WP vs. LP (Chicago, Oak Park, Lincoln: budget, condos, rent)

[blisbry]

OK, I’ve looked through the thread at the top and really couldn’t find the answer I was looking for so please don’t get upset that I’m posting this.

My current plan is to move to Chicago in July or August and these neighborhoods caught my eye. I would like to learn a little more about the differences between the two. I just turned 30 and am pretty much just an average guy, meaning I’m not an artist or obsessed with the Cubs so proximity to Wrigley is not an issue.

For starters, I really like the tree lined streets of LP, does WP have as many trees or is it more barren?

From previous threads I’ve gathered that not having a car in LP is not a problem. Does the same apply to WP?

Is rent in WP less expensive, more expensive or comparable to LP? I would be looking for 1 bedroom and my budget would be about $1000-$1250/month including heat. Is this reasonable?

What about nightlife? Can someone please give a brief synopsis between the two? I guess I’m closer to the “frat boy/ young professional” stereotype than starving artist. Would it be a problem finding bars/clubs in WP that would have similar people?

Any help/feedback would be appreciated.

[aragx6]

Wicker Park and Bucktown have plenty of tree-lined streets, esp. the side residential streets. It's not quite as tree-filled as Lincoln Park, but absolutely not barren.

WP is fine without a car. The Blue line runs right through it and there are many buses.

Rent is definitely less in WP- that price range is more than enough to get you what you seek.

What I like about WP (and other long-time residents may well disagree, but oh well) is the mix of the hipster crowd and the yuppie crowd. I used to be a hipster, but then I grew up and got "lame" (hah!) so I like having both types around me. There are plenty of bars where the yuppie/frat kids hang out. I was at a bar called "Cans" and I might as well have been in LP, you couldn't really tell the difference.

[ShampooBanana]

Wicker Park is definitely an up and coming neighborhood. It traditionally has been known as home to lots of young artists and creative types but has now started to become gentrified, with lots of high priced condo and apt. buildings going up. There are plenty of types of businesses around that satisfy both types of people. It's definitely a different kind of fun, gritty urban experience than you'll get in Lincoln Park.

[via chicago]

Originally Posted by ShampooBanana

Wicker Park is definitely an up and coming neighborhood.

I think it qualified as "up and coming" 15 years ago. That stage is long past.

[NearWestSider]

WP and LP are very different places.

Of the two, in my experience, WP tends to evoke stronger reactions from people. They either love or hate it. Some find it awesomely cool. Others find it tacky as hell. It is a place you definitely need to walk around on a sunny Saturday afternoon, because the only thing its admirers and detractors agree on is that it is 150 proof. I would take no one's qualitative opinion about it as fact, however, because any such opinions are about as reliable as opinions about marinated jalapenos in adobo sauce. It really is a matter of personal taste.

Objectively, I do think it is fair to say that WP has a funkier vibe. LP is boring in comparison, so if rubbing elbows with tatooed ladies appeals to you, the choice is easy, because you won't find much of that in LP.

Objectively, Lincoln Park's biggest advantage over WP is is proximity to the lake. WP's lake access sucks in comparison, so if you are an active runner, and that matters a great deal to you, the choice is easy.

Other than those two, I don't really see compelling advantages or disadvantages, and at the end of the day, they are both great, but very different, neighborhoods.

[chet everett]

I think "via chicago" is correct that Wp is long past "up & coming" but it is still very different than LP. It is rougher, in that there are more of mix of poorer folks alongside folks that paid too much for recently built renovated places. The investors/developers in LP were/are more established and less likely to take risks so that there is more uniformity. The commute is different, some would say WP is bit harder to get to, while LP can be a bit more congested and harder to get 'around'. A car is almost a pain to have in either neighborhood, as parking and theft are issues, though without one it is harder to do 'serious' grocery shopping/take advantage of best deals.

Either neighborhood is fairly leafy, LP has a slight edge.

Bar scene in LP is much easier to find places wall-to-wall with "frat boys" & "post college professionals", though WP has it share of those too.

For your budget you should be able to pick from LOTS of places in either area -- with the huge numbers of over built condos it might get a bigger/newer space in WP, but LP has a lot options too.

[Lookout Kid]

I've lived in both WP and LP somewhat recently. There are still some frightening crime incidents in Wicker Park that remind you that Humboldt Park gangland is merely blocks away. A friend of a friend is a cop in the Shakespeare District that includes Wicker Park, and he had stories that made my skin crawl when I lived over there. And I had a lot of crime trouble as recently as 2005, after the gentrification was pretty much complete. However, the differences between WP and LP are beginning to be merely cosmetic (as in, do the well-to-do college educated young people prefer to buy their duds from Urban Outfitters or Banana Republic?). I'd say the biggest difference is lake access at this point in time. Because if you buy into the "scene" in each neighborhood, you are an idiot.

My wife moved to Wicker Park ten years ago as a former art student working in a creative field, and there really was a funky bohemian artsy vibe back then. But now it's all comodified through Ragstock, Urban Outfitters, American Apparell, and a dozen bank branches--and the aging hipsters that made Wicker Park cool in the first place are pushing strollers around Lincoln Square or Oak Park. The differences between Wicker Park and Lincoln Park are shrinking by the moment, and I'm honestly alright with that. The bohemian scene is more fractured now, and seems to be scattered througout Logan Square, Ukranian Village, and Pilsen.

[Drover]

Wicker Park is still quite a bit more of a hipster playground, though more and more they are commuting in from other neighborhoods to play than actually living there.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Drover

Wicker Park is still quite a bit more of a hipster playground, though more and more they are commuting in from other neighborhoods to play than actually living there.

I agree that there are many young hipsters hanging out in Wicker Park. But the artists, rock bands, and other creatives who brought the scene to Wicker Park in the first place have largely vanished. I think it's only a matter of time before the remaining artists in the flatiron buidling are evicted.

To me, the differences in Wicker Park and Lincoln Park are largely meaningless distinctions between college-educated white middle-class twenty-somethings. It's like high-school cliques, with Wicker Park being the "artsy" kids at the mall vs. Lincoln Park being the "preppy jocks" at the mall. But they're still both shopping at the mall!

[jdiddy]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

I agree that there are many young hipsters hanging out in Wicker Park. But the artists, rock bands, and other creatives who brought the scene to Wicker Park in the first place have largely vanished. I think it's only a matter of time before the remaining artists in the flatiron buidling are evicted.

To me, the differences in Wicker Park and Lincoln Park are largely meaningless distinctions between college-educated white middle-class twenty-somethings. It's like high-school cliques, with Wicker Park being the "artsy" kids at the mall vs. Lincoln Park being the "preppy jocks" at the mall. But they're still both shopping at the mall!

Haha...great way to put it.