The Big Picture: The Growth of Green Street
(Image by Michelle Hassel) High-rise apartments, boutiques, hotels, bumper-to-bumper traffic, and delicious cuisines from around the world—all the makings of a vibrant, urban tableau. Many Illinois alumni who recall a Campustown landscape of record stores, movie theaters, music clubs, American chain restaurants, and quirky businesses in weird old houses would be shocked to learn that this is Green Street today. But over the past 25 years, Green has grown and changed with the university, transforming into a more cosmopolitan, 21st century version of itself. Not all returning alumni love it, but it serves the needs and desires of current students—just as it always has, and just as it always will.
