Mid summer there is a neighborhood festival called Fiesta Del Sol (party of the sun)
with live music and huge crowds. To the right is a photo of Mariachis playing at Fiesta Del Sol
in front of Decima Musa (the 10th Muse), a restaurant that
often sponsors music located a block and a half north of the VS house.
Many of Pilsen's buildings are over 100 years old and there are interesting features
on many of them if you look closely. For example, in the photo to the left, there is
a carving of the head of a horse above a large stone arch at the rear of this building
on Paulina near 21st St. It is there because this was the carriage house, an important
feature for homes of well-to-do families at the turn of the century to house their horses.
Pilsen's character has attracted movie producers to the neighborhood and several movies have
been filmed here such as Goodfellas (they blew up a warehouse in East Pilsen where they
built the new school on Canalport) and
Mercury Rising. See the photo on the Supporting Churches page
to look at the principle setting from Jessica Lange's movie The Music Box.
East Pilsen (around Halsted St.) has had a large community of artists for many years. It has a theater, The Blue Rider, and in August there is an artists festival when the artists open up their homes and studios to the public. This is an excellent opportunity to see the work of a lot of interesting people in the intimate settings where the art was created.
One interesting feature of the culture in the neighborhood is the Mexican tradition of large outdoor murals. There are murals scattered throughout the area. One corner store painted a mural across the front of the entire building partly to keep gangbangers from painting graffiti. For the most part, graffiti artists respect murals and do their work elsewhere.
