I've never even been to Chicago, but I'm moving there! (Evanston: condos, houses)

[Sprout]

I guess now we can say we HAVE been to Chicago and we're moving there!

Loved it. Everything. Hated to leave, can't wait to go back. The countdown is officially ON.

How can anyone have anything negative to say about Chicago?

Neighborhoods of choice: Bucktown, Wicker Park, Ukrainian Village, Medical District (near where I'll be working), Lakeview, Uptown, South Loop, Wrigleyville. I'm sure there are lots of others but we didn't know exactly where we were.

Amazing. Enough said.

Sprout

[Chi2NYC?]

Originally Posted by Sprout

How can anyone have anything negative to say about Chicago?

weather. unless you're one of those rare souls who loves being cold. for several months.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Sprout

I guess now we can say we HAVE been to Chicago and we're moving there!

Loved it. Everything. Hated to leave, can't wait to go back. The countdown is officially ON.

How can anyone have anything negative to say about Chicago?

Neighborhoods of choice: Bucktown, Wicker Park, Ukrainian Village, Medical District (near where I'll be working), Lakeview, Uptown, South Loop, Wrigleyville. I'm sure there are lots of others but we didn't know exactly where we were.

Amazing. Enough said.

Sprout

Just a word of warning, with the current state of the public transit system particularly on the North side: you're going to have a hell of a commute from Lakeview (which Wrigleyville is a part of), and especially Uptown -- easily over an hour from Uptown, and not much shorter from Lakeview/Wrigleyville. It's an easy enough commute in terms of convenience -- one easy half-block transer from the Red to Blue Line trains -- but time-wise it may be a bit lengthy. You should be pretty OK from the other areas mentioned.

[Sprout]

Thanks, Drover. The commute is my #1 consideration when thinking of buying a place. We plan to rent for the first year, probably in the Medical District area, to get a better feel for the city and where we want to grow roots.

By the way, the Calo's Special stuffed pizza (sausage, green peppers, onions, mushrooms) was the best thing I've ever tasted. Thanks for the recommendation. I will have to disagree with your assessment of Giordano's, though; I thought it was scrumptious.

Sprout

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by Chi2NYC?

weather. unless you're one of those rare souls who loves being cold. for several months.

Unless you live in SoCal, Phoenix, Honolulu or south Florida, youre going to have cold for several months. The good thing here is that unlike those places, we have summers we can enjoy.

People, dont let a week or two of sub-zero temps prevent you from moving to Chicago, no place on earth, I repeat, no place on earth has perfect weather. To deny yourself the experience that is Chicago, because of a few bitterly cold days, is questionable. Most winter days are fine, a warmer jacket is all youll need. Its not like every day requires layers, gloves, boots, scarves, etc. Thats nonsense.

[Chi2NYC?]

Originally Posted by Sprout

Thanks, Drover. The commute is my #1 consideration when thinking of buying a place. We plan to rent for the first year, probably in the Medical District area, to get a better feel for the city and where we want to grow roots.

By the way, the Calo's Special stuffed pizza (sausage, green peppers, onions, mushrooms) was the best thing I've ever tasted. Thanks for the recommendation. I will have to disagree with your assessment of Giordano's, though; I thought it was scrumptious.

Sprout

if you live in wicker park or ukrainian village near damen ave or ashland ave, you could take the bus south to the medical district. i think the commute should be around 30 minutes or less. it's also an easy bike ride.

[Chi2NYC?]

Originally Posted by Steve-o

Unless you live in SoCal, Phoenix, Honolulu or south Florida, youre going to have cold for several months. The good thing here is that unlike those places, we have summers we can enjoy.

People, dont let a week or two of sub-zero temps prevent you from moving to Chicago, no place on earth, I repeat, no place on earth has perfect weather. To deny yourself the experience that is Chicago, because of a few bitterly cold days, is questionable. Most winter days are fine, a warmer jacket is all youll need. Its not like every day requires layers, gloves, boots, scarves, etc. Thats nonsense.

i agree with you on the summers here. i will never disparage chicago for that.

but for *me* unbearably cold winter starts at under 20 degrees + wind, and i think chicago has more than just a couple weeks of that. and when you add to that the looooong wait for the cold temps to get decent enough to want to spend more than ten minutes outside, and it sucks. to me and to many. add to that that i can't afford a big apartment or condo to take refuge in when winter's at its worst, and it's fricking unbearable. i'm out.

[Milliano]

Originally Posted by Chi2NYC?

but for *me* unbearably cold winter starts at under 20 degrees + wind, and i think chicago has more than just a couple weeks of that.

Even in the coldest part of the year, the average high temperature is around 30 degrees.

and when you add to that the looooong wait for the cold temps to get decent enough to want to spend more than ten minutes outside, and it sucks. to me and to many.

Any healthy person should be able to feel comfortable for more than ten minutes outside if they're dressed properly, even when its 30F ... and for 9 months out of the year, the average high temp is over 45F...

Now if a person just takes a short visit to Chicago from a much hotter climate in the winter, obviously they're going to feel abnormally cold because their body doesn't have any time to physiologically adapt to the change. Similar can be said if a person hardly goes outside and keeps the heat way up when indoors.

[j33]

10 minutes outside? Hell, I've played 45+minute broomball games outside in the snow and did just fine (and on some nights they were double headers after only about 10 minutes of warming up inside), you just have dress properly and keep moving.

I know that some people don't do as well in the cold weather, but it has never really bothered me that much ... granted there that weather around superbowl time last february that was brutal, but even then I just bundled up and made my usual 6 block walk to the 'el' in the morning and managed okay (ok I was a bit bitter about it when my glasses iced over and my tears froze to my face, but there were only a few days that were that cold last year, and that which does not kill us makes us stronger, no?

I'd rather deal with too cold than too hot, long stretches of hot humid summer days depress me more than the most frigid winter wind ever could.

[South_Sider]

Another two great neighborhoods to look into would be the Ravenswood area which is in the Northside of the city and Bridgeport which is in the near Southside and not too far from Chinatown and the Loop.