Visiting Chicago in Febuary (Normal, Lincoln: best neighborhood, apartments, rent)

[pete6032]

I have never had trouble with the El during winter. Yeah it's cold standing out there waiting, but that does not affect the reliability of the train in my experience.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by jdiddy

Right. I've also never had an el train impacted by winter weather, and I've taken the el more or less every working day in the winter for the past 10 years.

Even in the brutal polar vortex two years ago, blue line was running. I think chets thinking of Metra.

Plus, its probably not going to be that cold. Probably upper 20s/30s. Could be colder, could be warmer.

Normal service restored on all CTA lines after ice causes delays | Chicago Sun-Times

This past March 3...

[raleightransplant]

Originally Posted by dylan_505

Thanks for the help guys!

We could probably visit in March or April but we thought February would be a good time so we could see what a Chicago winter is like. I used to live in Toronto so im thinking it wont be much different.

Also im a Lakers fan and they are in town to play the Bulls on Feb 21st so it gives me an excuse to catch the game haha.

This is pretty wise, actually. If you go in February you'll see Chicago in it's typically worst month, which will make other times of year feel like gravy. If you've lived in Toronto, you'll find Chicago pretty comparible. As mentioned El Nino is making this fall SUPER nice, so maybe winter follows suit..who knows. I personally have never experienced issues with CTA service in winter...this is Chicago. People deal with it without blinking typically. I don't drive, and only take CTA or cab in this city. No problems in my 7 years here, and we've had some winters the last couple years. Not to mention, many of the places you'll be (River North, parts of Logan and Wicker Park blue line) are subway, not elevated. Nice and warm down there.

[dylan_505]

Originally Posted by raleightransplant

I'd say three full days (especially if it's around a weekend) will be ample time for you to get a sample/feel for those areas. Those aren't too many neighborhoods to cover in that frame of time, and they're not too awfully spread out from each other either. You could probably get a good feel for more west side hoods like Wicker Park, Bucktown and Logan Sq on one day, have another for those more near Loop like West Loop and River North. Then have another set aside for Lakeview and Lincoln Park.

If you're looking at West Loop, it's a very different neighborhood from day to night. It's growing quickly, but feels like a completely different neighborhood at night and especially on weekends. A million great dining options in that area.

What do you mean by West Loop is different from day to night? Is that a good thing or bad thing?

We have actually seen a lot of awesome lofts in that area that we are interested in.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by dylan_505

What do you mean by West Loop is different from day to night? Is that a good thing or bad thing?

We have actually seen a lot of awesome lofts in that area that we are interested in.

Mostly a good thing. The area, especially the corridor along Randolph, once had a very active set of early morning businesses that delivered provisions to the various restaurants. Increasingly these spaces have been converted to restaurants themselves. There is not the same kind of "boutique row" that other areas have along their commercial strips and thus things are not very pedestrian friendly during business hours but after the provision places shut down and the dining places open up there are lots of folks taking cabs, uber, having valets park their cars around the delivery trucks and enjoying nice meals and fancy cocktails.

The loft spaces that are most desirable are in buildings that have views of the skyline to the east and don't have any active provisions companies nearby. Gritty is one thing but seeing / smelling active deliveries of fish, meats and such is something that most people prefer in the fully cooked state, as opposed to raw...

[raleightransplant]

Originally Posted by dylan_505

What do you mean by West Loop is different from day to night? Is that a good thing or bad thing?

We have actually seen a lot of awesome lofts in that area that we are interested in.

It's an area that is red hot right now, no question. Formerly meat packing district that with a bit of that gritty industrial feel to it. I have a close friend who bought a condo in that neighborhood just short of 10 years ago, and he's loving that decision every day. It's probably got the best concentration of high end, super quality restaurants in the city at this time and new things (restaurants, developments, etc.) are announced seemingly every day. Google and other companies are moving in to the neighborhood, which will further add to it's cache. While it's changing very rapidly, I think in the day it's not nearly what I would expect out of a typical well-rounded desirable Chicago neighborhood. It's almost exclusively high end restaurants, which sit quiet in the afternoons for the most part. Also not much yet in terms of shopping in comparison to a place like Bucktown/Wicker Park or a Lincoln Park. It will come, I have no doubt. And probably soon. But for me it's a nightlife, dining neighborhood exclusively at this point.

It is close to Greektown, which is a little bit of a change nearby and transit is excellent especially with the new Morgan pink and green line stop. Worth considering, but in terms of day time vibrancy...still getting there IMO.

[jdiddy]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Normal service restored on all CTA lines after ice causes delays | Chicago Sun-Times

This past March 3...

This does not contradict my statement.

[dylan_505]

Originally Posted by raleightransplant

It's an area that is red hot right now, no question. Formerly meat packing district that with a bit of that gritty industrial feel to it. I have a close friend who bought a condo in that neighborhood just short of 10 years ago, and he's loving that decision every day. It's probably got the best concentration of high end, super quality restaurants in the city at this time and new things (restaurants, developments, etc.) are announced seemingly every day. Google and other companies are moving in to the neighborhood, which will further add to it's cache. While it's changing very rapidly, I think in the day it's not nearly what I would expect out of a typical well-rounded desirable Chicago neighborhood. It's almost exclusively high end restaurants, which sit quiet in the afternoons for the most part. Also not much yet in terms of shopping in comparison to a place like Bucktown/Wicker Park or a Lincoln Park. It will come, I have no doubt. And probably soon. But for me it's a nightlife, dining neighborhood exclusively at this point.

It is close to Greektown, which is a little bit of a change nearby and transit is excellent especially with the new Morgan pink and green line stop. Worth considering, but in terms of day time vibrancy...still getting there IMO.

Interesting..sounds like a great up and coming area but maybe not what my wife and I are looking for.

We are hoping to find somewhere more neighborhoody, if that makes sense? Where there are more mom and pop shops and cafes that we can walk to and have a coffee or dinner. Ideally we wouldn't want to be in a building complex or condo with hundreds of other resdidents so im guessing that rules out places like Gold Coast and River North?

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by raleightransplant

It's an area that is red hot right now, no question. Formerly meat packing district that with a bit of that gritty industrial feel to it. I have a close friend who bought a condo in that neighborhood just short of 10 years ago, and he's loving that decision every day. It's probably got the best concentration of high end, super quality restaurants in the city at this time and new things (restaurants, developments, etc.) are announced seemingly every day. Google and other companies are moving in to the neighborhood, which will further add to it's cache. While it's changing very rapidly, I think in the day it's not nearly what I would expect out of a typical well-rounded desirable Chicago neighborhood. It's almost exclusively high end restaurants, which sit quiet in the afternoons for the most part. Also not much yet in terms of shopping in comparison to a place like Bucktown/Wicker Park or a Lincoln Park. It will come, I have no doubt. And probably soon. But for me it's a nightlife, dining neighborhood exclusively at this point.

It is close to Greektown, which is a little bit of a change nearby and transit is excellent especially with the new Morgan pink and green line stop. Worth considering, but in terms of day time vibrancy...still getting there IMO.

I know this might seem picky, but the Randolph Street corridor / Fulton Market district of the West Loop never really had an significant "meat packing" businesses. What they do have are "provisions companies". These are the place that bring truck loads of EVERYTHING that restaurants need, that includes all kind of already fully butchered meats, fish and poultry, but also produce and baked goods, and even booze.

The real "packing houses" where the livestock where slaughtered and sectioned into to those big "Rocky Balboa style side of beef" carcasses used to be "Back of the Yards", with the actual Stockyards, where trains would drop off live cattle, once a vital part of the Chicago economy. The vibrancy of this part of Chicago history diminished rapidly after the publication of Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle, which told the horrorific tale of young Lithuanian immigrant that worked in a packing house around the turn of the century -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upton_Sinclair#The_Jungle...

The resulting discharge of literal blood and guts made the south fork of the south branch of the Chicago River knows as "bubbly creek" -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubbly_Creek For obvious reasons the resulting stink has indelibily marked the McKinley Park section of Chicago as too big a mess for even the EPA / Army Corp of Engineers to actually sign off on any kind of "wetlands restoration" unless the area is first decontainminated -- Bubbly Creek restoration plan stalls amid contamination concerns - Chicago Tribune

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by dylan_505

Interesting..sounds like a great up and coming area but maybe not what my wife and I are looking for.

We are hoping to find somewhere more neighborhoody, if that makes sense? Where there are more mom and pop shops and cafes that we can walk to and have a coffee or dinner. Ideally we wouldn't want to be in a building complex or condo with hundreds of other resdidents so im guessing that rules out places like Gold Coast and River North?

There are still some rather nice spots in the Gold Coast. I often am quick to mock the attitude of some transplants to Chicago who extoll the "chill" quality of some Gold Coast spots, but reality is that that scale of some parts of the Gold Coast is conducive to a lifestyle that is centered around walking to work and frequenting locally owned shops / eateries. The degree to which the older buildings might lack swanky new kitchens and spa baths does translate into a more affordable rent. The fact that these areas also do have good access to public transit and really are quite central still makes them quite desirable. There are probably a handful of smaller owner occupied multi-units, though many of those have been razed and replaced with true mansions or high rises. The downside is probably the amount of wandering tourists and general traffic from confused Uber drivers trying to avoid more congested arterials, but overall these things should not force you to cross it off your list. I fear that if folks do so there will even more pressure to replace everyone of the older building with grotesque highrises where every floor tries to be a "penthouse" to some tasteless foreign investor.