Questions About Uptown (Ashland) (Chicago, Sheridan: section 8, rentals, condos)

[Don15]

Hi, I'm moving to Chicago in the coming months and one of the places my roommate and I are looking at is in the Uptown neighborhood, specifically on Ashland between Wilson to the north and Sunnyside to the south. The price is excellent and the place has good access to the Brown Line, but what I've read about parts of Uptown makes me cautious.

However, I'm having trouble making an educated decision from what I've read. As I'd expected, the general consensus seems to be that parts of Uptown are fine, and other are not fine at all. Which category does this area fall into? It seems close-ish to the parts of the neighborhood that are reportedly awful, namely the Wilson/Broadway/Sheridan triangle. What advice do you guys have?

[Alacran]

Is that uptown?
nvm it is uptown. the western edge.



And it's not bad. Lot's of families. Renting.

Mix of many people. lower income to middle class to upper middle class.
Lots of ethnicities.

There's a bit of crime and gang activity but nothing too wild.

[Don15]

The maps I've seen have it just a bit too far west to be in Sheridan Park but still east enough to be within Uptown.

But yeah. We're both late twenties men, and neither of us is totally unfamiliar with living in rougher locations. But it's there's always a sliding scale of roughness to consider, you know? If we're just talking your usual city, "oh, it's just such an adventure living here" type wildness then we're willing to deal. If we're talking more "wading through a sea of drug addict bears" type situations, it's probably not worth it.

[Alacran]

The only reason people say uptown is full of crackheads is because of some institutions in a specific area which is nowhere close to LAst.


There was a gang war going on last year and the beginning of this year but that was in some corners closer to the lake.
The war seems to have died down.


You won't find an excess of crime, gangs, or crackheads.
Just the normal amount for a non-yuppified neighborhood.

It's a great area to be honest. For me.

[Garfieldian]

that's actually a pretty decent area... that is Ravenswood. I don't think you'll have any issues at all. I'd have a hard time calling that uptown...if the realtor called it uptown, that is pretty stupid, as it is officially in Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce borders... Clark is the boundary, not Ashland. The realtors association also includes Ashland as the boundary street so uhh yeah... stop your worrying.
It doesn't really get the uptown feel until you get on and past Clark going towards the lake...and even some areas in there can be pretty nice, though yours is nicer. There is no wildness at all, it's a family area mixed in with some late 20s, 30 year old professionals. There is no "adventure/wildness" to worry about, it isn't that type of area. Any side streets will be pretty much dead and quiet at night. Might be noisier on Ashland b/c it's a 4 lane road but... besides that eh... no. There are churches and families all around you. You'll have a hard time finding any crack heads really, you'll see more mom's with kids in strollers, Ravenswood elementary is like a block over from you, and there is a daycare, and several churches.

[Alacran]

The Aragon and restuarants on clark draws people to the area.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by Alacran

The Aragon and restuarants on clark draws people to the area.

The Aragon isn't very near to Clark. There aren't a lot of destination restaurants on Clark in that area.

That said, that's not a bad area. I lived at Sunnyside and Winchester (about a 7 minute walk west from the area under discussion and enjoyed it. I did miss the action of downtown, but I never felt unsafe or anything like that.

[MannheimMadman]

Originally Posted by Garfieldian

that's actually a pretty decent area... that is Ravenswood. I don't think you'll have any issues at all. I'd have a hard time calling that uptown...if the realtor called it uptown, that is pretty stupid, as it is officially in Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce borders... Clark is the boundary, not Ashland. The realtors association also includes Ashland as the boundary street so uhh yeah... stop your worrying.
It doesn't really get the uptown feel until you get on and past Clark going towards the lake...and even some areas in there can be pretty nice, though yours is nicer. There is no wildness at all, it's a family area mixed in with some late 20s, 30 year old professionals. There is no "adventure/wildness" to worry about, it isn't that type of area. Any side streets will be pretty much dead and quiet at night. Might be noisier on Ashland b/c it's a 4 lane road but... besides that eh... no. There are churches and families all around you. You'll have a hard time finding any crack heads really, you'll see more mom's with kids in strollers, Ravenswood elementary is like a block over from you, and there is a daycare, and several churches.

You are correct, though it falls within the boundaries of the 'community area' of Uptown, according to the official map.

A lot of people I've talked to usually consider west of Ashland to be the last eastern street of Ravenswood, though I definitely would not have any problems living between Ashland and Clark...none at all. As a matter of fact, I was actively perusing rentals this past may around that area. It just so happens that nothing that fell within our criteria popped up at that time.

[Vlajos]

Ashland and Sunnyside? That area very safe and nice. No worries whatsoever.

[Chicago60614]

I live in Uptown over on Sheridan, and I have a friend that lives right near that area. They're two very different things even though only 6 blocks apart.

I love that area. Never had any problems. Clean, quiet, safe, easy access to transit. It's closer to the Montrose Brown Line than it is to Wilson Red.

You'll be fine there. As others said anyway, Uptown is a crazy mixed bag. There are some bad areas, but they're almost strangely confined to a square area within the community. I'm in Buena Park on the southern end, and in 3.5 years it's been nothing but quiet, safe and beautiful. Walk 5 minutes to the north and it's like you've traveled through a portal into crazyland. Same going west. Once you hit Beacon it really quiets down, and once you hit Clark the whole "Uptown" issues are basically gone.

Malden to Hazel, and Lawrence to Montrose is the core area where you need to at least be alert - but it's not like it's the most dangerous area in the city or anything. 96% of the time it's gangbangers just going after gangbangers, and they're blind to the other 90% of the community around them. The crime issues and the "normal people living their lives" are almost two different worlds operating aside from each other, and overlaid on top of one another. It's odd. Expensive condos and high class lake views, then section 8 housing.