Most of Chicago follows a grid, but not all of Norwood Park does.
The Far North Side neighborhood was designed to be a resort destination with curving roads and angular streets. Instead, the area feels like a residential suburb, first home to various European immigrants and now many city workers.
You can reach Norwood Park via the Kennedy Expressway, Blue Line, or Metra. Longtime resident Cathy Dunlap shares what to do in the neighborhood she was charmed by decades ago.
The Superdawg drive-in in Norwood Park. (Ralf-Finn Hestoft / Corbis / Getty)
Something to Eat
- 🌭 Hot dog institution Superdawg is well-known for a reason.
- 🎂 House of Cakes is a bakery with legendary pizza bread, cheese sticks, and paczki.
- 🍯 There is a honey guy on Canfield.
- 🍳 Cozy Corner is a gigantic restaurant specializing in breakfast.
- 🇮🇹 Nottoli is an Italian deli that has really good Christmas panettone.
Something to Drink
- 🍻 Illuminated Brewing has beer tasting and trivia.
- 🥃 Newark Nook is a tavern deep in a residential neighborhood.
Something to See
- 🏫 Sit on the steps of the real Rydell High, aka Taft High School. “Grease” creator and Taft alum Jim Jacobs drew inspiration for the musical directly from his high school experience.
- 🏠 Noble-Seymour-Crippen House is the oldest house in Chicago — older than the Clarke House in South Loop.
Something to Do
- 🔪 Get your knives sharpened at Northwestern Cutlery, which relocated from deep in the city.
- 🪷 Meditation Center of Chicago has lunar events and meditation sessions.
- 🛝 Walk the neighborhood parks, which famed Chicago landscape architect Jens Jensen helped design. The neighborhood’s namesake park has a dog park and a pool with a water slide.
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