Moving to Evanston, IL - where to live (Chicago, Washington: apartments, to rent)

[bearcity]

My new job is about near the Evanston Hospital north of NWU. I'd like to keep my commute time less than 30 min (including time walking to the L). I am looking for a single-bed apartment and my price range is 900 +/- 50 bucks. I have a car but it would be nice if I can walk to the L station. I am not quite into night life as I used to and I prefer quieter areas (in another word, don't want to be near NWU undergrads). I don't mind street noise too much, just don't want to be surrounded by loud bass from neighbors blasting their music.

I would consider Chicago as well (Edgewater, Rogers Park), but Evanston is preferred since I really don't want to spend hours commuting to work every day.

Any suggestions. Also, if you can point areas that I should avoid, that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[Manigault]

Well, that's a stop on the el very close, but the hospital is about 3/4 miles from the Central Avenue Metra station.

So, Rogers Park and Ravenswood are areas to explore. If you don't want to live in Evanston.

[bearcity]

I thought I'd add a few more details to what I am looking for

In Evanston

1. How safe is it to the east side of Main purple station, I saw on the forum that chicago crime has moved to the south part of Evanston

2. How about on Central St west of the Ryan Field, north of Golf, is that generally considered pretty decent area?

3. If i'd look around Main, Dempster, Davis and Foster purple stations, where do i likely to find a quieter place. (I am ok with graduate students and postdocs, they tend to be much quieter than undergrads)

In Chicago
1. I've heard bad things about Rogers Park -- what about areas near Morse and Jarvis -- it's kinda near Howard which people told me to avoid


Right now I am more intended to stay in Evanston -- including paying a little more on rent. My current commute to work is 5 min -- i am extremely spoiled.

[nikitakolata]

Originally Posted by bearcity

I thought I'd add a few more details to what I am looking for

In Evanston

1. How safe is it to the east side of Main purple station, I saw on the forum that chicago crime has moved to the south part of Evanston

2. How about on Central St west of the Ryan Field, north of Golf, is that generally considered pretty decent area?

3. If i'd look around Main, Dempster, Davis and Foster purple stations, where do i likely to find a quieter place. (I am ok with graduate students and postdocs, they tend to be much quieter than undergrads)

I think that as long as you stay off the actual NU campus you are not likely to have issues with noise/partying/etc. I lived right by the Davis Street metra and El for 3 years and noise was never once a problem. My now husband lived on Washington Street a few blocks from the Main Street stations and noise was never a problem there. Also, my aunt and uncle have lived a couple blocks from the Central Street stations (between the Metra and El) for more than 10 years and noise isn't an issue there either. I think that if you chose to live within a few blocks of any of the Metra/El stops, you'd be fine in terms of noise.

In terms of safety I'd stay north of South Boulevard. I'd also avoid Golf/Emerson road west of Ridge Avenue. Generally, I would prefer to stay East as a personal preference, although the area west of Green Bay Road (Ryan Field) is by Central Street is a very nice area as well.

The one place you probably will want to avoid is a building nicknamed (at least by my husband's friends) the Blue Whale. It's 1420 Chicago Avenue and the exterior is (you guessed it), blue. It's not all that close to the NU campus so you wouldn't peg it as a big place for students, but just about everyone my husband knows from college lived there at one time or another while they were in school. Of course, my husband is pretty geeky and so are his friends, so they weren't exactly rowdy anyway, for what that's worth.

[nana053]

Originally Posted by nikitakolata

The one place you probably will want to avoid is a building nicknamed (at least by my husband's friends) the Blue Whale. It's 1420 Chicago Avenue and the exterior is (you guessed it), blue. It's not all that close to the NU campus so you wouldn't peg it as a big place for students, but just about everyone my husband knows from college lived there at one time or another while they were in school. Of course, my husband is pretty geeky and so are his friends, so they weren't exactly rowdy anyway, for what that's worth.

Hey, my daughter lived there for a while. It was not a rowdy building when she was there. College kids are not *all* noisy partiers.

[nana053]

Originally Posted by bearcity

I thought I'd add a few more details to what I am looking for

In Evanston

1. How safe is it to the east side of Main purple station, I saw on the forum that chicago crime has moved to the south part of Evanston

2. How about on Central St west of the Ryan Field, north of Golf, is that generally considered pretty decent area?

3. If i'd look around Main, Dempster, Davis and Foster purple stations, where do i likely to find a quieter place. (I am ok with graduate students and postdocs, they tend to be much quieter than undergrads)

In Chicago
1. I've heard bad things about Rogers Park -- what about areas near Morse and Jarvis -- it's kinda near Howard which people told me to avoid


Right now I am more intended to stay in Evanston -- including paying a little more on rent. My current commute to work is 5 min -- i am extremely spoiled.

You should be fine east of the Main street station. There are quiet apartments on Hinman and Judson that are very nice. You can also go further east, I think.

The area you are looking at on Central street is fine. I would look at areas near Central, but not on Central street - look at Prairie which has some apartments. There are some nice apartments on Central street as well, but I don't have any idea of the rents.

I would not look near the Dempster Street El station since that area has some iffy gang activity and drug activity though not everywhere. I would tend to stay away from the area around Nichols middle school, not because of the school, but because there have been some weird incidents near that neighborhood in the last few years.

The area near Foster street is probably going to have a lot of students. I can't say how many are partiers though. Near Davis is probably going to be fine, but the rents are likely to be more expensive.

I agree about staying away from the area around the South Blvd stop too.

Good luck!

[bearcity]

Thank you all for the informative replies. Those are really helpful. I do plan to try out the chicago half marathon so staying east may be more ideal like many of you suggested. I am making a trip to Evanston to look for housing, you think I can just walk around or I should really rent a zipcar to get around.

What's the average in Evanston for a 1bed 1bath?

I will be making around 50k, would that be enough to rent a single or i should really consider studio?

[Manigault]

Originally Posted by bearcity

Thank you all for the informative replies. Those are really helpful. I do plan to try out the chicago half marathon so staying east may be more ideal like many of you suggested. I am making a trip to Evanston to look for housing, you think I can just walk around or I should really rent a zipcar to get around.

What's the average in Evanston for a 1bed 1bath?

I will be making around 50k, would that be enough to rent a single or i should really consider studio?

Since you are new to the area you should also consider that fact that living and working in Evanston can be sort of provincial and one-sided. You may need some variance and comparison in your life and Chicago has a lot to offer.

[nana053]

Originally Posted by Manigault

Since you are new to the area you should also consider that fact that living and working in Evanston can be sort of provincial and one-sided. You may need some variance and comparison in your life and Chicago has a lot to offer.

Living in Evanston does not mean staying in Evanston all the time. She can be in the city anywhere from the loop to various parts of the north side with very little time involved.

[nana053]

I don't know the average price, but there is quite a range. There's an older building on Judson that has some 1 br that start at $975. There's one on Church St listed at $895. 1 bdrms at the Reserve on Ridge go from $1550 to $2000, but they have all kinds of modern amenities including a pool and gym and free wifi. Studios there go for around $1300.

Good luck in finding what you need.