Raven Johnson
Rainbow towers
Raven Johnson: These Rainbow towers are posted around Boyztown, mostly on Halsted. The type of gay people in Lakeview are the flamboyant ones and queers... if you don't want to be around them, you can live in the West side of Lakeview, which has more "soccer mom" type people. If you are in Lakeview West you will not see anyone from Boyztown.
Falafill Kitchen + Mezza Bar
Raven Johnson: Lesbians + Pagans = unlimited options for vegetarian and vegan restaurants. The Pagans don't show up in any kind of "local culture" or by stores, but there are many Pagans living here. Falafill is slightly concerning in that it sells fries, but there are as mentioned innumerous vegetarian restaurants.
Stuff
Raven Johnson: You can leave your stuff outside for a few minutes and it won't get stolen. Notice there is even a laptop there. I wouldn't recommend leaving a laptop for an hour, but you can leave it for 5 minutes while you walk across the street to take a pic. You can leave a backpack for 40 minutes or so.
Solar Compacter
Raven Johnson: A solar compacter: Being the home of the gay neighborhood, Boyztown, as well as the home of the yuppies and next door to the art neighborhood, Wicker Park, you can see a few great green initiatives such as this solar-powered compacter which serves both to keep garbage off the streets (surprisingly, the richest neighborhood also has the dirtiest sidewalks!!) and to allow everyone to recycle when they're not inside a business... although there are also decent businesses you can easily enter every 24 ft. You can also see the "trolley" behind it. This is the "trolley" which does beer tours for about $20. Drunk people like to wave out the window and scream :P.
The Alley Stores
Raven Johnson: The Alley is the store that created Belmont & Clark. Belmont & Clark used to be the place for awesome people who like spikes and leather jackets, and all the 24-hour activity, clubs, and sex shops grew up around because of The Alley. Hideously expensive but then the people that live in Lakeview are the richest non-celebrities in Chicago... but everyone's here, you don't have to live in Lakeview to come to hang out at Belmont & Clark all night!
The Alley Stores
Raven Johnson: This display is actually branded by the windowpaint as Taboo Tabou, but actually shows and exemplifies Chicago's most famous awesome store, The Alley - which The Alley's own current window display does not do. The Alley is where you go if you're cool at all, if you're either a millionaire so you can buy something or you're cool and think their shit is cool so you go look around wishfully or take pictures and ask your rich friends to buy you shit. This display of The Alley T-shirts is two doors down from the store itself.
Clarks LV
Raven Johnson: This iconic sign identifies Clarke's restaurant, which has been here for decades. It's a small and intimate breakfast or dinner restaurant, with a local feel like a country-road diner in a horror movie (minus the horror!). And the best part - They may give some food to a hungry human... but only if you look decent and not smelly or scam-artisty! Clarke's restaurant is now attached to a small, but never too crowded, bar that is one example of the common Lakeview theme of open, windowless fronts.
Taboo Tabou
Raven Johnson: Taboo Tabou's window display shows A PART of Belmont & Clark's populace idea... "gay rainbow culture". You can see many shops with this kind of gear near Belmont & Clark and down to Halsted where is Boyztown. (Past Halsted, the rest of Lakeview, is just normal people :P.) You can also see by the various everyday shops and coffeehouses around that the "gay culture" is only a part of this area... the "normal," "yuppies", and metalheads walk down the street right next to the various types of queers who like "queer culture".
