Moving to Whiting (Indianapolis, Hammond, Portage: job, housing, closing)

[americanemocouple]

My boyfriend and I recently bought a house in Whiting on Stanton. He's lived in Valpo for 13 years and I've lived in Portage for 13 years. Before that I lived in Hammond (on torrence) and He lived in gary-ish.
Any how he works in Chicago and i'll be getting a job there so its great distance for the both of us. we're off the 114th block just wanting to know more about the area...
local good places to eat.?
how are the schools.?
neighborhood.?
any type of clubs/activities to participate in?
How is the snow in the area?

He's an operations apprentice working for the gas company in chicago and going to become a gas engineer.
I'm a freelance photographer, cna and substitute teacher.

We're moving in november 24...hopefully there will be no snow during the move.
Thanks in advance for any tips or comments!

[domergurl]

Whiting is a classic blue collar town. It was a Standard Oil town built to house the workers for the refinery (now BP). There's also a Cargill plant and a Lever Brothers soap factory, so on any given day, you'll smell gas, soap, or corn.

It's a breeze to get into Chicago from there. It has a mix of housing, from big old homes closer to the lakefront/football field, to small bungalows further west from the Lake. I've always thought that Whiting, geographically, is only missing a commuter train stop to greatness. You'll find a lot of old residents who will never leave and new folks coming in too ... case in point! The town was founded on the backs of eastern europeans laborers, so you'll see a lot of ethnic names. They have a pierogi fest every year that I've actually seen profiled on a couple cable channels.

There are a lot of bars and Churches (mainly Catholic) in Whiting, but not much by way of nightlife/clubs. I think most go into Chicago since it's so close. The East Chicago south shore station is close by if you want to train it in. The first exit off the Chicago skyway is for Whiting, very easy!

Snow is hit or miss since it's so close to the lake. But you'd be surprised at how the lake is an insulator, sometimes keeping Whiting warmer than most of the region. But you are both from the area, so you won't notice much of a chage.

Places to eat. It's mainly chains now, but I've heard that Kevin's has fantastic food, but on the pricey side. It breaks my heart that Phil Schmits is closing ... they had great frog legs! Arni's is great for hotdogs and Schoops has good burgers.
Best of luck.

[artemis]

I can't believe Phil Smidts closed! I loved their Lake Perch!

Thank goodness Tiebel's is still around ....

Whiting is home to many Polish families, my Mother in Law was raised there. Her parents owned a bar right by the White Castle in the triangle. Its a nice, quiet town.

[domergurl]

Really? That bar with the anchor on it??? It's not only Polish, it's also many many Slovaks... the Slovak club is still pretty strong!

Yea, I'll miss those frog legs! I guess they attributed the casino to the demise of Phil Schmits. Too bad, that place was a NW Indiana institution.

[rrah]

artemis--small world--my parents owned a bar in Whiting for years--- a little farther north on Indianapolis Blvd--closer to McDonalds. I think I was in the one your MIL owned once for some reason. I'm sure I was underage, but there with one of my parents for some reason.

domergurl--now I'm thinking about the bar with the anchor. I think my parents bar had an anchor on the sign, but maybe it was on the building???? I'll have to ask my dad sometime.

[domergurl]

It's the bar on the corner, in the building shaped like a piepiece close to White Castle.

rrah ... you're from the region???

[rrah]

domergurl--yep--region girl here.

[domergurl]

Region by marriage here! Hubby grew up in Whiting.

[americanemocouple]

Well we've been in Whiting for about 13 days now and we are really enjoying it. We live one block away from the beach. The house we bought def needed some work and we are working really well together in making it our own. Neither of us know anyone from around here. We live on the same block (stanton) that my grandfather (and my mom) grew up on so a lot of people (older couples) remember me but I was too young to remember them. It's very quiet here and we love that atmosphere. We haven't ventured out much to food places because we have been working and putting the house together..neither of us drink or go to bars so that's ok with us. But I just wanted to thank everyone for the great information on Whiting before we moved in..and we're loving it.

[dumpstermcnuggets]

Originally Posted by domergurl

Places to eat. It's mainly chains now, but I've heard that Kevin's has fantastic food, but on the pricey side. It breaks my heart that Phil Schmits is closing ... they had great frog legs! Arni's is great for hotdogs and Schoops has good burgers.
Best of luck.

I'm very surprised to hear that Phil Schmits is now closed for good. That's too bad, since I always had thought about going to that restaurant from time to time. Anyone know why it closed(i.e. owner retired, competition, and/or other reasons)?