A rendering of the redesigned area around the Discount Mall in Little Village (Courtesy of Novak Construction, Mid-America and Hirsch, MPG)

Improvements to the mall are planned, including new roofs and facades, parking lot resurfacing, new landscaping, new lighting and an underground storm water detention system. 

Discount Mall vendors rally as they seek answers about their future from the mall's owners on Jan. 31, 2023. (Joanna Hernandez / WTTW News)

Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th Ward) recently hosted a meeting Tuesday with vendors to reassure them he will be fighting to keep the retail hub open. Novak Construction, the mall’s owner, extended vendors’ leases until the end of March.  

(WTTW News)

It's been one year since 8-year-old Melissa Ortega was shot to death in Little Village. The community is honoring her memory with a mural and peace tree.

(WTTW News)

Vendors have rallied in front of the Chicago Police Department headquarters, asking for more police presence in the morning, when many vendors are out as early as 4 a.m.

Little Village vendors call for more protection outside of Chicago Police Department headquarters on Dec. 21, 2022. (WTTW News)

One by one, street vendors recently walked into Chicago Police Department headquarters. They were on a mission to get help following recent robberies of street vendors along 26th Street.

(Courtesy of OPEN Center for the Arts)

In Mexico, one or two days just aren’t enough to celebrate the holiday season. There, the traditional Christmas posadas are nine days long, and the parties keep going well into the new year.

Chicago Youth Boxing Club hosts an amateur tournament. (WTTW News)

A boxing gym in the basement of a Little Village church is on a mission to provide new opportunities for neighborhood kids. Chicago Youth Boxing Club started in 2006 as a refuge for young people seeking a positive outlet.

(Credit: OPEN Center for the Arts)

Through the month of October, a series of events called “Journey Chicago” is taking place at cultural heritage centers across the city and suburbs. 

Evelyn Flores and Laura Alvarado in their Little Village shop Alborada. (WTTW News)

A quinceañera is all about the details. A family-run business in Little Village has been playing a part in the quinceañeras of area girls for years.

El Churro Shop in Little Village. (WTTW News)

“Crunchy outside, soft center, golden brown and delicious” – that’s how Aldo Rios, owner of El Churro Shop in Little Village, describes the perfect churro. 

(WTTW News)

After worrying for months that they would be kicked out under a new owner, vendors at the shopping center have been given a short extension on their leases.

The Discount Mall in Little Village is pictured in August 2022. (WTTW News)

For now, it’s business as usual inside the Discount Mall in Little Village as customers navigate through the aisles and vendors work to land a sale. But these merchants don’t know how long they have left to run their businesses. 

Victor Chihuake asks for the FBI to investigate the unsolved homicide of his cousin Ramiro Morales Jr. during a rally outside the Chicago FBI field office on March 22, 2022. (Joanna Hernandez / WTTW News)

Mothers and family members who are seeking justice in the killings of their loved ones stood outside the Chicago FBI field office. The rally was organized by the Little Village Community Council as a way to bring attention to unsolved homicides in the city and to ask the FBI for assistance.

The iconic arch that welcomes everyone to La Villita is set to become an official landmark. (WTTW News)

The Little Village arch is the first structure designed by a Mexican American architect to get landmark status in Chicago, officials said. 

The iconic arch that welcomes everyone to La Villita has preliminary landmark status. (WTTW News)

Should full landmark status be granted, the arch will become the first symbol of Chicago’s Latino community to receive that honor, as well as the first time an architect of Mexican descent has had a structure landmarked here. 

Chicago is about to get more green space. We preview two long-anticipated new parks slated to open this weekend.