Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Its basically one's perception of what feels safe. That is the deciding factor.
Uptown has a bunch of 'characters'. some people dont care about them and dont feel weird being around them, but some do.
some buildings are not as pretty as others, although uptown has beautiful brownstones in some areas.
Some people feel comfortable living in a mixed neighborhood (races, colors, and income levels), while some don't feel as well being around various levels like that.
So its all in your perception. You have to really walk around at various times of the day and night to see for yourself.
I myself feel safer on the bus, rather than the Red Line, but both may be perfectly ok forms of transportation.
This is great advice. I certainly dont mind diversity, and live in a fairly diverse area right now. I definitely understand what you mean about perception, and often times peoples perceptions I find to be inaccurate. When I first moved in to the complex I live in now, a lot of people told me it was dangerous and "ghetto." Ive lived in the same place for 2 1/2 years now, and have never run in to any problems, and I often walk home from school or bars late at night by myself. I actually consider it a huge upgrade from where I used to live. So as long as the place is near public transportation, has decent nightlife, and is relatively safe, I probably wont be complaining.
It seems like from the posts on here Edgewater has better nightlife, would you say that is accurate?
This is great advice. I certainly dont mind diversity, and live in a fairly diverse area right now. I definitely understand what you mean about perception, and often times peoples perceptions I find to be inaccurate. When I first moved in to the complex I live in now, a lot of people told me it was dangerous and "ghetto." Ive lived in the same place for 2 1/2 years now, and have never run in to any problems, and I often walk home from school or bars late at night by myself. I actually consider it a huge upgrade from where I used to live. So as long as the place is near public transportation, has decent nightlife, and is relatively safe, I probably wont be complaining.
It seems like from the posts on here Edgewater has better nightlife, would you say that is accurate?
By the way, what if you dont mind sharing, makes your building perceived as ghetto?
Well as far as nightlife in Edgewater, what comes to mind is the area around Clark St from beginning approximately Foster and going north to somehwere in Rogers Park, which has become the new Boystown, but I am sure there are many restaurants and bars and other great places to go, but I can't remember them all right now.. You can use the website Yelp and put in zip code 60660 for Edgewater and see whats up. The part in Uptown that is great for nightlife would be around the Aragon on Broadway and Lawrence. Andersonville which is part of Edgewater is wonderful shopping, Ann Sathers, and other Swedish Bakery and Swedish stores, and other cute lil shops. I am sorry I cant be as descriptive as I'd like since I dont have a car, and I haven't seen what may have popped up lately. However i do know the migration from Boystown around Belmont/Halsted, has happened to go up north to Edgewater in the last few years and it is sprouting.
Mainly my impression of Edgwater, Lakeview, Andersonville, some parts of Uptown, are comfortable to me but they each have pockets/streets which I do not prefer aesthetically and where I would choose to live. Andersonville and Ravenswood actually have beautiful large vintage apartments that I go crazy looking at because im searching for a new apartment. oh thats another topic though!
all this talk about being hassled by people in the neighborhood, I mentioned that I lived and went to school in Uptown at Truman, I waited for the bus at 9:00 p.m and never got hassled or approached by the characters that were walking by or hanging out near me. In fact, I never got hassled by anyone, but the other day in downtown chicago, a homeless person who was drinking and had a bad attitude was hassling me while waiting for the bus. He got 1 inch from me and was threatening me but my bus came. Ironic eh? the drunk homeless dude was hassling another man for money, waiting for the bus and actually put his hand on the other guy's back. i was watching that guy to make sure what he was doing, and he didn't like me staring at him, and started threatening me and hassling me. sheesh. this was downtown chicago
I am familiar with the night life in Lakeview for sure. Wrigleyville - I dont care for the sports bar culture and Im not a sports fan (sorry Cubs!) If I lived up north around 5600 N Clark, I'd sure go visit the area around 5600 N Broadway, and the Clark St bars, and restaurants and cute lil antique stores and with just common street smarts liked you would anywhere I'd feel ok. Go by day if you feel more comfortable exploring rather than at night.
When i was at Truman, ok I was used to taking the Red line to Wilson and getting off. the area looked pretty blighted, reminds me of downtown Gary, IN. Anyway, there are some stores there that are good, i.e. i had to go to the Ace Hardware, and Popeyes (which is not there anymore) was there, so walking between that area and Truman which is a block or so west of Wilson, sure didn't look great.
anyway, me and some friends walked one or two blocks west toward Magnolia, and voila! The whole feel of the neighborhood changed. Starbucks was there and whenever a Starbucks is somewhere, you know the area is gonna start to improve
Its so surrealistic how one to two blocks can change your impression of a small area of the city. If transportation was no problem, it is my impression that two blocks west of Truman toward Ashland seems like a pretty cool place to live.
But i can't say for sure since I've never lived there to be able to give you a report. Its just my feel of the place passing by. I think Magnolia Cafe is around there and thats a popular place so maybe I am right.
By the way, what if you dont mind sharing, makes your building perceived as ghetto?
Well as far as nightlife in Edgewater, what comes to mind is the area around Clark St from beginning approximately Foster and going north to somehwere in Rogers Park, which has become the new Boystown, but I am sure there are many restaurants and bars and other great places to go, but I can't remember them all right now.. You can use the website Yelp and put in zip code 60660 for Edgewater and see whats up. The part in Uptown that is great for nightlife would be around the Aragon on Broadway and Lawrence. Andersonville which is part of Edgewater is wonderful shopping, Ann Sathers, and other Swedish Bakery and Swedish stores, and other cute lil shops. I am sorry I cant be as descriptive as I'd like since I dont have a car, and I haven't seen what may have popped up lately. However i do know the migration from Boystown around Belmont/Halsted, has happened to go up north to Edgewater in the last few years and it is sprouting.
Mainly my impression of Edgwater, Lakeview, Andersonville, some parts of Uptown, are comfortable to me but they each have pockets/streets which I do not prefer aesthetically and where I would choose to live. Andersonville and Ravenswood actually have beautiful large vintage apartments that I go crazy looking at because im searching for a new apartment. oh thats another topic though!
all this talk about being hassled by people in the neighborhood, I mentioned that I lived and went to school in Uptown at Truman, I waited for the bus at 9:00 p.m and never got hassled or approached by the characters that were walking by or hanging out near me. In fact, I never got hassled by anyone, but the other day in downtown chicago, a homeless person who was drinking and had a bad attitude was hassling me while waiting for the bus. He got 1 inch from me and was threatening me but my bus came. Ironic eh? the drunk homeless dude was hassling another man for money, waiting for the bus and actually put his hand on the other guy's back. i was watching that guy to make sure what he was doing, and he didn't like me staring at him, and started threatening me and hassling me. sheesh. this was downtown chicago
I am familiar with the night life in Lakeview for sure. Wrigleyville - I dont care for the sports bar culture and Im not a sports fan (sorry Cubs!) If I lived up north around 5600 N Clark, I'd sure go visit the area around 5600 N Broadway, and the Clark St bars, and restaurants and cute lil antique stores and with just common street smarts liked you would anywhere I'd feel ok. Go by day if you feel more comfortable exploring rather than at night.
To answer your question about why my complex is perceived ghetto, in all honesty it probably has very little to do with the buildings and more to do with the residents. There are a lot of black people in my neighborhood, and some people thinks that automatically makes a neighborhood sketchy. I always hear there are so many sketch people where I live but Ive always thought most of the people where I live were friendly and cool.
It isnt just racism though. The city I live in is small, but people from all income levels habitat areas pretty close to each other. SO sometimes how you have grown up influences your perception.
So it seems like from your description, there is at least something to do and nice areas in both communities
When i was at Truman, ok I was used to taking the Red line to Wilson and getting off. the area looked pretty blighted, reminds me of downtown Gary, IN. Anyway, there are some stores there that are good, i.e. i had to go to the Ace Hardware, and Popeyes (which is not there anymore) was there, so walking between that area and Truman which is a block or so west of Wilson, sure didn't look great.
anyway, me and some friends walked one or two blocks west toward Magnolia, and voila! The whole feel of the neighborhood changed. Starbucks was there and whenever a Starbucks is somewhere, you know the area is gonna start to improve
Its so surrealistic how one to two blocks can change your impression of a small area of the city. If transportation was no problem, it is my impression that two blocks west of Truman toward Ashland seems like a pretty cool place to live.
But i can't say for sure since I've never lived there to be able to give you a report. Its just my feel of the place passing by. I think Magnolia Cafe is around there and thats a popular place so maybe I am right.
It is funny how things can go down in areas where you least expect it. Your story reminds me when I was a teenager (13) and living in a neighborhood in southern florida. Most of the residents were old, and everyone seemed pretty friendly. I had just moved to Florida and dint know to many people. Over the summer I was going to an athletic conditioning camp. It was at a school in a rough neighborhood. Some of my moms friends who werent the most racially tolerant people were asking stuff like "arent you scared?" and telling me "to be very careful." All summer everyone at the camp was really nice to me. I never had a single problem with anyone.
In the neighborhood where I lived I was walking home from a basketball court one day when a car rolled up and people asked me if i had any marijuana. I said no. As they drove away they started cursing at me. Stupidly I cursed back. They brought the car back around got out with a crow bar and threatened to beat me up. There were 4 of them and they looked roughly 17. This happened in a neighborhood where security trucks are always driving around. Luckily they left without beating me up, but tried to spit at me as they drove by again (it didnt hit me haha).
I know this is off the topic of Chicago, but I wanted to tell it because I understand what you are saying. Sometimes you never know where you might encounter drama.
I would think you'd be content in any of the communities off the red line. I'd stop at the Byrn Mawr stop north otherwise it's a pretty long commute. Anyway Clark street from foster north is cute and not tons of bars (thank God) but enough to have a good time.
To answer your question about why my complex is perceived ghetto, in all honesty it probably has very little to do with the buildings and more to do with the residents. There are a lot of black people in my neighborhood, and some people thinks that automatically makes a neighborhood sketchy. I always hear there are so many sketch people where I live but Ive always thought most of the people where I live were friendly and cool.
It isnt just racism though. The city I live in is small, but people from all income levels habitat areas pretty close to each other. SO sometimes how you have grown up influences your perception.
So it seems like from your description, there is at least something to do and nice areas in both communities
Yeah, me and a co-worker who is black (i'm white) were friends and after work, well, we went over to the south side and went by the projects, before they got totally torn down, then we went to 79th and Stoney island and got some great bbq, he told me all about how he is perceived coz he wears a hoodie, turned around baseball cap, and gym shoes, but haha this was ironic because he totally wasn't like that.. but he gets flack at times just coz of this.. really he is a DJ and an I.T professional, so totally he was not ghetto. but he got judged as ghetto coz of his clothing.
My current bldg is totally integrated, but everyone is decent and so i dont feel anything bad about anyone on the elevator. Its amazing how you can put a person in one place and then see them in another and can get two different opinions.
but on your other comment, well, my nightlife days are over, im more into shopping or traveling and seeing stuff, and that includes taking the bus around town just joyriding, because i really dont have much of a life haha!
I would think you'd be content in any of the communities off the red line. I'd stop at the Byrn Mawr stop north otherwise it's a pretty long commute. Anyway Clark street from foster north is cute and not tons of bars (thank God) but enough to have a good time.
yeah thats a great area, but i wish there were more restaurants and things to do so that when yo dont feel like cooking you can just go down to the neighborhood diner. Some of the apartment buildings on Sheridan and LSD seem so cool and affordable , but not much in the neighborhood unless you want to walk several blocks, I guess there is Nookies there, not much I caught unfortunately
The nightlife in Uptown and Edgewater has a very different personality than the nightlife in Lincoln Park and Lakeview. The nightlife in Lakeview and, to a lesser extent, Lincoln Park is skewed towards a sports bar and/or fraternity/sorority crowd. If those aren't your scenes, you might actually prefer the nightlife in Uptown and Edgewater despite there not being as much of it in pure quantitative terms.
If nightlife is important to you, your best bet would be to spend some time in venues in both areas to see where you're more comfortable. You'll very quickly get a sense of what kinds of people hang out in bars and other nightlife venues in each area. In Wrigleyvile (which is a subset of Lakeview), you should go with a group until you know it's your scene, because the bars there can get quite rowdy.
Another option for studios in Edgewater is near the Bryn Mawr Historic District. It's a small little patch from Broadway to the lake. The Bryn Mawr red line stop is right there and I see lots and lots of multi-unit housing. I'm not sure if you will be working or going downtown, but aside from the red line there are bus lines (136- Sheridan Lasalle Xpress, 147 - Outer Drive Xpress, and the 151, which is an OWL route.)
Thanks for this, I actually was just looking at places right near the corner of Bryn Mawr and Sheridan and there seemed to be quite a few affordable places right near the red line stop and the 151 bus route.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
