Coming back to my home - now as a newbie sort of (Chicago: neighborhood, school)

[EddieOlSkool]

So for the past 3 years I have been on a gypsy kick traveling along the eastern time zone and living in the different areas and taking up different jobs. These past 3 years have been enlightening to say the least. But with that being said I am ready to come back to my precious city and experience it again but this time like a newbie.

I grew up here but the experience I had was that of a native. Now I am here asking a few newbie questions as the city has changed and transportation and living have been very different from when I used to live here. So here goes.

Let it be known I will not own a car if I come back!

If I was to work in River Grove off Thatcher and Grand, what city neighborhood would be best to live in that has access to great nightlife and social scenes and also access to public transportation to River Grove?

Would you consider Oak Park to be on the same scale as Evanston in terms of things to do and people to meet despite the fact there isn't a Big 10 school there? Or is Oak Park more appealing to families rather than young professionals?

Would you live in Berwyn for an experience similar to living in Chicago?

Anyway I might have more questions later. I look forward to your responses and even more so to coming back to my hometown and my Cubbies

[via chicago]

if youre not going to have a car, that will pretty much dictate where you need to live if you have to commute to river grove.

berwyn would be a non starter as theres no train line connecting the two. oak park really isnt any better.

basically just look along the Milwaukee District West metra line. river west/west town/ukranian village would work.

[EddieOlSkool]

Originally Posted by via chicago

if youre not going to have a car, that will pretty much dictate where you need to live if you have to commute to river grove.

berwyn would be a non starter as theres no train line connecting the two. oak park really isnt any better.

basically just look along the Milwaukee District West metra line. river west/west town/ukranian village would work.

Unless I am ok with bike riding which I am.

[damba]

Originally Posted by EddieOlSkool

Unless I am ok with bike riding which I am.

what via chicago said. You are just more limited regarding public trans at that location. Metra would be ideal though since it's only a couple blocks from your workplace.

Oak Park and Evanston are liberal places with both families and young professionals- flip a coin. I'd give Oak Park the nod with it's proximity to the city. It's easier to get to the lakefront in Evanston though if that's where you like to spend time.

[via chicago]

Originally Posted by EddieOlSkool

Unless I am ok with bike riding which I am.

are you prepared to do that during winter/inclement weather?

[chicagobear]

As close to the Western Metra station as you can find. Smith Park is an option.

[EddieOlSkool]

Originally Posted by via chicago

are you prepared to do that during winter/inclement weather?

Then in those cases public transport would definitely be the option

[via chicago]

Originally Posted by EddieOlSkool

Then in those cases public transport would definitely be the option

i guess thats my point...you would want to be near a train line, and Metra UPW is the only one that goes there and disqualifies the near western suburbs like OP/Berwyn.

while oak park is geographically close, there is no good transportation link. theres the harlem bus that could take you north, but its still going to leave you too far east of your destination.

[EddieOlSkool]

Uke village seems like a safe bet it seems

[emathias]

Berwyn is not dissimilar from the bungalow belt in Chicago. It's nothing like my vision of Chicago - the Gold Coast and Lakeview and River North and even Rogers Park - but there are wide swatches of Chicago that resemble Berwyn. My inlaws live in Berwyn and I think it's a nice inner suburb that I could handle living in as a strong urbanist.

Personally I think Oak Park is similar to Evanston only in the sense that they're both fairly wealthy and both have both 'L' and Metra access to the Loop. Evanston has a major university, it's next to the Lake, neither of which is true of Oak Park. But Oak Park has famous Frank Lloyd Wright buildings and a faster trip to the Loop generally speaking.

I had to look up where River Grove is. It's not corn fields, but it's also not going to be the easiest place to commute to car-free. There's not even a Metra stop in it. It's *possible* which is always a start. But transit in suburban Chicago, if you're not commuting to the Loop, is subpar. Can you make it work, probably. And if you're really been living a gypsy life the past few years where you are car-free and just sort of living very lightly, then it may not seem bad to you at all. I grew up in a tiny western town in Oregon, without a car of my own and rode my bike a lot of places and made do. That part of me thinks what you propose is not easy but livable. But my current life is that I've lived in transit-rich parts of Chicago for most of the past 20 years, I can walk to work in the West Loop, can shop anywhere downtown by either foot or a short bike ride, can hail a cab if I end up with too much for a bike. That part of me thinks what you propose is possible but very undesirable. So it really depends on where your priorities are and how you react to inconvenience.