Sell a junk car in Pilsen

Pilsen is the Lower West Side community area, three miles southwest of the Loop, wrapped by the Chicago River on the south and east and by the Burlington Northern tracks on the north and west. It took its name from Czech settlers who arrived after the 1871 fire and named it for Plzeň, and Latino residents have been the majority from 1970 on.

Pilsen and Heart of Chicago

Two neighborhoods make up most of the area:

• Pilsen: in a 1978 resident survey, 16th Street to the Stevenson, Ashland Avenue to the Dan Ryan. 18th Street is the main commercial strip, with bakeries, restaurants and groceries, and the Halsted Street side is one of the city’s larger art districts.
• Heart of Chicago: the southwest corner, from the BNSF tracks to I-55 and Ashland to Western, centered on Cermak Road and Damen Avenue. The small Heart of Italy pocket of restaurants is on Oakley Boulevard around 24th Street.

The Pilsen Historic District, listed in 2006, includes some of the few buildings in the city that survived the 1871 fire.

The drive

From 2727 W Chicago Ave the middle of Pilsen, near 18th Street and Blue Island Avenue, is about 4.4 road miles: east on Chicago Avenue to Damen, south to Madison, east to Ashland and south on Ashland to 18th Street. For Heart of Chicago, Damen Avenue straight south is the simpler way. The Stevenson has exits at Damen and Ashland. Cermak Road is the old 22nd Street.

Little Village is west, North Lawndale northwest and the Near West Side north across 16th Street.

ZIP codes

The city’s boundary files put about 90% of the area, everything west of roughly Halsted Street, in 60608. The east end toward the river is 60616.

Landmarks

• Harrison Park at 1824 S Wood St, with the National Museum of Mexican Art inside it.
• Thalia Hall at 18th and Allport, built in 1892.
• St. Adalbert church, in the Polish Cathedral style.
• Benito Juarez Community Academy and the Pilsen Post Office at 1859 S Ashland Ave.
• CTA: Pink Line stops at 18th, Damen and Western; Orange Line at Ashland; Metra BNSF at Halsted Street and Western Avenue.

Two-flats, three-flats and tight alleys

Pilsen’s housing is old, with a median year built of 1933, according to CMAP. A third of homes are in three- and four-unit buildings and about a fifth are two-flats. Two-thirds of households rent. Streets are narrow, lots are shallow, and many cars are parked behind the building off the alley.

Residential permit zones cover parts of the neighborhood, including the 1600 and 1700 blocks of West 21st Place.

Chicago rules in Pilsen

One piece of good news: none of the streets on the city’s Winter Overnight Parking Ban list falls inside the Lower West Side, per the city’s dataset. The two-inch snow routes still apply: 18th Street, Ashland, Damen, Cermak, Halsted and Western clear once 2 inches falls.

Street sweeping runs April through November with orange signs two days ahead. And the city’s abandoned vehicle rules apply as everywhere in Chicago: more than 7 days unmoved and apparently deserted, or two days on the street without state plates, and the car can be tagged.

Before you sell

If the owner on the title has died, read selling a deceased relative’s car in Illinois. If the title is simply gone, see selling a car without a title. For a car that won’t start, see non-running cars.