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Hi, I'm moving to Boston in July and have rented a place in the Back Bay. I'm not too familiar with the other neighborhoods of Boston, however. Right now, I live in Lakeview in Chicago, and I love it. I was wondering if anyone that's familiar with neighborhoods in both Chicago and Boston would comment on any neighborhoods in Boston that are similar to Lakeview in Chicago? Thanks!
Hi, I'm moving to Boston in July and have rented a place in the Back Bay. I'm not too familiar with the other neighborhoods of Boston, however. Right now, I live in Lakeview in Chicago, and I love it. I was wondering if anyone that's familiar with neighborhoods in both Chicago and Boston would comment on any neighborhoods in Boston that are similar to Lakeview in Chicago? Thanks!
I am very familiar with Boston and lived there a few years. I've visited Chicago a few times recently but am definitely not as familiar with it.
I think Back Bay is about what you are looking for though - great shopping, beautiful architecture, upscale environment, good transit, downtown is easily accessible.
Other neighborhoods you may like are the South End, Beacon Hill and maybe the North End. What was it about Lakeview in particular that you are hoping to find in your Boston neighborhood?
Back Bay is fairly pricey,and it seems like the 20 something crowd that lives in Lakeview tends to congregate to more inexpensive outlying areas such as Davis and Porter Sq and other parts of Cambridge/Somerville.
Could you give some more details about Lakeview? I'm not sure everyone here knows a lot about it haha.
If it's the "cool" place to go after graduating, there are several places. As Oakparkdude mentioned, Davis and Porter square are both popular. Other spots include Allston, Brighton, and Southie...Southie is especially popular and it's a great neighborhood (depending on where you go). Another popular place is the North End (usually young and with a couple of bucks to spend). You could argue it's the best city in the neighborhood. It's not as cheap as Southie or one of the spots outside the city, but it's not as expensive as Back Back either.
Lakeview is a very busy and dense neighborhood on the north lakefront. It's about 100,000 people, borders Lake Michigan with its harbors, lakefront path, beaches, etc. The neighborhood contains Boystown, which is the center of the gay community and has around 20 bars lined up in a fairly tight row, and just a few minutes walk west is Wrigley Field and Wrigleyville with dozens of other bars lining the area. Dozens of restaurants, very walkable, lots of local and express bus lines, transit stops and the Red/Brown lines that run through the north side into downtown.
It's very popular with young college grads as well as young families.
Lakeview is a very busy and dense neighborhood on the north lakefront. It's about 100,000 people, borders Lake Michigan with its harbors, lakefront path, beaches, etc. The neighborhood contains Boystown, which is the center of the gay community and has around 20 bars lined up in a fairly tight row, and just a few minutes walk west is Wrigley Field and Wrigleyville with dozens of other bars lining the area. Dozens of restaurants, very walkable, lots of local and express bus lines, transit stops and the Red/Brown lines that run through the north side into downtown.
It's very popular with young college grads as well as young families.
Ah ok, much of what you described fits the South End. Usually considered the "gayest" of neighborhoods haha...it too is a very dense, at about 35,000 ppsm in 1 square mile of area. It's extremely walkable and has beautiful architecture. It borders Back Bay, the Theater District and Fenway. It has a lot of bars, restaurants, cafes, etc. too. It is covered very well by buses and has access to both the Green and Red lines...though they don't go directly through the neighborhood, just on the edges (it's a small enough neighborhood though). However it's quite expensive and isn't terribly popular with the younger crowd. The cooler neighborhood for the younger crowd would be Allston/Brighton. It's much cheaper, and has tons of bars, etc. It's also popular with the gay crowd, so if that's what you're looking for it shouldn't be a problem.
One benefit that Boston may have over Chicago is that since it's so much smaller, its neighborhoods are potentially more connected/accessible. If you've got an apartment in Back Bay, you're talking a 10-15 minute walk to the South End regardless of what part of Back Bay you're living in. You're also just minutes from Beacon Hill, and Kenmore/Fenway. You really can't lose in Back Bay. Also in Back Bay, Allston/Brighton, Beacon Hill you'll have direct access to the Charles River.
Edit:
Quote:
Originally Posted by marothisu
And in case anybody familiar with Boston wants to offer their advice but isn't familiar with Lakeview, then here's a video:
After looking at that video, I didn't realize how varied Lakeview was! It seems like it's probably a combination of the contiguous South End, Back Bay, Kenmore areas. According to its Wiki, Lakeview has about 95,000 in 3.16 square miles. This combination of Boston neighborhoods would be about 80,000 in 2.04 square miles, so they're comparably sized. It's served by three-four subway lines (one orange, two-three branches of green), lots of bus lines, beautiful architecture, parks (Back Bay Fens, Charles River Esplanade, Comm Ave Mall, Copley Square, along with many beautiful parks scattered throughout the South End). However this expanded neighborhood is still quite expensive.
One benefit that Boston may have over Chicago is that since it's so much smaller, its neighborhoods are potentially more connected/accessible. If you've got an apartment in Back Bay, you're talking a 10-15 minute walk to the South End regardless of what part of Back Bay you're living in. You're also just minutes from Beacon Hill, and Kenmore/Fenway. You really can't lose in Back Bay. Also in Back Bay, Allston/Brighton, Beacon Hill you'll have direct access to the Charles River.
Meh, I disagree...they are similar. You can easily live in Lakeview and walk 15 minutes and be in Lincoln Park, or Uptown, or North Center...just depends on where you live in the neighborhood, but it's fairly quick to get from one neighborhood to another (and if you don't want to walk, there's the train where it's also easy and fast).
Meh, I disagree...they are similar. You can easily live in Lakeview and walk 15 minutes and be in Lincoln Park, or Uptown, or North Center...just depends on where you live in the neighborhood, but it's fairly quick to get from one neighborhood to another (and if you don't want to walk, there's the train where it's also easy and fast).
I'm not saying they're not accessible, but they're far larger. For example, the Wiki of Lakeview said it was 3.16 sq miles, while the Lincoln Park Wiki says it's 3.19 square miles. In that 6.35 square miles, you can fit Back Bay, Beacon Hill, the South End, Boston Common, the theater district, Chinatown and probably the North End and Downtown Boston haha. Those are 7+ neighborhoods, each with their own vibe and unique set of architecture.
There's no doubt Chicago is well-connected, but in this case Boston's smaller footprint/neighborhoods give better pedestrian access than larger areas like Chitown.
Meh, I disagree...they are similar. You can easily live in Lakeview and walk 15 minutes and be in Lincoln Park, or Uptown, or North Center...just depends on where you live in the neighborhood, but it's fairly quick to get from one neighborhood to another (and if you don't want to walk, there's the train where it's also easy and fast).
tmac noted that Lakeview is actually pretty big and its boundaries are about as large as a few different contiguous neighborhoods in Boston. Having neighborhoods not be quite apples to apples is pretty common since neighborhoods between cities and even within a city can have significantly different sizes. In trying to compare Lakeview and the Boston neighborhoods mentioned, it might make sense to break Lakeview further down into smaller parts.
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