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You wouldn't, as like I said, the commute time is low on the priority list. I'd rather factor this in myself later than everyone factor it in for me, as I can do that myself. What I need from others is the knowledge I don't have; I don't want peoples' suggestions to be restricted by this qualifier. I am willing to make compromises occupation-wise to be in an ideal area. Pretend I have fallen into extreme wealth and have no commute time at all. (So please let's not defer from the main topic.) Thank you!
Congratulations on your coming into money. Now try getting an apartment with no job or proof of income. Extreme wealth will most likely not get you one as a landlord will probably think you're a dealer or something else shady in nature. The fact that you are capable of paying rent now means very little to him if you decide to go blow it at the races tomorrow. I'm not sure if you realize this but Chicago's job market isn't exactly thriving, so getting a one bedroom apartment in Lincoln Park and working at 7-11 isn't going to cover your expenses or allow you to sign a lease if you aren't making enough to get past the application itself in the first place. As far as commute time, I'm not sure if you're familiar with actually being in Chicago or not, but like others have said - an hour and a half on the L/bus not including walking (especially in the winter) or hours in traffic can be a big deciding factor between the nicer apartment in the cool neighborhood or the okay apartment in the less cool neighborhood with better access to transportation. If you are planning on bringing your car you can probably add on another $200 a month in rent for parking (if you can even get parking) as well as your annual city parking sticker fee.
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That all sounds great! But then at disecting the individual neighborhoods...
-Lakeview East/North Halstead- Gay communities. Cool, but I'm not a gay man. I'm hoping to meet straight, single females.
-West/North Lakeview- "Affordable real estate and popular culture, such as that found along busy Southport Avenue, draws young adults from all over the city for quiet living or casual dining (Wikipedia)." "...has a healthy dining and bar scene with a few comfortable venues for a laidback drink or nice meal..." I get the impression that this is more of a tame area; not exactly what I want. Also, "no CTA train stops in West Lakeview, access to them is easy with the Belmont bus"- this could get annoying.
-Wrigleyville- The sports culture is cool and fun and all, but I'm really not that into baseball, or sports in general for that matter. Perhaps I shouldn't put too much emphasis on this aspect of the area?
I realise it's likely I'm missing a great deal here--- "Lakeview is a large neighborhood that has many different 'pockets'".
As far as your neighborhood analyses go - none of them come out of a box. Lakeview East, although home to Boystown is full of many heterosexuals of all shapes, sizes and colors. And while Wrigleyville is home to Wrigley Field, not everyone who lives there is going to be a sports going baseball nut. You are making far to many generalities about neighborhoods based on their Wikipedia descriptions when in reality each of them are home to a significant population similar to that of an independent city in itself. Lakeview and Lincoln Park specifically are full of urban activity perfect for someone your age, as are many other neighborhoods. You will find short people, fat people, tall people, old people, young people, black people, asian people, white people, college kids, burnouts, drug dealers and anything else you could imagine under the sun in multiple neighborhoods of Chicago.
My advice? Try to get an apartment centrally located near places you plan on frequently going to in Chicago. Preferably near the L. It's easy to look for a neighborhood full of "everything" so that you never have to leave your doorstep, but it's also a shame that you're missing out on the dozens of other communities scattered throughout Chicago as a result. There is a difference in living in Chicago and experiencing Chicago. Which would you rather do?
Also do not worry about us filtering out the fun locations based on distance. For instance if you worked at 130 on ave. O living in Lakeview would be insane but if you lived say in Hyde Park or say Bridgeport Accessing Lakeview on the weekends would be easy while not giving you an extremely bad commute. While Bridgeport and Hyde Park are not hot 20 something locations, one thing you learn when you are working is that you can't party every night (gets old and lack of sleepy seriously impairs your work).
I think you don’t have much idea about the size of the Chicago land area. It could take an hour just to cross the city itself and more than an hour to get to the far burbs. CTA el access and metra access is not evenly spread throughout the city and if you need a car to drive there are locations in the city of Chicago where parking is a nightmare(Lincoln park, parts of lake view and bucktown) fall into this category. In this town rush hour is from 6:30/7:00am to 9:00am and from 4pm to 6pm and rush hour often doubles your commute time. In addition if you need to get to the loop odds are you won’t be driving due to parking costs and traffic. It is very important to know roughly where you will be working or attending school. If you are just moving here for fun then that does not matter.
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Congratulations on your coming into money. Now try getting an apartment with no job or proof of income. Extreme wealth will most likely not get you one as a landlord will probably think you're a dealer or something else shady in nature. The fact that you are capable of paying rent now means very little to him if you decide to go blow it at the races tomorrow. I'm not sure if you realize this but Chicago's job market isn't exactly thriving, so getting a one bedroom apartment in Lincoln Park and working at 7-11 isn't going to cover your expenses or allow you to sign a lease if you aren't making enough to get past the application itself in the first place. As far as commute time, I'm not sure if you're familiar with actually being in Chicago or not, but like others have said - an hour and a half on the L/bus not including walking (especially in the winter) or hours in traffic can be a big deciding factor between the nicer apartment in the cool neighborhood or the okay apartment in the less cool neighborhood with better access to transportation. If you are planning on bringing your car you can probably add on another $200 a month in rent for parking (if you can even get parking) as well as your annual city parking sticker fee.
I am aware of the practical matters of the situation, and am merely trying to save us all time, but I appreciate the help. I work from home; I have a legitimate job and legitimate income; I have proof of income.
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An area with college kids and mid twenty year olds(Lincoln Park) is fine. It is not like you are going to move somewhere and be the only 22 year old for ten miles around. There are plenty of people in that area your age and back in my 20ies it was one of my favorite places to hang around.
Lakeview and Wrigelyvile are the same neigbhood so you actually have sports bars, lesbian bars, gay bars, straight bars, mixed bars all within walking distance of Wrigley field. Unless you walk down halsted street wearing “gay apperal” you won’t have trouble finding the ladies and that bus ride is not that long. Plus there are tons of other neighborhoods with bars and fun you can access like River North.
I wouldn’t call any area of lake view tame.
Do you have any recomendations for one over the other? You seem to recommend Lincoln Park and Lakeview over Bucktown, why?
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"As far as your neighborhood analyses go - none of them come out of a box...You are making far to many generalities about neighborhoods based on their Wikipedia descriptions..."
Certainly I am aware of this. If I thought I was well in-debt with knowledge on the matter, I wouldn't be posting here looking for input. This is precisely why I began asking very generally, but was told to "research myself". I used the resources available to me to get a general outline. Thanks for filling in some of the blanks, that's what I was hoping for.
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My advice? Try to get an apartment centrally located near places you plan on frequently going to in Chicago. Preferably near the L. It's easy to look for a neighborhood full of "everything" so that you never have to leave your doorstep, but it's also a shame that you're missing out on the dozens of other communities scattered throughout Chicago as a result. There is a difference in living in Chicago and experiencing Chicago. Which would you rather do?
Certainly, thank you, but I'll have my cake and eat it too the best I can! Of these neighborhoods, do you have any recommendations for a best option based on what I've already mentioned?
If you are working from home all of the above are good places and I would just tour the areas in question to see if they are what you like. The only big decider would be if you need a car or regularly need to get to the Airports or leave town. Parking in Lincoln park and parts of lakeview can be insane. If you need the car for your home job or need to get to the airports then Bucktown would be a better choice.
Why on earth would you note just say you work from home in your initial post! You are a weird kid. Chicagoans (really most midwesterners) are to the point. You should try that.
Also, there is pretty much no difference between a 22-year-old guy with no kids and a 25-year-old. Hell as a 25-year-old I hang out with a group of child-less folks between 22 and 40 and we all get along great.
If commute and money are not an issue and your main interest is meeting people within a 24-month range of yourself, I'd go with Lincoln Park.
This isn't a complex decision. If you work from home, pick a neighborhood you like. Neither will outweigh the other, it's a matter of personal taste.
You seem to like to inform me of "the facts". Clearly there is no objectively "better" option here--- I am indeed looking for peoples' personal opinions and recommendations based on what I've mentioned. Sometimes these things help to get a basis when one doesn't know a whole lot about the areas, ya know? People who have been around these areas for quite a while might bring up some worthy points worth considering that I might not notice by investigating myself for quite a while (it's called having humility). On a forum with a vast body of knowledge, it really should be okay to ask for others' opinions and advice without having to endure someone's (your) distracting opinion of the "worthiness" of my questions simply because you would not ask them yourself---
I am not proposing it is a "complex" decision and that is also a matter of personal opinion. There are a number of factors to consider; I am using my resources, thank you. (And I do appreciate what actual advice you have given.)
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Why on earth would you note just say you work from home in your initial post! You are a weird kid. Chicagoans (really most midwesterners) are to the point. You should try that.
I guess I thought I was being plenty "to the point" when I said I had it covered and to just avoid the aspect of the job to begin with. I also thought saying "just pretend I've come into money" would be more inclined to prevent from further discussion of the matter than would saying "I work from home" and getting possible further inquiries about it; stupid assumption, my mistake.
But I get your point and to be fair, yes I am.
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If commute and money are not an issue and your main interest is meeting people within a 24-month range of yourself, I'd go with Lincoln Park.
Okay, great, thanks for the input.
Last edited by Jon43214321; 01-26-2011 at 01:27 PM..
Rather than question anonymous internet posters trying to decipher your cryptic anonymous internet postings, do this.
Come to Chicago for a long weekend, check out each neighborhood you have found in your wikipedia searches. Go to cafes! Bars! Talk to people! Move to where you think might fit you best. If you end up not liking the area you chose, sublet and move!
Rather than question anonymous internet posters trying to decipher your cryptic anonymous internet postings, do this.
Come to Chicago for a long weekend, check out each neighborhood you have found in your wikipedia searches. Go to cafes! Bars! Talk to people! Move to where you think might fit you best. If you end up not liking the area you chose, sublet and move!
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