22 year old grad moving to work downtown (Chicago, Lincoln: apartments, lease)

[deaner]

Hello,

I'm a 22 year old, white male graduating from UM in Ann Arbor and I have a job working in the Loop (Prudential Plaza) starting end of the summer. I've read a lot of these posts in an attempt to get a gauge on what neighborhoods seem decent for me. I'm into sort of "hipster things" (craft brews, going to concerts, etc) but I definitely don't want to live in a Williamsburg-equivalent. I enjoy running and swimming and it seems like being close to the lake would be nice for that.

From what I've read everything seems very polarizing--yuppies, hipsters, college douches. Where do 'normal' people live? Just average young working people?

It'd be nice if my commute to the Loop wasn't more than 30 min or so, and it would be great if I could bike to work. Safety is obviously a concern. I consider myself to be frugal, but I will be making enough so that rent is not a limiting factor. I will most likely be living by myself.

From what I've read Urkainian Village/East Village, Little Italy, Wicker Park, Lincoln Park are feasible options?

THANKS

[chet everett]

You're probably not going to enjoy swimming in Lake Michigan much unless you are into "polar bar club" type stuff, even with a wet suit you'd get hypothermia except for few weeks in late summer...

I don't know if there are really all that many truly obnoxious characters that fit either the frat boy / hipster / slacker / yuppie stereotypes in the way that some folks seem to want to perpetuate. Prudential is close to Michigan Ave, which makes transit options easy, bicycle you'd fight a lot of traffic...

[urza216]

Originally Posted by deaner

From what I've read everything seems very polarizing--yuppies, hipsters, college douches. Where do 'normal' people live? Just average young working people?

Crappy nothing-special apartments close to work or their parents' house. That's where.

All of these different polarizing labels are really just encompassing one thing - Privilege.

[OrangeAndBlue]

Yes there are stereotypes associated with certain neighborhoods, but it's not like all people living there fit them. There is still tons of variety and plenty of "normal" people.

The standard answer to your question is either Lincoln Park, Lakeview, or Wicker Park / Bucktown and I don't think you can really go wrong with any of those. That is where a majority of new college grads who work in the Loop end up moving to initially. I recommend you make a trip over here and check those areas out for yourself. Sign a one year lease and get to know other neighborhoods better when you're here and then you can always move again if you decide the grass is greener somewhere else.

[deaner]

Originally Posted by OrangeAndBlue

The standard answer to your question is either Lincoln Park, Lakeview, or Wicker Park / Bucktown and I don't think you can really go wrong with any of those. .

How does the commute compare from these areas?

[OrangeAndBlue]

Total commute time sort of depends on how far away you live from an El stop, but the train ride itself is less than 30 minutes from all of those areas except for maybe the brown line from the farthest north corners of Lakeview. There are express busses on LSD too if you live right by the lake, or you could take a bike on the Lakeshore path - weather permitting.

You can get a rough idea of travel times by train / bus if you look at the timetables on the CTA website.

[SJaye]

I bike in to work every day when weather permits. I live in Logan Square, and take Milwaukee most of the way, which is pretty safe primarily because of the number of people bicycling down that road on any given weekday rush hour. It is great-- safety in numbers. I also bike on some streets downtown to get from Milwaukee Ave.'s southern terminus to the AON center (right next to Prudential). That part is a little more abnoxious, but at least I know all the vehicular traffic is moving at a slow enough speed that a serious injury is highly unlikely.

This bicycle route to/from work does not require any riding on Michigan Ave. whatsoever. I live in Logan Square and the bike ride takes barely more than 30 minutes (and I ride a hybrid ... not even a road bike), so it should easily be less than 30 minutes for any ample bike rider from Wicker Park/ Bucktown using the Milwaukee route.

[tonythetuna]

Originally Posted by chet everett

You're probably not going to enjoy swimming in Lake Michigan much unless you are into "polar bar club" type stuff, even with a wet suit you'd get hypothermia except for few weeks in late summer...

Yeah thousands of people get hypothermia each year in Chicago area from swimming in the lake when it is not late summer.

[tonythetuna]

Originally Posted by deaner

From what I've read everything seems very polarizing--yuppies, hipsters, college douches. Where do 'normal' people live? Just average young working people?

Originally Posted by urza216

All of these different polarizing labels are really just encompassing one thing - Privilege.

People that go to college are a symbol of "privilege?" I guess that includes you right?

[SpikeDurden]

Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Roscoe Village, Wicker Park, Bucktown, Oldtown, Lincoln Square, Ravenswood, and North Center are all great, safe neighborhoods in Chicago's north side where young professionals often live. I don't think you can go wrong with any of those neighborhoods. They all have plenty of great food, bars/pubs and entertainment. Lakeview has Wrigleyville/Wrigley Field, tons of sports bars, a really cool and cheap improv club called iO and my favorite movie theater in the city, the Landmark Centre theater. Lincoln Park has a beautiful park, a free zoo, tons of bars more college-oriented, and many fantastic restaurants. Wicker Park and Bucktown are hip and trendy full of cool boutique shops, a fantastic beer pub called the map room, lots of bike shops etc... I live in Ravenswood which is the farthest north of all those I listed. It takes me 30 minutes on the L to get downtown to work, or a 50 to 1 hour long bike ride which I very much enjoy doing. It's a bit quieter but has great food options, two fantastic gastropubs called Hopleaf and Fountainhead which both serves hundreds of different beers, and it's been a very welcoming neighborhood since my move here. The closer towards the loop you get, like Oldtown and Lincoln Park, the more expensive it's going to be. If you got a lot of money there's always Gold Coast or south Loop and then you'll be right downtown.

Here's a good map so you can see the locations of the neighborhoods I'm talking about. All the ones I've listed are on the north side or west side. The south side has some cool areas too but you'll find it has a pretty bad reputation along with the far west side.

http://mappery.com/maps/Chicago-Neighborhoods-Map.jpg