What Are The Bad Sections of Chicago? (Cicero, Berwyn: real estate, houses)

[Laters]

Ukrainian Village, Logan Park, bucktown, wicker park, east village. Are these areas reasonably cool?

[Erwinn07]

Does anyone know if S. Michigan Ave by Soldier Field is any good?

[j33]

Originally Posted by Laters

Ukrainian Village, Logan Park, bucktown, wicker park, east village. Are these areas reasonably cool?

Those areas are all fine. I'm assuming you mean Logan Square, not Logan park. Logan square has some sketchy streets/blocks but for the most part is is a good place. Wicker Park, East Village, and Bucktown are absolutely fine (the biggest danger you'll have in Bucktown is being run over by those SUVlike strollers all the yuppie moms seem to have

[pallygirl81]

I live in the Gold Coast and am a single black female.

I love the areas closer to downtown; if you want an urban experience with bars, clubs, cabs, public transportation and a little bit of gritty (all of these areas have a housing project past that has been forgotten with condos, grocery stores and other shopping areas) you cannot go wrong with the Gold Coast (there are young people, affluent urban families and hard-as-nails old people and yes there are high maintenance types and trophy wives but they tend to get put in there place by the seniors and the homeless people), River North (expensive though and pretty dicey outside of the brand spanking new condos and townhomes), Old Town (huge retail developments are in the work to expand the Container Store/Crate & Barrel/Best Buy strip malls), South Loop (there is a Target and a very nice Jewel) and West Loop (everything has been redone there but they managed to keep all of the good restaurants).

People who are not from urban areas have misconceptions about the Southside. Hyde Park and Kenwood are very nice but are more family oriented- so there is not a really lively nightlife here and because of that the yuppie crowd from the Midwest does not live there. Same can be said with the Far South areas. It is also very green (as in trees and parks) in the Southside.

Avoid the West Side at all costs. This area is truly scary.

If you are a wannabe or a yuppie in training you will love North Lincoln Park/South Lake View.

If you like yuppie type neighborhoods and have some cash move to Lincoln Park (or River North or Old Town but I actually like these neighborhoods).

If you think of yourself as an alternative person who is open-minded (even though you are probably not so much so) move to Wicker Park and complain about the low income people (Wicker Park was cool a couple of years ago but all of the people from Lincoln Park started to head west).

If you are person who truly appreciates the arts and does not mind bordering less desirable neighborhoods move to the Ukrainian Village.

If you are normal, down to earth person try Andersonville, Roscoe Village or near Southport.

If you want to save money and live on the Northside try Edgewater or Uptown (be warned they market these areas as nice when in actuality they are not, at all, you are talking high crime rates, lots of social services and TIF districts- make sure to walk the neighborhood).

Rogers Park scares me because people stare out you when you are walking around.


This is not meant to offend anyone, it is all in good fun.

[j33]

Originally Posted by pallygirl81

If you think of yourself as an alternative person who is open-minded (even though you are probably not so much so) move to Wicker Park and complain about the low income people (Wicker Park was cool a couple of years ago but all of the people from Lincoln Park started to head west).

If you are person who truly appreciates the arts and does not mind bordering less desirable neighborhoods move to the Ukrainian Village.

Hehe. I liked your description of Wicker Park. I've lived in the East/Ukrainian village area for 5 years (and before that lived in Albany Park), and remember hanging out in Wicker Park from its hey-day as far back to 1991 when it really was a bit of a sketchy place. I've often been amused at the wealthy former north-shore kids in ill-fitting 'hipster clothes' who move to wicker park to 'slum it' and think that they actually are.

[PetiteFleur]

Originally Posted by marcin25

Just try to stay away from the southside because this is the worst area of the town you can get it into. It's pretty much a ghetto there. Also on the northside there's the worst ghetto in the town. It's on Laramie/Lake. Stay as far away from that place as you can. Places like Maywood and Cicero are BAD neighborhoods also. Berwyn is a good place to live on the southside - it's close to town but surrounded by not so good neighborhoods.
You can tell whre a black or just very bad neighborhood is by looking at Chicago from Google Earth. There's many unused spaces or "holes" in residential areas. Normally, there'd be 20 houses in one block, but there's only 10. You can use www.ersys.com that website shows you an Ethnic Map of every bigger city.

Berwyn is NOT on the south side. It's a western suburb, not even a neighborhood, as are Maywood and Cicero. Also, as others have stated, there are some very nice south side neighborhoods. You're comments are a gross generalization. Also, since when does a "black" neighborhood equal a bad neighborhood? I can only hope this is a typo.

[j33]

Someone is obviously directionally challenged and 'challenged' in other ways as well

[Drover]

Lake and Laramie on the North Side?? News to me. And to anyone else with a rudimentary sense of direction and basic familiarity with the city.

[acajud]

Anywhere Can Be Bad, If You Do Not Fit In The Area. Please Take Only The Money You Need, And Riding A Bus From One End Of A Route And Back Will Show You More Than Anyone Telling You. I Try To Stay In More Mixed Areas And I Am African-american. Chicago Tends To Be All Latina, White Or Black, And Then The Mixed Areas.. I Love Downtown, Near North And Uptown.

[Manigault]

What is a safe area to you involves where you would feel comfortable and what experience you have had with urban areas. Around the university communities in Hyde Park, the near west side and the DePaul areas, there are two police forces and students out walking until 2 am or so. Just about all areas of the city are fine to explore by car. South Michigan area near Soldier Field? That's the mayor's neighborhood. Look for the police cars on Indiana. Those places such as Ukranian village, Bucktown, etc. should also be reasonable to explore by more than one person if they know where they are going.