What is considered downtown Chicago? (Pekin, Madison: apartment, neighborhood, buy)

[irvparkrez11]

Is it defined anywhere (if so, what community areas), or are you the judge of what downtown is?

[Kevin J]

There's no firm definition. "The Loop" is used somewhat interchangeably with downtown, but for purists The Loop is only the area inside the loop of el lines (bordered by Lake, Wells, Van Buren, and Wabash. Some define The Loop more broadly to include everything south and west of the river, with the east and south boundaries variable.

The broadest definition of downtown is what is referred to as the Central Area, which is bounded by North, Halsted, Cermak, and the Lake.

The boundaries I would set for downtown would be
The lake on the east;
I-90/94 on the west for the area south of the main branch of the river and the north branch of the river itself as a western boundary for the area north of the main branch.
Roosevelt on the south
Division on the north

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by Kevin J

There's no firm definition. "The Loop" is used somewhat interchangeably with downtown, but for purists The Loop is only the area inside the loop of el lines (bordered by Lake, Wells, Van Buren, and Wabash. Some define The Loop more broadly to include everything south and west of the river, with the east and south boundaries variable.

The broadest definition of downtown is what is referred to as the Central Area, which is bounded by North, Halsted, Cermak, and the Lake.

The boundaries I would set for downtown would be
The lake on the east;
I-90/94 on the west for the area south of the main branch of the river and the north branch of the river itself as a western boundary for the area north of the main branch.
Roosevelt on the south
Division on the north

Good explanation - the Loop does of course refer to the actual tracks, but nobody will ever be convinced that Michigan Avenue isn't in the Loop.

I think for practical purposes your definition is spot on, I just can't buy north of Division being called downtown.

[5Lakes]

Originally Posted by Kevin J

There's no firm definition. "The Loop" is used somewhat interchangeably with downtown, but for purists The Loop is only the area inside the loop of el lines (bordered by Lake, Wells, Van Buren, and Wabash. Some define The Loop more broadly to include everything south and west of the river, with the east and south boundaries variable.

The broadest definition of downtown is what is referred to as the Central Area, which is bounded by North, Halsted, Cermak, and the Lake.

The boundaries I would set for downtown would be
The lake on the east;
I-90/94 on the west for the area south of the main branch of the river and the north branch of the river itself as a western boundary for the area north of the main branch.
Roosevelt on the south
Division on the north

I agree with this as well.

[irvparkrez11]

So this is fine?

[Chicagoist123]

Originally Posted by irvparkrez11

So this is fine?

I would probably bring the far nothern border down to Division. I wouldn't consider Old Town part or anything north of Divison as downtown. But outside of that, in mind that seems pretty accruate.

[Drover]

To me "Downtown" is Roosevelt to the south, expressway to the west, river/Kinzie to the north, lake to the east. To someone in Veronon Hills, "Downtown" is "anywhere within 3 miles of State and Madison."

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by Drover

To me "Downtown" is Roosevelt to the south, rivers to the west and north, lake to the east. To someone in Veronon Hills, "Downtown" is "anywhere within 3 miles of State and Madison."

Ha! Actually, I had some college friends originally from Pekin who were beyond thrilled to tell me they had gotten an apartment "downtown," turned out that said apartment was across the street from Koz Park.

[irvparkrez11]

All right - here's downtown Chicago:

[rparz]

Lemme get this straight, you get bent out of shape when I say something about your off the wall neighborhood recommendations, yet don't know where downtown is? Clearly, you're new to the area.

In answer to your question, there's no hard and fast definition, you could even make your map more squarelike and it'd be fine. Halsted to Roosevelt, to LSD to Chicago and done.
If anyone were to ask follow up questions 'Where downtown' just switch to the community area: Loop, Near North, Printers Row, South Loop, Greek Town, Streeterville, Gold Coast, Mag Mile, etc etc.