Chicago equivalent to Portlands Hawthorne (aka young and hipster neighborhood) (Noble: neighborhoods, living in)

[Urbanite3]

Hi!

I'm looking for Chicagos equivalent to Portlands Hawthorne. I'm wanting to know what Chicago neighborhood has the liberal, artsy, private businesses, hipster/scene niche that has primarily 25-30somethings. Basically, for those of you who know both Portland and Chicago, is there a neighborhood in Chicago that will give me the look and feel of living in a young Portland neighborhood like Hawthorne?

[ForYourLungsOnly]

Wicker Park and increasingly Pilsen

[SmartGXL]

Originally Posted by ForYourLungsOnly

Wicker Park and increasingly Pilsen

^this.

These two areas are directly comparable to Hawthorne and that area on the NW side of Portland (Lovejoy Street?)

[hindukid]

Originally Posted by ForYourLungsOnly

Wicker Park and increasingly Pilsen

Interesting because I would not consider those two neighborhoods to be at all similar.

Wicker Park is much past the Hipster cool phase and I would say the majority of the residents are now just yuppies. Young, professional with lots of money. Everything is extremely nice and the streets are lined with bars and restaurants with perfectly manicured patios. Rents are high and hipsters have moved on.

Pilsen has some hipsters but is still mostly just a Mexican family neighborhood with lots of mexican influence. I would think that any casual observer would recognize this to be a mexican neighborhood and may or may not notice the few hipster joints. Some hipsters are here but the majority have not joined in yet.

I would say that Ukrainian Village is in the middle of the two.

[5Lakes]

Wicker Park
Bucktown
Ukrainian Village
Logan Square
Noble Square/West Town

Basically the Milwaukee Avenue corridor along the Blue Line.

Wicker Park and Bucktown are considered the most desirable; however, Bucktown has a bit more of a yuppie vibe these days.

Ukrainian Village is cool but lacks access to the Blue Line.

Logan Square seems to be gaining a lot of momentum, but still has some dicey areas (mostly west of Kimble). Along Logan Blvd is nice though.

Noble Square/West Town is kind of a hodgepodge and some blocks are better than others.

Some people mentioned Pilsen, but frankly that's overblown if you ask me. It's still mostly a Mexican neighborhood (80%), but it has had some artists and hipsters move there in recent years.

[emathias]

Most Chicago neighborhoods have more of a mix of people than most Portland neighborhoods, by age and any other demographic you can name. Most also are just plain bigger and denser. So you're not really going to find Hawthorne in Chicago. That said, the central to SE portion of Logan Square may be your closest bet.

It won't have quite the same demographics, but you may also like Andersonville.

Wicker Park is nice, too, but increasingly it has a much wealthier demographic than Hawthorne does.

Most Chicago neighborhoods are liberal. Most have young people and less-young people. Wicker Park is about 4 times as dense as Hawthorne. Logan Square is 3-4 times as dense. Pilsen is 3-4 times as dense. So while the average age may not be under 30 like it is in Hawthorne, that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of 20-somethings, it just means there are also plenty of other people.

[uffthefluff]

Logan Square. Go to a bar called The Owl and it looks just like you're in Williamsburg or Bushwick.

It'll still have a bit more racial diversity than Portland though I'd reckon. Just get off at the Logan Square blue line stop and walk south until the yuppie/hipster ratio seems right to you maybe?

[linicx]

Chicago is 4-5 times bigger than Portland, the Chicagoland MSA is 5 times larger than the Portland MSA plus Chicago has a 1000 neighborhoods and 6,000 restaurants. It is not that hard to find a niche. You might live between the Chicago River and the Lake but you won't see mountains, you won't have a Portland growing season, you won't find towns like Vancouver or Seattle nearby, but your COL will be considerably less expensive. ,

[ccjarider]

Linicx,
Did I read you right, are you claiming COL is less expensive in Chicago proper than in Portland?

[chet everett]

I have spent a little bit of time in Portland and I did not encounter as rich a history of people immigrating from central Europe to the extent that there is still evidence of in Chicago. That does not strike me as "directly comparable", nor does the current dominance of Mexican immigrants as dominate Pilsen strike me as something that happens anywhere in Portland. Did not seem that hard core drug based gangs control areas on the fringes of the hip area either...

Nor are there an abundance of local rock / alternative music venues in Pilsen, nor does any part of Chicago have the range of locally brewed beers that is common in Portland.

Last I checked Lake Michigan was freshwater and Chicago has no real history of commercial fishing, nor are there are seafront related employers in Chicago...

Maybe if the terms were restricted to 'areas that about 20 minutes or so via public transit from the core business districts where are relatively large number of younger people are drawn due to more affordable rents / properties' the description would be more believable ...

Don't get me wrong, I totally understand people's desire to promote certain areas, and Portland certainly is a young hip area with a lot to recommend it, as certain parts of Chicago, but the differences are quite noticeable.

Originally Posted by SmartGXL

^this.

These two areas are directly comparable to Hawthorne and that area on the NW side of Portland (Lovejoy Street?)