What neighborhoods wre very dangerous and dirty in the 80s/90s, but reletively livable today? (Chicago: rentals, condos)

[Larry Siegel]

Originally Posted by quickdraw

I envy the people who lived in Chicago in the 60's and 70's when you didn't need a ton of money to live in a nice and safe neighborhood.

...until the neighborhood turned from white to black in a year, you had to sell at a greatly diminished price, and you had to take out a big mortgage to move to the suburbs. It was ugly. Some of the fringe neighborhoods such as Forest Glen and Edgebrook were spared, and Rogers Park remained stable, but most people don't remember the 1960s and 1970s in Chicago very fondly.

When I moved here in 1971 I was told "Stay within four blocks of the lake." And that was, of course, on the north side. You didn't go to the south side, except for Hyde Park.

[Larry Siegel]

Originally Posted by Chi-town Native

No and no.

Wicker Park in 2011 (if you mean the 2 blocks around the park) is maybe like Oz Park is 1995.

More like Oz Park in 1973. By 1995, Oz Park was as gentrified as it gets.

[ChicagoMeO]

OK what i am about to say is just my observations, not meant to be racist or anything -

I hope this helps even though im going a bit further back in time. In approx 1973 when i began working and taking the blue line downtown, Wicker Park was different. It was mostly Hispanic or Puerto Rican as far as demographics. Also during 1972-1973 Old Town was way different. It was the Haight Ashbury (hippietown) We would never go farther than the Bijou Theatre down Wells, too creepy. This was about 2-3 blocks south of North Ave. I'm guessing it was due to that area being run down, Cabrini Green, and junky neighborhood where you did not feel safe.

I heard that Boystown (Broadway from Diversey to Belmont) has changed. It was kinda skid row (i forget what years maybe until the 1970s or 1980's? But then changed. you can read a history about Boystown to find out more. When i was a kid, i never wanted to live on the north side, because it was kind of bummy. But changed a whole lot since then.

ITT area on the south side was totally African American, but now since the last 10 years maybe, it is mixed race. Same with areas on the near west side. That area changed from African American to mixed when re-doing the United Center. Thats when the near west side started changing.

The other thing i noticed this past year taking the CTA Green line from Oak Park. About Kedzie, there were white people getting on (there and a few stops midway from Oak Park to downtown) and i had not ever seen that until then. not sure how long that has been changing.

I was apartment hunting over near Mercy Hospital and surprised to see how that area has changed around 22nd and that area, mixed race.

Uptown - until the 1970's i think. it was the place where all kind of foreign races came to live in. Lots of Asian, etc. Lots of poor. Sometime around then, the brainiacs decided that mentally ill people should not be institutionalized and started letting them out, and they ended up in Uptown. so you got a lot of SRO's or poor people or even lower cost of apartment living there. so uptown changed a lot. now that area is being gentrified.

Where i grew up in Belmont Cragin (Belmont and Central) that area has changed a whole lot. In 1970's the border between African Americans on the west side and white people was always the train tracks between Fullerton and North Ave. However, since then till now, that border has ceased. The area north of those tracks was white, European etc. now Belmont Cragin which used to be more white european is now a mix of all kind of races.. many hispanics in that area plus Portage Park. There are races now that you would never see in that area. Belmont Cragin and Portage Park are more Hispanic now. I dont see any more businesses there when i was a kid, that are there now.. people have moved out or retired or passed away.

ok thats all i know in my lifetime.

[OKParker]

Originally Posted by ChicagoMeO

The other thing i noticed this past year taking the CTA Green line from Oak Park. About Kedzie, there were white people getting on (there and a few stops midway from Oak Park to downtown) and i had not ever seen that until then. not sure how long that has been changing.

I take the green every day, so I see kedzie whites and california whites, but i suspect they are going to get on a bus north to logan square.

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by OKParker

I take the green every day, so I see kedzie whites and california whites, but i suspect they are going to get on a bus north to logan square.

Are you talking about taking the Green Line outbound from the Loop? Why wouldn't those whites just take the Blue Line directly to Logan Square if that's where they're headed?

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by ChicagoMeO

ITT area on the south side was totally African American, but now since the last 10 years maybe, it is mixed race. Same with areas on the near west side. That area changed from African American to mixed when re-doing the United Center. Thats when the near west side started changing.

The other thing i noticed this past year taking the CTA Green line from Oak Park. About Kedzie, there were white people getting on (there and a few stops midway from Oak Park to downtown) and i had not ever seen that until then. not sure how long that has been changing.

The IIT-area changed a bit when the Robert Taylor Homes were demolished and new development was built there. That was in the early to mid-2000s I believe. It's been much nicer ever since, though it still has its challenges. I think this Douglas portion of Bronzeville will experience continued improvement due to the Lake and the gentrification of Bridgeport, however.

As to the Kedzie/Green Line, Business Week or some other glossy rag anointed East Garfield Park the next big thing during the height of the housing boom. That may have led to some speculative buying by whites and investors looking for a steal. Unfortunately, that came to a screeching halt with the housing bust a few years later.

For as vocally liberal as Chicago's wealthier residents are, they've yet to put their change purses where their yaps are by moving to those neighborhoods which are only being held back by disinvestment and lack of city services. East Garfield Park was still 91% African-American and less than 4% white as of the last census. It remains one of the most violent neighborhoods in Chicago. What I suspect you saw were commuters from Logan Square as OKParker suggested, and Humboldt Park also. The southern and western portions of Logan Square are not well served by public transit, and Humboldt Park really isn't at all. So that's probably it.

[OyCrumbler]

This topic was originally posted in 2011 and the intervening six years also saw some changes.

My guesses for neighborhoods that were very dangerous (not just a bit gritty) in the 80s and 90s, but are relatively livable today in 2017:

- East Humboldt Park
- Bronzeville
- North Kenwood

[ToriaT]

Around 1968 or so I dated a guy who lived in Wicker Park and it was definitely inner city. Not gentrified at all. I believe this stayed that way until the mid or later part of the eighties when gentrification began and continued into the nineties. I lived in Lakeview during the seventies. The word was always don't go west of Halsted. Block by block gentrification occurred west of Halsted and continued west. I am amazed at all the places now that are nice and were basically the hood way back when.

[MassVt]

I didn't grow up in Illinois, and I've never lived there, but I've heard that Wrigleyville used to be quite a dump, not all that long ago..

[Master Jay]

I remember as a kid visiting from Milwaukee in the 1980's, Cabrini Green (Halsted and Division) as well as the Maxwell Street Market (Halsted and Roosevelt) was dangerous, dirty, and decrepit. This began to change in the 1990's. Nowadays, both areas look completely different! I've walked, ridden my bike, etc. through these same streets. World's apart!