Hermosa, Chicago

Hermosa, not to be confused with the famous Hermosa Beach in California, is a neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago that has a little bit of unexpected history. So how much to do like animation? How much do you like Disney movies? If you answered both of these questions with "a lot" then you might just find the Hermosa area to be a must see. As it turns out, the Hermosa area is the birthplace of Walt Disney, yes, the same Walt Disney that launched the wildly successful Walt Disney company!

Fans of Walt Disney, as well as history buffs that love undiscovered trivia, will be pleased to learn that they can still visit his childhood birthplace location to this day. If you are a fan of Disney and his work, then this is really an interesting little side trip to take.

Today the neighborhood is predominantly Hispanic with a smaller White population. Hermosa Park and Kelvyn Park are two the larger parks in the area and are home to a wide variety of events. These facilities have auditoriums, playgrounds and organize a variety of indoor and outdoor events for children and youth.

Originally called Kelvyn Grove, Hermosa is known as the boyhood home of Walt Disney. Aside from this claim to fame, this Northwest neighborhood has a few other things of interest. It was originally a Swedish settlement, but has evolved to include various ethnic backgrounds. The area is primarily residential, like most neighborhoods around here, so there isn’t much appeal for visitors.

If you do happen to drive through Hermosa, you’ll notice several parks, a few restaurants, and a couple of entertainment venues. Mostly local haunts, I wouldn’t say there is anything that exciting about the neighborhood. If you’re a huge Disney fan, you can drive past his boyhood home on N Tripp Avenue. The neighboring areas are notoriously diverse, so it may be worth the trip if you’d like to visit ethnic shops and restaurants in the area.

All in all, Hermosa isn’t a bad area, but it’s nothing to get excited about either. Like the other neighborhoods nearby, it feels a little out of the way for my liking, but I can’t say it’s out of the realm of possibilities for me to visit the area once in a while. Hermosa has a few interesting places to visit and it’s a pretty quiet residential area.

I've stopped by Hermosa handful of times, and I've always had a good time here. Thing is, there isn't all that much to do. I've had dinner here a few times, but for the life of me I can't remember the name of the restaurant. In a lot of ways, that sort of sums up the neighborhood. It's nice, I've enjoyed it, but it's overall unmemorable.

The times I've visited Hermosa I've felt safe, although I don't think I would suggest any women go for walks alone at night. I don't normally suggest that anywhere in the city, but Hermosa is a bit less safe than some nicer areas. I'm not calling it truly unsafe, and it's a lot better than other parts of Chicago, but it's still not the best.

Overall, if you have a limited budget, then I think Hermosa would be good for you. Not a travel destination, and you'll have to travel a bit yourself if you're looking for a party, but it's still pretty decent.

Hermosa is pretty far from the real city action – there’s nothing interesting around, unless you count Walt Disney’s birthplace as such. You are of course still in Chicago, and should take the usual precautions, but it seems like an okay neighborhood to me (I stayed here briefly when I first moved here, but haven’t been back since without any reason to visit).

I wouldn’t recommend Hermosa as a completely safe place – it is a working class area which has been noted in the past (a few decades back) for some violence, and it’s not as stable as some of the more established Chicago neighborhoods. A potential resident may want to take advantage of low cost properties and constant development in the area, but a tourist would probably not bother themselves with Hermosa. (If you do decided to move here, remember that you are probably going to be leaving the area a lot of if you are the type who likes to go out on the town.)

Since Hermosa is pretty family-oriented, nightlife and bars in the neighborhood aren’t what they are in other parts of the city (think Wicker Park), and you’re unlikely to find much in terms of great places to shop, either.