Welcome to the neighborhood

I traveled to Chicago the first week of June to find us a new home. I really had no idea where to look or where we wanted to live. The main criteria was to get as close to an L stop that was a reasonable commute to the loop as possible and that was pet friendly. Since we would not have a vehicle, I also wanted to be close to neighborhood amenities such as grocery, bank, post office etc... well I found it.. we are approx 5 blocks to the L, lets see how long 5 blocks are when it's below zero this winter :-) we are across the street from a beautiful market and a library branch and just down the street from a bank and post office. Our neighborhood is called Pilsen. It's predominately Latin. The neighborhood is home to one of Chicago's "best" Mexican food restaurants and "best" wings Chinese restaurant. The smell in the morning of the tortillas and pastries from the local bakery is unbelievable and the lady who sells her home made tamales on the corner is very sweet. Definitely go for the jalapeno and cheese tamale.. it is the bomb! Our new home is a loft. The building was retrofitted about 5 years ago and is basically non- descript but we have managed to make it a home.