Another "moving to Chicago" thread

[eldudelero]

thanks again for your suggestions so far.
So nightlife would be around the Division blue line station? just cruising around google maps that area doesnt look that urban..where exactly would the hotspot be located?
i guess South Loop would not be convenient to OHare?

[chicagobear]

Originally Posted by eldudelero

thanks again for your suggestions so far.
So nightlife would be around the Division blue line station? just cruising around google maps that area doesnt look that urban..where exactly would the hotspot be located?
i guess South Loop would not be convenient to OHare?

The Damen/North station has more activity right around it. Milwaukee between Division and North and along North and Damen. Also Division west of Ashland.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by Attrill

A flexible schedule will definitely make things much easier.

I agree that the anywhere along the Blue Line between Division and Montrose stops would be your best bets. If you're out by the Montrose stop you'd shave time off the Itasca commute by taking the 90/94 split out of your commute (that's a regular bottleneck) but you'd add a 10-15 Blue Line ride to get to nightlife. Anywhere between the Division and Logan Square stops will put you close to nightlife, but will add time to the Itasca commute. The amount added will vary widely based on the time of day and weather conditions, but starting at Armitage Ave. it can take me 20 minutes on the Kennedy to get through the 90/94 split. I know a few people who commute to that general area, and one of them skips the expressways altogether and just uses Irving Park Rd.

Anyways, I think any of the options along the Blue Line can work for you, you just need to decide what balance you want to strike between the Itasca commute and proximity to nightlife.

While having good access to a surface street as an alternate to the expressways is good in theory the reality is that conditions that cause the expressways in our region to grind to a crawl also effect surface streets. The reasons that travel times have been higher than normal this year December is pretty clearly shown to be due to snow and slippery conditions -- folks that don't slow their travel speed to account for increased stopping distances end up in collisions that snarl traffic. Surface streets suffer the same fate. While it may be true that in dry conditions the lower speeds on surface streets lead to a more predictable commute the fact is once things are icy vehicles can slip at every intersection / stop and together with the notoriously unpredicatable effects of CTA and Pace buses jamming up surface streets it is no surprise that only one person relies on surface streets to Itasca... Assuming one works near Rohlwing Rd and Irving Park Rd in Itasca that is about 17 miles from Irving and the Kennedy and the often optimistic google map estimate pegs that at about 46 minutes via surface routes today with low temps but no real treacherous road conidtions...

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by eldudelero

thanks again for your suggestions so far.
So nightlife would be around the Division blue line station? just cruising around google maps that area doesnt look that urban..where exactly would the hotspot be located?
i guess South Loop would not be convenient to OHare?

First of all, Google Street View is out of date, remember that. Judging by this, I'd say it's at least 2 years old. I know that for my area, the street view in some parts is over 4 years old.

The area is not completely urban, but that pizza hut looking structure you see on the corner? Yeah, that's now an 11 story residential tower (http://chicagomag.com/images/2013/08...W-Division.jpg).

Not sure why you picked the Division stop, but the heart of Wicker Park's business area is at the intersection of North, Milwaukee, and Damen along both Milwaukee (mainly heading south towards Division though) and also on North Ave. Going north on Damen there's also stuff (that's Bucktown) and south from this point for a block or two there's some stuff. There's a break in business for a small handful of blocks as you go south until you hit Division, in which there are a number of businesses around there as well.

[jdiddy]

Originally Posted by eldudelero

thanks again for your suggestions so far.
So nightlife would be around the Division blue line station? just cruising around google maps that area doesnt look that urban..where exactly would the hotspot be located?
i guess South Loop would not be convenient to OHare?

Most of the bars/restaurants on Division start about two blocks west of Ashland and continue to about Oakley.

South Loop would not be convenient for frequent trips to O'hare, not to mention it has fewer nightlife/daily needs options than Wicker Park.