Pulaski Park is listed within "Polonia Triangle" as one of the 11 neighborhoods included in The Labor Trail which chronicles Chicago's history of working class life and struggle.

As opposed to other areas of West Town, much of the original housing stock of Pulaski Park has not been torn down for new construction in recent years.

The district proved especially popular with merchants, who built large mansions along the neighborhood's choicest streets—particularly on Hoyne and Pierce, just southwest of North & Damen, known then as Robey.

Polish immigration into the area accelerated during and after World War II when as many as 150,000 Poles are estimated to have arrived between 1939 and 1959 as Displaced Persons (DPs).

[17] Nelson Algren's literary output lionized the Division Street strip in his books such as The Man With The Golden Arm and Never Come Morning focusing on the stories of junkies, gamblers, hookers, and drunks in the Polish ghetto.

[18] Later controversies to commemorate Algren would bring these old wounds back to surface, most recently when Polonia Triangle was to be renamed to honor the deceased author.

Completion of the Kennedy Expressway in 1960, whose construction had displaced many residents and torn holes in the sustaining network of Polish-American churches, settlement houses, and neighborhood groups.

In 1989, the "Around the Coyote" festival was launched to help the hundreds of working artists and micro-galleries in the neighborhood to gain a level of local and international prominence.

Today, the neighborhood is best known for its numerous commercial and entertainment establishments and being a convenient place to live for downtown workers due to its proximity to public transportation and the Loop.

Gentrification has made the area much more attractive to college-educated white-collar workers, although it faced considerable resistance from the working-class Puerto Rican community it displaced.

Notable past and current residents include Nelson Algren, who lived on the third floor at 1958 W. Evergreen Ave between 1959–1975, Liz Phair, who penned her first album Exile in Guyville in and about Wicker Park, Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha, Pro Wrestler Colt Cabana who can be seen on WWE Smackdown as Scotty Goldman, and singer/guitarist Matt Skiba of The Alkaline Trio.

Another film of note that uses Wicker Park as its background is High Fidelity (2000) directed by Stephen Frears and starring Evanston-born John Cusack.

Dense settlement of the neighborhood was largely spurred by the 1895 construction of the elevated Logan Square branch along Paulina Street that would close in 1951 and be demolished in 1964.

Over the past half century, it has remained a middle-class neighborhood, populated largely by older citizens of Eastern European ethnicity, bordered (and affected) on many sides by more dangerous areas.

It was insulated somewhat from surrounding socioeconomic change in the large industrial areas on its south and west borders by the strong fabric of ethnic institutions as well as the staying power of the Orthodox and Ukrainian Catholic congregations.

[27] Although German-Americans were initially the largest ethnic group in the area, by 1890 Poles were the clear majority, organized around a dense network of Roman Catholic churches such as Holy Innocents and other institutions within the vicinity of Polish Downtown.

[16] East Village's ethnic turnover coincided with a change in the scale of real estate development, with a host of large residential buildings constructed between Damen and Ashland to create densely packed blocks.

East Village's varied built environment juxtaposed ornamented Queen Anne two-flats alongside frame cottages, brick tenements, and greystone three-flats.

Division Street was referred to as Polish Broadway, "teeming with flophouses and gambling dens and polka clubs and workingman's bars like the Gold Star and Phyllis' Musical Inn".

[16] Nelson Algren's literary output lionized the Division Street strip in his books such as The Man With The Golden Arm and Never Come Morning focusing on the stories of junkies, gamblers, hookers, and drunks in the Polish ghetto.

[18] Later controversies to commemorate Algren would bring these old wounds back to surface, most recently when Polonia Triangle was to be renamed to honor the deceased author.

One major reason was the completion of the Kennedy Expressway in 1960, whose construction had displaced many residents and torn holes in the sustaining network of Polish-American churches, settlement houses, and neighborhood groups.

Small businesses along Chicago Avenues closed, and the arson rate in East Village was so high that in 1976 Mayor Richard J. Daley convened a task force to address the crisis.

The Northwest Community Organization was founded in 1962 to stem white flight by promoting home ownership and integration between longtime Eastern European residents and the newcomers.

[16] Much of the Polish population had moved northwestward to Avondale and beyond, while the Latino community which had begun to organize around issues of affordable housing and other redevelopment strategies designed to stave off displacement increasingly came into conflict with the mostly white artists and other urban-pioneer types who by the early 1980s constituted a minor but significant presence.

Initially, the development was going to house the casino building, a 500 room hotel tower, several residential/multi-use high rises, an entertainment center, exhibition spaces, museum venues, and other large scale public amenities.

The generally accepted boundaries of Noble Square are the Kennedy Expressway on the east, Ashland (1600 W) on the west, Division (1200 N) on the north, and Chicago (800 N) or Grand (500 N) on the south.

Its identity may be disappearing: real estate agents have been including its northern half as an eastern section of Wicker Park, while the southern end of this neighborhood has been identified as West Town since around 2000.

[37] In June 2024, the part of the Humboldt Park neighborhood in Chicago known as Puerto Rico Town or Paseo Boricua officially changed its name to Barrio Borikén.

The area is also served by four stops on the CTA Blue Line, providing direct access to O'Hare International Airport and the Chicago Loop.