Where do tree hugging, vegetarian liberals belong in north Chicago? (Evanston: salons, condo)

[emmi605]

That is sad to hear about Prairie Crossing. I guess the saying, "If it sounds to good to be true, it usually is," fits here. One town that I absolutely love because of that downtown feel is LaGrange, Illinois. The homes are amazing and it seems to be a very friendly place. I will drive there to shop at Trader Joes and Borders, but get caught up driving around to look at the amazing old homes. LaGrange would be quite a distance from Mettawa though. I am just not familiar with the north shore towns to tell you the truth. The fact that you are visiting will be helpful and I'm sure you will get a feel for the communities when you walk around them. As for Oak Park, there is an amazing downtown area and the architecture is fantastic. I think the diversity of Oak Park makes people think there is a lot of crime there, but you'd have to check the statistics to be sure. They have their own website that reports the daily crime.

Oak Park, Illinois Village Departments -- Police Department

According to Money Magazine list of best places to live, the crime rate was higher than places they chose as the "best places" in 2006. Obviously, this magazine has its own agenda, but realistic comparisons are made on their website also.

[ahava]

La Grange and Oak Park are great but if your husband is going to be working in Mettawa you don't want to live that far away. I work in Lincolnshire (near Mettawa) and live in Western Springs (next to La Grange) and my commute is horrible! I'm looking for a new job because I can't take it anymore, and I've only been living here for two years. I'd say you don't want to look any farther south than O'Hare, if your husband's sanity is important to you . With that in mind, I think Evanston is exactly what you're looking for.

[trailerguy]

Oak Park was at the cutting edge of modern architecture at the turn of the last century. It was the home of Frank Lloyd Wright and contains many of his early masterpieces. Of course, a Wright house is astronomically expensive to buy, requires expensive maintenance and restoration under government regulation and attracts hordes of tourists. The rest of the homes are gracious examples of what was contemporary at that time. It has the downtown you want, rich culture, extraordinary neighbors and an intensely strong sense of community. The Austin neighborhood of Chicago on the east border has had serious problems, having been turned into a ghetto almost overnight by the blockbusting phenomenon of the late 60's. It's starting to turn back, with adventurous visionary young people buying the once-gracious old homes and turning them gracious again. Yes, you do need to be very careful, but the prospects are good.
Highland Park has always been gracious and safe and has a strong sense of community too. It also has a few Wright houses.

[jaynetarzana]

It looks like Mettawa would be about a 20 min drive from Highland Park. Is that about right with traffic?

[Windy City John]

why not vernon hills, libertyville, or green oaks

[jaynetarzana]

Originally Posted by Windy City John

why not vernon hills, libertyville, or green oaks

Do these towns have what we are looking for? Liberals and mid century modern archictecture? If so, we'll check them out.

An agent is steering us toward Licolnshire. Anyone care to chime in about that town?

[nanannie]

Lincolnshire??? No, not with your requests. Its an expensive area with really no "town" to speak of. Some nice McMansions homes, busy traffic,very crowded area. I dont get why tree hugging liberals would be steered there unless your realtor has listings there. I love Highland Park,thinks its a great town. I also like Evanston or any of the lakefront towns. I would find a town you love, and then a house that is "home" for you and through all the wonderful activities,volunteering, and clubs etc you could find your own group of friends and like minded people........ Or else move to Northern California or Oregon

[Paige65]

Highland Park is pretty liberal. It has a strong government and great schools. I don't think it's quite the tree-hugging community you're looking for, but there is a sense of volunteerism, community involvement, etc. Citizens are very active in the community fighting to maintain affordable housing, services for socio-economically disadvantaged, recycling is important, etc. The woman that started the Cool Globes Cool Globes - Hot Ideas For a Cooler Planet (http://www.coolglobes.com/index2.htm - broken link) project lives in Highland Park. However, I don't think you really get much of that "granola vibe" in Highland Park at all. If you are looking for that, you should look toward Evanston. The commute to/from Mettawa will be fairly long though.

Highland Park has a great downtown and a nice, but small commercial district called Ravinia. If you are looking for family friendly areas where people know one another, I'd check out the Ravinia neighborhood or Sunset Park neighborhood. Sunset Park is close to downtown and Ravinia is close to the Ravinia Festival and business district (dry cleaners, restaurants, hair salons, coffee shop, etc.)

You would probably be able to find a mid-century house in your price range in the area immediately west of Green Bay Road.

[cw68]

Originally Posted by Windy City John

Why not downtown Elmhurst?

Surely you jest. I'm from Elmhurst and I don't think there's a liberal in the whole city. OK, there might be one or two.

As a native-Elmhurstian who's a liberal living in Northern California, I would second the Evanston suggestion. Mid-Century architecture, of which I am also a fan, is more difficult to find than in California. It certainly is less celebrated here.

[chiados]

We've lived in Evanston for 3 years now and have two young sons. We lived in Berkeley for several years before returning to the Midwest and have found Evanston to be the closest thing to Berkeley in Chicagoland. As to your affinities, there are a number of good vegetarian restaurants in/near Evanston (Blind Faith Cafe, Lakeside Cafe, etc.), the downtown is pretty active with adjacent houses/neighborhoods in your price range, a number of "green goods" stores have opened in the past couple of years, the city council conducts foreign policy on occasion, folks are actually very concerned about their trees and the environment more broadly, the farmer's market is great all summer long, there's a group starting an organic farm within city limits, there are decent parents groups including The Parents' Circle, the schools are good, etc.