Pilsen was originally called "Little Pilsen" in 1870 in honor of the
second largest city in Bohemia, now the Czech Republic.� At that time, Chicago
already had a Bohemian neighborhood known as "Prague" named after the
largest city in Bohemia.� The Bohemian city of Pilsen was also famous for its beer and
"Pilsner" is synonymous with beer in many parts of the world.�
Pilsen is bounded by the Chicago river on the East and South. The north boundary is the Train viaduct that runs along 16th St. The western boundary is usually defined as somewhere between Ashland and Western avenue, but depending upon one's opinion it is sometimes farther east or west. There are also smaller neighborhood units within the Pilsen area. The area around Gads Hill Center was once called Gads Hill, the area between Damen and Western is sometimes called Heart of Chicago and inside the Heart of Chicago is a neighborhood called the Heart of Italy. That neighborhood contains several good Italian restaurants and is located around the first blocks of Oakley north of Blue Island.
Within neighborhoods is a mosaic of blocks which can have very different character. One block may be very quiet and safe and the next might have constant problems with crime. The elderly people 1900 block of 22nd Place are all from Slovenia (the only province of the former Yugoslavia that you have never heard of because they haven't been embroiled in war) and the local Catholic church still holds mass in Slovenian. The next block of 22nd Place was once mostly German and their Catholic church had mass in German. Gang territories shift and that changes the character of a block. One abandoned house (or drug house) can depress the property values of each house on a block by many thousands of dollars and that effects the character of a block.