Junk car buyer in West Town

West Town is home for us. Our base at 2727 W Chicago Ave sits just inside its western edge, about a block from the Humboldt Park line, so a West Town pickup is often a matter of a few blocks.

How West Town is laid out

The community area is big: the Chicago River on the east, the Union Pacific tracks near Kinzie Street on the south, the 606 trail along Bloomingdale Avenue on the north, and an irregular western edge that takes in the park called Humboldt Park. The Kennedy Expressway cuts through the east side. Inside it are several neighborhoods with names of their own.

Ukrainian Village

Division Street to Grand Avenue, Western Avenue to Damen. It’s the closest part to us, under a mile straight east on Chicago Avenue. The landmark district covers Haddon Avenue, Thomas Street and Cortez Street between Damen and Leavitt, and drivers find cars by the domes: St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral on Rice Street, Ss. Volodymyr and Olha, and Holy Trinity, the Russian Orthodox cathedral designed by Louis Sullivan.

East Village

Between Damen and Ashland, Division Street down to Chicago Avenue, about 1.4 road miles from our base. Its blocks mix Queen Anne two-flats, frame cottages, brick tenements and greystone three-flats, though a lot of original housing has been replaced with new construction. The Division Street Russian and Turkish Baths are a reliable landmark on the Damen to Ashland stretch.

Wicker Park

North of Division between Western and Ashland, up to the 606. About two road miles away, east on Chicago Avenue and north on Damen. The four-acre park at its center, the Damen Blue Line station (the line’s oldest, opened in 1895) and the big homes on Hoyne Avenue and Pierce Avenue are the usual reference points.

The rest of West Town includes Noble Square, River West’s converted loft buildings near the river, Smith Park, and East Humboldt Park around the Paseo Boricua, the half-mile of Division Street between Western and California marked by two 59-foot steel Puerto Rican flags.

ZIP codes

Per the city’s boundary files, most of West Town west of Ashland is 60622. East of Ashland toward the river is mostly 60642. Blocks south of Chicago Avenue and west of Damen fall mostly in 60612, and the strip between North Avenue and Bloomingdale is 60647.

Parking here is the hard part

West Town is dense and mostly rental. Only about 11% of homes are single-family houses; the biggest share is in three- and four-unit buildings, per CMAP’s snapshot. Street parking is tight, and residential permit zones cover many side streets: zone 154 on Hoyne and Pierce in Wicker Park, zone 168 on Haddon, Thomas, Wolcott and Superior in Ukrainian and East Village. The city creates these zones under Municipal Code 9-64-090 where blocks are mostly residential and parking is nearly full.

That makes a car that won’t move expensive fast. The rules that matter:

• Winter Overnight Parking Ban: Division Street and Milwaukee Avenue are on the list; no parking 3 to 7 a.m., December 1 to April 1. The city’s winter parking page lists a minimum $150 tow, a $60 ticket and $25 a day in storage.
• Two-inch snow routes: Grand, Chicago, Division, North, Milwaukee, Western, Damen, Ashland and California all clear when 2 inches of snow falls.
• Street sweeping: April through November by ward, with orange signs going up two days ahead. West Town spans five wards, so the schedule changes from block to block.
• Abandoned cars: a car left 7 days and apparently deserted, or left without state plates for two days, can be tagged under the city’s abandoned vehicle rules.

What to sort out before pickup

If the car is registered in Chicago, the city sticker question comes up as soon as it’s sold. Our guide to your Chicago city sticker after selling a car covers it. If the title is lost or in someone else’s name, read selling a car without a title. The towing itself is covered under free junk car removal.

Next door, Humboldt Park starts a block west of us, and the Near West Side begins south of the Kinzie tracks.