WICKER PARK — If you've been to a show at the Double Door or work or live along Milwaukee Avenue, chances are good you know Doug Brownfield, or would recognize the iconic music club's tall, lanky and heavily tattooed doorman.
"There are a lot of regulars that you see around the neighborhood. Doug is a constant, he is a landmark, if people can be landmarks," said Derek Mullins, owner of Metamorph Tattoo Studios at 1456 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Mullins was among several local people and small business owners who came to Double Door Tuesday to bid good bye to Brownfield, who is moving to Austin, Texas next week.
Doug discusses the many changes he's witnessed in Wicker Park over the past 18 years:
Originally from Kankakee, 36-year-old Brownfield has spent half of his life in Wicker Park and living in no less than nine apartments, the first being a two-bedroom apartment near Damen Avenue and Division Street that he rented for $650 in 1996.
"When I moved to Wicker Park there weren't that many businesses in the district, only a couple of shops," said Brownfield, who described the neighborhood as "more desolate, yet there was more of a mixture of people and that all changed but not in a good or bad way."
Brownfield said has watched "diverse culture groups move out of the area," and witnessed a declining music and punk scene, along with a young college scene that was once more prevalent.
@DNAinfoCHI We're going to miss Doug and his after-hours impromptu acoustic performances. He is a kind soul.
— Double Door (@doubledoor) July 2, 2014"I feel like [the college students] don't live here anymore, they just visit," he said.
He added, "Changes brings things like Bloomingdale Trail going across five miles of cityscape and people spearheading millions of dollars in projects for public space, it wasn't like that before, nobody was doing that before.
"Wicker Park is reminding me more of Lincoln Park and Downtown, which is a good thing when you look at it from the perspective of Chicago as a whole."
In addition to working the door at the Double Door for three years, Brownfield has long operated a T-shirt screen-printing business out of his apartment, though in advance of his move across the country, recently sold his printing equipment and client list to another screen printer.
There was no email or Facebook invite or mass text message to announce Brownfield's informal going-away gathering, though word spread by Brownfield notifying the people he speaks with on a regular basis in person as he encountered them on the street.
A frequent physical presence, Brownfield, who does not write, blog or use social media with any regularity, functions as Wicker Park's griot, an oral storyteller who moves through the area sharing information verbally of what is going on, while keeping a close eye on the neighborhood.
David Lepola, owner of Tag Free, a graffiti removal service, met Brownfield eight years ago and said Brownfield will "always have a couch" to crash on.
Lepola predicted Austin would be a good city for Brownfield's friendly personality and passion for music.
Brownfield has secured a job working the door at a chain of music clubs in Austin and plans to participate in Austin's open mic scene after having recently begun to learn to play the guitar.
Brain Huebner, Double Door's bar manager, said Brownfield is part of the club's tight-knit community.
"I will miss him," Huebner said of Brownfield's time at Double Door, 1572 N. Milwaukee Ave. "All the staff here, we are like family."
During his years in Wicker Park, Brownfield also operated Shorty's, a children's clothing shop with his ex-wife, ran a popular T-ball league at Dean Park and worked as a body piercing artist.
Though Brownfield's two children — a 10-year-old daughter, Maya, and a 9-year-old son, Lennon — moved away from Wicker Park to Germany with their mother three years ago, the devoted father said he Skypes with his children "multiple times per week."
Wicker Park artist Cleveland Dean said Brownfield was his "very first friend" when he moved to the neighborhood 16 years ago.
"Doug has been my brother... I used to pop in at The Silver Room, we met there and clicked. W e were roommates for a while," Cleveland said, adding, "If you are old-school Wicker Park, you know Doug."
Dean predicted Brownfield "will make a significant impact" on the Austin community as he has in Wicker Park.
"I don't care what Doug does [in Austin], I'm going to support him. He calls me and needs me, I'm there," Dean said.
When asked what he will miss about Wicker Park, Brownfield replied, "Honestly, nothing."
"I love this city but Wicker Park is not a neighborhood that holds me, it was just where I lived; a central area at a reasonable price, with good restaurants, a bunch of eclectic people, who, whether open-minded or square-ish or people with tattoos or just alcoholics or drug addicts, in some regards made it a comfortable place."
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