Logan Square is a Northwest Side neighborhood built around a genuine square — the intersection of Milwaukee, Logan and Kedzie, with the Illinois Centennial Monument standing in the middle of it. Over the past fifteen years it has become one of the two or three most talked-about restaurant and bar neighborhoods in Chicago, without ever quite losing the wide boulevards, greystones and unhurried pace that made people move there in the first place.
Getting oriented
The CTA Blue Line stops at Logan Square and California, roughly twenty minutes from downtown and running twenty-four hours. Milwaukee Avenue is the commercial spine, running southeast toward Wicker Park and northwest toward Avondale. Kedzie and California carry most of the rest.
The boulevards are the thing visitors notice first. Logan Boulevard and Palmer Square are part of Chicago’s historic boulevard system — unusually wide, tree-lined, with grass medians and large early-twentieth-century houses on both sides. Palmer Square Park in particular is one of the more pleasant places to sit in the city and almost nobody outside the neighborhood knows it is there.
The 606
The 606, also called the Bloomingdale Trail, is a 2.7-mile elevated greenway built on a disused rail line. Its western end sits in Logan Square and it runs east through Humboldt Park and Bucktown to Wicker Park, entirely separated from traffic.
It is the best way to move between these neighborhoods on foot or by bike, and at sunset the skyline views from the elevated sections are among the better free things to do in Chicago. Divvy docks sit at several access points. Practical note: it is busiest early evening on warm days and almost empty on weekday mornings.
Where to eat
Lula Cafe at 2537 N. Kedzie Boulevard is the neighborhood’s founding restaurant in every sense — one of the earliest farm-to-table kitchens in Chicago, open since the 1990s, and still the room most locals name first. Brunch is the busiest service and the one people plan around; buttermilk pancakes, breakfast burritos and a rotating seasonal menu.
Longman & Eagle at 2657 N. Kedzie Avenue opened in 2010 as a modern take on the old Chicago inn — a serious whiskey list, a kitchen that takes itself seriously without saying so, and rooms upstairs if the whiskey list wins. It is one of the neighborhood’s defining places.
Lonesome Rose at 2101 N. California Avenue works the borderlands theme — northern Mexican and southwestern cooking, a long tequila and mezcal list, and a basement bar underneath that keeps going until 2am on weeknights and 3am on Fridays and Saturdays. It is closed Mondays.
Bang Bang Pie & Biscuits handles the pie and biscuit side of the neighborhood’s brunch economy, and the coffee shops along Milwaukee and Kedzie are among the best in the city — Logan Square and neighbouring Avondale are widely reckoned the strongest area in Chicago for independent specialty coffee.
Logan Square opens and closes restaurants faster than almost any Chicago neighborhood.
Neighbors post what is actually happening right now — new openings, closings, wait times, and honest opinions. See what Chicago neighbors are saying or join free and ask them yourself.
Beer
Revolution Brewing is the largest independently owned brewery in Illinois and runs a brewpub in the neighborhood alongside its production taproom. It is the obvious first stop and the tours are worth doing.
Maplewood Brewery and Distillery at 2717 N. Maplewood Avenue is the neighborhood’s other significant name. In March 2026 Maplewood and Half Acre — the Lincoln Square brewery at 2050 W. Balmoral — announced a merger in response to a rapidly changing beer market, with both brands continuing to operate under their own names. The taprooms remain open; it is worth knowing the corporate picture has changed even though the beer has not.
The Logan Square Farmers Market
The Logan Square Farmers Market runs at 2620 N. Milwaukee Avenue and is one of the largest and best-attended in the city. The 2026 outdoor season opens on 10 May and runs every Sunday through 25 October.
It is a genuine market rather than a boutique one — produce, meat, bread, cheese, prepared food and a live music stage — and it functions as the neighborhood’s Sunday social event. Arrive before 11am if you want to shop rather than queue.
Living in Logan Square
Logan Square sits toward the upper end of Chicago rents, commonly in the range of roughly $2,200 to $2,900 for a one-bedroom, against a citywide one-bedroom average that different sources place anywhere from about $2,000 to $2,460. It is not the most expensive part of the city, but it has moved a long way in fifteen years and that movement is itself a live local issue.
What people who live here cite: the Blue Line running all night, the boulevards, the density of good food within walking distance, and a genuine neighborhood identity that survived the attention. What they complain about: rising rents, weekend parking around Milwaukee, and the pressure that comes with being permanently listed as an up-and-coming neighborhood by publications that have not visited in a decade.
Frequently asked questions about Logan Square, Chicago
Where is Logan Square?
On Chicago’s Northwest Side, centred on the intersection of Milwaukee, Logan and Kedzie where the Illinois Centennial Monument stands. The CTA Blue Line stops at Logan Square and California, about twenty minutes from downtown, running twenty-four hours.
What are the best restaurants in Logan Square?
Lula Cafe at 2537 N. Kedzie Boulevard is the neighborhood’s founding farm-to-table room and the usual first recommendation. Longman & Eagle at 2657 N. Kedzie Avenue pairs a serious kitchen with a serious whiskey list, and Lonesome Rose at 2101 N. California Avenue covers northern Mexican and southwestern cooking with a late basement bar.
What is The 606?
A 2.7-mile elevated trail built on the old Bloomingdale rail line, running from Logan Square east through Humboldt Park and Bucktown to Wicker Park. It is fully separated from traffic and free, with Divvy docks at several access points.
When is the Logan Square Farmers Market?
The 2026 outdoor season runs every Sunday from 10 May through 25 October at 2620 N. Milwaukee Avenue. It is one of the largest markets in Chicago; arrive before 11am to shop without queueing.
Is Logan Square expensive?
It sits toward the higher end of Chicago rents, commonly around $2,200 to $2,900 for a one-bedroom, compared with a citywide average sources place between roughly $2,000 and $2,460. Eating and drinking is mid-range rather than fine-dining priced.
What breweries are in Logan Square?
Revolution Brewing, the largest independently owned brewery in Illinois, and Maplewood Brewery and Distillery at 2717 N. Maplewood Avenue. Maplewood and Half Acre announced a merger in March 2026, with both brands continuing to operate separately.
The Illinois Centennial Monument and the square itself
The column at the centre of the square went up in 1918 to mark a hundred years of Illinois statehood, and it is the neighborhood’s visual anchor — the thing on the postcards, the meeting point, and the middle of the roundabout that everyone learns to drive around eventually. The eagle on top is visible from several blocks in each direction along the boulevards.
The plaza around it functions as public space in a way most Chicago traffic islands do not. In summer there are people sitting on the steps at most hours, the farmers market sets up nearby on Sundays, and the surrounding blocks fill with festival stages several times a year.
A day in Logan Square
Morning: coffee somewhere on Milwaukee or Kedzie — this is one of the best neighborhoods in the city for it — then walk the boulevards. Logan and Palmer are ten minutes apart and both are worth the detour off the commercial strip.
Late morning: brunch at Lula Cafe if you have planned ahead, or Bang Bang Pie if you have not. Sunday adds the farmers market, which is worth reorganising the day around between May and October.
Afternoon: pick up The 606 at its western end and ride or walk east. Even half the length gets you to Humboldt Park and back in an hour, and it is the single best way to understand how these Northwest Side neighborhoods fit together.
Evening: a brewery taproom, then dinner. Longman & Eagle and Lonesome Rose both work as a whole evening rather than just a meal, and the Blue Line runs all night from two stations, so there is no last-train pressure.
Is Logan Square safe?
Logan Square reports crime broadly around the Chicago average, and Chicago’s citywide figure — roughly a quarter above the national rate — is heavily weighted by a small number of South and West Side community areas rather than spread evenly across the city. Around three-quarters of Chicago neighborhoods are rated A or B on the commonly used safety indices.
The realistic pattern here is property crime: vehicle break-ins along the commercial strips, package theft on residential blocks, and occasional late-night street theft near the bars on Milwaukee. Violent crime is not the neighborhood’s day-to-day risk profile.
For a specific address, use the incident-level data rather than a neighborhood grade. Chicago publishes every reported incident by type, date and block through the city’s open data portal. Look at the volume near the address, the incident type — a cluster of car break-ins is a different problem from a cluster of assaults — and the trend across a year or two rather than one bad month. Then walk the block in daylight and again after dark.