HUMBOLDT PARK — A stretch of North Avenue in East Humboldt Park has dreams of becoming the next Andersonville.
The architects of the dream imagine a place where shoppers can spend a day roaming boutiques — most of which are vintage dealers so far.
Seven years after Lynne McDaniel, the self-proclaimed Goddess of WOW (West of Western), opened her vintage furniture shop, An Orange Moon, that vision is coming to fruition.
"The feeling is different now. Something is happening," McDaniel said. "We are ready. We are poised.”
That something is an influx of vintage retailers opening storefronts on North Avenue in the WOW district, which stretches from Western to California avenues.
McDaniel and her husband Ty's shop, 2418 W. North Ave., has become one of Chicago's premier high-end vintage furniture stores, and she wants to help transform the area into a shopping district.
Over the years McDaniel has served as a recruiter, persuading vintage sellers, many of whom did not have a retail location before opening on North Avenue, to join her in the WOW District.
"I'm just a connecter," McDaniel said. "All I do is connect people."
Lynne McDaniel, the Goddess of WOW, has personally recruited many of the new businesses. [DNAinfo/Darryl Holliday]
McDaniel's latest connection involved persuading Kim Tanner, who runs the vintage furniture and decor outlet Strangelovely, to open a retail shop at 2511 W. North Ave.
Tanner was one of McDaniel's newest hand-picked "business gladiators" she wanted as a neighbor.
"When she called me it was like having a movie star call you," Tanner, 44, said of McDaniel. "She's a big-time dealer."
Tanner needed a "roommate" to split the space, and found Virginia Robbins, who runs Hopscotch & Soda, specializing in vintage clothing from the '30s through the '70s.
The two businesses operate under their joint North Avenue Collective storefront, which opened last week.
"It's becoming the worst-kept secret. East Humboldt Park is booming," Tanner said. "There are lots of other vintage sellers in this little strip, and it was still affordable last year when I signed the lease.”
Other vintage sellers in the district include Richard's Fabulous Finds, 2535 W. North Ave.; Apartment 528, 2620 W. North Ave.; and Gilda Thrift Boutique, 2419 W. North Ave.
Yetti Treasures, which specializes in midcentury vintage furniture, is expected to open in the WOW District this year.
"I like to go to Andersonville, and I call it, bippity bop. You go from one shop to the next," McDaniel said. "I want that same bippity bop feel in the WOW District.”
The growing row of vintage boutiques isn't a secret for many of the neighborhood's residents, who have been watching one shop after another pop up.
"To have these little unique spots to keep [the neighborhood] from losing some of its feel is great," said Ashley Stroessler.
Stroessler and Nick Accardi, both 27-year-old Humboldt Park residents, were looking for a vintage suit for Accardi at Richard's Fabulous Finds Wednesday afternoon before an upcoming wedding.
The collective in-it-together mentality of the businesses that have opened in the last seven years also extends to customers.
If An Orange Moon doesn't have what the customer is looking for, it's likely one of the other handful of vintage shops will.
"We are all friends. We send each other customers," Tanner said.
Most of the vintage retailers started off selling their items online on eBay and Etsy and at Chicago's Randolph Street Market and Vintage Garage before opening their own locations on North Avenue.
Robbins, whose Hopscotch & Soda opened last week, started her collection during a spur-of-the-moment road trip to a warehouse in Cincinnati in 2012.
She loaded a rental car with 200 pieces, drove back to Chicago and began selling items out of her Uptown apartment.
"You have to start somewhere," Robbins said.
The stretch of North Avenue west of Western has had a negative perception in the past because of crime in Humboldt Park, but things are changing, according to businesses owners.
The growing business district has a DIY feel. There are no trash cans along North Avenue.
Richard Biasi, who opend Richard's Fabulous Finds a little less than two years ago, has taken things into his own hands.
Every morning he sweeps the sidewalks of the WOW District.
Twice a week he cleans windows.
"The city isn't going to do it, but I want where my store is to look good," Biasi said.
The selection at Richard's Fabulous Finds features upscale men's vintagewear. [DNAinfo/Paul Biasco]
Biasi, like many other WOW District owners, met McDaniel at the Randolph Market a few years ago before the thought of opening a storefront ever crossed his mind.
"She had been through and saw my booth, made a comment and said 'Wow, where's your store?' " Biasi said. "She said anybody with this kind of presentation should have their own store. That really put a bug in my head.”
While his real estate broker was pushing him to Pilsen two years ago, Biasi finally came across his North Avenue location, and McDaniel helped negotiate his first lease. The storefront had been vacant for three years before he moved in.
"I wanted to be at the beginning of something," he said. "I didn't want to follow."
Strangelovely's half of the North Avenue Collective storefront features vintage furniture and design. [DNAinfo/Paul Biasco]
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