Devon Avenue, Chicago

History

Devon Avenue runs through West Ridge on Chicago's Far North Side, a neighborhood that was home to a large Jewish community for much of the twentieth century — the stretch between California and Kedzie still carries the honorary name Golda Meir Boulevard. As many Jewish residents moved to the suburbs starting in the 1970s, the avenue's storefronts began to turn over.

South Asian immigration, accelerated by the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, brought doctors, engineers, and other professionals to Chicago, and Devon Avenue became their commercial hub. India Sari Palace opened in 1973 as the street's first South Asian business, followed closely by the first Patel Brothers grocery store in 1974 — a chain that would go on to become a national South Asian grocery brand.

West Ridge remains one of the most ethnically diverse community areas in Chicago, with residents tracing ancestry to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan, and beyond alongside Assyrian, Russian, and Korean communities. Devon's Desi corridor is now considered one of the largest and best-known South Asian commercial strips in North America.

Known for

• Patel Brothers' original Chicago grocery store, the flagship of a now-national chain
• Sari and fabric shops along Devon Avenue's Indian and Pakistani retail block
• A dense strip of Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi restaurants and sweet shops
• Gold jewelry stores catering to South Asian wedding shoppers
• The honorary Golda Meir Boulevard signage marking the neighborhood's earlier Jewish history
• West Ridge's broader mix of Assyrian, Russian, and Korean businesses sharing the same corridor

Getting there

Devon Avenue is best reached by CTA bus (routes 155 Devon or connecting north-south routes to the Red or Brown Line) or by car; there is no direct 'L' stop on the avenue itself.

Best times to visit

Weekends draw the biggest crowds for grocery runs and dining; the corridor is especially festive in the weeks around diwali and eid-al-fitr, when shops extend hours for holiday shopping.