First impressions + where to live? (Not impressed with current hood) (Chicago: movers, homes)

[Flavia84]

Hi all,

I've lived in Chicago for a few months now. My impression is that it's a beautiful city with amazing architecture, plethora of cultural activities, very midwestern (duh) compared to coastal cities (could be good or bad depending on your needs). I've enjoyed it so far but I do have a couple of gripes, and hoping that city data folks could give some advice.
1. Vibrance - or lack thereof. I live in North Loop (clark/lake), and this area pretty much shuts down after work hours. I have to Uber to all the "happening" places which defeats the point of living in a neighborhood without a car.
Even walking around Near North is kind of slow and empty unless it's in the middle of the rush hour. Stores seem empty'ish, museums seems empty'ish... The good thing it's not very crowded but as a single woman I do want the vibrancy and the crowds.

2. Safety - or lack thereof. After living in NY which is a relatively safe 24/7 city I was shocked to see so many sketchy individuals in Chicago any time of day or night. Walking to Symphony - have to watch my surroundings. Walking on State St south of Randolph - have to watch my surroundings. Talking CTA blue line going east in the daytime and especially on weekends - getting harassed by weirdos. Not that there are assaults happening out in the open but I had never been so concerned about my safety before moving here (and I lived in about a dozen major cities prior to moving to Chicago). It's sad because it's such a GORGEOUS city, especially at night after dark, and I feel like I can't fully enjoy it because of the sketchiness.

Now, there are lots of good things about Chicago as well, and I do want to make it work. Perhaps relocating to another part of town would help? Here is what I'm looking for:

- walkable, relatively safe neighborhood - that I can walk around day or night without having to clench a pepper spray in my fist.
- vibrant - I'm not into the bar scene and prefer jazz clubs (preferably not loud ones like Winter's), coffee shops, wine bars., art galleries.
- prefer an area with a high concentration of white collar singles in mid-30's - early 40's. Hipster areas or Wrigleyville probably won't work.

Would appreciate any advice from City-datans.

[Justabystander]

I think if you are looking for vibrancy, you need to look a little further north to Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Logan Square or Wicker Park. These are neighborhoods which are active most of the day and night, and don't shut down like the Loop does after a certain time. Believe it or not, the Loop is much more vibrant than in the past, and continues to be, but I think that you are really looking for a neighborhood that is a little more active.

[chicagobear]

River North or Gold Coast

[Al Hung]

Originally Posted by Flavia84

Talking CTA blue line going east in the daytime and especially on weekends - getting harassed by weirdos. Not that there are assaults happening out in the open

Police Warn Of CTA Pedway Tunnel Robberies « CBS Chicago (love the URL mis-spell...)

Apparently, you do have a reason to be worried or at least extra cautious. Be careful.

Other than that, I have nothing to contribute. I live in the NW suburbs and generally dislike being here (in IL), but on the occasions that I venture out into the city, I don't want to leave.

When did you start living in Chicago? I feel like, compared to the warmer months, things may get a little quieter all over the city once the weather starts turning consistently cold (like sub 30's for a week straight). Maybe that's it? Just a guess.

[OyCrumbler]

Which of the happening places have you been ubering to? Among those, which do you find yourself in most often and which gives off the vibe closest to what you’re looking for?

[ChicagoMeO]

Originally Posted by Flavia84

Hi all,


1. Vibrance
2. Safety -part of town would help? Here is what I'm looking for:

- walkable, relatively safe neighborhood - that I can walk around day or night without having to clench a pepper spray in my fist.
- vibrant - I'm not into the bar scene and prefer jazz clubs (preferably not loud ones like Winter's), coffee shops, wine bars., art galleries.
- prefer an area with a high concentration of white collar singles in mid-30's - early 40's. Hipster areas or Wrigleyville probably won't work.

Would appreciate any advice from City-datans.

You might want to check these out - though you have to walk around yourself to get the feel, you might feel differently than anyone making recommendations -


Wicker Park (Damen and North Ave to Division) - vibrancy, cool restaurants.
Lakeview East
Lincoln Square
Clybourne area (Halsted going north) lots of stores and restaurants and stuff
white Collar singles - Viagra Triangle, on Rush St and Division area. Your on your own there, haha as I don't visit that, since I'm not dating.


I don't live there, but I consider them safe.


As to walking around at night, even East Lakeview which I used to walk from the gay bars home, at 3:00 a.m. you could about 10 years ago, now not, based on stupid criminals coming into the neighborhood who cause trouble. You just cant do that without taking some normal city-life precautions.


that's it for me!

[lepoisson]

I kind of felt the same way as you. I live in Bridgeport and there really isn't a lot of character in this neighborhood. Most of the homes are single family, built in the 1950 with vinyl siding. Interestingly enough, many of the sketchy neighborhoods have the best architecture.

Ditto about the safety. I've found syringes on the sidewalks, seen homeless people peeing in the red line stations underground, and have had some weird vibes/looks from sketchy people on the trains. My female neighbor has been hit on and followed.

Lakeview seems like it would be a good fit. It's mostly working professionals and is walkable. I've heard good things about Roscoe Village as well, but I think it's more for people who have young kids.

[emathias]

Part of it is that if you just arrived a few months ago, you landed here as Chicago was starting to go into hibernation for the winter. There are things to do in the winter here, but it's nowhere near as vibrant as it is starting around April through around Thanksgiving. And between Thanksgiving and Christmas there are some holiday events that are lively, but still not as much as in warmer months.

Also, anywhere in the Loop area (basically the area bounded by the river and, say, Roosevelt, is very much business-oriented so except for the big downtown festivals, parades, and events, it's just not where you want to be. I do find it odd that you are living car-free but not using transit - that just doesn't make sense to me. No, Chicago's subways aren't as comprehensive as New York, but from where you live to places with more going on you have excellent transit coverage - Red Line or Brown Line to Lincoln Park, Lakeview, and places like Lincoln Square, Andersonville/Edgewater, Blue Line to Wicker Park, Bucktown and Logan Square, or the Michigan Avenue buses that go express north to the parts of Lakeview and Edgewater that are close to the lake, or south to Hyde Park. Chicagoans are not snobby about buses, especially the buses that run express on Lake Shore Drive - those are part of the backbone of Chicago transit. You can also take the Green Line or Pink Line to the West Loop or Pilsen. So I think if you feel like you have to take Uber or Lyft everywhere, you're missing out on one of the benefits of living where you are - that you have excellent transit access to many other parts of the City. But, yeah, to get the best of vibrancy, there's not a whole lot within walking distance from where you are. But some of the other, more vibrant, places are a little more isolated from each other, from a transit standpoint. If you live in Wicker Park, getting to Bucktown and Logan Square is easy. If you live in Lincoln Park, getting to Lakeview and Andersonville and Uptown is easy. But getting between Lincoln Park or Lakeview and Wicker Park or Logan Square is less convenient that it would be from where you are now - where you are now gives you access to all those areas roughly equally.

I'm sure you've explored River North, but just in case, most of the action there is near State Street between Hubbard and, say, Erie. There is also some stuff along Wells and intersecting streets from Kinzie to Chicago, although some of it's been broken up by new construction. Eventually that new construction will pull in more businesses, but for now it's kind of broken things up. That said, River North is still a mix of offices, tourists, and other things that don't really contribute to vibrancy. Have you checked out Andy's Jazz Club?

One note about vibrancy, Chicago, especially during winter months, is less vibrant than New York. I think it's more comparable to someplace like the Boston area, especially Cambridge, Somerville, and Brookline. Chicago just has very few areas anywhere near the density of Manhattan, and most of Chicago isn't even as dense as Brooklyn, so it just doesn't have the density to support vibrancy on New York's level. I love density and vibrant cities, I love visiting New York and Paris, but for my day-to-day life I also appreciate Chicago being dialed back a couple notches. Chicago is great, but I'll admit that people who demand the raw intensity of a place like Manhattan probably will find themselves wanting just "more" if they live in Chicago.

As far as other parts of the city, if you want to actually live in a *neighborhood* instead of downtown, you should probably look at the north parts of Lincoln Park or the southern parts of Lakeview (especially along Clark/Broadway between Fullerton and a few blocks north of Belmont. Those areas are mostly 30--40yo professionals. You may also want to consider the Gold Coast (north of Chicago Ave to North Ave, east of LaSalle) and Old Town (north of Division, west of LaSalle, east of Sedgewick, south of where Ogden used to run - basically south of 1800 North). The Gold Coast is the densest of those areas, so if you still want kind of a downtown feel, just more residential and less office buildings, it's your best bet, and you still have good subway and bus access to parts north.

Wicker Park and Bucktown are similar to Lincoln Square and Lakeview, except further from the Lake. Right now there is no benefit from being close to the Lake, but during the summer there would be - it is several degrees cooler near the lake in summer, especially when you get breezes off the lake, and the Lakefront Path is one of Chicago's best features for exercise from jogging to biking to other things. You can ride a bike from Edgewater all the way to the South Shore, a little over 17 miles. I've ridden that distance many times. And if you're comfortable riding on the streets, you can continue south into Indiana, or north into Evanston, covering the entire lakefront of Chicago.

So, yeah, most 30-50 year old white-collar professionals, especially singles, live in Wicker Park, Bucktown, Lincoln Park, Lakeview, the Gold Coast, or Old Town. Areas that still have a decent population of professionals but that also have more families and, being somewhat less expensive, a bit more economic diversity include places like Lincoln Square, Andersonville, the Ukrainian Village, the West Loop, the South Loop, and Hyde Park (although most people who live in Hyde Park do so because they work somewhere nearby on the South Side).

[personone]

A day before starting this thread, the OP posted that she is moving from the Midwest to West Coast.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/gener...s-country.html

OP, if you really are planning on staying in Chicago, Lincoln Park or River North are the neighborhoods you would want to look at. River North is much more hustle and bustle, but also has a lot of tourists, and doesn’t feel like a traditional neighborhood. Lincoln Park is much more of a traditional neighborhood, but being more residential, it may have slightly less vibrancy. Stretches around Clark street and Diversey can get very vibrant. You can get a feel on a Saturday or Sunday.

[Hkhan21]

Don't ever live in the main loop ever, if you want a similar lifestyle like high rises and such go to river north(Brown line area), west loop, or south loop. If you want to live in a "neighborhood" neighborhood, check out wicker park, Lincoln park, Logan square, lakeview, lincoln square, Pilsen, Bridgeport, Avondale, or uptown