As a Wicker Parker, I freely admit that we chose the path of gentrification, but I am tired of being the poster child for a narrative about people being displaced by Yuppies and Hipsters.
This narrative is usually accompanied by a graph like this.
It seem to show that Hispanics, after being displaced from Lincoln Park in the 60s, migrated to Wicker Park. Which grew to a predominantly Latino neighborhood, only to have them displaced again by Yuppies in the 90s.
Technically it is true (except for the part about growing) but it doesn't tell the whole story.
I have spent a lot of time pouring over census records of the 8 tracts that make up Wicker Park and here's a chart of its Hispanic population count.
You'll notice that the numbers jump in 1970 and have declined ever since.
There is no precipitous drop in the 90s. In fact the decline is so close to a straight line that no evidence of any period of displacement can be found.
Back then, Wicker Park was a slum. It was that way already in the 1960s and it was apparent to the incoming Hispanic population. No sooner did they get here, than they started to leave.
Here's a chart comparing the change in each group's populations between each census.
The period of Hispanic dominance of the population came not from the growth of that group, they were actually declining in numbers. Instead it came from the fact that everyone else was leaving faster.
That ratio switched in the 1980s.
Paul K. Dickman
