Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Illinois > Chicago
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 12-27-2008, 07:51 PM
 
7 posts, read 10,355 times
Reputation: 10

Advertisements

I don't want to make anyones head explode, but I do need some advice about where to live in the Chicago area. I am white,male,straight, and a new grad with a new job in Burbank. I will have to have a car for the job. My brother is a student in the Loop and I would like to take public trans to visit with him once and a while and enjoy some night life. To avoid the traffic to and from work with the car, I was thinking somewhere close to Burbank and near the public trans. Would also like to live near at least a few people my age. Burbank seems kind of dead. I will be driving up Monday to check out some places, but really don't have a clue as to the area I might like. Any help appreciated.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 12-27-2008, 09:35 PM
 
7 posts, read 10,355 times
Reputation: 10
Default Work in Burbank,il

So after delving deeply into other threads I think I can simplify my question. Where do you suggest I live if I want to be as close to my brother as possible, live around other young people, can run the streets safely, can get to work in Burbank in less than 30 or so, and have a place to park a car. I should have asked Santa Claus for all of this I guess. PS. I can afford about 800 or 900 for a large one bedroom and I have been a good boy.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-27-2008, 10:05 PM
 
28,453 posts, read 85,392,786 times
Reputation: 18729
ah, the magic commute...

Burbank is kind of odd from a commuting perspective. Metra does not go their, but it is close to Summit, which is one stop from Union Station on the Heritage Corridor. This is important becuase I use the "Metra commute" as kind of a "fastest you could ever hope to get" sort of limit. Metra / Heritage Corridor All Bad news: more than 30 minutes.

Good news -- If you wanna drive to Burbank you can probably do OK living someplace close to UIC or TriTaylor. You could either take the Stevenson (I-55) or a combination of surface streets and still be under 40 minutes unless weather or a pile-up slows traffic. Going much east or north would almost certainly push you past an hour. Similarly I doubt that you could reliably take public transit, though there might be a possibility of taking a bus to Burbank from an Orange line stop, but that depends WHERE in Burbank your job is...
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-27-2008, 10:44 PM
 
7 posts, read 10,355 times
Reputation: 10
Well I'm not so concerned with public trans to Burbank,because I will have to drive there in order to have a car to travel for the company (hint: a large food chain) What I need is a place to live, near public trans, so I can visit my bro (because he tells me parking is a b in the south loop and expensive) and have a fairly easy commute by car to work. Also live in a safe place where i can run a bit and have some sort of night life. Yeh I' may be dreaming, but I have to ask.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-28-2008, 10:49 AM
 
28,453 posts, read 85,392,786 times
Reputation: 18729
There has been a massive shift of young people in toward the sections of Chicago where there is an "upscale" dining / drinking scene. The neighborhoods are mostly north, centered on Lincoln Park and Lakeview. Wicker Park and Bucktown are satellites, as are the near-in South Loop & West Loop. Compared to a typical suburb parking is much harder to come by, but it is not impossible. Frankly, in terms of speed, it is almost always to drive and find parking in most of those areas than to try to rely on public transit. Some of the parking is going to require resident permits and/or guest passes, other areas do have some park-for-pay set-ups and prices are all over the map. Meters are mostly affordable, even if the private operator that is taking it over double rates a few dollars and hour is a good deal. High rise parking can be 10x that, but it is safer, warmer, quicker.

My advice -- find a situation that is MOST affordable factoring in your need for car for job, occasional visits to bro, ability to leave car at home some night OR get around with bro when needed. You should just factor in the a "parking budget" when you check out different apartments AND also budget for access to CTA -- it ain't free either. If you are not relying on it for work you will have to weigh how those costs stack up too.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-28-2008, 02:16 PM
 
Location: Chicago
38,707 posts, read 103,201,963 times
Reputation: 29983
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scooter55 View Post
Well I'm not so concerned with public trans to Burbank,because I will have to drive there in order to have a car to travel for the company (hint: a large food chain) What I need is a place to live, near public trans, so I can visit my bro (because he tells me parking is a b in the south loop and expensive) and have a fairly easy commute by car to work. Also live in a safe place where i can run a bit and have some sort of night life. Yeh I' may be dreaming, but I have to ask.
Here's your problem: "easy commute to Burbank" and "close to young people" is a nearly impossible combination. Burbank is a near Southwest suburb, and those suburbs and the Southwest side of Chicago are family bedroom communities with little in the way of young nightlife. So here are your options: live in the South Loop and put up with the traffic and long-ish commute, or live somewhere near Midway airport so that you have an easy commute to Burbank, access to the Loop area via the Orange Line, but not a lot of young people.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-31-2008, 02:05 PM
 
7 posts, read 10,355 times
Reputation: 10
Just got back from looking at some places to live in Chicago. Pretty much a wasted trip. I will get an agent next week when I go back. Any suggestions there as far as a real estate agent? Also there was one place I looked at. A sublet that would give me a little more time to look around before permanently planting myself, but I don't know much about the area. It is a studio around 31st and King. Nice view and heat is included for 750.00. What do you think of that area?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-31-2008, 02:13 PM
 
28,453 posts, read 85,392,786 times
Reputation: 18729
Bronzeville?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-31-2008, 05:18 PM
 
7 posts, read 10,355 times
Reputation: 10
Don't know if that is what the area is called. Guess I didn't know enough to ask.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-31-2008, 05:36 PM
 
Location: Chicago
38,707 posts, read 103,201,963 times
Reputation: 29983
31st and King is all right. Just a few years ago that was a completely horrid neighborhood but a whole bunch of high-rise public housing projects in the immediate vicinity got torn down recently and the neighborhood has cleaned up a whole bunch. There are still some lingering elements of the bad old days but that neighborhood appears to have a pretty decent future ahead of it.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Illinois > Chicago
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top