Something to Declare

Stef and Stan in the Second City, Part 3

August 26, 2026

Tony, our tour leader, told us that Chicago’s population is roughly 30% Caucasian, 30% Black, 30% Hispanic, and 10% other ethnicities. Today we focused on the Hispanic part.

There is a neighborhood in Chicago called Pilsen. After the Chicago Fire of 1871, it was mostly populated by people from Bohemia (now the Czech Republic). The name came from the Czech town, Plzen, which gave us the name of a variety of beer. Polish and German immigrants also moved there, and these groups typified the population of the neighborhood up to the 1950s. That’s when things began to change.

By the 1960s, the majority of residents of Pilsen were Mexican-Americans, attracted to Chicago by plentiful opportunities in manufacturing and industrial work. And Mexican-American culture has predominated there to the present. Pilsen has also become the center of Mexican-American art characterized by murals painted on the sides of buildings.

These murals are intended to bring art to the people, and to blend with the structures on which they are painted. Some are based on themes of pre-Christian Mexican culture (Aztec, Mayan, Olmec, Toltec, e.g.).

They also reflect political themes relating to the struggle of the Mexican-American community to preserve its culture, as well as the struggle of the community to maintain its very existence in the face of gentrification and anti-Latino prejudice. Note the signs in the murals (some not visible in these photos), “Fight to Stay,” and the one in the window of the “Butterfly” building (below, bottom), “ICE out!.”

There is a common misconception that these murals are a form of graffiti. On the contrary, the murals are commissioned by groups in the community, who pay artists to create and install them. They are done in paint and acrylic, both with brushes and spray cans. Some are done in mosaic tiles:

After a walking tour of several of these murals, and lunch, we visited the National Museum of Mexican Art, across the street from the “Butterfly” House shown above (in which Luis, our Docent for the tour of the murals, also appears).

The Museum was founded in 1982 by an educator, Carlos Tortolero (along with a group of other teachers), who wanted to fill a gap in school curricula regarding Mexican culture. Like the mural installations, the Museum celebrates the art and culture of Mexico and Mexican communities in the U.S. It is the first and only Latino museum in the country that is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.

Upon entering the building, one of the first pieces of art shown is a collage of images of Mexican themes (below, top). The work is composed entirely of tiny colored beads.

See the close up (above, bottom) of a portion of a single square, showing the minute beadwork.

There are characteristic religious themes, including a work entitled Mona Lupe (below, center), in which a version of the Mona Lisa takes on a Madonna-like role. Mona Lupe has been described as “the epitome of Chicano art.”

Some of the pieces reflect the theme of the Dia de los Muertos (“Day of the Dead”) which (we were informed) is not morbid, but rather celebratory of the spirits of the departed:

To be sure, consistent with the murals, there were also many works with darker themes, reflecting the struggles of the Mexican community to survive in the face of prejudice (below, titled Bone of Contention):

The day concluded with a Chicago River boat cruise, where we learned about treasures of Chicago architecture, such as Marina City (below, top left) and the Wrigley Building (below, top right):

It was too difficult to keep up with the names and descriptions of so many iconic structures so I will simply give you an array of the incredible sights we saw from the boat: We jaded New Yorkers were duly impressed.

Tomorrow: a drive to nearby Oak Park, home to architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who created the famous Prairie style of architecture, the first uniquely American architectural style.