker from Restoration Hardware. Plus, there was a widely held belief that the gays would never approve of things like “Smashing Pumpkins.” I mean, it just sounds so violent. And do you know how much work goes into carving them? Wicker Park decided to prematurely gentrify itself relying solely on the efforts of “artists” and “musicians” in a literal sense and, well, to everyone’s surprise, the neighborhood blossomed. For a while. And then it went nuclear.
The four horsemen of the gentrification apocalypse eventually rode through Wicker Park, displacing actual bohemians and leaving an upscale, bohemian-styled theme park in their wake. Can you imagine a starving artist finding a decent apartment in Wicker Fucking Park today? No way, José. In the utter yuppification of Wicker Park, trendiness has triumphed over edginess, and if this has brought about an era of impassive weekend gridlock and guys named Jaron, it has also produced some cafés and doughnut shops that I truly dig.
La Colombe:[1] behold, a white horse with the power to conquer
Colombe does not have WiFi.
(3 / 5)
1552 N. Damen Ave.
I discovered La Colombe quite by accident, while I was looking for a doughnut. Colombe isn’t independent. It’s part of a small chain. Although there are two (soon to be three: a new one will open recently opened in Andersonville) in Chicago, I’ve only been to this one, right under the Blue Line tracks, on the west side of Damen, and I can say that it crushes every other coffeehouse I’ve reviewed. It’s interior design is wood and brick, yet it’s sleek and clean. Its small square footage is outwitted by it’s smart design, which maximizes the space while leaving it feeling open and uncrowded. It’s ordered and neat, with lots of simple, straight lines. That is exactly what I need to succeed before 9 AM! This place is about coffee, lovely coffee served in the most civilized way. They serve their coffee in the most beautiful mugs I’ve ever seen. They have some absofuckinglutely gorgeous-looking, old-world pastries that they keep subjugated to a glass case under the coffee counter. I highly recommend the cinnamon roll: quite refined. The morning barista is also worth checking out.[2]
Coffee: artisanal.
Can you work or study here? Yes. The Motown they’re playing is at exactly the right decibel level to be in the background! Thank you! I don’t have to struggle to hear the voices in my head! Plugs? Yes, but not many. The bench along the back corner has one at either end and I think there may be one near the front door. BYOWiFi: Colombe doesn’t have WiFi. I had to knock its rating down two full pegs for that. But I fully recommend this place to anyone who loves an uncluttered, quiet space to enjoy great coffee and read some Steinbeck. Bathrooms? Yes.
6/30/2014, 11:50 AM
Notes:
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Other places to log on: Archer Heights, Boystown, Edgewater Beach, Fulton River District, Gold Coast, Lincoln Park, Pilsen, Ravenswood, Rogers Park, West Loop, West Town, Uptown
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