Neighborhood advice for a med student and Spanish-speaking partner (Peru: living in, deal)

[amo48]

Rogers Park is a suggestion. If this is relevant, the Hispanic congregation at St. Ignatius Parish (near Loyola University Chicago's Lake Shore campus) includes a fairly large Peruvian segment. There's also a Peruvian restaurant in the neighborhood that has drawn fairly decent reviews from the foodies.

[paytonc]

For what it's worth, a search for Pervian businesses finds:

Rogers Park
- La Unica
- Taste of Peru

Logan Square
- Peruvian Corner Market, 3057 N Kimball
- El Condor, 2349 N Milwaukee

Cragin
- Perumex, 5217 W Diversey

[kata37]

Originally Posted by EdwardA

I'm kind of intrigued by your relationship. Do you speak Spanish? If not how do you communicate? Also do you have any concerns that you are being used for a green card?

Sorry for delayed reply -- I do speak Spanish fluently, and am definitely not being used for a green card! We plan to return to Peru once I'm done with training... he has a good job in Peru and wouldn't go through this crazy transition if it weren't for our relationship!

[kata37]

Originally Posted by paytonc

For what it's worth, a search for Pervian businesses finds:

Rogers Park
- La Unica
- Taste of Peru

Logan Square
- Peruvian Corner Market, 3057 N Kimball
- El Condor, 2349 N Milwaukee

Cragin
- Perumex, 5217 W Diversey

Thanks, this is very useful. Hopefully a Peruvian store has Peruvian owners who might be new friends

[kata37]

St. Ignatius, great! Thank you!

[kata37]

Originally Posted by emathias

The fact of the matter is there are many Spanish speakers in most of the Chicagoland region.

It partially boils down to just how gently you (and he) want his immersion into English to be. Do you think he'd do better plunging right into an area that has some Spanish-speakers but were most business is still conducted in English or do you think he'd be better off taking things gradually, in an area where many businesses primarily conduct their business in Spanish?

Where are you a med student?

I think the obvious answer for someone who doesn't drive and wants to feel comfortable being in the community before he learns English is to live in Pilsen, preferrably in the area bounded by 16th St, Western Ave, and Blue Island Ave (the closer to the Pink Line stops the better). This is doubly true if you are a med student in the Medical District, since they're more or less adjacent to each other.

The advantage of Pilsen over, say, Humbolt Park or McKinley Park or Brighton Park, all of which have large Spanish-speaking populations is that it is more dense, so walking around gets you to more places, and it also has access to the Pink Line, with access both to the Loop and from there the rest of the City, and further west to other heavily Spanish-speaking neighborhoods.

Pilsen isn't as safe or as diverse as Oak Park. But it's not particularly un-safe, either - most people don't have problems there. It's not upscale, either, so you should be able to find a suitable place within your budget. Most of the Spanish-speakers in Pilsen will be Mexican, so the culture will be different but at least the language will be (mostly) the same. If you're in Pilsen near Damen Street, he could also easily take the Damen bus north to Bucktown, where there is Rinconcito Sudamericano which is billed as a Peruvian store. I'm not in a position to testify to its authenticity, but if it's even kinda authentic that could be a nice thing to have relatively easy access to for him.

Thanks so much for the specific Pilsen street advice. That's the neighborhood I had been leaning towards but wanted to see whether others might agree. Rogers Park might be great too but the commute (to Maywood) might kill me! Looks like I'll start looking for places in Pilsen (near the Pink Line!).

[Drover]

Spanish is widely spoken throughout most of the northwest and southwest sides of the city. There are a few small pockets where English is not widely known or spoken, but most Spanish speakers here are at least conversant in English.

[Drover]

Below is a map of the Chicago area color-coded by race/ethnicity. The data is a little old but it's still fundamentally accurate. Green = white, gray = black, purple = Asian, orange = Hispanic. The darker the shade, the higher the concentration.



As you can see, Hispanics are concentrated on the northwest and southwest sides of the city. These are largely immigrant and first-generation Hispanics so Spanish is very prominent in the orange areas. As for safety, most of the orange parts are at least livable. The parts to watch out for are the southernmost strip along the NW side segment (aka Humboldt Park) and the northernmost strip along the SW side segment (aka Little Village). Humboldt Park has one of the highest violent crime rates in the city. Little Village isn't as bad as Humboldt Park but there's an awful lot of gang activity there. IMO the nicest/safest part of the "orange" area is the uppermost portion of the NW side (which is in fact where I live). The lowermost portion on the SW side is pretty decent too but maybe not quite as stable as the NW side.

I think if I had to pick a predominantly Spanish-speaking neighborhood to live in, it would be McKinley Park which is on the near SW side.

[chet everett]

...I still don't understand what the big deal is with language. I mean if the guy was going to need to support himself in some low income position and wanted access to low skill jobs where English fluency is secondary to be willing to do work that others are not I might see the presence of other Spanish speakers as something important.

The OP is a med student at the Loyola Medical Campus in Maywood; her fiancé has a good job in Peru that they will return to. I would be much more concerned with finding a comfortable place with fun urbanish things for newlyweds to do and by that measure the map provided is about the exact INVERSE of what I would thing would fill the bill.

It would be not too different that someone that speaks English and asking about the best spot for them in Paris and folks suggest "anyplace with a McDonalds..."

[Chi-Guy]

Berwyn/ Southern Oak Park. Close to the west suburbs. Affordable. Inexpensive housing. Safe. Plenty of Spanish-speaking.

Berwyn!