[Kuksool]

Another Muslim ghetto would be the Southwest Suburbans of Cook County, IL. Chicago Metro Towns like Burbank and Bridgeview were once blue collar white Catholic communities. Now they look like the Gaza Strip. There are restaurants and grocery stores with signs in Arabic. Plus, the shopping malls are full of women (mostly the older generation) dressed in hi jab - the Muslim veil.

A few weeks ago, I was driving around in that neighborhood with a friend who got back from Iraq. After observing the cultural flavor of Bridgeview, IL, he joked, "It feels like I haven't left Iraq."

[Clemenza]

once blue collar white Catholic communities

Such communities have been dying for 40 years, if not more. They are the perfect environment for "new" immigrants to settle in, as the children of those "blue collar Catholics" move up in the world and move to Wheaton, Naperville, etc.

[Clemenza]

BTW: The Arabs of Bridgeview and Burbank moved from Marquette Park. I had a Palestinean co-worker who grew up near 69th street in Marquette Park and then moved to Burbank with the rest of his family.