Wicker Park 'Gutter Punk' Population Surges Ahead of Grateful Dead Shows

https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20150703/wicker-park/wicker-park-gutter-...

WICKER PARK — The homeless population in Wicker Park has surged, partly because of this weekend's Grateful Dead farewell shows, said several of the scruffy newcomers who hop freight trains or hitchhike and call themselves "travelers."

"I was hoping when I got here today I'd run into family," said Kitty G., a 31-year-old woman who plans to stay in Chicago for the weekend — albeit on the streets rather than at a hotel, where an influx of Deadheads have sent rates skyrocketing, reports said.

Kitty G. and her puppy, Spit, arrived in Chicago on Wednesday. They were headed to Wicker Park's namesake park, 1425 N. Damen Ave., to look for other "travelers," whom she refers to as family.

Like many transients who arrive to Wicker Park from all over the country every summer, Kitty G., of Russian Jewish descent, also has an actual family, though she says she doesn't speak with them.

Kitty G. said she has been listening to the band for most of her life but does not have tickets to any of the Dead's concerts. She plans to hang out near Soldier Field.