Why do I hate chicago?!!! (don't move here) (Naperville, Elmhurst: how much, homes)

[saadrajabali]

oh ok....i was like.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lazy1]

I left Chicago in the late 80's for a number of reasons.

1.) Too dangerous
2.) Too segregated
3.) Get away from dysfunctional family
4.) Go to college
5.) Bad winters

I have never been back since and never plan to!

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by lazy1

I left Chicago in the late 80's for a number of reasons.

1.) Too dangerous
2.) Too segregated
3.) Get away from dysfunctional family
4.) Go to college
5.) Bad winters

I have never been back since and never plan to!

You should come back, you wouldnt recognize the place. Chicago in the 80s vs Chicago in 2007 is a HUGE difference. Huge.

[lazy1]

Well I do miss the pizza and italian food...Hawaii is not known for either of these.

[via chicago]

yea, sorry but the Chicago of 20 years ago isnt even recognizeable

[lazy1]

Can someone tell what these neighborhoods are like now? I come from a family of gypsies!

1.) Damen Ave. and Berteau St.

2.) Winnemac Park

3.) Austin Blvd. and Roosevelt Rd. (Oak Park side)

4.) Pratt Ave. and Lakewood Ave.

5.) Touhy Ave. and Paulina St.

6.) Howard Ave. and Ridge Ave.

7.) Farwell Ave. east of Sheridan Rd.

8.) Montrose Ave. and N. Clarendon Ave.

[Drover]

^^^

Damen and Berteau: Nice area. The Lincoln Avenue corridor one block west has become a major nightlife destination with good quality bars, restaurants, boutiques and the like along Lincoln from Irving Park to Lawrence Avenue. Just a couple blocks away from the Lincoln Avenue strip, the neighborhood is a nice, quiet, rather tidy residential neighborhood. In fact, the governor of Illinois likes the neighborhood enough that he chooses to live there rather than the governor's mansion in Springfield.

Winnemac Park: That area is also pretty nice, though the park itself is a bit of a trouble spot because of the high school nearby; it and the park are a magnet for little thuglets who cause some trouble in the area. But overall the area has become a highly desirable place to live. This is largely due to being right next to Andersonville, one of the hippest and trendiest neighborhoods in the city. Andersonville is centered around the Clark Street business corridor between Argyle and Edgewood Avenues. If you drove up that stretch of Clark Street today, you wouldn't believe your eyes. The neighborhood has changed tremendously since I moved there in the late 90s (I have since moved away). The gentrification process was already well underway and Andersonville was already "hip" back then, but it was still something of a city secret. Well, the secret is out and the complexion of the neighborhood has changed tremendously just in the last 10 years, never mind in the last 25 years. I've also noticed that hipper Andersonville becomes, the bigger the neighborhood borders become. When I lived there, Andersonville was confined to between Foster and Bryn Mawr. It has since grown about two blocks in both directions.

Austin and Roosevelt: Austin is still a very troubled area. Oak Park, on the other hand, is now one of the hottest suburbs in the city. A lot of townhouses and condos have been (and still are being) built in downtown Oak Park. The downtown business district is walkable, upscale and trendy. And of course, Austin Boulevard continues to be the border between these two highly disparate areas. It appears that the positive developments in Oak Park have had some positive impact on the very western edge of Austin, but the Austin Boulevard corridor is still a little spotty. Go 3 or 4 blocks east of Austin and it goes from "spotty" to just plain 'hood.

Pratt and Lakewood: Kind of a so-so area. Rogers Park continues to be a very mixed bag, with the complexion of the neighborhood different sometimes literally block by block. The Southeast corner of Rogers Park, particularly near Loyola University, is a decently safe area. But Pratt is pretty much the border between the "nice" part of Rogers Park and the "not always so nice" part of Rogers Park. The quality of the neighborhood falls off very quickly north of Pratt, where the yuppies and the hoodlets live side-by-side and are currently locked in an epic battle for control of the neighborhood. The yuppies appear to be winning one tiny inch at a time, but the battle still rages.

Touhy and Paulina: Again, yuppies and hoodlets battling for control of the area, but this particular of Rogers Park seems to be more firmly in control of the hoodlets for now.

Howard and Ridge: Pretty much same as above, though the yuppies appear to have the upper hand west of Ridge while the hoodlets have it east of Ridge.

Farwell east of Sheridan: see comments about "Pratt and Lakewood." The blocks east of Sheridan right on the lake tend to be OK. Go a block or two west of Sheridan, however, and you never know what you'll get.

Montrose and Clarendon: Yet another area where an epic battle is raging between the yuppies and 'hood trash. This battle has been going on for nearly two decades now, and it appears the yuppies are about to clinch a convincing victory. Immediately south of Montrose is the Buena Park neighborhood, which has long been a very nice neighborhood with very nice, often downright large and stately homes. Buena Park is home to famed author/historian Studs Terkel and former IL governor (and still influential state GOP power broker) Jim Thompson. Just north of Montrose, on the other hand, has long been a pretty rough patch of earth. But the Broadway corridor between Montrose and just north of Lawrence is undergoing extremely rapid gentrification, and so more yuppies are moving in to the area. However, they still share the neighborhood with some seedy characters, but the seediness is giving way to transition.

[lazy1]

Great Reply Drover! Thank you! I can't believe how much the Chicago has changed. One last area: Lawrence Ave. on the north, Montrose Ave. on the south, Broadway on the east and Clark St. on west, has this improved as well? I always thought of this area as not exactly Ravenswood and not exactly Uptown but could never find the proper name.

[Drover]

That area is "OK." The most gentrified portion of those dimensions is the Lawrence/Broadway corner, where the Riviera and the Aragon are. Right around that corner you will now find sushi restaurants, martini bars, and a shiny new Borders in the old Goldblatt's building. Yet just 2 blocks south near Broadway/Wilson, there are is still a lot of ratty storefronts. Clark Street between Montrose and Lawrence is still pretty old-school, with strange little shops selling cheap imported nick-nacks; a discount grocery store; a couple of liquor stores, a few hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurants, and what-not. The gentrification starts just north of Lawrence, and about 2 blocks later, you're in the fully gentrified portion of Clark Street at the southern edge of Andersonville. That gentrification is continuing to spread southward toward Lawrence: The old Rainbo roller rink has been torn down, and two large condo buildings are going up in its place. So overall, the housing stock between Montrose and Lawrence is kind of mixed: some nice rehabbed apartments, a couple of nice houses, but there's still some spots there that need work. Basically, up by Lawrence, it tends to be a little nicer. But there's still quite a bit of "old school" vibe in the area you delineated. The question is, for how long?

[lazy1]

Good Stuff! I have been hearing about an emerging Asian population in the area north of Uptown (Argyle?) with lots of stores and restaurants. Is it nice?