Overrated and Underrated (Chicago, Lincoln, Paris: apartment, renters, neighborhood)

[5Lakes]

North Center, Lincoln Square, and Old Irving Park are underrated.

Originally Posted by surlycue

I don't know about others but to me North Center (or is it Northcenter now?) is a creation more so than it is a community area. It is comprised by other areas that are their own entities to a great degree.

So if you were standing at the intersection of Irving Park, Damen, and Lincoln where would you be then? I always considered this the heart of the North Center neighborhood, with Ravenswood being to the east past Ravenswood Blvd, Roscoe Village to the south past Addison, and Lincoln Square to the north past Montrose.

[surlycue]

Originally Posted by 5Lakes

North Center, Lincoln Square, and Old Irving Park are underrated.



So if you were standing at the intersection of Irving Park, Damen, and Lincoln where would you be then? I always considered this the heart of the North Center neighborhood, with Ravenswood being to the east past Ravenswood Blvd, Roscoe Village to the south past Addison, and Lincoln Square to the north past Montrose.

I understand that North Center is a neighborhood as well as a community area. My point was more that the neighborhood still seems more of a construct than a community depending on which sides of that 6 points you are on. Within 5 years it will probably be more like Roscoe Village or Lincoln Square since the Trader Joes and CB2 and that wing bar with the great Monday specials as well as the other newer emerging yuppie type spots are popping up along the main drag. Until then it is still a place that one can get a 3/1 for $1300 or a 2/1 for $1000.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by 5Lakes

So if you were standing at the intersection of Irving Park, Damen, and Lincoln where would you be then?

St. Ben's

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by surlycue

...My point was more that the neighborhood still seems more of a construct than a community depending on which sides of that 6 points you are on...

....Until then it is still a place that one can get a 3/1 for $1300 or a 2/1 for $1000.

If you want to talk about a neighborhood that is a "construct" that would be Roscoe Village. Virtually nobody called it Roscoe Village until it got on the yuppie radar in the mid 90's. It was always part of Lake View before. Almost everyone but the yuppies called it west Lake View or Riverview.

Oh one can get apartments in North Center for far less than 1300 for a 3 bedroom and 1000 for a 2 bedroom.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by Drover

St. Ben's

St. Ben's is not a neighborhood. It is a nickname just like "Wrigleyville" is.

[surlycue]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

Oh one can get apartments in North Center for far less than 1300 for a 3 bedroom and 1000 for a 2 bedroom.

The only place I ever looked at in the neighborhood was a 3/1.5. It was big but had no laundry in the building and no parking included and they were asking $1300. You seem to be able to sniff out deals more readily than most, though.

[Avengerfire]

^I prefer to pay as little as possible for rent. If I am paying over $700 in any situation it is too much.^

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

St. Ben's is not a neighborhood. It is a nickname just like "Wrigleyville" is.

What the **** ever. That's what the people who live there call it. But since YOU say it's not, they're all wrong. Evidently YOU are the first and last word on what a neighborhood is called and what its boundaries are. Not the business communities that anchor these neighborhoods, not the people who live in these neighborhoods, but YOU. Who anointed you with this authority anyway?

[Lookout Kid]

I think Buena Park is underrated (full disclosure--I live there). It's immediately adjacent to the action in Lakeview, but comes at a significant discount. There is an underpass under Lake Shore Drive at Buena Aveune. Montrose Beach is a short walk away. The LSD express buses are incredibly convenient, and three of them go express right at Irving Park Road. Other north/south buses bottleneck because of Graceland Cemetary, so we are incredibly well-served by buses. There is great architecture in Buena Park. The Hutchinson Street Historic District has some breathtaking homes, and in general there are fewer teardowns and four-plus-ones than you find in other North Side neighborhoods. Apartments are spacious. And we don't have a great nightlife district, but the bars we have are pretty good--including the Holiday Club, Bar on Buena, and Nick's Uptown.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by Drover

What the **** ever. That's what the people who live there call it. But since YOU say it's not, they're all wrong. Evidently YOU are the first and last word on what a neighborhood is called and what its boundaries are. Not the business communities that anchor these neighborhoods, not the people who live in these neighborhoods, but YOU. Who anointed you with this authority anyway?

Who anointed you to tell me my opinion is wrong just because you say so? You are acting as though what you say is fact. You have no right that tramples over mine to claim your opinions are more true than mine in this case.

I usually use the Official City of Chicago neighborhood map and community map to back up my statements. If you have a problem with those boundaries and neighborhood names maybe you should pick a fight with Da Mare,the Alderman, and whoever damn else that works for the city that you see fit to.

Just because a bunch of tards from Nebraska move into an area and do not know what the neighborhood is called that does not give them the right to rename a neighborhood.

Next thing you know it people are going to start calling North Center part of Lincoln Square or Roscoe Village.

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St. Ben's is a nickname. And yes I have used it for as long as I can remember in certain situations (like when asked "Where do you live around?" "Oh I live by St. Ben's") , but I have always known the neighborhood is really called North Center. Most of the time I use the name North Center.