Ep. 7 Living in Wicker Park, Chicago Art Scene, Advertising Industry History, & More with McDonald Predelus
McDonald Predelus is a multifaceted artist, designer, and advertising creator residing in Wicker Park. They explore the neighborhood's dynamic culture, comparing it to Brooklyn's vibe with its evolving art scene and lively community. McDonald shares insights into living and creating in Chicago, highlighting the city's unique opportunities for artists. Join us for an engaging discussion about Wicker Park's charm, its artistic pulse, and what it's like to be part of this vibrant Chicago community.
The Living in Chicago Podcast is where I, Jake Lyons, get to interview all kinds of people about the Chicago neighborhoods they live in, work in, and play in. This way, you can learn about the lifestyle pros and cons of various neighborhoods directly from the people who live there (or maybe even learn something new about your own neighborhood!)
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Note: the following transcript was generated automatically and not checked closely for spelling, grammar, or accuracy
Jake Lyons: Hello and welcome to Living in Chicago, the show where I get to interview real Chicagoans about the neighborhoods that they live, work and play in. I'm your host. My name is Jake Lyons. And in this episode, I interview McDonald Pradellis, who is an artist advertising veteran of the advertising industry and just all around is kind of Renaissance man. He's a very interesting guy with a lot of interesting things to say about the Wicker Park neighborhood where he lives currently. Wicker Park, if you're unfamiliar, is northwest of downtown by, I don't know, three miles or so.
Don't feel like doing the exact math, but it's somewhere up there. It's a part of the, it's a subsection of the West town community area. So if you're familiar with Chicago, you know, there's 77 community areas, but each of those community areas has several neighborhoods within it. So West town has a neighborhood of West town, Ukrainian village, noble square, some places like that. And also Wicker Park. Wicker Park is a very popular neighborhood in Chicago. It's, well, you know what, I'm just going to read to you.
This is, this is kind of a nice little, little cheat code that I've discovered here. I'm just going to literally just read to you what Google says about Wicker Park when you pull it up on Google Maps. Hip Wicker Park has been a residential enclave since Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837. North Milwaukee Avenue is known for its bustling nightlife, dining and entertainment venues with double door, subterranean and Davenport setting the bar for the city's trendy music clubs. North Thamen Avenue draws hip crowds with its quirky shops, minimalist cafes, specialty grocery stores, and cool fashion boutiques. In my experience of Wicker Park, I'd say that's a pretty spot on, like 100% accurate.
You know, if you're, if you're only going to have three or four sentences to describe Wicker Park, good job Google AI, whatever that is, I'd say, I'd say they did a good job. The, the dividing lines. So just kind of putting it on a map where it is here. It's between Ashland Avenue and Western Avenue for from East West and then North South is between the Vision Street and technically Bloomingdale Avenue, which at this point is basically a smaller neighborhood street. So that might not be a street that you're super familiar with, but it's a couple blocks north of North Avenue. It's right by the highway, right by the Kennedy.
So, you know, you are, you're well positioned there. There's a, there's a couple different exits to get right to the highway. You're, you're right, right next to it, essentially, depending on where. And Milwaukee Avenue is, you know, if the, if the highway is too crowded, you can take Milwaukee Avenue, just zip on right down into pretty much some Macs Dab right into downtown. Not exactly, but close enough.
And then, you know, it gets you, gets you pretty close to it. And if you're taking the CTA, the Chicago Transit Authority, Chicago's main public transit system, the blue line would be your main way of getting around and the Damon stop is right, right in the middle of Wicker Park. And that's the Damon stop is right. There's a bunch of restaurants and cool things to do right around the Damon stop is right there on Damon and Milwaukee. And then the Western blue line stop is pretty close to it as well.
The blue line is the, the line that will eventually take you to O'Hare Airport. But is it like to live in Wicker Park? Well, that is why we are going to talk to McDonald's so that you can tell us all about it. So without further ado, let's get to my interview with McDonald's. All right, joined here today by McDonald for Delos.
He is a resident of the, I believe the Wicker Park neighborhood. We'll get into that a little bit more. He is a bit of a Renaissance man. He's an artist, a technologist, a marketing guru, a skateboarding enthusiast, a wrestling enthusiast.
Those are just the kind of the things at the tip of my mind that I know to be true, but this is probably a good time to toss it over to McDonald and see McDonald. How would you like to introduce yourself to the audience and have them, what would you like them to know about you?
McDonald Predelus: Yeah, I think you did a good job, an amazing job of wrestling collegiate wrestling, Lane Tech, wrestling coach at one point. Just to clarify, it's not the WWE on TV.
Jake Lyons: Right, yeah, professional wrestling. I'm an older skateboarder. I do skateboarding meetups in the 606, which is close to my neighborhood Wicker Park, Bucktown area, that 606 trail. But other than that, you got everything spot on, a creative director and an artist in the city. Yeah. Right on. Cool. What about Chicago? We're going to start from the beginning. I mean, what brought you to Chicago to begin with and then Wicker Park specifically?
McDonald Predelus: Honestly, someone told me it was a good neighborhood when I lived in New York. I was in Wicker Park, a decent area. So I went with it. So far, I've loved it. I've been here 2016.
I came here for work. I refer to creative director role. My name is McDonald. I was actually a creative director of McDonald's at one point here in Chicago. So hence the reason I came to Chicago. But overall, I really like neighborhood. Kind of gives me a cleaner, nicer Brooklyn. Of course, every neighborhood has its issues. But as long as you're aware of your surroundings and when you're out, it's a relatively nice and safe neighborhood.
Jake Lyons: Yeah. For anyone who doesn't know, who might be listening, McDonald's, the global headquarters of McDonald's is located in Chicago. So that would explain that move. Was it still, hadn't moved to the West Loop yet or was it still in the suburbs when you moved here for that?
McDonald Predelus: No, I worked at an agency that ran the account. So the agency was probably in the West Loop. Or I think at the time it was on Michigan Avenue, the agency that I worked for at that time.
Jake Lyons: Oh, funny. Okay. So you didn't work directly for McDonald's, even though you did work in the same city that you could have worked for directly for McDonald's? No.
McDonald Predelus: So basically the way it happens is advertising in brands, a lot like McDonald's, usually use an ad agency to create all of their creative work, their promotional work. And McDonald's, if you know the history, it's been with Leo Burnett, which is one of the oldest ad agencies in the US.
It was there for a while, was with that agency. And so agencies pretty much create the brand recognitions of brands. And since their headquarters is here, of course, they'll go with Chicago agency.
And American advertising history started in Chicago with Marlboro Man and all of that stuff. So I work in advertising agencies. So I worked for different clients. At the time, that agency, one of their biggest clients was McDonald's.
Jake Lyons: Yeah. I imagine that would be the biggest client for pretty much anybody that's about as big of a client as you can have, right? Like maybe there's only maybe a handful of brands in the world that would even be like, uttered in the same breath as them.
McDonald Predelus: So yeah. Yeah, I think I think there's as brands like Coca-Cola. There's a couple of historical Nike, maybe Nike. Nike is when you think about Nike, that's Whited and Kennedy based out of Portland. They do all the advertising for it. And then when people think about TBWA and Jay Shiet, they're the ones who do all the Apple commercials. So it's not new job and team. It's the ad agency that does the work. So yeah, I'm a creative on the creative side for brands.
Jake Lyons: Who this is just, I don't even know if I'll keep this in the podcast, but I've always just been curious, who does Geico Geico like some of these insurance brands? Because like they, they've just been pumping out like legit content for decades.
McDonald Predelus: Geico will usually use, they have their own internal ad agency. And they usually just hire creatives that are in that coming from other agencies, understand how to make commercials. Yeah. So Geico is an internal agency.
Jake Lyons: Okay. And so they're one of the few that keep it in house on this. Yeah. Cool. I was, I was pretty happy to hear you say that to compare it to, to Brooklyn, because that's something that I've been doing for years, even though I was doing this for years before I had even stepped the foot onto, onto Brooklyn. Like I visited Brooklyn for the first time ever last autumn. And, but I've been saying for years like, Wicker Park, this seems like what, what I have built Brooklyn up to be in my mind, it seems like Wicker Park is pretty much that. And Brooklyn, that's like kind of an insane thing to say, because Brooklyn is obviously a, like I think that Brooklyn was its own city, it would be like the fifth biggest city in America or something crazy.
So it's not like you can just paint it with like one, you know, narrow stroke like that. But what, what about Wicker Park made you kind of, you know, give that comparison?
McDonald Predelus: I think just like the spacing of things, I think when you go to Brooklyn, you get a little, you get to breathe a little bit more. People are not on top of you in certain sections of it. And here, when you get out of the downtown area or any of the other popular areas, you don't see as many people. So it's, it gives you that sense of like you're in a city, but you're not fully in the city city. And then there's pockets of small, you know, restaurants and things that you could find around the corner. So it kind of has that same vibe. But it's no, and no comparison, I'm saying Wicker Park is like, fuck down 100%.
No, none, not at all. Brooklyn is its own unique thing. But you can get a sense of it. You can get a sense of it just by looking at how the age demographics of the people who live in Wicker Park, you see it's usually like first kid, younger couples is what I'm seeing. In Brooklyn, you get, you start to get that vibe of it. And Brooklyn is affordable. So Wicker Park is kind of, it is affordable, I would say. Brooklyn is not affordable.
Jake Lyons: Time for the real estate stats corner presented by me, Jake Lyons, real estate advisor here in Chicago with at properties and my website, thechicagohomestores.com. In this segment, I am going to give you three stats that I think will paint at least a quick little snapshot of what the real estate price situation is looking like in Wicker Park. What people are actually willing to pay to live in this neighborhood. I think real estate is a very relevant thing. What really is a neighborhood without real estate after all.
So hopefully this is entertaining and helpful to somebody out there. The three stats I will throw out are the median sales price for a two bed condo for a house with at least three bedrooms and for a two bed rental apartment. So first off, the median sales price as of December of 2023, the most recent stats that we have as of the time I'm doing this, obviously these change all the time. The median sales price for a two bed condo in Wicker Park right now is at $462,000. That's the median, so 50% sold for more, 50% sold for less. If you're looking more for a house, the median sales price most recently for a house of at least three bedrooms in the Wicker Park neighborhood is at $1,365 ,000. So median sales price for a house. And if you want to rent a two bed apartment in Wicker Park, the median rental price on that per month will be coming out to $2,695. And that concludes the real estate stash corner.
If you have any desire to see what is available on the market right now in the Wicker Park area or anywhere in Chicago for that matter, you can just go to the chicago home source.com. You can find that link in the show notes. Yeah. Yeah. Affordability is obviously like, you know, super relative, you know, like Chicago compared to New York is very affordable. Chicago compared to like, Des Moines is very expensive, you know, so it is what it is. But yeah, that all, that all makes sense. Is that where you lived in New York?
McDonald Predelus: Was Brooklyn? Yeah, I lived in Harlem first, and then I moved to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. And yeah, and then I was in Brooklyn, the furthest south in Brooklyn. But yeah, I like Brooklyn a lot. Mm hmm.
Jake Lyons: What would you say has been, I guess, what had you spent a lot of time in Chicago prior to moving here? No, I did not. And you have any kind of like preconceived notions or, you know, anything that that you thought going into it that has surprised you about either, you know, the neighborhood you live in or just the city as a whole?
McDonald Predelus: No, so far, so far nothing really. It is what it is. I think I haven't been too surprised. But Chicago has been a really nice city to live in, and it is a really nice city to live in. Yeah.
Jake Lyons: What would you say? Because I mean, you know, yeah, we talked about the advertising agency part of what you do, but you know, you have your hands in all kinds of different, you know, you're stirring lots of different pots and sort of the art world. What, let's talk about that for a little bit. It's like, what all are you into these days?
McDonald Predelus: I think that the art, if we want to talk about art, I think that's the most interesting thing in Chicago at the time, because I think Chicago allows for access to certain things that it's harder to get access to them in, in, uh, And it's harder to get access to them in New York or a bigger city. I think Chicago has an open artist community.
It's easier to kind of establish yourself as an artist here, depending on what type of art you're making, whether it's virtual visual art or digital art or music art. I think there's a small communities and pockets of communities that can kind of thrive off of each other in Chicago. And I feel like Chicago gets you to where you need to. Mostly everyone in Chicago does well in leave. That's at least younger artists or anyone in the art craft. Because I think Chicago, other than comedy, even in comedy, most people will do well in leave.
No one really stays here in the arts. But it allows you to do well. It gives you access. So I love that about Chicago, from my perspective. It's the spring.
Jake Lyons: It's the springboard. Interesting. Do you think that's just because there's too much, there's just too much noise in New York? If you were to start right off there, like just too much, too much competition, too many, too many of this other things buying for people's attention there.
McDonald Predelus: I think so too. And of course, in New York, I think you need a little bit more money to do some of the things that I have. Just to exist.
Yeah, just to exist. I have a pretty large studio space, which I'm going to start hosting some art events out of. And a place like this would not be, it would be insane to try to rent out a place like this in New York or any other major city, I think. Right.
Jake Lyons: Or you would have to travel so far away from wherever you are to get there. It would be like the other side of New Jersey or something. I don't even, I don't know. I don't know the geography well enough in that area to start throwing areas out there. But that's probably what it would be. Right. You just have to commute like an hour and a half to get to your studio to find something that's comparable to what you have. Is that that space for that kind of price? Exactly. Or would it even be, you know, if that even, yeah. And what's your studio's East Garfield Park? Yes. What do you think of that area so far? How do you like having the studio there?
McDonald Predelus: I mean, this area, I get in while you can. Yeah. I feel I already see what's going to happen. There's a green line here. Yeah, it's, if you can afford it, buy it. Because I give it maybe five years. Because I give it about five years and it's going to become, you know, what's the term?
Jake Lyons: I think it's going to take that. It's going to take that next step, whatever that, whatever that is. Yeah. I guess we can, we can probably alluding to the big G word there, the gentrification.
McDonald Predelus: Oh, gentrification. I thought you were going to say like greenhouse or something. I have another G word. Green. The greenhouse effect. But yeah, I think it's a nice neighborhood. I think Chicago has a bunch of pockets of different neighborhoods.
I think, especially for artists, it depends on where you want to be. I think it has, Bucktown has access to the airport quickly and it has access to downtown quickly. So it's smack dab in the middle. East Garfield Park, it's a little bit further away. But if you get on the green line, which will take you to the loop, the West Loop, it'll take you downtown relatively quickly. So it's, Chicago is kind of built in a way where you can survive without having a car. You don't really need a car. But due to the weather, I would recommend everyone get a car because it's cold. It's extremely cold.
Jake Lyons: For sure. Yeah, you certainly don't need one. But if you can swing it, it's probably still better to have one than not. But also, but that's having a car is expensive.
It was like car payment and insurance and taxes, the stickers and all the parking tickets and speed camera tickets and all that kind of stuff that you will just inevitably rack up. So yeah, I totally understand why somebody would want to say no to help with that. And they'll stick to the CTA the whole time. And it's cool that you can do that. We probably have the, I don't know, go ahead.
McDonald Predelus: I was going to say it's efficient. It's a little bit more efficient, at least when I left New York, it's more efficient than New York's transportation because you can time the bus. You can time the train.
And it's usually accurate here. I think New York recently started having timing on the buses and trains now. So I mean, as far as transportation goes, Chicago's up there. Yeah.
Jake Lyons: Yeah, I guess I would still, I would still say New York's is superior. I think New York's public transit system is just insane. The fact that, hey, how old it is.
I mean, the fact they built that thing 150 years ago, which is like some dudes and some dynamite is just an insane thing to even try to wrap your head around. And then yeah, like just how, how thoroughly covered the whole city is by it is pretty impressive, like with Chicago, you know, I mean, it's it does a really good job. Like you can get to you can get at least like broad strokes anywhere you want in the city. But if you want to get to like some specific areas, you kind of have to get out of like the main arteries and start going down like some, you know, smaller veins of the bus systems rather than the trains, you know, Kansas City, everywhere. But it's definitely, I don't know, probably number two in America. As far as public transit systems go, can't really think of anything else.
McDonald Predelus: I was just down in Miami for Art Vassal and I'm pretty sure their public transportation was is not as good, at least if you need to go to the airport. It's just no time limit.
Jake Lyons: I think it's free, though. That's kind of that's nice. It's at least it's free. Right.
McDonald Predelus: Yeah, I think so. Yeah.
Jake Lyons: Let's see. So you've only you've just been in Wicker Park the whole time you've been here. What are what are just some favorite like some favorite things about Wicker Park that you've that you've come across since you've been there, like some hidden gems or restaurants or like eclectic shops and things?
McDonald Predelus: There's it's always changing, you know, there's always some new hidden thing. I think that when we to allude to the point where we talk about that Brooklyn vibe, you have that speakeasy or popping up in here.
If you look at the stretch from Damon and Milwaukee all the way to California, there's in Milwaukee, there's tons of things always popping up and that dynamics always changing. One of my places is small survival of your bird. And then there's, you know, there's so many things to choose from in that stretch of stores of things to do. Yeah, if you're looking at grocery stores, there's tons of them. Really good one, everything from an Aldi to a fresh market in that area. And then there's even smaller, quicker, convenient stores for quick whites or quick things that you want. Mm hmm.
Jake Lyons: Would you say the neighborhood and if not the neighborhood, then at least the city, would you say that it has influenced your own like personal and creative endeavors in any kind of way?
McDonald Predelus: That's hard to say because I'm always traveling, always being inspired by different things. But I think your city does. It kind of inspire you a bit. Just the art around the murals inspires me.
But yeah, you're kind of what they say is a product of your environment. So as long as good art keeps coming out of Chicago, I'll keep making good art. Very cool.
Jake Lyons: What kind of stuff are you working on nowadays? But in case anybody's watching this on YouTube, what's this the the GoScape logo? If you want to elaborate on just what that's about.
McDonald Predelus: Well, basically, GoScape is the largest skateboarding meetup group in the US started in New York. We have about 4,000 members. So what that means is it runs itself. So they go on meetup.com and set up skate meetups where you learn how to skate or skate with people who wants to just cruise. And then in Chicago, it's about 500 members.
Which what that means with 500 members, meaning I have to set up a meetup and I'll be there. And four or five, six people show up to skate. It's not as self ran as New York, because of course, community in New York skateboarding is a lot more of a means of travel there than here.
And then so GoScape is is a skate brand. And then that character is called the bomber head, which is the bomber head. Character, which there's tons of stuff coming out with him.
A lot of the artwork that I do, the murals, you'll see if you see one or two in the city around that character. He's a conduit of joy and just really just different styles. A lot of the stuff I do with it glows in the dark, glow in the dark art. So yeah, it's just fun, just really fun brand to play around with. And tons of always exploring new things and art with that character. Oh, nice.
Jake Lyons: Let's see, what is a challenge that you've noticed in your neighborhood? Or a challenge that your neighborhood is currently facing? Something you would change? I would have.
McDonald Predelus: I mean, I would have said the constant repavement of the road, but I think you need to do that here in Chicago because of the snow cracks. But one thing I would. Change really. I would hope for there's a restaurant that just keeps near me.
That just keeps every two years it dies out. I want more consistency in some restaurants, really good ones. That's one thing I would change. How do you how does the community support the local restaurants that are popping up? Because I feel like sometimes the restaurants in a new area when we use that G word. Always feels like they're outsiders and not part of the community. The ones that survive and sustainable, the ones that. Are somehow find the way to be part of the community involved themselves in the community.
You know, the owners and owners know you. Shout out to, you know, this bar on Milwaukee called Green Eye Bar. That's pretty good. All the people have been there since I know there's a couple other places that are you see the locals always there. I think that's one thing I would add. I would when the new restaurants come get become part of the community, but I wouldn't change anything. I love it. Nice.
Jake Lyons: Yeah. So what was I could? What was I will call the Green Eye? Yes, the Green Eye. Nice. I'll put a. I'll put a put their link in the show notes. Everybody can go there and check it out. I try to do that for every every place that comes up during these conversations.
Like if somebody has something to say about it during something good to say about it during the interview, I'll just put the link in the show notes. Try to support. I mean, yeah, man, I think that's that's those are the at least the the biggest questions I had in terms of the area that you live in. I mean, I guess what who is bottom line? You know, who would you say that the Wicker Park, Bucktown, greater area is for? And why should why should somebody want to live there?
McDonald Predelus: It's for someone who doesn't want to move to the Burbs, but likes kind of a little bit more space, city vibes. It's for someone who wants to be part of like a quick. Quick, ever changing kind of community. And it's for someone who's kind of like.
Always doing want want to have something different to do. Basically, someone who wants to live in New York, but doesn't want to deal with living in New York, I would say. You know, yeah, you don't want to deal with all the mess and the trash. And you you get a city vibe without it being messy and dirty and all of that. Very good.
Jake Lyons: Is there any what would you like out of the audience here to follow up with you? Are there any any projects you're working on that you're excited about? You'd like to get out there or, you know, follow you and see what's what you're up to.
McDonald Predelus: Yo, skate.com. That'll take you to the skate meetup group. You just click on Chicago and then you'll see you can pick a location that you want to have a skate meetup and we'll bring helmets, boards and give you a lesson on how to skate cruise safely.
And then that's usually happening in the six or six during the nicer weather. And then also follow GoScape.com and GoScape for art shows and events. There's going to be a show at Fulton Street collective. About 70 different artists. I'm creating that. Nice. Check that out. When is that December 16th?
Jake Lyons: OK, that will be that'll have happened already by the time this episode is theirs, unfortunately. But, you know, it's OK. That's your doing that.
McDonald Predelus: Shut up. Fulton Street. That is that is that is true. So what else? What else I would shout out? Yeah, just definitely get a bomber head digital collective piece. There's a lot of making around there. A lot of making for the community and people who are involved in it. So, yeah.
Jake Lyons: Great stuff, man. McDonald, thank you so much for sharing your your expertise and experience on Chicago and your neighborhood and what you're up to here. And I know a lot of people will get a lot out of this. Thanks so much. Thank you. Thanks for having me.
