Is there a suburb with the look & feel of the NS but without the price? (Chicago: renting, townhome)

[Anthera]

Originally Posted by nanannie

I am 100% with Anthera. I find "Buffalo Grove has absolutely no relationship to the North Shore suburbs in its offerings". I agree its more affordable-for a reason. It is Strip Mall/cookie cutter/heavy traffic town= Anywhere USA. But yes,affordable. Charm and Buffalo Grove are oxymorons.

And the OP was very specific about not wanting "cookie cutter" housing. I was actually wondering if there was an unknown, charming part of BG. I really only drive through that area on major roads.

[nanannie]

Originally Posted by edsg25

nanannie, i don't disagree with you one bit here. and you would be right to suggest that when it comes to charm , it cannot teach the North Shore. I will also admit that I didn't address the question very well.

the only reason I suggested Buffalo Grove is that I know that many people who l would rather live in Highland Park or even Deerfield chose Buffalo Grove because it was more reasonable.

As noted, I didn't answer the question well, but I hardly meant to attribute qualities to Buffalo Grove that is does not have.

Then again, I would have to say there are parts of the North Shore that are as unnorthshore like as BG. Many parts of west Wilmette and Highland Park west of 41 are hardly North Shore in nature. And there are numerous areas with a true North Shore feel that are not walkable as far as reaching destinations.

I was wrong if I in any way that BG had those NS qualities, and probably shouldn't have made the ost based on the notion that people interested in HP may choose BG as an alternative.

Is stand corrected.

Then again, as someone who has lived in various parts of the North Shore for much of my life and loves it, when it comes to "charm", there is a serious warning:

true, BG has strip malls and other attributes that are very much a part of a totally uncharming suburban lifestyle so sadly built on cars. The reasons has nothing to do with value, but age: BG came of age in the go-go years of the automobile prior to the more humanly scaled years of North Shore growth.

So BG well may be relatively berift of charm, but, in a way, that might beat the North Shore in the sense that the NS, a charm belt, seems hell bent on losing its charm. The amount of teardowns replaced my McMansions and often McCastles has seriously altered the true charm of the NS and the faux retro architecture of developments like Renaissance Place n HP are more about a sanitized version of Disney's spin on suburban charm.

The values of Buffalo Grove and the North Shore do not differ; both are equally subject to the forces in society that believe that charm can be mass produced, retrofitted, and come with out of sight prices and size that are anything but charming.

Good Post!

[GoCUBS1]

I don't think Buffalo Grove looks like the NS. However, I have met quite a few people who have considered the NS and then instead (usually because of price) chose to buy a house in BG. I think the main reason is schools. BG's schools (e.g. D96 elem, Stevenson HS, etc.) are often ranked as well (or sometimes better) than NS schools (e.g. HP-Deerfield, etc.). But since the OP stated that "schools are not important" and she doesn't want "cookie-cutter" houses, that may rule out BG.

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by nanannie

Good Post!

thanks, nanannie. appreciate your acknowledgement. and, as noted, was sorry I didn't make myself clear from the start. I fully realize that BG differs from the NS, but I know it is also attractive to people wanting to life on the NS.

Next time, I'll try to be clearer.

[GoCUBS1]

Originally Posted by Anthera

I was actually wondering if there was an unknown, charming part of BG.

I'm trying to think.... I can really only picture those "cookie-cutter" subdivisions, strip malls, corporate HQ, and industrial parks. I hate to say it... but I don't think there is a "charming part." It does get more charming once you cross the NW border into Long Grove. And I think there may be some charming areas over the eastern border in Lincolnshire (though I can't be sure). Poor BG may have no charm. But at least they have pretty good schools...

[chitown85]

Lincolnshire is the edge of the north shore, but it is certainly not walkable. Nearly all Lincolnshire homes are custom built, same with Long Grove. Long Grove is also NOT walkable.

[susancruzs]

And, oh my gosh, the prices in LG or Lincolnshire, out of sight, even if they have gone down!

[GoCUBS1]

Originally Posted by chitown85

Lincolnshire is the edge of the north shore, but it is certainly not walkable. Nearly all Lincolnshire homes are custom built, same with Long Grove. Long Grove is also NOT walkable.

That's right, they are not walkable to shopping/town. I also wouldn't recommend Long Grove or Lincolnshire to the OP as they are above her price range. I was specifically addressing Anthera's question of whether BG has any "charming" parts. I pointed out that, although I don't know any charming areas in BG, I think Long Grove is charming. Sorry it was off topic....

[Lookout Kid]

I think the Buffalo Grove stuff sidetracked this argument because a lot of the North Shore doesn't feel "North Shore". As edsg25 pointed out, the western edges of many North Shore towns are more cookie cutter, and may very well resemble Buffalo Grove. But of course, when people talk about "North Shore feel", they aren't talking about a split-level ranch near the Edens--even if that ranch happens to fall within the Winnetka or Wilmette municipal boundaries.

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

I think the Buffalo Grove stuff sidetracked this argument because a lot of the North Shore doesn't feel "North Shore". As edsg25 pointed out, the western edges of many North Shore towns are more cookie cutter, and may very well resemble Buffalo Grove. But of course, when people talk about "North Shore feel", they aren't talking about a split-level ranch near the Edens--even if that ranch happens to fall within the Winnetka or Wilmette municipal boundaries.

great point, Kid. If you want to find that real "North Shore feel", all you have to do is look at a 1950s map of Chicagoland. You will see "fingers" extending outward from the city with space between them. Those fingers were today's Metra routes (although in the day they were private rail lines like C&NW, Milw Road, Burlington, IC). And along most of them, you would find wealthy towns (though none with the string of them that is the North Shore). These towns were laid out and built where they were because of their commuter rail services.

The charm came not from any more desire to be charming than the newer suburbs that fill in the spaces between the fingers today. The charm came from an era when craftsmenship had to be used because mass home production was not yet possible and certainly not for high end homes. And retailing was local and car restricted...thus no big box retailers or strip malls of today. Point being that the values of Buffalo Grove and Winnetka don't differ; the times of their construction do..

And if you travel northwest to Barrington, west to Hinsdale, or south to Flossmoor, you will find very much of that so called North Shore feel (minus the lake) that came from wealth being located along commuter rail lines in a simplier age....be it Chicago's North Shore or Philadelphia's Main Line. Same dynamics.