Where did yuppies live in 1980? (Chicago, Schaumburg: real estate, apartments, high school)

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by andrew61

IIRC, the term "yuppie" came into being around 1982 or 1983, and was credited to Bob Greene in one of his columns...?

LOL, doesn't Bob Greene wish he had been that clever. I remember it in the early 80s, and it stood for young upwardly-mobile professional (in the city, we're all urban so that's kind of a pointless moniker). the distinction being people who were in the city to climb the corporate ladders, but who would be moving to the burbs to settle down with families.

the derision came from the reality that these folks were ambivalent (if not outright hostile) to the needs and concerns of families and kids in the City already. these were the folks that didn't like after-school program funding, didn't want basketball hoops in the parks that those no-good kids lingered around, etc.

[marence]

Originally Posted by Savoir Faire

Or Naperville. That seems to be the game plan for most yuppies in Chicago. Live in Wrigleyville/Lincoln Park during their 20's. Get married in their 30's, have kids and high tail it to the burbs, come to the city on weekends to watch cubs/bulls/bears/blackhawks game.

You've got the timeline exactly! Here in Cleveland, it was Ohio City, then Westlake or Solon, and downtown only for Indians/Browns/Cavs games.

The reason I'm using Schaumburg is because one of my friends is doing the married with kids thing there, and I've visited him enough to write the scene - I only know Naperville as the name of an exit, and I hate writers who get the little details wrong.

[marence]

Originally Posted by Chi-town Native

LOL, doesn't Bob Greene wish he had been that clever. I remember it in the early 80s, and it stood for young upwardly-mobile professional (in the city, we're all urban so that's kind of a pointless moniker). the distinction being people who were in the city to climb the corporate ladders, but who would be moving to the burbs to settle down with families.

the derision came from the reality that these folks were ambivalent (if not outright hostile) to the needs and concerns of families and kids in the City already. these were the folks that didn't like after-school program funding, didn't want basketball hoops in the parks that those no-good kids lingered around, etc.

And remember the other silly acronym, DINK (dual/double income, no kids)?

[Mr Downtown]

The Levolor Zone, as I used to call it, in 1980 extended west to Racine at Fullerton, and to Southport at Addison, and to Irving Park in what was beginning to be called Wrigleyville. Not every window in every building had Levolors, but I knew people who lived that far out without too much trepidation. Someone with a good job at Amoco probably wouldn't have been that brave, and would have stuck close to the 151 bus and Affordable Portables and The Great Ace and places where the Reader was distributed. Maybe Sandburg Village, but I think that was the year it went condo.

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by Savoir Faire

Or Naperville. That seems to be the game plan for most yuppies in Chicago. Live in Wrigleyville/Lincoln Park during their 20's. Get married in their 30's, have kids and high tail it to the burbs, come to the city on weekends to watch cubs/bulls/bears/blackhawks game.

Naperville came later....

[ChicagoMeO]

Sandburg Village on Clark and North Ave/Division area would be my #1 choice. Then "New Town" near Fullerton. Those are what I remember. Not Old Town because that was more bohemian, not for rich upward mobile kids (which is what yuppie meant).

[ToriaT]

I think by l980 many had left the Old Town area for places a bit further north. In the late l970's people were moving to so called "New Town" which was further north - really Lake View. I'm glad someone mentioned the "Great Ace" where everyone would go to furnish their apartments. Here's a great article remembering it, below. I lived on Cornelia between Halstead and Broadway. It was more or less safe at the time but I recall Elaine Place was filled completely with vacant buildings. Never did find out why. The area was not known as Boy's Town quite yet but was beginning to trend in that direction. Things west of Halsted were dicier as were things up by Irving and northward. I don't recall Southport corridor as being the haven for young people in those days it was still an ethnic enclave.

The Great Ace - Chicago Tribune

[chicago103]

As someone who lived in the John Hancock Center in my 20's (although that was 2006-2008) I am a bit partial to it and since it was around in 1980 and even back then the Streeterville area was considered hip even if there weren't as many buildings. Another interesting apartment complex is Marina City.

By having the character work at "Standard Oil" I assume you mean in the Standard Oil Building which became the Amoco Building and today is called the AON Center. Also even in 1980 there were a few apartment towers a few blocks east of it on Randolph. There were places for people to live downtown even back then even though there were much fewer of them but it would be neat to read a period piece about that.

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by ToriaT

I'm glad someone mentioned the "Great Ace" where everyone would go to furnish their apartments. Here's a great article remembering it, below.

The Great Ace - Chicago Tribune

God bless the Great Ace. You could add up the product and industry know-how in all the employees at a gonzo Home Depot and not equal the kind of wisdom you could find in an average Ace hardware employee. A ritual of spring was walking our old push mower to the Ace on Lincoln & Diversey to have the blades sharpened.

[marence]

Thanks for the memories, guys. I think my character would have gone to the Great Ace to get furniture, or least a shower curtain.

Originally Posted by chicago103

By having the character work at "Standard Oil" I assume you mean in the Standard Oil Building which became the Amoco Building and today is called the AON Center. Also even in 1980 there were a few apartment towers a few blocks east of it on Randolph. There were places for people to live downtown even back then even though there were much fewer of them but it would be neat to read a period piece about that.

If I'm not mistaken, Standard Oil was still a company in 1980; the name change didn't happen until 1985. (Standard Oil leaving Cleveland is why the city got the "Free Stamp".) If my research is wrong, please tell me.
I don't know nearly enough about Chicago to write much - this is one character in a flashback story that mostly happens in Cleveland. I know Cleveland really well, but Chicago is still a mysterious stranger, even after a dozen trade shows and long weekends visiting friends.