Bloomingdale to Itasca (Chicago, Naperville, Elgin: apartment, renting, house)

[borntoplay]

Any thoughts on how bad or good the commute from Bloomingdale to Itasca would be?

Any thoughts on Bloomingdale as far as nightlife, things to do nearby, basically just living in the city. How is it compared to schaumburg, I hear it is a small town.

Thanks for any help. I am relocating for work and don't know much about the area!

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by borntoplay

Any thoughts on how bad or good the commute from Bloomingdale to Itasca would be?

Any thoughts on Bloomingdale as far as nightlife, things to do nearby, basically just living in the city. How is it compared to schaumburg, I hear it is a small town.

Thanks for any help. I am relocating for work and don't know much about the area!

The commute wont be bad. Normally takes me about 15-20 minutes, even with a decent amount of traffic.

Nightlife in Bloomingdale is pretty much non-existant. There are alot of shopping centers and a mall (Stratford Square--which is pretty decent), but no clubs or anything that I can think of. There are some nice restaurants (chain, non-chain, ethnic, etc) and other things, but nightlife lacks. You can take 355 south to Naperville for some nightlife or head into Schaumburg, or best yet: take the Elgin-O'Hare towards Chicago. Bloomingdale is a pretty nice place to live though, not the best, not the worst. There are some very ritzy and gorgeous areas of Bloomingdale, and some older not-so-ritzy areas, but no bad neighborhoods that I know of.

[borntoplay]

thanks for the quick reply! Going to Chicago for nightlife sounds like a plan! How is public transportation from Bloomingdale to Chicago? Any trains nearby?
Naperville/Schaumburg don't seem like too far of drives to go looking for nightlife right?

I had over by the mall in mind as a place to live.

[Steve-o]

No prob! PT to Chicago is close by in neighboring Hanover Park, Itasca, Roselle, etc. Depending on where you live in Bloomingdale, you can be at a Metra station shortly.

Here is a list of the Chicago-Elgin Metra stops/stations:
Metra / Milwaukee District West Line Schedules

Naperville is a bit of a haul, but on I-355 south you can be there in about 30 minutes, but its a toll-road, so itll cost you a buck or two, sadly. Forget about taking other routes to Naperville, itll take about an hour. Here is a link to Naperville nightlife if youre interested:
Naperville Restaurants Bars Clubs Entertainment

In addition to all the shopping and nightlife in Schaumburg, Roselle is working on building a nice new place too, which isnt that far from Bloomingdale:
Welcome to Rosemont Walk

[tcs1366]

Bloomingdale is a nice town. I"m assuming you may be renting an apartment, right?
I know there are a few complexes out near Startford Mall, IE:Gary Ave
that is the west side of Bloomingdale, probably a 15-20 min ride ... but the east side of Bloomingdale and the north side of itasca are a stones throw away.

IF you are taking the train to Chicago, i'd either go to Roselle, Medinah or Itasca for the train.

the commute to Itasca for work... there are only a few roads, but once you learn some back roads, you can eliminate some... again, depending on where you live.

Steve - O ... you made a slight Whoops here.... you posted a link to Rosemont, and confused it with Roselle's location. Rosemont is about a 30 min ride.

Borntoplay -- feel free to contact me with any specifics you may have... I've been here most of my life, and know these 'burbs [itasca, bloomingdale, roselle, etc] pretty well.... and i'd be happy to help out.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by tcs1366

Steve - O ... you made a slight Whoops here.... you posted a link to Rosemont, and confused it with Roselle's location. Rosemont is about a 30 min ride

Dammit, I did, didnt I? Oops! Yes, youre correct, I have NO IDEA why I was thinking of Rosemont instead of Roselle. haha But yes, youre correct. Figure a 20-30 minute drive to Rosemont from Bloomingdale, which still isnt horrible. Thanks for pointing that out.

[tcs1366]

well, when you mentioned "Night Life" in Roselle... that is what got me going, as Roselle has LESS than Bloomingdale.

The only thing i can think of, where night life might be considered would be Dave and Busters. But honestly, since i am not a "game room" kinda person ... i dont go often... but Adult Game Room it is ... since you actually get "carded" if you look under 21.

when ever we took our kids ... in their teen years ... they always went in first and had to "wait for your parents" kinda thing.

Then there is "Streets" [street of woodfield] I have no idea what people actually DO there ... but you pass it any night of the week, specially in the summer and that entire parking lot is PACKED, even at midnight. I know they have that game room there, a few good restaurants and Starbucks -- which is a huge hang out in the summer... i have not idea what people do there... i just know i can never get a parking space if we happen to do there.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by tcs1366

well, when you mentioned "Night Life" in Roselle... that is what got me going, as Roselle has LESS than Bloomingdale.

The only thing i can think of, where night life might be considered would be Dave and Busters. But honestly, since i am not a "game room" kinda person ... i dont go often... but Adult Game Room it is ... since you actually get "carded" if you look under 21.

when ever we took our kids ... in their teen years ... they always went in first and had to "wait for your parents" kinda thing.

Then there is "Streets" [street of woodfield] I have no idea what people actually DO there ... but you pass it any night of the week, specially in the summer and that entire parking lot is PACKED, even at midnight. I know they have that game room there, a few good restaurants and Starbucks -- which is a huge hang out in the summer... i have not idea what people do there... i just know i can never get a parking space if we happen to do there.

Once again, thanks for pointing out my mistake. Cant believe I did that. lol

Anyways, regarding the Streets of Woodfield, its packed because of the HUGE local car scene. What happens is that parking lot gets jammed full for willing race participants. People will stroll the parking lot and just check out cars or try and get people to race for money/pinks. My buddy was approached in his modded Miata MANY times for people wanting to race. Buncha boneheads hang out there though! He had some guy with a turbo LS1 Firebird want to race his 175 hp Miata (modded for autocross and drifting--not dragging). My friend asked him what he was driving and the guy replied "oh, just a shop car, nothing special". They try and race anyone and everyone just to make a quick buck. Anyways, sorry for rambling, but I figured Id explain why the lots were so full at midnight. I hear the cops broke it up though. Some idiots would actually go and race on 355 right there and thats when cops figured out what was going on. Not like tons of trails of cars going off into the night and coming back 15 minutes later was a big surprise.

[Steve-o]

Oh yeah, another explanation why the lot is so full is because of the sushi place (forget its name), Maggiano's, the theater, Starbucks, GameSpot (Steven Spielberg's arcade), etc. But alot of the parking problems come from the mass amount of racers.

[tcs1366]

ah, and let's not exclude all the "crotch rockets" lined up there in the summer.

as for restaurants.... Big Bowl (that wouldnt be the sushi place would it?)
Shaws Crab house ... been there.. good food.
and It's GameStop.. you just transposed. My kids are there all the time.

the racing thing... that's NUTS, but i dont find it hard to believe. During the summer I can always hear cars and those crotch rockets FLYING down 290 ... i always expect to hear a loud crash.... but not too often. coupla bad accidents in the 6 yrs it's been in my backyard.

sorry to get a bit OT here.

but night life in the western burbs.... not too much, all depends on what you are looking for.