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Albany Park is a residential and commercial neighborhood on the Northwest Side of Chicago, and one of the most diverse in the United States. It has the highest percentage of foreign-born residents of any neighborhood in Chicago. Although the majority of those foreign-born residents are from South America, substantial numbers are from the Philippines, India, Korea, Vietnam, the Former Yugoslavia (Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia), Romania, Pakistan and the Middle East. Over 40 different languages are spoken in its public schools. The neighborhood has been the "Koreantown" of Chicago for some time. Although the many of the Asians in the neighborhood have been moving to the north suburbs in recent years, it still retains its Korean flavor. Every year there is a Korean festival and the neighborhood is home to a Korean television station (WOCH-LP Ch. 28) and radio station (1330 AM) as well as two Korean-language newspapers. There are still many Korean businesses interspersed among the newer Mexican bakeries and Middle Eastern grocery stores. Albany Park is also notable for being the home of the current governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich.
Albany Park is accessible through the Kimball and Kedzie stations of the Brown Line as well as by the Edens expressway (Interstate 94). The name "Albany Park" refers both to one of Chicago's 77 official community areas and the traditional name of a neighborhood within that community. The official community is bounded very approximately by Foster Avenue on the north, Montrose Avenue on the south, Elston Avenue on the southwest, and the North Branch of the Chicago River on the east.
The traditional neighborhoods within the official community are (including rough boundries):
- Albany Park: Bryn Mawr (5600 N), Irving Park (4000 N), north branch of the river (about 3000 W), and Pulaski (4000 W).
- Ravenswood Manor: Lawrence (4800 N), Montrose (4400 N), north branch of the river (about 2600 W), and Sacramento (3000 W).
- Mayfair: Lawrence (4800 N), Montrose (4400 N), Pulaski (4000 W), and Cicero (4800 W).
(The subneighborhood of Mayfair, North Mayfair, is roughly: Bryn Mawr (5600 N), Lawrence (4800 N), Pulaski (4000 W), and Cicero (4800 W).
Immediately to the north lie Northeastern Illinois University, North Park University, and the Bohemian National Cemetery.
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