CHICAGO (WLS) — ABC7 Chicago is celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month with a new special in May, titled “Our Chicago: 600,000 Strong.”

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In the special, ABC7 reporters Judy Hsu, Ravi Baichwal, Eric Horng and Cate Cauguiran visited Chicago neighborhoods and suburbs which have been rejuvenated by the 600,000-plus Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who live in the area.

Chinatown

Journey with Judy Hsu into the heart of Chicago’s Chinatown, the city’s oldest Asian American community. Home to around 35,000 Asian Americans, Chicago’s Chinatown has a strong community spirit that welcomes visitors and new generations alike.

Hsu spoke with Shifa Zhong, an influencer who uses his social media platforms to highlight businesses in Chinatown and its surrounding neighborhoods. You can follow Shifa on Instagram @chinatownshifa. She then caught up with Lily Wang, the Co-Owner of Nine Bar, an Asian cocktail bar behind the well-known Moon Palace Express. Lily explains how the area’s lounge bar came to fruition and how this passion project is still carrying on her family’s legacy.

Next, Hsu visited with the President of the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, Jimmy Lee, who offers insights on how Chinatown continues to evolve into a tourist destination and is a thriving economy engine.

And she couldn’t stop by Chinatown without visiting the oldest bakery in the area, Chiu Quon. The bakery’s co-owner, Joyce Chiu, shares how she’s upholding her father’s traditional recipes while incorporating new ideas of her own into the family business. For more on Chinatown, visit: https://www.chicagochinatown.org/

Asia on Argyle

Cate Cauguiran then visited “Asia on Argyle” in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. The vibrant stretch of Uptown is also known as “Little Vietnam.”

It started as an Asian enclave in the 1960s, sparked by restaurateur Jimmy Wong’s dream of creating a ‘new Chinatown.’ But it was the arrival of Vietnamese and Southeast Asian refugees in the 1970s that truly shaped its unique identity.

Today, Asia Argyle remains a vital hub. It’s home to thousands of chicago’s asian residents. And it is the undeniable heart of Vietnamese commerce in the city.

“Asia on Argyle” is a dynamic blend of history, culture and flavor that Cauguiran was excited to explore. She visited world-renowned chef Peter Yuen, whose upscale bakery La Patisserie P is nationally-recognized bakery at 1050 W. Argyle in the neighborhood.

Cauguiran also visited Ba Le Sandwiches at 5014 N. Broadway Ave., best known for its classic Banh Mi sandwiches.

Devon Avenue

Eric Horng visited Devon Avenue, a street alive with the dazzling colors and vibrant energy of South Asia. Some call it “Little India,” but it wasn’t always this way.

It was a predominantly Jewish community until the 1970s, when immigrants from India and Pakistan began arriving.

They built a new home here on the city’s West Ridge neighborhood.

Today, even though a number of South Asians have moved to the suburbs, Devon Avenue still thrives.

Eric started off by visiting Sukhaida’s Sweets and Snacks at, 2559 W. Devon Ave. One of the older Indian eateries on Devon, this is a sweet shop whose bright red doors have been open on Devon since 1997, when a surge of desi immigrants began settling into the area. Sneh Sukhadia, the sixth-generation owner of Sukhadia’s, described Devon as “just up and coming” when his family first moved to Chicago from New Jersey.

Horng then visited J. Junaid Jamshed, a clothing boutique at 2351 W. Devon Ave.

This popular Pakistani-owned clothing boutique was founded by and named after a well-known Pakistani pop star and TV personality, who died in a plane crash in 2016.

It’s one of six locations in the United States, and one of about 120 worldwide, but everything comes out of Pakistan.

Westerners will stop in as well, looking to try out a kurta or traditional Peshawari chappals (sandals).

He then visited the famous Patel Brothers grocery store at 2610 W. Devon Ave. It is now the nation’s most famous Indian grocer, which now has 52 stores nationwide. But the Patel Brothers started their empire at this Devon Avenue store back in 1974, back when the street was still primarily Jewish.

Now it’s the largest South Asian grocery chain in the U.S., specializing in authentic Indian groceries, spices and produce.

The Suburbs

Ravi Baichwal concluded the special by visiting some of the notable enclaves for the AAPI community in the suburbs, including Naperville, Aurora and Northbrook.

Beyond the familiar skyline of Chicago, a profound demographic shift is reshaping the suburbs.

Places like Naperville and Aurora are now vibrant hubs for growing Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.

In DuPage County, Asian and South Asian populations in some cities have more than doubled over the past two decades, according to U.S. Census statistics, adding tens of thousands of residents.

Nearly a quarter of Naperville residents by the early 2020s represent this demographic, according to the U.S. Census. That’s a dramatic rise from around 15% just ten years prior.

New establishments owned by members of this community have opened in Naperville, like “The Matrix Club”, a state of the art, multi-purpose event venue located at Route 59 and Ogden Boulevard in Naperville.

Baichwal visited the club with its founder and co-owner, Shebani Kulkarni.

Then, Baichwal visited Pacifica Square Mall at 4360 E. New York St. in Aurora.

Pacifica Square is an Asian lifestyle center providing unique cultural, shopping, dining and entertainment experiences.

It’s owners (The Windfall Group) broke ground several years ago on a project to turn a 360,000 square foot plaza into the nation’s largest Asian lifestyle center. And now its become a hub for Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Indian vendors and restaurants.

Finally, Baichwal traveled to Northbrook, where a dance studio called Culture in Motion has taken up space in the Northbrook Court Mall.