Chicago equivalent to Portlands Hawthorne (aka young and hipster neighborhood) (Evanston: university, living)

[jonnynonos]

Originally Posted by Plzeň

Wow. As someone who didn't live here yet in the 90's (and hadn't even visited), I can't imagine any part of Lakeview being anything but yuppie, let alone anything that close to Wrigley. I wish I could take a time machine to visit.

The original "alternative corridor" in Chicago (at least in my lifetime) was around Belmont and Clark in Lakeview, and it still retains some of that flavor to this day with the Vic Theater and down Clark the Metro, Smart Bar, the Alley, some tattoo parlors, Berlin, all the weird shops around there... though they seem to be slowly dying off and replaced with mall restaurants.

Now you really only see real trendy people down near there for a show. Though there still seems to be a lot of homeless kids who still hang out around there.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by Plzeň

Wow. As someone who didn't live here yet in the 90's (and hadn't even visited), I can't imagine any part of Lakeview being anything but yuppie, let alone anything that close to Wrigley. I wish I could take a time machine to visit.

I'll put you in one. I lived on the 3800 block of Greenview in the early 1990s, about 3 blocks from the Southport corridor and Music Box. It was not a hipster area. It was already clearly yuppified. There was a Starbucks, a bagel place (trendy in the pre-carb counting era), several nice Irish bars, good restaurants, young families pushing strollers and walking Golden Retrievers. Hipsters hadn't taken off in Chicago yet outside Wicker Park/Bucktown.

[Alicia Bradley]

Originally Posted by BRU67

I'll put you in one. I lived on the 3800 block of Greenview in the early 1990s, about 3 blocks from the Southport corridor and Music Box. It was not a hipster area. It was already clearly yuppified. There was a Starbucks, a bagel place (trendy in the pre-carb counting era), several nice Irish bars, good restaurants, young families pushing strollers and walking Golden Retrievers. Hipsters hadn't taken off in Chicago yet outside Wicker Park/Bucktown.

I think you're being considerably more strict in your definition of 'hip' than the OP, who doesn't seem to require her/his 'hipster' neighborhood to be thoroughly yuppie-free (as evidenced by the presence of quite a few yuppie establishments in Portland's Hawthorne neighborhood).

[Plzeň]

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

The original "alternative corridor" in Chicago (at least in my lifetime) was around Belmont and Clark in Lakeview, and it still retains some of that flavor to this day with the Vic Theater and down Clark the Metro, Smart Bar, the Alley, some tattoo parlors, Berlin, all the weird shops around there... though they seem to be slowly dying off and replaced with mall restaurants.

Now you really only see real trendy people down near there for a show. Though there still seems to be a lot of homeless kids who still hang out around there.

Still fascinating to me. I guess I've always been one of those "trendy"(?) people who only goes to that area for shows. (I've only lived in Chicagoland for 6 years.) I have wondered from time to time how those venues ended up catching on in the first place in the middle of yuppieville. Now I know.

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by Plzeň

Wow. As someone who didn't live here yet in the 90's (and hadn't even visited), I can't imagine any part of Lakeview being anything but yuppie, let alone anything that close to Wrigley. I wish I could take a time machine to visit.

rent My Bodyguard, it's set in Lake View High School in I think the 79- 81 time. Plus, Matt Dillon is hilarious.

few people believe me, but yes,once upon a time (until maybe 87) living north of Diversey actually carried a stigma to some of the Lincoln Park parents I knew from school. Even in high school I had parents who wouldn't let their kids come visit me in "dangerous Lake View," and I'm talking Racine - Southport and south of Belmont!

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

The original "alternative corridor" in Chicago (at least in my lifetime) was around Belmont and Clark in Lakeview, and it still retains some of that flavor to this day with the Vic Theater and down Clark the Metro, Smart Bar, the Alley, some tattoo parlors, Berlin, all the weird shops around there... though they seem to be slowly dying off and replaced with mall restaurants.

Now you really only see real trendy people down near there for a show. Though there still seems to be a lot of homeless kids who still hang out around there.

It moved north up Clark in the 70s and early 80s from what people tell me. Those were my stomping grounds in the 80s (went to college in 89), it does still have some crazy flava, but it comes out pretty late.

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by Attrill

Last weekend I was hanging out in front of Revolution Brewing with some friends and saying that Logan Square isn't THAT much of a hipster haven. Then a guy with mutton chops rode up on a unicycle and asked me if I had any rolling papers. True story.

so did you?

that is pretty awesome. what is even exponentially more hipster than riding a unicycle, now *that's* the question...

[jonnynonos]

Originally Posted by Chi-town Native

It moved north up Clark in the 70s and early 80s from what people tell me. Those were my stomping grounds in the 80s (went to college in 89), it does still have some crazy flava, but it comes out pretty late.

That makes sense... and I think Old Town was the 'scene' in the 60s.

[Plzeň]

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

That makes sense... and I think Old Town was the 'scene' in the 60s.

My dad, who visited Chicago as an 18 or 19-year-old in the late 60's when that was still legal drinking age, says Rush Street was a happening young people's bar scene then. Looking at that area now I think it must be the same dudes still hanging out there 45 years later.

[Attrill]

Originally Posted by Chi-town Native

so did you?

that is pretty awesome. what is even exponentially more hipster than riding a unicycle, now *that's* the question...

Sadly I couldn't help the guy out. To be fair, the guy was nice enough. He looked like a total goofball, but other than the fact that he ruined my wonderful drunken rant he was OK.