The Alley (Chicago, Illinois) | clothes store / boutique, interesting place

USA / Illinois / Chicago / Chicago, Illinois / West Belmont Avenue, 858
 clothes store / boutique, interesting place

The current advertising tagline is "Belmont and Clark, if you dare!!!"
The Alley stores and the adjacent Dunkin Donuts have been constantly reinventing themselves, acting as the corner to be if you feel rebelious. Offering everything from leather jackets, adult toys, jewlery, hair dye, candles, and other whims of the pop-culture underworld, there is always something interesting to find, and sometimes interesting people that buy it. Unfortunately, the times of true punk and rebellion are over, at least in this neighborhood, and as time, attitude, and tastes changed, there has been a need for the Alley to commercialize in order to survive. Old timers (yes, even children of the 80's get old, ask your parents, the children of the '60's.) who hung around the area in the 1980's and early '90's will definitely categorize today's clients as wanna-be's. Like wise the neighborhood has evolved from working class edgy to Wrigleyville Yuppie, with a taste of gay pride rebellion. Still while the days and evenings belong to the yuppies, the nights around the Alley still bring out some interesting characters. Yes, you will find the aging punk who still thinks it's 1985, the suburban teens armed with their parent's credit card, and the transvestites/crossdressers that make you think twice, but what was edgy 20 years ago barely bats an eye today. With gentrification almost complete in this area, it is a matter of when, not if the rebellious nature of the area is completely transformed, moving away to other areas, or absorbed into normalcy.

thealley.com/
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   41°56'25"N   87°39'5"W

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This article was last modified 7 years ago