History in Wicker Park

This was the location of Rob Gordon's (John Cusack) Championship Vinyl record store at 1500 North Milwaukee Avenue.  The interior was a studio set.  The real store is now vacant and boarded-up. Once the thieves exit the store, they make a right turn here onto Honore Street with John Cusak and Jack Black not far behind.  The guys who tried to steal the records throw the merchandise down on the sidewalk, and the Blue Line tracks are visible in the background.  

Writer Nelson Algren lived on the third floor at 1958 West Evergreen Street for more than a decade.  His books include Never Come Morning, A Walk on the Wild Side, Chicago: City on the Make, and Neon Wilderness.  According to the Chicago Tribute Project, many of Algren's writing subjects came from the neighborhood.  Algren wrote The Man with the Golden Arm," for which he won the first National Book Award in 1950.

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Lorraine Hansberry lived at this address with her family and was subjected to racially motivated housing restrictions, which was the topic of her play, "A Raisin in the Sun."  The building was built in 1909 and designated as a landmark on February 10, 2010.