Commuting to/from Hyde Park (Chicago, Lincoln: apartments, lease, transferring to)

[itsalwayssunny87]

Okay City Data members — give it to me straight.

I recently accepted a job at UofC/Hyde Park. I want to live in the city. I love theater and want to be involved in that scene. After doing research, Lincoln Park, Lakeview and South Loop seem like possible neighborhoods to live.

Given the commute time, is it possible to be involved in the theater scene while working in Hyde Park without a car? Am I considering the right neighborhoods? On a smaller note, I'm a single female in my late 20s, and I want to live somewhere with a decent night life. My budget is around $1200 for rent.

I had two friends who used to live in Chicago recommend that I find a place in Hyde Park and commute to any theater activities from there. I'd still rather live in the city, but I'd like to get more opinions from you city data lurkers. Would love to hear your opinions on which neighborhoods/transportation routes to check out.

[Drover]

I don't get the distinction between "Hyde Park" and "the city." Hyde Park isn't some far-flung suburb or something. It's well within the city limits.

As for where to live... South Loop. That'll put you in striking distance of theater activities on the north side without having to endure an unreasonably long commute to Hyde Park. $1200 is about the entry-level buy-in price though for a studio or small 1br. On the upside, much of the housing stock in South Loop is new and modern.

As for transportation options, there's the Metra Electric line, or a number of bus lines that run express from Roosevelt & Columbus to Hyde Park, or you can take the Green or Red Line plus bus connection (you'd be waiting for your connection in a pretty rough neighborhood though).

[Manigault]

I think the south loop is your best choice. I think the theater scene is concentrated on the near north side. Now, depending on your work schedule, living in the south loop would be most convenient as to transportation for work and your avocation.

You're not really going to need a car -- the Red line is your friend.

[chet everett]

Drover is spot-on -- HYDE PARK IS A NEIGHBORHOOD IN CHICAGO!

In its own way it is every bit as vibrant as any other neighborhood in the city. It is costly and a bit more reflective of the mostly academic environment at UofC.

It makes sense to try to live in the South Loop if you don't want to live in Hyde Park itself as any public transit commute from the northside to Hyde Park and back gets significantly more complicated coming through the Loop.

The downtown theatres are fully professional. You may end up having to trek quite a ways to get involved in the more experimental / community oriented stuff -- lots of ties the teachers / students at DePaul & Northwestern...

(the redline is useful to get from the Loop to the northside, not useful to /from Hyde Park...)

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by itsalwayssunny87

Okay City Data members — give it to me straight.

I recently accepted a job at UofC/Hyde Park. I want to live in the city. I love theater and want to be involved in that scene. After doing research, Lincoln Park, Lakeview and South Loop seem like possible neighborhoods to live.

Given the commute time, is it possible to be involved in the theater scene while working in Hyde Park without a car? Am I considering the right neighborhoods? On a smaller note, I'm a single female in my late 20s, and I want to live somewhere with a decent night life. My budget is around $1200 for rent.

I had two friends who used to live in Chicago recommend that I find a place in Hyde Park and commute to any theater activities from there. I'd still rather live in the city, but I'd like to get more opinions from you city data lurkers. Would love to hear your opinions on which neighborhoods/transportation routes to check out.

Hyde Park is in the city so I'm not sure of what you're getting at there.........? Ah decent nightlife. Well Hyde Park doesn't have that, though they have a few places, but nothing compared to some other parts of the city.

Is it possible to live in other neighborhoods and commute to HP? Of course - but you'll have to give yourself awhile and it depends on how you want to commute. If you want to live on the north side in areas like Lakeview, Lincoln Park, etc (where you can afford to live), you'll not only need to transfer at least twice via public transit to get to work, but it will take you awhile to get there. The red line DOES go Washington Park next to Hyde Park, but you may find the people riding the train with you to be a little shady at times. I have single female friends who have lived in Hyde Park and didn't mind taking the Red Line at night alone down there, but as they were from other countries they had a different mindset.

I think the best you're going to do for yourself without having too ****ty of a commute and living somewhere a little more exciting (but not a ton) is the South Loop. Not sure of what the prices are there, but you might be able to get a studio somewhere there. Or if you were lucky you could get one in the active part of Chinatown maybe (aka Armour Square).

So if you don't mind a 1+ hour commute each way everyday, then sure you could probably find a place in Lincoln Park. If you can find a place in South Loop, that's way better. Otherwise I'd recommend living in Hyde Park. It's not a bad neighborhood and U of C certainly has a lot of things going on for it. It's not an exciting neighborhood at street level - there are a few good places like the Promentory, but Hyde Park IS right in the city and you can still get to other places from there.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by chet everett

In its own way it is every bit as vibrant as any other neighborhood in the city. It is costly and a bit more reflective of the mostly academic environment at UofC.

I wouldn't go that far - though, it's a different kind of vibrancy. It's not unvibrant, but when you're walking on the streets there sometimes, it doesn't feel super vibrant. A lot of university programming type of stuff, which is much different than an area like Lakeview which has more street/business vibrancy.

It's not CHEAP but it's definitely not an expensive neighborhood on average if you're renting.

[itsalwayssunny87]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Hyde Park is in the city so I'm not sure of what you're getting at there.........? Ah decent nightlife.

Bingo. I'm not from Chicago, and I've usually spent my time in Bucktown as well as Lakeview, so Hyde Park felt really far away to me. My bad for implying that it wasn't part of the city.

I'm moving from a college town, so I'm looking for a place that's in the middle of all the hustle and bustle. If Hyde Park has decent night life (meaning places are open past 10pm and I can go out without running into students), then great! But that wasn't the impression I got. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I'll check out South Loop.

Originally Posted by chet everett

The downtown theatres are fully professional. You may end up having to trek quite a ways to get involved in the more experimental / community oriented stuff -- lots of ties the teachers / students at DePaul & Northwestern...

How far north would you say? I'm not trying to do anything professional; I just want to be around creatively-minded people and be able to participate in shows when I can.

[marothisu]

South Loop would be your best bet - it is more restrained in 'wildness' than a Wicker Park, Lakeview, etc but still a number of restaurants, bars, etc. It's also on some train lines so it's really easy to get to other areas of town that may interest you (Red and Blue Lines run 24/7 btw).

If you live even in an area like Lincoln Park, it's probably going to take you still like an hour (or a little longer) to get to work each way everyday.

For South Loop, here's a few properties that you might be able to afford a studio in, but again beware of the rising prices in Chicago especially "downtown." These $1200/month places could easily be $1400/month in a few years:

http://www.rent.com/illinois/chicago...ts-4-100046880
http://www.rent.com/illinois/chicago...higan-4-434880
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/74...zpid/?view=map

Chinatown would be good too but it can be hard to find listings online sometimes..at least in English.

[deg23]

I would recommend living in Hyde Park. I am a grad student who enjoys having a good time, and there are not an incredible selection of places in HP to do that, but there are two cool dive bars (the cove and falcon inn), a good music venue (promontory), and a blues club (checkerboard lounge) in addition to the student standard bars (the pub and jimmy's). There is also one of the best-acclaimed theaters in Chicago (court theater) an art museum, a very active and exciting art center, and a few university-run galleries, as well as three other museums, and some pretty amazing parks. You can live blocks away from the lakefront for much much cheaper (you can get 1 br for around 800) than other Chicago neighborhoods (with safe streets/nightlife), and if you live in the eastern portion of the neighborhood, downtown is 20 minutes away by express (6) bus, and from there you can get conveniently to most other neighborhoods. It is easier to get from East Hyde park to other parts of Chicago than it is to commute from other parts of chicago to the university.

[UC18]

I wouldn't want to commute to Hyde Park from Lincoln Park or Lakeview if I didn't have to. Really, I'm not sure I'd want to commute to Hyde Park from anywhere without a car, since there isn't an El stop right there. You'd be either taking buses or walking a mile or two from the nearest Red Line stop, through a less-than-great area. You could take the South Shore or Metra from downtown to 57th St., but if you're transferring to it downtown from the Red Line you're looking at a pretty long commute.

If you really want to be closer to downtown, South Loop is your better bet. You're still looking at a bus commute, but it would be a more manageable one, and you can get to the North Side theater stuff easily enough on the Red Line.

Personally I'd start off living in Hyde Park and walking to work if I were you. That way you don't have to worry about the commuting stuff while you're dealing with all the typical new job BS. Then in your free time you can explore the city, seeing if there are other places you'd rather live, and get a feel for what it would be like commuting from those areas on public transportation. Then you can move when your first lease is up if you want. You will likely run into students in HP, though (as you know from living in a college town), but a very high percentage of the students at U of C are grad students, and the undergrads are pretty studious, so it's not like a party-til-you-puke state school kind of scene.