Hospitality on Hold
how three immigrant restaurant owners in one Chicago neighborhood have weathered the pandemic
About the project
Immigrants and people of color own about one in three local businesses in Uptown, a neighborhood on Chicago’s Far North Side that is known as an immigrant stronghold and entertainment hub. Many of those businesses are small restaurants that have faced the pandemic amidst the neighborhood’s ongoing gentrification. The series was produced as part of the CatchLight Local Chicago visual desk in collaboration with Block Club Chicago and the Institute of Nonprofit News.
Hospitality on Hold relays how three restaurants have adapted, collaborated and suffered to survive through photographs and feature-length stories. CatchLight Local Fellow and Uptown resident Woojae Julia Song photographed, researched and wrote the series with reporting support from Block Club Chicago journalist Joe Ward. CatchLight provided visual editing and engagement support. The series culminated with a free, outdoor photo exhibit that included captions in English, Spanish and Vietnamese and an opening reception that featured free food from the three participating restaurants.
See the published versions:
the Impact
Using a visual-first approach and focusing coverage on people who hold identities at the intersection of several communities that have borne the brunt of the pandemic resulted in the following outcomes:
… on the Community
- Improved language access: stories published in English/Spanish, exhibit text included in English/Spanish/Vietnamese
- Widened and diversified audience through translations, re-publishing with Borderless Magazine and targeted promotion with community organizations
- Month-long outdoor photo exhibition that used a community event space that had gone unused since the pandemic started. An outdoor, low covid-risk opening event drew over 250 attendees, including many neighborhood residents.
- Generated additional visibility & support for local, immigrant owned businesses.
… on the Fellow
“After the fellowship, I feel more confident building relationships with participants, advocating for resources to tell stronger stories and working across forms. Sharing the stories both as online articles and a physical exhibit meant a more diverse audience — particularly news consumption habits, age and language-wise — interacted with the participants’ stories and neighborhood context.
This project also helped me feel how big and complex one neighborhood is. I want to continue the project in some form and participate in future projects that are grounded in location, community and history. ”
Woojae Julia Song, 2020-2021 CL Local Chicago Fellow
Participating Restaurants & Resources
Community Organization — Axis Lab:
Patricia Nguyen, co-founder of Axis Lab, provided crucial support by connecting Julia with participants, guiding event logistics and sharing historical knowledge. Axis Lab is an Uptown-based community organization that engages in arts, urban design, culinary curation and other multidisciplinary approaches to advocate for ethical development for immigrants and refugees. To learn more about their work, which includes an upcoming archive of the neighborhood’s Argyle area, visit www.axislab.org
Participating Restaurants:
- Golden House Restaurant and Pancake House, 4744 N. Broadway Ave. 773-334-0406
- Tasting India, @tasting_india on Instagram and www.tastingindia.net
- Phở Loan, 1114 W. Argyle St. www.pholoantogo.com