Help for relocation to downtown Chicago! (Des Plaines, Addison: best neighborhoods, apartment, neighborhoods)

[appleburn]

Hi, I am 27year old young professional female. I currently live in the north suburb area Des Plaines, traveling with Metra to Merchandise mart. It was okay to travel like that since I take rush hour train for commute which only takes 30mins to travel. But I will start my grad school this September (in downtown area) I doubt that this will work quite same as before. My class is 3-6pm, so I won't be able to take rush hour train. Plus, I am thinking that living in downtown might benefit me in social networking wise. Living in suburb is good and cheap. It's nice to be in a quite place in suburb after crazy day, but I feel I have to be more socially engaging when in school. So I consider moving in to Chicago.

What neighborhood would you recommend? Safety is the priority for me. I am not a party-goer but would like to meet other young professional in neighborhood. I love to be able to sit in a cafe and work on my projects with laptop. Would love to run/walk sometimes, would be great to have decent continuing ed center for arts, walking distance grocery stores like whole foods. Since I don't have a car, good access to public transportation is a must (Brown line prefer).

I am thinking Gold coast, Lincoln park, Ravenswood/Lincoln square. I am familiar with GC, LP, but not RW/LS. RW/LS seems pretty far north. I personally prefer highrise for safety reason (with door man)but noticed that RW/LS have many vintage buildings. I will have many packages and letters, so having someone who will receive my stuff will be great too. Oh,and I would love to stay under $900 studio if possible, max would be $1000 incl.utilities.

What are your thoughts? Actually still battling about the idea of living in suburb vs moving to downtown. Do you think I'd better off staying in suburb? If you have lived one of those neighborhood, please comment me. Thank you in advance!

[SalingerBananafish]

You can find studios for under 900. Even some 1-bedrooms in some areas. I've been driving through Ravenswood/Lincoln Square lately to get to work and the area has a nice neighborhood feel to it, but it's definitely not dense, no highrises. I think you'd find the most highrises in the Lakeview East area and Uptown. But I don't think safety is too much of an issue in the neighborhoods you listed, so I wouldn't cross out shorter apartment buildings just because of safety reasons.

As for moving vs. staying, that's up to what you want in your life right now. It'd certainly be more convenient and interesting to live in the city, and I'm sure you have an idea of it already from commuting. Unless there's some other reason why you'd have to stay in the suburbs...

[soulful]

You could certainly find plenty of highrises in the Gold Coast, Lincoln Park, or East Lakeview. I love Lincoln Park and East Lakeview. I am also a fan of Lincoln Square and it is pretty vibrant.

You mentioned Whole Foods and I am a fan of that store also. There isn't a location in Lincoln Square and nothing walkable. There is a Trader Joe's in the 3700 N Lincoln block that is a bit south of Lincoln Square and you could walk there. East Lakeview has a great store 1/2 block north of Addison on Halsted.

I know some people just don't feel safe walking into non-doorman buildings alone and there have been isolated bad incidents even in the best neighborhoods on the northside. The odds are certainly on your side that you will be safe, however, if you don't want to take any chances go with a highrise.

p.s. I am sure you are aware that the Brown Line goes from Lincoln Square directly to the Mart

[appleburn]

Hi all!
Thanks for your remarks! The more I research about the apartment options, the more I got confused. I have looked at a few places already but nothing really clicked me so far. That is why I couldn't leave here fast. Here in the suburb is certainly cheaper, quiter and relaxing.. but that's about it. How do you feel walking around RW/LS at night? I know it probably won't be a good idea to be alone at night most of the places, but I found LV/LP/GC were relatively ok. I love the convenience side of GC but it can get too expensive, and no great place to hang out... LP seems to get too noisy sometimes because of the college kids. What are the family and young professional friendly place among them?
I guess I will go and check RW/LS this week and see how it feels though..
For the RW/LC area, it takes 30 mins to get to the downtown (with brown line)- in that case, it's similar to the commuting from suburb in afternoon rush hour. Is it really worthy to move in to Chicago? Will I miss out many stuff If I live here?

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by appleburn

Hi all!
Thanks for your remarks! The more I research about the apartment options, the more I got confused. I have looked at a few places already but nothing really clicked me so far. That is why I couldn't leave here fast. Here in the suburb is certainly cheaper, quiter and relaxing.. but that's about it. How do you feel walking around RW/LS at night? I know it probably won't be a good idea to be alone at night most of the places, but I found LV/LP/GC were relatively ok. I love the convenience side of GC but it can get too expensive, and no great place to hang out... LP seems to get too noisy sometimes because of the college kids. What are the family and young professional friendly place among them?
I guess I will go and check RW/LS this week and see how it feels though..
For the RW/LC area, it takes 30 mins to get to the downtown (with brown line)- in that case, it's similar to the commuting from suburb in afternoon rush hour. Is it really worthy to move in to Chicago? Will I miss out many stuff If I live here?

Ravenswood and Lincoln Square are wonderful neighborhoods. Much more going on and extemely safe. A 30 minute brown line ride shouldn't bother you. You can read and have a cup of coffee. I do it every day.

[appleburn]

Thank you! I think I should go check it out this week- That will be the easiest way to see. I will keep you updated. Thanks again!

[appleburn]

One more question guys!
Is there a specific area (streets) that I need to check or avoid in Ravenswood/Lincoln square area?

[knitgirl]

No, they're great neighborhoods. I loved living there.

[J-CityRelo]

This site has been really helpful in my apartment hunt in terms of looking for which parts of a neighborhood to see:

Chicago Neighborhoods | Explore Chicago

Go to the "choose a neighborhood" section and check out the map when it brings the neighborhood up. Hope this helps!

[RansackedMuse]

Ravenswood is pretty far up there.

Lakeview seems like it could be a good fit. You could afford some places in Old Town, too.. From either area you could take the Brown line down to the Mart in a lot less time.

The problem with Ravenswood is that you are going to be downtown working and going to school and then maybe have a drink or two while networking and when it's time go home, say around 10 pm it will probably be safest to take a cab but a cab to Ravenswood would be fairly expensive... maybe $20-30? And having friends come up to your place could be a pain, too, because it is pretty far from all of the main areas. If you try to stay central it is much easier to do all the things you want to do in any part of the city.

I agree with you on living in a high rise with a doorman as a single woman. It is much, much safer. Be sure your street is well lit at night and not too far of a walk from the train. I would carry mace as well if you walk alone at night. That's what I do, though thankfully after ten years of living in the city without a car I've never had to use it.

Hope you find a place you love. And if you live in a place for year and don't like it then try out a different area the next year! I definitely think it is a good idea to move into the city from the burbs. You will be exposed to a lot more ideas and events and you will be able to connect with more of your work and school contacts.