How Devon Avenue became the hub of Chicago’s Indian community

Devon Avenue: Long known as Little India, the West Ridge strip is heavily South Asian, increasingly diverse. (Sun-Times file)

Beverly Kumar knows which bakeries and restaurants in Chicago offer flavors that take her back to Mumbai, India, where she grew up.

These businesses are clustered on a mile-long stretch of Devon Avenue from about California Avenue on the west to Damen Avenue on the east in West Ridge on the city’s far North Side, an area now commonly known as Little India.