What 'hoods don't you like and why? Which are your fave 'hoods? (Chicago: condo, hotels)

[i love living foods]

I don't mean a dangerous place but a place where you are not afraid to go but something bugs you about it?

For me, I dislike Wicker Park. Bucktown is aight, but I really don't like walking down Milwaukee by Damen and stuff. It seems very seedy and the whole punk rock junkie vibe does nothing for me.

I am not a fan of the De Paul area. Lots of ghetto White kids from Barrington.

I am mixed about Lakeview. It's a bit too cewl with metro dewds and chicks who look very loose yet hipster-esque. Kind of too funky for words but verging on acceptable.

Not feeling Streeterville, Gold Coast, etc. because there are too many plastic-looking women just out of Botox treatment and thugs lurking around.

Uptown near Wilson is sketchy on steroids. Junkie vibe strong.

I love Pilsen, Rogers Park, North Park, Ukranian Village, Hyde Park, West Loop...

[noid_1985]

My favorite is Hyde Park, but I also like Wicker Park, Noble Square, Uptown, Rogers Park, Edgewater, South Loop, Kenwood....I like the urban grit so cities like Baltimore and Philly appeal to me as well

[NARFALICIOUS]

Originally Posted by i love living foods

I don't mean a dangerous place but a place where you are not afraid to go but something bugs you about it?

For me, I dislike Wicker Park. Bucktown is aight, but I really don't like walking down Milwaukee by Damen and stuff. It seems very seedy and the whole punk rock junkie vibe does nothing for me.

I am not a fan of the De Paul area. Lots of ghetto White kids from Barrington.

I am mixed about Lakeview. It's a bit too cewl with metro dewds and chicks who look very loose yet hipster-esque. Kind of too funky for words but verging on acceptable.

Not feeling Streeterville, Gold Coast, etc. because there are too many plastic-looking women just out of Botox treatment and thugs lurking around.

Uptown near Wilson is sketchy on steroids. Junkie vibe strong.

I love Pilsen, Rogers Park, North Park, Ukranian Village, Hyde Park, West Loop...

Lots of wrong generalizations going on here.
My favorite 'hood is my 'hood. Albany Park.

[ChiNaan]

Favorites: Edgewater, Uptown, Andersonville, Logan Square (though starting to have mixed feelings about this one), Bucktown, Lincoln Square/Ravenswood, Roscoe Village, West Loop, River West, Pilsen, Chinatown, Bridgeport, Hyde Park. Sometimes South Loop (mixed feelings about this one as well).

I can think of plenty of neighborhoods where I wouldn't want to live, but none that I flat-out hate. There are places that I wouldn't want to walk through alone at night, and at the other end of the spectrum there are things I find to be obnoxious about Gold Coast and Lincoln Park, but I find redeeming qualities in all of those places, as well.

There are also several neighborhoods I haven't spent enough time in to have an opinion. I'd like to check out Avondale, Albany Park, and Rogers Park more, for example.

[orange3324]

I am also a fan of grit so I tend to like neighborhoods like Noble Square, Fulton Market, River West, and Uptown a lot. I am still a big fan of the West Loop, but it is becoming more and more commercialized with hotels, a Lou Malnati;s, etc coming in. I am hoping the Fulton area can hold onto some of its grittiness during the transition.

[ChicagoMeO]

I dont care to hang around Wrigleyville, nor Division & State, nor The Viagra Triangle because to me there are tooo many frat boys and Trixies and Chads, and I dont get into that culture. I like Boystown better!

I also would not like to live where there are too many pedestrians/shoppers/traffic, so I try to stay away from those areas, because I am trying to drive and the traffic drives me nuts. Shoppers strolling when Im on the move makes me impatient. but even though I like the areas per se, the extra traffic with cars and pedestrians bug me.

[Chicagoist123]

Favorite:

Avondale: Love the down to earth people. The mix and diverstiy of people. It's very convenient and has everything you need. An exciting place to be now. When it comes down to it, I just love the people that live here. Most people here are just so down to earth and aren't pretentious, ghetto or close minded. Just a neighborhood where people are there to live, work and enjoy life.


Logan Square: Love the mix of architecture. Also like the dynamic of it being a Latino and White neighbrhood, which still embraces its Latino heritage. Puerto Rican and Cuban places are plentiful in that neighborhood and popoular with residents a like. I would actually like to buy a condo there one day.

Bucktown: Same as Logan Square but just a lot more gentrfied. I think it has a cool vibe, not prententious.

Wicker Park: Although a lot more pretentious, the vibe here is like not other. IMO the most vibrant hood in the city outside of the Loop, and maybe the Near North Side. There is just something special about it.

Albany Park: The mix of people fascinates. It has an Arab flavor to it, Mexican flavor, Korean flavor, etc. just a mish mash of so many different ethnicities. While I wouldn't want to live there per say, I find this neighborhood to be intriguing, a good place to walk around and explore.


Least Favorite:

Lakeview: While I think it is a cool place to visit, I just don't like the people there, too homogenous, and I don't mean that in regards to race. I feel like people move from a bubble and move to this bubble. To me it's very much a bubble that has plenty to do. The western portion is better. but the rest I am not a fan of.

Portage Park: Spread out, suburban, ugly architecture and there is something so sterile about it. While I feel the people living there are awesome, Portage Park is so blah. It could aspire to be more like Jefferson Park and Iriving Park.

Uptown: I just don't like it here. Don't ask me why, but I just don't.

Belmont Cragin: A more urban and boring version of Portage Park.

Honorable mentions in like: Loop, Lincoln Park, Lincoln Square, Roger's Park, Irving Park, Ukranian Village, Little Italy/University Village, Hyde Park.

[Irishtom29]

I was so gritty I showered with Lava.

[jwaiter]

I hate the Lincoln Park bars but I love the Lincoln Park homes and if I had the $$ I'd live there in a heartbeat. The old trees, Oz Park, Lincoln Park zoo, the lakefront, the beautiful architecture. I like the Wicker Park/Uk Village/Noble Sqr area, which is why I live there, it's got a progressive liberal open minded type of resident, but I did like it better when it was cheaper rents and a lot of young artists. But that element isn't gone 100%, there's remnants of it which I like. I like Lincoln Square a lot, Rogers Park I like but it's so far from everything else, it's like it's own world up there. Like MeO I dislike the Wrigley area - amateur hour and thick headed types, barbie doll airhead girls too. Most parts of the city I enjoy being in/visiting/ being a tourist.

[i love living foods]

Originally Posted by orange3324

I am also a fan of grit so I tend to like neighborhoods like Noble Square, Fulton Market, River West, and Uptown a lot. I am still a big fan of the West Loop, but it is becoming more and more commercialized with hotels, a Lou Malnati;s, etc coming in. I am hoping the Fulton area can hold onto some of its grittiness during the transition.

What specific area are you referring to and what are its boundaries?

I LOVE wandering in that area! I can't explain it but it reminds me of lost Chicago. Like a slice of the past still clinging to remain non-yuppified.

I also enjoyed riding around on my bike up Racine or Morgan a few blocks 'til Kinzie. River West? It was so tucked away.

I find it maddening that all the coffee and similar places downtown are all chains. Go around the fringes and you find indie shops.