Jefferson Park v Ravenswood (Chicago, Lincoln: apartments, high crime, houses)

[reiddar]

I seemed to have found a house in Jefferson Park that has absolutely everything I want in a place to live (metra and el near by for commute to the loop, fenced yard, garage parking, updated interior, etc). I also found a similar house in Ravenswood. So, since it looks like almost all things are equal (rent, commute, condition of the apartment), which one of these two areas would be better for single guy that likes to get out and explore mostly on the weekends? Which would you recommend and why?

[Avengerfire]

Well Jefferson Park is a quite a bit safer than Ravenswood. You have the advantage of many cops,firefighters,and other city workers living around you. People do not hesitate to call the cops there. Not that Ravenswood has high crime, but Jefferson Park for the most part has far less.

There are way more bars,single people, and things to do in Ravenswood and in the areas around it. It all depends how often you plan on going out. If frequently, Ravenswood would be better. It is not wise to drive while drinking up to and into Jefferson Park on a regular basis. Certainly not wise at all if you are drunk to drive there or anywhere else.

It all depends how often you will be going out.

I have lived in both areas and certainly both are great areas.

I would like to ask you if you could give the intersections of the places in each areas you have found. You dont have to give the addresses. I am just curious.

[reiddar]

The place in Jefferson park is literally across the street from the Metra station. The place in Ravenswood is .3 miles directly north of the Ravenswood Metra.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by reiddar

The place in Jefferson park is literally across the street from the Metra station. The place in Ravenswood is .3 miles directly north of the Ravenswood Metra.

Is the one in Jeff Park west of the station or east of it?

[reiddar]

east of it.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by reiddar

east of it.

Thats much better than just west of it.

[Lookout Kid]

Um, RAVENSWOOD for SURE!!!! Jeff park is no place to live if you're single and want to go out. It's too distant, and frankly kind of boring. Think Queens. It's rows and rows of cute little well-kept houses, with a few apartments mixed in. If you had a kid and wanted to by a bungalow, I might recommend Jeff Park (I'm considering it). Otheriwise, forget it.

And anyway, Ravenswood is one of the safest neighborhoods in the city these days. And it's much closer to the action.

[reiddar]

OK folks...last chance to give me your opinion!!! I have to make a decision this by Monday. I am in Chicago this weekend...not really feeling good so I am not getting to enjoy the nightlife yet. But, I have been out looking at places...

The house in Jeff Park was really nice and literally right across the road from the Metra and blue line station.

I'm checking out two houses in Ravenswood tomorrow (both about .25 miles from the Metra). They all look fairly comparable in price and have the things I'm looking for in an apartment.

So, if all things are the same would you prefer Jefferson Park or Ravenswood??? My idea of a good night out is hanging at a local pub with some friends throwing darts and shooting the breeze. I don't like "clubs" or generally the folks that hang out in them! I'm more of a sports bar/meat and potatoes/cold beer kinda of guy. Of course, I'd like to meet some single ladies too...

Am I asking for too much here!?!

Thanks for the help.

[Drover]

I think you're going to meet a lot more single ladies in Ravenswood (or areas immediately around it) than Jefferson Park. But JeffPark is going to have more of a "meat-and-potatoes and sports bar" type of nightlife scene, to the extent that it has one at all. Most of the areas around Ravenswood have become fairly yuppified -- not "clubs" so much but more like places that serve fruity martinis and Guinness, though Bud Light will also be on the offering. You'll be able to find a handful of mellow, old-school mom-and-pop places -- there's one just up the street from one of the places you're looking at, called The Ravenswood Pub on the 5400 block of Ravenswood -- but you kind of have to seek these places out and there's no telling when they'll turn yuppie on you. I'm surprised Ravenswood Pub has held on for as long as it has. A couple blocks further up the road is a nice mellow place (but not much of a "sports bar") called The Fireside, and right down the road on Foster Avenue across the street from the old defunct police station is a bar whose name I forget where a lot of retired cops hang out.

[Lookout Kid]

There are plenty of Sports Bars in Lincoln Square (an area that's either part of Ravenswood, adjacent to Ravenswood, or the larger Community area containing Ravenswood depending on who you talk to). Places like the Wild Goose are no frills places to watch the game. Also, there are a few surviving German bars with German beer. Drover is right, Ravenswood has experienced a lot of gentrification, but I still think it meets your needs better than Jeff Park.