Where are the artists living? (Chicago, Berwyn: for rent, co-ops, houses)

[Chicagoland60426]

All the places you name are city(Chicago) neighborhoods. For suburbs, Evanston(North suburb) and Oak Park(West Suburb) are probably the best suburbs for artists. You ssaid you want to live the city life. So for Chicago neighborhoods, you should pick Wicker Park, since its the artist neighborhood of the city. Most likely, Lincoln Park would be too expensive and mostly a neighborhood of young professionals. Like Lincoln park, Wicker Park is close to downtown and the El train is easy access for transportation.

[Drover]

Good luck finding a studio for $600 in any of the neighborhoods you've picked. You might want to up your apartment budget by about $100-150/mo or consider living in a more pedestrian neighborhood.

Also, have you considered Pittsburgh? I know it's no Chicago but it's still a big step up from a small town in WV, you'll be close to home so your support network won't be 600 miles away yet just far enough away that they won't be dropping in on your business every day, there are some nice artsy areas there (Southside Flats/Carson Street, the Penn Avenue corridor through Friendship/Garfield/Bloomfield/East Liberty, Strip District, Shadyside), and you shouldn't have any trouble finding a studio or even a decent-sized one-bedroom in your price range.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by Drover

Good luck finding a studio for $600 in any of the neighborhoods you've picked. You might want to up your apartment budget by about $100-150/mo or consider living in a more pedestrian neighborhood.

(For the OP)
They can be found,but you have to be really lucky. Also in most cases you must be willing to sacrifice at least one or all of the following some space,comforts,and amenities...

Drover is right though, you must consider areas that are not the safest,near the lake, or "hip" if you want a large number of options in the $600 level.

[Avengerfire]

Try to contact this place in Edgewater:
Artist In Residence Apartments
6165 N Winthrop Ave
Chicago, IL 60660
(773) 743-8900

http://classifieds.chicagoreader.com...=oid%3A1760414

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by AaronSpencer

I'm an 18 year old artist, born and raised in a small town in West Virginia. I'm also multiracial, but race and diversity doesn't make a difference to me really. I'll be moving to Chicago early next year (2010). I have read a lot of different threads, but still haven't been able to choose a definite place that I want to move. I am wanting to find a studio apartment for around 600/month, and I'll be working at a retail store to pay the bills, while also selling artwork. I am mainly choosing between Wickerpark/Bucktown (because of its artsy sort of vibe, but I have also heard that it is dying down into a more yuppie neighborhood. Clarify that if you can.), Lincoln Park (because it's close to the beaches and downtown area, which I think would be nice), and Lincoln Square (for it's affordibility) I'm basically open to anywhere safe, with a lot to do. I have snakebites (facial piercings), but living in an area with other people with things like that doesn't really matter to me.I'll be living without a car, biking and using public transportation. My reasons for moving are mainly to have more opportunities, a more enjoyable place to live, and to live the "city life". Well that's about it, tell me which neighborhood you think would be best for me.

Uptown might be a good bet in the City. I rented a studio there back in '97-98 for a whopping $300/month. Of course, it was also about 300 square feet and next to a crack house but, hey, what do you want?

As for public transit friendly suburbs, Oak Park is great, though $600/month for a studio is probably going to be impossible. You could try Berwyn, which is next to Oak Park and has apartments right near the Metra in the southern part, and the L in the northern and central parts. 20 minutes to the Loop. It also has a large artist and musician population. It's definitely cheaper than OP, though $600 may still be pushing it. Give these folks a call:

About » Berwyn Housing Center

[LaLaChiLauren]

Have you tried Wicker Park/Bucktown?

[jwaiter]

I am pretty sure there are artist residences in Pilsen at a cut rate if you can provide proof you are an active artist. Might be a waiting list I don't know.

Here's a website for Chicago artists to look at...

Chicago Artists Resource

[SmartGXL]

If you specifically want to live in a suburb (as opposed to the city itself), for several years now, I have heard that Forest Park, is the suburb that the artist-types (the old Wicker Park crowd) are moving to. It is right outside the city limits, but is still connected to the city via the CTA El Train. The town is walkable, and the rents are much cheaper than living in Wicker Park. However, it does have somewhat of a "suburb" vibe, as opposed to being in the hip and cool Wicker Park. I think if you are able to pull it off, you would probably be happier in Wicker Park. Although it is true that there are a lot of yuppie types there now, there are also still a lot of young "hip" people that live there. For better or for worse, the "yuppies" that move in, are usually moving there because they want to be around the hip arts scene tha the neighborhood is known for. However, many of them are not artists themselves, so when they move in, they do not actively contribute to the art scene itself; they may want to be involved, or they may act as consumers to the scene, purchasing artwork for their condos/apartments, but they are not actually "making" the scene itself.

We have to keep in mind, however, that these cool hip 'artsy" neighborhoods develop because many artists want to focus on their art, instead of focusing on making money, so they tend to live in places that are cheap, and these are usually places that, at that point in time, are not considered desirable. 20 years ago, Wicker Park and Bucktown were not really considered "desirable" by the consumer culture and the masses refused to live there, despite the interesting old architecture. The cool architecture appealed to the artistic types, but not really to people who were still focused on "safe" suburban living. The way I understand it, the artist types found themselves living in these neighborhoods, and the scene developed organically and spontaneously. It was a "moment in time" that is hard to replicate, but if you can determine where these artist types are moving to now, you can see where the next cool, interesting place to live is at.

Also, one poster mentioned Pilsen, and I agree, it is a great place right now, many artist types are moving there, but it is not the safest neighborhood yet.

[motob]

My first advice would also to look at Pilsen.
Cheap, and a lot of other artists.

Who by the way manage to live there w/o getting into trouble.

[Lookout Kid]

If you're looking for real, practicing artists, I'm not sure where to go anymore. If you want a bunch of "artsy" hipster types who are mostly artist poseurs, Pilsen, Logan Square, Ukranian Village, and East Humboldt Park have sort of inherited the "coolness" that used to ooze from Bucktown and Wicker Park. And many of those hipsters still hang out in Bucktown/Wicker Park because their own neighborhoods aren't quite as happenin'.

By the way, I have heard of a couple of enclaves practicing artists in Berwyn and Forest Park, but neither of these places is know for an "artsy" scene.