Are hipsters moving to Uptown? (Chicago, Sheridan: rent, homes, college)

[skyeINIL]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

Sometimes I get "touchy." The whole arguement does not belong in this thread, I am not really sure how it got started. Oh well. I think what touched me off is when somebody who I will not name stated that welfare queens are a mythical creation and there never has been any and continued to claim that as a fact.

If I offended you, I am sorry. I just found it strange that I am not the only person that has given some credibility to existence of "welfare queens" and welfare misuse, but I was specifically critized because I stated that I have seen it hundreds of times.

More surprised than offended. I get touchy about the subject as well. Like I stated before, my family properly used the welfare system for a short time and I know many (not an exaggeration) other families that did, too. I don't doubt the existence of "welfare queens". I think that term is overused and is sometimes applied to anyone on welfare. I just don't believe that the majority of people on welfare are misusing the system.

[esya]

OK, I think I can add to this even though I don't live in Chicago. Yes, if you can gauge from my 22 yr old daughter's friends. She has some that graduated in Chicago, went back to LA (music industry types) and are now planning to move back to that part of Chicago to live and play. They are definitely in the category hipster.

[aragx6]

There is no more welfare abuse than white collar crimes like tax evasion, and I have studied heavily on this and you won't convince me otherwise. However, the point is that Reagan used one completely overblown hyperbolic statement to keep many many people who legitimately need it from getting help.

And they're still scumbags, but I suspect a lot of those women in Cadillacs and what not are drug dealers not con artists who lie about having children they don't have.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

I think Rogers Park was the roughest part after Cabrini Green. Uptown maybe fourth behind Albany Park(at least in the 90's).

Uptown and Rogers Park have sort of traded places. Historically Rogers Park was more stable and had less crime than Uptown, but this started to flip in the 80s. Rogers Park still doesn't have the concentration of shelters and social services that Uptown has, however--and that helps bring the quality of life down in Uptown as well. But yes, crime in RP is now higher than in Uptown--and there are certainly more gang-bangers milling around up there.

[mdz]

okeydokey, we've hammered the welfare queen debate to death, let's keep this on Uptown, please. Otherwise, people will search for "uptown" and get a fistful of Reaganomics...

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

I found it funny that Lookoutkid asked the question to begin with, because for the last 5 years or so the answer is obviously yes! He had to have known this? and yes it is funny how these threads go off on all kinds of tangents...

I had some anecdotal evidence of a new (but small) hipster presence in Uptown, and wanted to find out if others had seen any evidence of this. It's always interesting to see what other people are observing, is it not? I've been in the neighborhood for three years, and I really saw very few hipsters around the 'hood until recently. Yes, have been yuppies and other middle-class residents moving in for years--along with the long-time gay presence, but I've only recently heard, for instance, that a lot of the young graphic designers my wife manages are moving to Uptown (this is always my hipster sample focus group). And it's just kind of interesting to see all of these former Wicker Park and Bucktown pioneer businesses coming in, like the Holiday Club, Nick's, and Silver Clous (as the Fat Kat).

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by mdz

okeydokey, we've hammered the welfare queen debate to death, let's keep this on Uptown, please. Otherwise, people will search for "uptown" and get a fistful of Reaganomics...

Agreed! How in the world did that get started?

[yakijy]

I remember getting my first apartment in Uptown back in the 1970's, because it was the cheapest place I could find on the Northside. I turned the oven on, and an incredible stench filled the apartment - I looked inside the oven, and saw the smoke was from a thick layer of cockroach carcasses. When Spring rolled around, I saw a row of motorcycles down the street - I had rented next to the Chicago Outlaws motorcycle gang. I would walk down the street, and Appleachian white guys would challenge to a fight just for the hell of it.
Things have changed a lot. When you look at the prices of houses in the 60640 zip code, they start around $400k and go up from there. Uptown is where they emptied most of the mental institutions in the 70's. They had the highest rate of crazy people walking around than anywhere in the country. Uptown has been strongly resistant to the 'Wicker Part' effect, but it has always had it's share of 'hip' spots, ie, Aragon Ballroom, Green Mill, Uptown theater.

[lenniel]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

More than hipsters, Gays are--and always have been--leading the charge into Uptown. That's the big difference between Uptown and the old Wicker Park--which was really colonized by artists. Every block club meeting is filled with what I've come to call the "Gay Crime-Fighting Mafia". They form 911 trees, fill out CAPS half-sheets, and form committees to address loitering, gangs, and drug sales. And they are the core of the anti-Helen Shiller regime in Uptown.

Uptown is in this really advantageous spot for gays in that it basically connects "NorthHalsted" to Andersonville. And many of the most vibrant bars in Uptown are gay bars, from the sporty "Crew" to the aptly named "Big Chicks". A new "Oscar Wilde-themed" bar is about to open next to Crew on Broadway.

The hipster infusion into Uptown seems to be a new phenomenon--but it is starting to happen. There have always been a number of radical hippie types in Uptown, but the newer brand of hipster is a recent addition.

If gays are the one's leading the development of Uptown and are the loudest anti-Schiller voice, I say "YOU GO GIRL!!"
You won't find too many gay bums, excons, drug addicts, street sleepers, thugs etc., so I'm all for them being the spark that turns Uptown from trash to treasure.
As for the yuppie term...wasn't that worn out in the 80's with movies like "Pretty in Pink" and "Less than zero".
If I live on the northside, own a home, drive a SUV, have 2 college degrees, does that make me a yuppie (oh yeh, and I vote Republican)? If so, well then YUP IT UP!!

[CarolinaBredChicagoan]

Originally Posted by lenniel

If I live on the northside, own a home, drive a SUV, have 2 college degrees, does that make me a yuppie (oh yeh, and I vote Republican)? If so, well then YUP IT UP!!

Yes. Yes, those things do.