Is Pilsen Safe? (Chicago, Blue Island, Lincoln: loft, crimes, house)

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by eevee

I'll be close to North and Rockwell. I figured eat of the park would be better than way over near Division and Keeler!

It is much better near Western. Still many issues though, but it is an improvement.

[coldwine]

I lived in Pilsen in The Long Ago, when Wicker Park was a place where real artists actually lived and worked. Which now makes me feel so, so very old.

Back then it was a more scary place. I think today it's just an average neighborhood. It was ironic to me that there was so much insistence from the locals when I was living there that the Mexican American culture be "preserved" to prevent gentrification. I mean considering its history, and the fact that the Mexicans were so new to the neighborhood, I think we all rolled our eyes. The architecture isn't even remotely Mexican.

To be honest, there are other areas I would look to first, especially for a newcomer to Chicago. Pilsen does offer a lot of interesting things, but it is by no means the best place to live. It's not terribly well served by public transit, although at least theoretically it is closer to the Loop.

Again... Seek another area. If you were an experienced Chicagoan I'd say "fine", but as it is, start with the Yuppie Safe Zones.

[memo92]

Originally Posted by coldwine

I lived in Pilsen in The Long Ago, when Wicker Park was a place where real artists actually lived and worked. Which now makes me feel so, so very old.

Back then it was a more scary place. I think today it's just an average neighborhood. It was ironic to me that there was so much insistence from the locals when I was living there that the Mexican American culture be "preserved" to prevent gentrification. I mean considering its history, and the fact that the Mexicans were so new to the neighborhood, I think we all rolled our eyes. The architecture isn't even remotely Mexican.

To be honest, there are other areas I would look to first, especially for a newcomer to Chicago. Pilsen does offer a lot of interesting things, but it is by no means the best place to live. It's not terribly well served by public transit, although at least theoretically it is closer to the Loop.

Again... Seek another area. If you were an experienced Chicagoan I'd say "fine", but as it is, start with the Yuppie Safe Zones.

I think when they said preserve there culture is preserve the culture of whos already been in the area a long time. wheres the architecture from?

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by memo92

...wheres the architecture from?

Certainly not Mexicans.

[memo92]

Reason I asked "Where"

[Avengerfire]

"Pilsen is a neighborhood made up of the residential sections of the Lower West Side community area of Chicago. In the late 19th century Pilsen was inhabited by Czech immigrants who named the district after Plzeň, the fourth largest city in what is now the Czech Republic. The population also included in smaller numbers other ethnic groups from the Austro-Hungarian Empire including Slovaks, Slovenes, Croats and Austrians, as well as immigrants of Polish and Lithuanian heritage. Many of the immigrants worked in the stockyards and the surrounding factories. As many early 20th Century American urban neighborhoods, however, Pilsen was home to the wealthy as well as the working class and doctors lived next to maids and laborers amongst businessmen with the whole area knitted together based on the ethnicities, mostly of Slavic descent, who were not readily welcome in other areas of the city.

The Czechs had replaced the Germans, who had settled there first with the Irish in the mid 1800s. Beginning in the early 1960s Pilsen became increasingly ethnically Mexican..."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_West_Side,_Chicago

[chigaros]

do NOT move there. I promis you you'll regret it. Not as bad as it used to be, and not nearly as bad as other neighborhoods, but it doesnt change the fact that it is gang infested. Especially if you have children, youd be incredibly stupid to move there. unless you can afford to send your children to private/catcholic schools, it would be incredibly unwise and dumb to even drive through the area.

[NearWestSider]

Originally Posted by chigaros

do NOT move there. I promis you you'll regret it. Not as bad as it used to be, and not nearly as bad as other neighborhoods, but it doesnt change the fact that it is gang infested. Especially if you have children, youd be incredibly stupid to move there. unless you can afford to send your children to private/catcholic schools, it would be incredibly unwise and dumb to even drive through the area.

SOME areas of Pilsen have gang problems. Others do not. The trick in dealing with Pilsen is knowing which do and which do not, which obviously you don't or you wouldn't be making silly, over-the-top statements like this.

My advice is for you to stick with nice "safe" place like Lyons or Westmont where nobody will ever bother you and you can contentedly live your life without fearing bad guys lurking in the shadows.

[long101]

Originally Posted by chigaros

do NOT move there. I promis you you'll regret it. Not as bad as it used to be, and not nearly as bad as other neighborhoods, but it doesnt change the fact that it is gang infested. Especially if you have children, youd be incredibly stupid to move there. unless you can afford to send your children to private/catcholic schools, it would be incredibly unwise and dumb to even drive through the area.

uhhh I think thats a bit over the edge

[surlycue]

You can't even drive through there?? Jesus, what kind of fearmongering are you doing? I am a whiteish --well, half Mexican but I look white -- 20-something female and I hang out in Pilsen with my kid twice or three times a month. We walk 18th from Halsted to Damen, back along Cullerton and up Blue Island. When I bike it I ride 18th or 19th all the way to Douglas Park and I've never experienced any issues whatsoever.