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Old 01-08-2010, 06:01 PM
 
Location: USA
5,738 posts, read 5,410,916 times
Reputation: 3668

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I'm a fan of McKinley Park, but if you're interested in nearby nightlife, I would try Wicker Park, Bucktown, Logan Square, or Avondale.
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Old 01-08-2010, 06:04 PM
 
Location: Chicago
15,585 posts, read 27,438,384 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Irishtom29 View Post
That place where AJ's used to be, behind Huck Finn?
Good old Huck Finn. I have been there many times over the years. Is it still there?
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Old 01-08-2010, 06:09 PM
 
Location: Chicago
38,707 posts, read 102,737,620 times
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Yep.
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Old 01-08-2010, 06:09 PM
 
Location: Mokena, Illinois
947 posts, read 2,412,236 times
Reputation: 634
That Huck Finn had great late night breakfasts. The one on Archer and Kedzie attracted the drunks that sat there with a cup of coffee for hours and hours. They would go from White Castle to Huck Finn and back again.
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Old 01-08-2010, 06:13 PM
 
Location: Chicago
15,585 posts, read 27,438,384 times
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It has been probably 3 years since I passed by Huck Finn. I think the last time I ate there was about 7 years ago.
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Old 01-08-2010, 06:27 PM
 
28,455 posts, read 84,957,533 times
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That "article" has the distinct whiff of the kind of puff piece that some papers will run to please potential advertisers, especially those with real estate to hawk. Now don't get me wrong, I like "good news stories" as much as the next guy, and I drive through that area from US Cell pretty routinely, so I know there are LOTS worse places around. I just don't think that gritty section of Chicago has much going it for it -- some freight areas near the Stevenson are biggest nearby low skill employer. If there was more of a plan to use the good access and redevelop some sites around their for higher value employment THAT would be news...
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Old 01-08-2010, 06:36 PM
 
Location: Wheaton, Illinois
10,261 posts, read 21,653,518 times
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I'm over that way often, though we live at 14th and Michigan we shop at the Domincks and Target in McKinley Park and use the library there on 35th St. And I have a couple of pals who live there.

Anyway seems like regular working class neighborhood to me. Which is fine with me. My wife often talks about buying there if we decided to move in away from the Lake and buy a place.
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Old 01-08-2010, 06:40 PM
 
Location: Mokena, Illinois
947 posts, read 2,412,236 times
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It WOULD be ripe for gentrification, tho. Has very close access to I55 and Orange Line-both of which are only a 20 minute or so ride downtown. Ride down 35th is convienient to IIT. Not too far from UofI. Big drawbacks are the schools-Kelly HS. and the local grammar schools. The ride down Archer not bad to Curie, and Orange line not a bad ride to Whitney Young.
I saw there was an attempt at shopping center at Ashland.
Wish it would happen. It could be done. But--Brighton Park, Gage Park and the gangs are not far away.
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Old 01-08-2010, 07:10 PM
 
28,455 posts, read 84,957,533 times
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Default Agreed -- and don't forget the "environmental qualities" are sorta wrong too...

Quote:
Originally Posted by ImaloneJill View Post
It WOULD be ripe for gentrification, tho. Has very close access to I55 and Orange Line-both of which are only a 20 minute or so ride downtown. Ride down 35th is convienient to IIT. Not too far from UofI. Big drawbacks are the schools-Kelly HS. and the local grammar schools. The ride down Archer not bad to Curie, and Orange line not a bad ride to Whitney Young.
I saw there was an attempt at shopping center at Ashland.
Wish it would happen. It could be done. But--Brighton Park, Gage Park and the gangs are not far away.
The reason that people gentrified areas on the north side is that it was pretty easy, handfull of industrial sites were mostly small scale and almost quaint (Finkl is the kind of steel mill you can love), whereas the stuff to the SW has much bigger footprint -- ComEd plant, concrete plant north of McK Park are big industrial operations, further west along the Stevenson the situation gets worse. South Branch of the river is much yuckier than north -- legacy of dumping goes back a century or more...

I was born SW and family most moved out, so you can't say I am making this stuff up, just stating the facts that the levels of actual visible grit and grunge are due to very obvious sources and not merely something that is easy to overlook...

Believe me nobody is going to choose Kelly or Currie over a sparkly new high school either -- are there worse choices in CPS? You bet, but to suggest that either is an example of anything to be hopfully about is quite a stretch:

Interactive Illinois Report Card

Interactive Illinois Report Card
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Old 01-08-2010, 07:22 PM
 
Location: Mokena, Illinois
947 posts, read 2,412,236 times
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Yeah, I said the schools were a drawback-I went two years to Maria and graduated from Kelly. It was going downhill back in the 70's. Gunsaulus Magnet School (Grammar) in Brighton Park is/was decent about a decade or so ago, but not sure if there are magnet status schools in McKinley Park.
There was an article on this board from Business Week (?) that said Curie was a "Bronze" recipient for a US school. So I assumed it was a decent school.
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