Artsy, village neighborhood/town with smaller HS (Chicago, Arlington Heights: houses, neighborhoods)

[fourkorz]

May be moving back to the Chicago area after an absence of 8 years. We used to live in Oak Park but for various reasons would prefer to be on the North Shore or in Chicago. We liked the "village" feel of Oak Park, the older homes, the arts community and diversity. Looking for something with a good high school, but would prefer something smaller than the 4000-student regionals like Stevenson and New Trier. Able to consider a wide variety of housing prices. City living is not out of the question, but can't afford private schools, so want to be pretty selective in terms of public high schools - had heard good things about Lincoln Square but the HS looks like a problem. On the suburban side, always liked Glencoe, but don't know if there's any arts community there, plus New Trier sounds too big/pressure cooker. Any suggestions?

[noid_1985]

It's not the Northshore, but Riverside is nice and has less than 2000 kids that attend the HS

[Drover]

Long Grove. Not quite north shore, but doesn't lose a lot of prestige for it.

[Paige65]

Highland Park sounds like it might be a good choice for you. It has a wonderful downtown, a small "village" in Ravinia, a strong focus on the arts and a smaller high school (about 1,850) than New Trier. The high school is very well regarded (makes magazine rankings, has one of the highest average ACT scores in the state, etc.). There is a wide range of housing stock. Anywhere from about $300,000 on the low end to multi-million on the other end.

The Ravinia area of Highland Park may be a good fit. There are 2bed/1bath houses for $300,000 (or less) and mansions on the lake. All feed into the same elementary and middle schools. There's a small business district with pretty much everything you need except a grocery (there's a convenience store and a Walgreen's but no full fledged market). A swimming beach within walkable distance, as well as Ravinia Festival, make it a great location.

Good luck, wherever you land!

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by Drover

Long Grove. Not quite north shore, but doesn't lose a lot of prestige for it.

I was thinking more like Wisconsin. There is a much more artsy feel in the older neighborhoods of Glendale WI or Waukesha. All those folks that went to school in Madison need someplace to raise the next generation ...

[cubssoxfan]

What kind of arts? If it's performing arts, Arlington Heights is worth looking at. Metropolis Theater is a good source for performing arts. Hersey and Prospect HS are good academically and are around the 2500 student mark(guestimate).

[fourkorz]

cubsoxfan -- to answer your question -- mostly theater, but a cultural scene in general. If I get the position, we're leaving a town of 20,000 with a large historic district, 2 theater groups (1 musical, 1 drama), a regional symphony, an annual arts festival, a jazz concert series, and a major museum in the next town over. I know Chicagoland revolves a little more around the fantastic choices in the city itself, but some local scene would be great.

[Paige65]

In Highland Park:

Local theatre:
www.appletreetheatre.com

Ravinia (summer home of Chicago Symphony Orchestra. There are also concerts throughout the fall/winter/spring in Bennett Gordon Hall.)
Ravinia Festival

Port Clinton Art Festival
Port Clinton Art Festival of Highland Park: Chicago art festivals, fairs, fine art summer art fairs

Local symphony:
http://highlandparkstrings.com/

Fine Art Center
The Art Center in Highland Park

Independent/foreign language movie theatre:
Landmark's Renaissance Place Cinema

In Glencoe:
Writers' Theatre - Located in the heart of Chicago's North Shore

In Skokie:
Northlight theatre
Northlight Theatre

[fourkorz]

Paige65 -- THANK YOU!

Also, was looking at noid_1985's suggestion of Riverside... hadn't been thinking anything but NS, but had never heard of Riverside. Is it a welcoming community?

[middle-aged mom]

Originally Posted by fourkorz

Paige65 -- THANK YOU!

Also, was looking at noid_1985's suggestion of Riverside... hadn't been thinking anything but NS, but had never heard of Riverside. Is it a welcoming community?

Do you mean as in Welcoming Community Network?