The Curbed Cup, our annual award to the Chicago neighborhood of the year, is kicking off with 16 neighborhoods vying for the prestigious victory. For this week, we'll introduce two matchups per day, and on Friday, the results from the tournament bracket will be revealed. Voting for each pairing ends 24 hours after it begins. Let the eliminations commence!
After seeing a mad crush of residential development in the last building boom, the South Loop got a reputation for having lots of homes and not much else. As the economy warms back up, new life is being injected into the steps-from-downtown neighborhood with lots of new retail, dining, and entertainment options starting to pop up, bringing a taste of culture to the rapidly-changing area. McCormick Place is currently undergoing a massive transformation and the proposed Lucas Museum of Narrative Arts has been a very hot topic in the last few months.
Bridgeport has long been a South Side anchor. The neighborhood might be most famous for being the birthplace of the Daleys and the longtime home base of the Chicago Democratic machine, but the neighborhood has so much more going on. The area has an emerging arts scene and has become a destination for young folks looking to escape the high rents on the North Side. From Maria's Packaged Goods & Community Bar to the Zhou B Art Center, Bridgeport has come back on peoples' radars in the last few years, and rightfully so.
·Previous South Loop coverage [Curbed Chicago]
·Previous Bridgeport coverage [Curbed Chicago]
·Curbed Cup 2014 archives [Curbed Chicago]
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