Is the North Shore still regarded prestigious? (Highland Park, Wilmette: income, park)

[ahava]

Originally Posted by crbcrbrgv

The only suburbs that compare to the North Shore burbs are Hinsdale (similar to Winnetka) and Western Springs (similar to Wilmette). One big advantage Wilmette has over Western Springs is it is a part of New Trier's district while Western Springs is not a part of Hinsdale's. Hinsdale Central and New Trier high are very comparable. Lyons Township, although a good school is no New Trier or Hinsdale Central.

I agree except that Western Springs is smaller and nowhere near as diverse as Wilmette. To some people that's another advantage Wilmette has.

[crbcrbrgv]

Originally Posted by ahava

I agree except that Western Springs is smaller and nowhere near as diverse as Wilmette. To some people that's another advantage Wilmette has.

Ahava, and sadly to some people this is another advantage Western Springs has.

[mom2toddlers]

Originally Posted by prairiestate

No, all those towns filled with multi-million dollar mansions and huge estates back then are now a ghetto. Amazing what ten years will do.

This has to be a joke..funny if it is..weird if it's not.
Lincolnshire and the majority of the North Shore is still thriving and lovely.

[ahava]

Originally Posted by crbcrbrgv

Ahava, and sadly to some people this is another advantage Western Springs has.

Yes, racists can be found anywhere, but diversity of race does not always equal diversity of ideas or values, especially in a place as solidly upper-middle class as Wilmette.

[joan83]

I think that River Forest is far more similar to Wilmette than Western Springs is. River Forest is more diverse, wealthier, has higher home prices and older homes than Western Springs which makes it more like Wilmette.

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by joan83

I think that River Forest is far more similar to Wilmette than Western Springs is. River Forest is more diverse, wealthier, has higher home prices and older homes than Western Springs which makes it more like Wilmette.

River Forest definitely plays Wilmette to Oak Park's Evanston.

[edsg25]

x

[edsg25]

Do I believe that there can be shifting of relative positions of one group of suburbs with another. Yes.

Do I also believe that there are some conditions that are constants and that afford certain places advantages that other places do not have. Again..and emphatically...yes.

Thus geography and topography have worked together to give the North Shore a one-upsmanship no Chicagoland suburban region can match.

Smack on the shores of Lake Michigan with all collateral that that lakefront affords, the North Shore uses the shore in ways no other other suburban areas can match. It creates a linear strip that goes on with no interuption along the lakefront from Howard Street n where Chicago turns into Evanston all the way on up to a brief break in Highwood with the strip continuing it glorious stretch north up to where Lake Bluff fades into Great Lakes. And what does the North Shore to pack in along the way: the towers of downtown Evanston, NU, Bahai Temple, the Sheridan Road ravines that wind you from Winnetka into Glencoe, the Botanic Gardens, Ravinia, the classical beauty of Fort Sheridan, LFC, Lake Forest's Market Square.

There is nothing in any way comparable to this and Sheridan Road's ride is unique in the Chicago area. The lake also gives the NS privacy. No grid like thoroughfares loaded with strip malls crosses through it. There is nothing to cross through; once you hit the lake, there is nowhere left to go. And that very lakefront gave the NS the earliest settlement of true Chicago money in the form of one quaint downtown followed by another that were placed where they are in the 19th century by the C&NW. Expressways? They don't rip through the NS. In fact, the Edens Expy actually provides a buffer to set the area apart, aided by an inland waterway that adds more privacy in the form of the Skokie Lagoons and the Chgo River North Branch.

The North Shore is different. It is defined by boundaries (although what those boundaries are is vastly debates) and by lifestyle (as in "that is so North Shore"). It is distinctive in a way that north, northwest, west, southwest, or south suburbia are not. Actually IMHO, the only place in Chicagoland that I feel can offer such recognizable traits based on geography and history is the Fox River valley.

In a world that constatnly changes, the North Shore is a constant. And its special status ain't goin' nowhere.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by edsg25

River Forest definitely plays Wilmette to Oak Park's Evanston.

I think too many people don't realize how "down market" much of Wilmette is -- if it weren't for New Trier much of the smaller older homes in Wilmette would be no more desirable than similar homes in Skokie...

River Forest has a few distinctive areas where the homes are more expensive than the AVERAGE home in Oak Park, but the big difference in RF is that it has a much smaller range of housing altogether. Far fewer rentals and condos, nothing like the east or south edges of OP where home values are far those in the desirable core...

In the New Trier attendance area there is a similar profile of very small number of rentals, no blighted areas and a HUGE number of very costly homes.

Profile wise these qualities do constitute a bit of a "which comes first" dilemma -- uniformly high perform schools or uniformly high property values?

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by chet everett

I think too many people don't realize how "down market" much of Wilmette is -- if it weren't for New Trier much of the smaller older homes in Wilmette would be no more desirable than similar homes in Skokie...

River Forest has a few distinctive areas where the homes are more expensive than the AVERAGE home in Oak Park, but the big difference in RF is that it has a much smaller range of housing altogether. Far fewer rentals and condos, nothing like the east or south edges of OP where home values are far those in the desirable core...

In the New Trier attendance area there is a similar profile of very small number of rentals, no blighted areas and a HUGE number of very costly homes.

Profile wise these qualities do constitute a bit of a "which comes first" dilemma -- uniformly high perform schools or uniformly high property values?

I know what you are talking about, but truthfully the Skokie type homes you describe in Wilmette pretty much are in the western part of of town, south of Glenview Road and west of Hunter.

Few towns anywhere, keep the ritz up throughout, even on the North Shore beyond Evanston. Highland Park is spotty with great wealth mixed in with the most ordinary of houses. And the only town on the NS that really is able to keep the whole place in the upper echelon is Kenilworth....and it is able to do so strictly due to its incredibly small size and minimal stretch west of the lake.

Too many areas of Wilmette are high income, prime residential property not only east and along the lakefront, but in the northwest part of town, too. I'd have a hard time seeing Wilmette as being anything but a A-1 quality suburb.