Decider recently observed folks are saying "that gussying up the Pontiac is the final nail in Wicker Park's gentrification coffin." Well, I was driving down Chicago Avenue Saturday and when I passed Five Star -- one of the 3,546 unnecessary "rock bars" that have opened in the area in the last three years -- I saw a sight that immediately triggered my gag reflex. Hanging in the bar's window was the iconic outdoor Pontiac Cafe sign. The sign that had presided over many a drunken summer, shivered in sparsely populated winters, and shuddered during many bouts of Live Band Karaoke was hanging in the window of a veritable yuppie theme bar like some sort of twisted trophy.
I've been around Wicker Park for almost 15 years so I take the whole gentrification thing in stride and don't get my undies in a twist over the whole inevitability of it all ... but this particular transgression is just a big ol' slap in the face if you ask me!
Ugh.
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