West Loop vs. South Loop vs. Lincoln Park vs. Wicker Park/Bucktown

[cmrhm]

I am living in south loop for 8 years. A great place to raise family. Rent is stable, for 1600, you might find a decent place to live. safe and young neighborhood, the renting/buying price for the house actually didn't drop in this recession, it raise a bit instead. This tells sth.

convinient transportation, but the street life indeed is boring.

[paytonc]

Originally Posted by chitown85

I would say most of the Wicker Park residents are over 25 and under 35.

And whaddya know? Even circa 2000 (eons ago in gentrification years), WP/B residents were far more likely to be between 25-35 than any other age bracket -- and yes, that includes 20-25 year olds. I've never felt that it was a <25 scene, not even when I was in that age bracket.

young and restless | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/paytonc/2076233317/ - broken link)

[Muppet123]

Originally Posted by NearWestSider

Wicker Park is a great place if you are easily impressed by faux-bohemia. I would not generally recommend it to anyone much over 25, and certainly not to anyone married over thirty unless you have visited it and know for a fact that it suits you, because nothing neutral about the place.

People usually find it either awesomely cool or phony as a three dollar bill. What people do agree on is the traffic near the intersection of Damen and North Ave is among the most congested in the entire city. Depending on your point of view, that either adds to its charm, or makes it a place to avoid.

Oh please. Most of the indie-er than thou crowd was priced out of that neighborhood years ago. I lived there from 2005 to last year and the people who state its mostly educated professionals between 25-35 and young well offish families are correct.

[hank0604]

I live in South Loop now, lived in Wicker Park/Bucktown previously, and am moving back to Wicker Park in about a month. My take on South Loop vs. Lincoln Park/Wicker Park is this:

The housing is infinitely better in South Loop. Everything is brand new, or at least a very new conversion, and the buildings are purpose built apartment buildings with ton of amenities. On the flip side, in WP/LP most reasonably priced housing comes in the form of brownstone single family homes that have been converted into 3-6 unit properties. The lots are very narrow, making the apartments smaller (in my old bedroom I could spread my arms and touch the walls), although they are typically pretty long, so you still have a lot of space. The buildings are also old, some 120 years plus, with very few amenities. However, after having lived in each type of place, I believe I like the smaller brownstone building better. Living in a highrise, in my opinion, does not feel like home--I feel like I've been living in a hotel for the past year.

As far as the neighborhood go, South Loop has a lot of work to do. There is not a neighborhood feel here. The location is really good if you spend a lot of time downtown. It's also very close to the lake, beaches, Soldier Field, Museum Park, Grant Park, etc... but there aren't a lot of places here where you'll want to become a regular, and not a lot of shopping. Also, as far as hipsters and artsy types go, I think South Loop actually has more than Wicker Park now, due to Columbia College's large presence here.

Wicker Park is great for that "neighborhood" feel. There will be lots of parents out with strollers, dog walking, joggers, coffee shops, and corner stores (and corner bars for that matter). Lincoln Park is much the same.

If it were me, I'd say resist the temptation to go with a shiny new South Loop highrise. You'll have to put up with a lesser quality home where the insulation might not be as good (as long as heat's included, who cares?) and you'll need to get a small toolkit to make small repairs. Maybe I'm weird, but I really prefer that experience.

As far as safe boundaries go: South Loop, south to 18th, or to Cermak if you're more in the eastern section (east of Michigan). West Loop, south to the Eisenhower, west to Ashland, north to Lake (although, north of Lake is now called River West by Realtors, and has a very similar home style to West Loop, and would be perfectly fine a couple blocks either side of Halsted all the way up to Chicago). Wicker Park/Ukrainian Village/Bucktown--south to Chicago, east to Ashland, north to Armitage/Webster, west to Western (but south of Division, maybe west to Damen).