La Grange, Elmhurst, and Deerfield (Chicago, Naperville: apartments, rental, condos)

[SNT]

For as long as I've been reading and researching on City Data, I'm surprised it's taken me this long to register and start a thread.

I've seen incredible insight and priceless information come out of some of this forum (as well as comical ignorance), so I'm very curious to see what the hive has to say about a pretty routine re-location question.

Background about Us:
I'm 34 and my wife is 29. We've been living abroad for the last year, but are originally from the Chicago-area. She group up in Bartlett and Algonquin and I grew up in Crete and then Hawthorn Woods. Prior to moving to Morocco, we had both lived in the city (Uptown/Ravenswood/Andersonville/Streeterville) for about five years.

Now that we're almost back in the States, we need a place to stay. We were originally thinking that we'd move back to the city (Streeterville-ish), but I'm very open to exploring suburbia, which brings me to my request for input:

From what I've gathered, La Grange, Elmhurst, and Deerfield have the most convenient, walkable downtowns. We aren't particularly social and have our own interests and hobbies, so a sense of community and social scene isn't all that important. What is important is convenience and the ability to not spend any time in a car in order to get to important places. Those places are: Grocery store (we like Whole Foods, Trader Joe's [our favorite] and Aldi), a recreation facility that might offer things like badminton, ping-ping, free weights, and yoga, and a convenience/department-type store. The last thing isn't all that important.

Which of these three cities would most satisfy what we're looking for? We'll be renting, but cost isn't a huge concern. We both work from home, so we don't need to worry about a commute. Do any of these downtowns have nice apartments/condos smack-dab in the middle of them? Which of the cities has the best adult-oriented park district program, or something of the sort? Do any of the downtowns have public libraries?

Let me know if you need any other information. And thanks for your help on this.

[chicagojlo]

Deerfield has a Whole Foods downtown but that's as far as it goes. You could likely find a rental that would be close enough to walk there, and to the Metra station. There's also a Walgreens next to Whole
foods. Check out the local park district website for recreation details. There is a Trader Joes in nearby Northbrook but you'll have to drive there.

I don't know about the other two. You could possibly look at Highland Park which has a bigger downtown than Deerfield, and is on the lake, but again you'll be driving to Trader Joes and Whole Foods.

[SNT]

Thanks chicagojlo. The information about Deerfield is helpful. I had Highland Park on my list at one point, but I've lived in Lake Forest before. The North Shore just isn't all that interesting to me.

The metra station in Deerfield is definitely a bonus, but not all that necessary. We'll probably spending the bulk of our time in whichever community we end up living in.

[chicagojlo]

If you're not interested in Highland Park then Deerfield should definitely not be on your list, if anything I'd say HP feels less 'North Shore snob' than Deerfield does. You're probably better off going out west, or better yet, staying downtown. Have you considered Evanston? And are children possibly in your future plans?

[SNT]

Bummer. Well, at least that saves a trip up to Deerfield. From what you've read or heard, is there much difference between Elmhurst and La Grange. Like I said, I'm not tied to the Metra, but I've been reading that the Metra (especially along the BNSF) cities have a much more commercial downtown district than other cities of similar size.

[chet everett]

I honestly cannot think of town that has a truly walkable location for Aldi, Trader Joe's and Whole Foods and the rest of the options that are in the OP's list like a YMCA/ fitness center and a general merchandise / discount type store. I think you could walk to MANY of these things from SOME parts of towns like Evanston, Elmhurst, DesPlaines, Alrington Heights, Glen Ellyn, Deerfield, Naperville, Downers Grove, Highland Park and maybe even a handful spots in Chicago but given the fact that Jewel and Dominicks so dominate so many shopping locations the alternative of having a local produce store or even healthfood shop MIGHT actually be preferable. In that regard I would probably give Elmhurst "top of heap" status...

In any case I would put a whole lot of weight on where your job is -- if you work downtown and can take Metra the time savings offered to someplace like LaGrange on BNSF would be super. OTOH if you need to work north Evanston might be great...

Finally I think it is kinda unusual to "spend the bulk of out time in the whichever community we end up living in" -- even for die hard advocates of nicer Chicago neighborhoods like Lincoln Square or Lakeview the percentage of folks that can limit their travel to spots withing walking distance is tiny...

[Gunner0325]

Downtown La Grange has a Trader Joes, Walgreens, and a bunch of restaurants and a couple bars. Also, Whole Foods is a short drive down Ogden.. You guys are pretty young just curious why you are looking in the suburbs? We just moved to La Grange Park and we are in walking distance to downtown La Grange. It is a nice downtown, just be warned, lotso-kids..Every restaurant we go to seems to have LOUD kids running around.. La Grange is mostly families. So if you plan on having kids it could be a good option for you? (oh and Jewel is pretty walkable from downtown La Grange, probably 3/4 of a mile away)

[SNT]

@chet: Thanks for chiming in! I was wondering when I'd be hearing from you. I really think you ought to write a book on metro-Chicago. At the very least, compile all of your posts here into a blog. Both my wife and I work from home, so access to highways or a commute downtown isn't important. I need to fly twice a month, but it's not frequent enough to matter to me.

To clarify, Whole Foods or Trader Joe's is not a requirement. A neighborhood produce market (like Stanley's in Chicago) would be just fine. I like Evanston--I used to work right off the Davis stop. But I was hoping to experience something new.

Surprisingly, when he had lived in Streeterville, we almost never left--other than visiting our parents in the suburbs. We're pretty simple don't have much use for night life. A couple of decent restaurants is good enough.

@Gunner0325: Do you dislike La Grange Park? And how is it different from La Grange? Yes, we are a bit young to make the transition, especially since we don't have kids in tow, but we've seen a lot of Chicago and a lot of the rest of the world. Why not explore our backyard? If you could do it again, would you have preferred the city? Or another suburb?

[chet everett]

The reason Elmhurst gets the nod for me over LaGrange is that Elmhurst has a real functioning YMCA, excellent utilization of the Prarie Path for bicyclists, joggers, dog walkers, the cultural benefits of Elmhurst College, a nicer mix of adults w/o kids in the library and other community spots, though LaGrange probably does have some advantages for families with kids and more overall dining choices...

If the OP was content to stay within the confines of Streeterville that suggests maybe greenspace is not as important as shopping and places like art museums, which no suburb can really supply as fully.

[SNT]

Actually, it was quite the opposite. Streeterville has pretty access to Millenium Park, a couple of closer local parks, and the lake front. The whole time we were there (4 months or so), I don't think we ever visited a museum. And we buy almost all of our stuff online, so shopping isn't a big deal, either. The restaurants in the area are nice, but we never frequented the really upscale places.

Elmhurst sounds interesting. When is La Grange supposed to bring back its YMCA? And how do the two libraries compare to each other?