Need some help clarifying areas of Chicago

[deliz]

Sounds like this Cincinnati cat needs to one up the Chi. Who cares If it's downtown or prairie district. It's close enough to walk with tons to do.

[stephen431]

Originally Posted by emathias

So you know what experience supports my definitions, I've worked in the Loop for over 17 years. I've lived within walking distance of the Loop for 12 of those years.

Most people I know consider Soldier Field to be downtown. A few consider the United Center to be downtown. Nobody considers the rest of the stadiums to be downtown, though.

The Loop proper is, of course, the area inside the elevated tracks.

The Loop as most Chicagoans use the term, however, is the area bounded by the River, Michigan and Congress. *Some* but not all people also include the primarily office and hotel blocks east of Michigan, north of Randolph, south of the River, west of Columbus.

I don't know anyone local who considers the Loop to extend to Roosevelt. Some might accept to Harrison, but not to Roosevelt.

Part of the confusion may be that locally the terms "South Loop" and "West Loop" do not mean "the south part of the Loop" or "the west part of the Loop," they mean distinct areas to the south or to the west of the Loop.

The West Loop has somewhat less distinct definitions. The general consensus probably defines it as west of the River, south of Kinzie or Fulton, north of the Eisenhower (I-290) and west to either the Kennedy (I-90/94) or Halsted. Some people consider the West Loop to go to Ashland, but in the past 5-7 years more people consider the area west of Halsted to be a distinct area called "West Loop Gate". No one that I know consideres the United Center to be in the West Loop though a few ambitious real estate agents might call that area still the West Loop Gate.

The South Loop also has somewhat less distinct definitions. The general consensus is that the South Loop starts at Congress and goes to at least Roosevelt. Personally I consider the South Loop to be Congress to Roosevelt, although a few people push it all the way to 18th Street. People like me who say it stops at Roosevelt consider the area south of Roosevelt to 18th or Cermak or, sometimes, even as far as the Stevenson (I-55) to be the "Near South Side". The area east of Michigan and south of Roosevelt to 18th is considered Central Station, a planned development built on the site of the old Central Station railroad terminal. The semi-private blocks bounded by State, Clark, 16th Street and Polk are Dearborn Park, the first primarily residential development in the South Loop area that kicked things off. Technically, the part north of Roosevelt is Dearborn Park, and the part south is Dearborn Park 2, but I don't think people make that distinction. The portion of the South Loop between Polk, Van Buren, Clark and Dearborn is generally known as Printers Row.

Adding to the confusion is that there isn't really a "North Loop," although when people use that term, they usually mean the area between Lake Street, Columbus and the River.

North of the River between roughly Wabash and Chicago Ave is the River North neighborhood. The western edge, along Larrabee where there's a lot of new development, north to about Oak Street, is often also considered River North. East of about Wabash and north of Chicago Ave is the Gold Coast. North of Division and west of Lasalle is Old Town. The area east of the River, south of Division, north of Chicago Ave, and west of either State is sort of disputed. Some consider parts Old Town, or the Gold Coast or River North. It often ends up just called by the official Community Area "Near North Side" that officially includes all those areas.

North of the River, east of St. Clair St and south of Chicago Ave is Streeterville. The blocks on either side of Michigan Avenue north of the River are just considered part of the Michigan Ave or Mag Mile corridor and as such their own sort of neighborhood.

People who don't consider things east of Michigan to be part of the Loop often consider that to be the East Loop. The mostly residential portion east of Columbus, though, is marketed as the "New East Side" which is a little confusing to old time Chicagoans because there is an "East Side" neighborhood on the far South Side of the city that has no relation. Another name for the office/hotel portion of this area is "Illinois Center," although some people find that too easily confused with the State of Illinois building in the center of the Loop.

Below is a map I made that helps illustrate some of the areas.

This is excellent, thanks! I think I confused Roosevelt for the lower boundary of the Loop instead of the lower boundary of South Loop. I thought South Loop went from Roosevelt down to Stevenson. That map is great.