It took awhile for East Garfield Park to come into its own as a distinct neighborhood community. Since its annexation to Chicago in 1869, East Garfield Park has had to re-invent itself more than once. In recent years this Chicago neighborhood has experienced a resurgence of interest with developers and first-time homebuyers taking note of the neighborhood's affordable housing stock.

One of the neighborhood's main attractions is celebrating its 100-year anniversary in 2008. Located on a section of the beautiful 185-acre Garfield Park, the Garfield Park Conservatory is a true Chicago treasure providing visitors with a living, growing art museum where exotic plants take the place of framed works. With a trip to the Conservatory, Chicagoans can enjoy tropical climates every day of the year, which is the perfect escape during the city's cold winter months. Should the Conservatory inspire anyone's green thumb the City Escape Garden Center will help the aspiring gardener load up on all the essentials from seeds to samplings, soils to mulches and all the necessary tools of the trade.

Eating in Garfield Park is a real treat with a hodge-podge of good American and Southern style soul places. If you were an alien from outer space setting foot into Feed, a favorite East Garfield Park eatery, you might make the assumption that chicken is the only thing humans cared to eat. Indeed the decor is set up for poultry worship and so is the menu, which advertises quarter- or half-chickens served with delicious sides like mac and cheese, collard greens or mashed potatoes. The recent addition of an outdoor patio is a nice upgrade for this quaint neighborhood joint, making it a popular restaurant year-round. Keeping with the downhome flavor, both Edna's and Wallace's Catfish Corner are neighborhood canteens that keep the southern spirit alive with their soul food offerings. The tiny, unassuming Al's Red Hot's has been serving the neighborhood hot dogs and fries for over five decades and still manages to “wow” with its great tastes.

Say what you will about strip malls, they're the place for true bargains and that's true in East Garfield Park as well. A trip down Madison Street yields deals on discount footwear (Payless Shoe Source and The Athlete's Foot) as well as on beauty supplies (Smile Beauty Supply and Total Beauty Supply) and fashionable accessories (Chicago Hi-Fashion and Casual Express). Bargain hunters can also save a buck or two by exploring some of East Garfield Park's discount shopping outlets such as Essence Discount or Pulaski Discount.

Housing in East Garfield Park is varied and affordable with bungalows, graystones, free-standing multi-unit buildings and brick row houses lining the neighborhood’s residential side streets. Many of the older Victorian edifices have been converted into two-flats, but the classic vintage charm still holds true.

The CTA is a great way for travel to and from East Garfield Park with no less than four stops on the Green Line train and three for the Blue Line train along the neighborhood's southern border. Several CTA buses serve East Garfield Park, running along Chicago and Western avenues and Pulaski Road. The Eisenhower Expressway may have been an irritation to residents sixty years ago, but now it provides a quick and easy transportation alternative for getting to and from East Garfield Park for anyone who has a car.