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I'm a mid-30s single young professional and work from home. I'm moving to Chicago, and my objective is to find an apartment in a neighborhood where I could conceivably jet out my door to a cafe and shopping on my lunch break to take a break from my work area, see other humans, etc. I'd also like to maximize my chances of meeting Mr. Wonderful, so a neighborhood with other youngish professionals (single, 30s) would be amazing. And because I won't have a commute, the entire city is my oyster.
I've never lived in Chi-town but have visited several times. Based upon several recent visits, I'm thinking my order of preference of neighborhoods to target would be:
1) Southport Corridor within walking distance to Southport shops;
2) Lincoln Park (but NOT if it's full of DePaul students and everyone is 20)
3) Old Town (not because I'm necessarily in love with it, but because all of my friends that live there love it, so I must be missing something.)
Again, key point is maximizing social interactions with people of my OWN AGE. Luckily I have a few friends in Chicago already, so I'll meet their friends and their friends' friends once I'm out there, but chance encounters are always important for developing friendships too.
Side note: I don't think I'm a high-rise person, so putting River North, Gold Coast, and other neighborhoods lower on my list. If I never see another hipster again it'll be too soon so ruling out Wicker Park (and by association, Bucktown). Just wondering what people think of the above 3 neighborhoods I've narrowed it down to given my specific set of circumstances.
... Another thing I think about sometimes: most people living in LP, Old Town, etc. probably commute to downtown so are getting a taste of city and near-north neighborhoods in the same day. Wondering what it would be like to spend most of one's time in the near-north neighborhoods, with little reason to venture south into River North or downtown save for the occasional restaurant or bar....
My personal opinion is that you will feel old in the three neighborhoods you mentioned. I'd probably guess the median age in Lincoln Park or Old Town to be 25. You said you were thirty something so if that is 31 you might be close. If its 39 I think you will feel old.
Southport corridor is older but I would say that those people tend to be married with babies. My wife refers to Southport Corridor as baby central.
Personally I would recommend a 30 something Wicker Park or Bucktown. Contrary to what you may have read those areas are not really hipster havens. They are now thoroughly yuppified. Wicker Park is full of nice restaurants and bars with great patios and a plethora of $7 craft beers. Hipsters for the most part have been priced out and moved on.
I would also recommend Ukrainian Village and West Town though there are plenty of hipsters there. Still I would classify the scene as more yupster than hipster and craft brews dominate much more than PBR.
I'd probably guess the median age in Lincoln Park or Old Town to be 25. You said you were thirty something so if that is 31 you might be close. If its 39 I think you will feel old.
25?! The median age in Lincoln Park is 34; a person in their mid 30's would fit in in Lincoln Park.
I'm a mid-30s single young professional and work from home. I'm moving to Chicago, and my objective is to find an apartment in a neighborhood where I could conceivably jet out my door to a cafe and shopping on my lunch break to take a break from my work area, see other humans, etc. I'd also like to maximize my chances of meeting Mr. Wonderful, so a neighborhood with other youngish professionals (single, 30s) would be amazing. And because I won't have a commute, the entire city is my oyster.
I've never lived in Chi-town but have visited several times. Based upon several recent visits, I'm thinking my order of preference of neighborhoods to target would be:
1) Southport Corridor within walking distance to Southport shops;
2) Lincoln Park (but NOT if it's full of DePaul students and everyone is 20)
3) Old Town (not because I'm necessarily in love with it, but because all of my friends that live there love it, so I must be missing something.)
Again, key point is maximizing social interactions with people of my OWN AGE. Luckily I have a few friends in Chicago already, so I'll meet their friends and their friends' friends once I'm out there, but chance encounters are always important for developing friendships too.
Side note: I don't think I'm a high-rise person, so putting River North, Gold Coast, and other neighborhoods lower on my list. If I never see another hipster again it'll be too soon so ruling out Wicker Park (and by association, Bucktown). Just wondering what people think of the above 3 neighborhoods I've narrowed it down to given my specific set of circumstances.
... Another thing I think about sometimes: most people living in LP, Old Town, etc. probably commute to downtown so are getting a taste of city and near-north neighborhoods in the same day. Wondering what it would be like to spend most of one's time in the near-north neighborhoods, with little reason to venture south into River North or downtown save for the occasional restaurant or bar....
I think Southport Corridor might be tricky. As hindukid mentioned, anyone you see around your age is very, very likely to be married and pushing a baby stroller. It's not really a haven for singles, though that's not to say that you won't stumble upon a single guy here or there.
I don't know much about Old Town, but I think Lincoln Park could work, provided that you're away from Depaul. Lakeview is also a possibility, perhaps east of Halsted and/or south of Belmont near the Lincoln Park border (i.e., around Diversey/Clark/Broadway, which seems pretty nice and not full of college kids).
What sort of budget do you have? I'm guessing that you'll wan/need at least a 1.5/2 bedroom apartment, right?
What is your monthly rental budget including any utilities? Anyway, be careful about what part of Lincoln Park you're in. There's definitely areas that are a little older, but I'd recommend areas of Lakeview over it honestly, like parts of Lakeview East. I enjoy the area more than Lincoln Park too. Less fratty, but if that doesn't matter than nevermind.
Anyway, I wouldn't be so fast to put down Wicker Park or Bucktown. First of all, Bucktown is pretty yuppie. Not a lot of hipster stuff going on there except maybe on the border of that and Logan Square or something. Second of all, Wicker Park has some stuff that's still "hipster," but most of the "hipsters" that live there have actual jobs and dress like that. The real hipsters mainly don't live in Wicker Park. Wicker Park has some nice stuff anyway. One of the nicest cocktail lounges is there (Violet Hour). I know people who live in Wicker Park who are the complete opposite of hipster, but the nice thing is that there's a mix of establishments there.
I would also maybe look at Lincoln Square, as well as Bucktown, parts of Wicker Park, parts of Lakeview, and parts of Lincoln Park. I would suggest Gold Coast for sure, but you said you weren't a high rise person.
You guys are amazing. I'm really bummed to hear that Southport Corridor is Diaper Row. I really, really liked it when I was there, and it seemed safe. (But I bet it would be an expensive cab ride back from River North, for instance, after nights out with friends.) Happened to know a single woman who lived there, so I thought it might be more mixed.
Maybe I'm not giving Bucktown and WP a fair shake; remember, I've not lived there--my impressions are only from a handful of visits as well as info passed along from friends. I currently live in L.A. and don't care for the Silver Lake/Echo Park/Los Feliz hipster scene here, so I knew I didn't want to end up in anything similar in Chicago. But I'll give it another look. Also thought since those neighborhoods are on the other side of 90/94 that it may be harder to get to the neighborhoods on the near-North side that I'm more familiar with.
Budget: I was delusional to think Chicago would be cheaper than L.A.. I can see that would only hold true for the suburbs. For what I am looking for (location, charm, nice finishes, safety, possible garage parking), I'm hoping to spend no more than $2500 but that may not be possible. Ideally, I'd love to spend closer to $2000 to save $ for a condo. (But don't want to buy Day 1 in Chicago because I'm convinced there are things you can't know about a place until you live there.)
Working from home: And going back to the working-from-home thing: would most of these locations satisfy the close-to-cafes requirement? Wondering if I would feel "landlocked" living in one of the more northern neighborhoods and never have a real reason to go into the city. Working from home is a whole post in and of itself, I guess. Many advantages and disadvantages. Overall, I think the advantages (infinitely more time in your day, no commute) trump the disadvantages (less social).
25?! The median age in Lincoln Park is 34; a person in their mid 30's would fit in in Lincoln Park.
That might be the median age, but I'd be willing to bet there is a bimodal distribution there. You have a ton of early-to-mid-20-somethings, then you have older residents and families in the quieter areas. The social scene there is pretty heavily focused on the 20-somethings, I'd say. I'm in my 30's and feel out of place when I go to bars there. It's not as extreme as Lakeview, but similar.
I loved living in Bucktown. The neighbors were really cool to hang out with, (From 20's-40's) Holstein Park is really nice, and you can catch a cab to River North for about $12.
Plus, you still have access to the el, yet you live in a real neighborhood and can bask in the relative quiet the area has to offer when you need to 'unplug' from the matrix.
If I were to stereotype where single women in their 30's live in the city, I'd say Bucktown/Wicker, River West and Old Town along with West Loop / South Loop.
Honestly, you can make any of the places listed work, and since you're only renting, figure on just staying someplace for a year, and once you get the lay of the land you can move.
You guys are amazing. I'm really bummed to hear that Southport Corridor is Diaper Row. I really, really liked it when I was there, and it seemed safe. (But I bet it would be an expensive cab ride back from River North, for instance, after nights out with friends.) Happened to know a single woman who lived there, so I thought it might be more mixed.
Maybe I'm not giving Bucktown and WP a fair shake; remember, I've not lived there--my impressions are only from a handful of visits as well as info passed along from friends. I currently live in L.A. and don't care for the Silver Lake/Echo Park/Los Feliz hipster scene here, so I knew I didn't want to end up in anything similar in Chicago. But I'll give it another look. Also thought since those neighborhoods are on the other side of 90/94 that it may be harder to get to the neighborhoods on the near-North side that I'm more familiar with.
Budget: I was delusional to think Chicago would be cheaper than L.A.. I can see that would only hold true for the suburbs. For what I am looking for (location, charm, nice finishes, safety, possible garage parking), I'm hoping to spend no more than $2500 but that may not be possible. Ideally, I'd love to spend closer to $2000 to save $ for a condo. (But don't want to buy Day 1 in Chicago because I'm convinced there are things you can't know about a place until you live there.)
Working from home: And going back to the working-from-home thing: would most of these locations satisfy the close-to-cafes requirement? Wondering if I would feel "landlocked" living in one of the more northern neighborhoods and never have a real reason to go into the city. Working from home is a whole post in and of itself, I guess. Many advantages and disadvantages. Overall, I think the advantages (infinitely more time in your day, no commute) trump the disadvantages (less social).
Southport is not necessarily diaper row. There are young people who live there who have jobs and there's some older. Anyway, certainly parts of Wicker Park are kind of "hipster"-ish and some people who hang out there are like that, but it's a mix of people. There are some remnants of when it was a more alternative area of town, but there's things that are definitely less alternative now mixed in, which is what makes it kind of cool IMO. A lot of the "hipsters" you will see there have decent paying jobs. The real hipsters are hanging out in parts of Logan Square, Pilsen, etc.
You aren't delusional about budget. Chicago is usually cheaper than LA. Your budget of $2000-$2500? You will EASILY..EASILY be able to find just about anything you want for that if you're talking one bedroom. Hell, I live downtown up 25 floors and pay around $1500/month after everything (utilities, cable, and internet). If you really wanted to live in a new high rise downtown with brand new appliances in a 1 bedroom up like 40 stories, you could do it with your budget. That means that yes, outside of downtown unless you're going for a multi million dollar condo, that you're going to be paying way less. For Bucktown/Wicker Park, if you wanted a really nice 1 bedroom with new appliances, it's probably going to be a max of $1500/month. If you don't care about state of the art, then you'll be looking at $1100-$1200/month probably in those areas, and I'd say that goes for Lakeview too. You could even get a 2 bedroom for your budget in pretty much any area with a max budget of $2500/month. Southport might be around $1500-$1600 for a nice one bedroom, but you can find stuff for less at maybe $1200 I think.
I wouldn't be so fast to say it might be harder to get to the northside neighborhoods you're familiar with. It would involve transferring depending on where you go. For example, let's say you settled in Bucktown and wanted to go to Wrightwood and Clark. You could take a bus from North and Damen (for example) straight across to Clark street in Lincoln Park, but then you'd have to transfer to another bus. Or cut across and transfer to the train. Want to go downtown? Take the blue line to the Loop and then you can transfer to the red line to go to the neighborhoods you're more familiar with. The blue line from Wicker Park/Bucktown will probably take 10 minutes to get to the Jackson stop, which allows you to xfer (for free) to the red line without ever going up to the street (Clark/Lake is like that, which is a stop that comes sooner than Jackson).
Honestly, I'd look at Lakeview East too though. It is near the gay section of town, but there is a mix of gay and straight people. It's near Wrigley Field, but far enough away where it doesn't get too crazy. There's tons of restaurants and shopping on Broadway for a long time. My girlfriend lives in the area and there's never a shortage of places to try. The people in the area tend to be older too on average really. Pretty much any of these neighborhoods have a lot of places to hang out at. You'd be surprised at the amount in Chicago,even in areas you wouldn't think would have some sort of place, has it.
You mention never wanting to go into the city, but that IS the city. Lakeview might not be downtown, but there's just as many bars, restaurants, etc in these neighborhoods as downtown. Actually as a whole, there's more outside of downtown. You will learn that Chicago is a neighborhood city. It's very common to find someone even living downtown traveling to another neighborhood, even 5 miles away just to try a new eatery. Just as many people, if not more, go drink/eat out in a Wicker Park, Lakeview, Lincoln Park, Logan Square,etc as they do downtown.
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I'd also like to maximize my chances of meeting Mr. Wonderful, so a neighborhood with other youngish professionals (single, 30s) would be amazing. And because I won't have a commute, the entire city is my oyster.
