What's so bad about Hyde Park. (Chicago, Lincoln: crime, neighborhoods, law school)

[StuckOnRepeat]

How bad is the nightlife in Hyde Park really?
I am moving next month. 27M. Work downtown.

I am making the move from roommates to one bedroom. My budget is around $800, which I realize is pretty light. I currently live in Portage Park, which is quiet as all hell, but super accessible to everything. This isn't a crime question or anything like that. I just see in every thread people talk about how boring Hyde Park is. Is the curriculum at UC just that hard that there are no bars? You would think with that many young people, there would be some decent nightlife around on sheer demand alone (although I went to a Halloween party there when I was 19 or 20 that made me feel really sorry for some of the imbibers on that campus).

But times have changed as I got older. I like a good bar I can sit down and enjoy a beer, maybe a decent cultural/arts scene. One good bar that would be busy on a weeknight if I feel like getting absolutely wrecked would be a plus, but not a necessity. I don't need/want the craziness/entitlement/idiocy of the Logan scene.

My choices due to budget are:

Pilsen
UK Village (probably too pricey)
Andersonville
Edgewater
Hyde Park

My question stands. Just how abysmal is the Hyde Park nightlife scene that it gets dogged on every post I read about it. I have been lurking for about a week, and this is my first post. Thanks in advance.

[Aleking]

$800 for a 1 bdrm will be hard in many of those places (especially UK and Andersonville)...especially if basement/dumps are out of the question.

Nightlife in HP is kind of sparse and the issue is compounded by weak transit access. With your budget I'd look more towards Pilsen or Edgewater.

[marothisu]

Nightlife and "Hyde Park" don't mix. It's really on nobody's radars except maybe some locals there. They have I think a total of 4 or 5 bars. There's a few decent restaurants NE of U of Chicago campus, but that's about it. It's a good safe, family oriented, or study oriented part of town, but if you want to experience yourself, go out, go to random stores, blah blah then yeah...don't even go there IMO. Not only that, but there's no train that goes through there except the Metra. There's a few buses, but the nearest El is in Washington Park which isn't the safest of neighborhoods in the least bit.

Basically, Hyde Park is like living in Portage Park or Dunning, except to get to the El in PP or Dunning, you don't have to go through a bad neighborhood.

All of your picks have more to do in them than Hyde Park, but I wouldn't say they're necessarily crazy (except UK Village in some parts). You might be able to swing a 1 bedroom near Lincoln Square too, maybe north of it if you really wanted a place like Albany Park or something (which again, isn't the safest, but it's not terrible). Lincoln Square/Ravenswood is pretty quiet but there's stuff to do and some good bars when you want to drink.

Hyde Park is definitely the quietest IMO, but it's kind of a desert much like a Dunning is. I think Edgewater would be the easiest with your budget honestly. I have seen 1 bedrooms up there for around there, especially a few blocks from Loyola-Chicago campus. Don't rule studios out either. You could even get some studios in Lakeview for around $750/month and maybe even cheaper.

[irvparkrez11]

I don't know about Hyde Park - there's been a couple of muggings at nite near the U of C campus. I've witnessed a mob of black thugs fighting near Museum of Science and Industry, actually. In the middle of the street. Not too safe in that area, I'd say.

In my opinion, Andersonville is the best option out of all those mentioned.

[StuckOnRepeat]

Thanks for the advice. There is a certain allure of being close to UC and the cultural events it likely brings in, but if it's that isolated and dead then I doubt it's worth it. I don't really need to experience myself. I would just like to go to a normal bar with a similar age bracket. Do any of those places have a good arts scene in regards to lit?

I have actually seen some studios that are easily big enough to be turned into one bedrooms. With the exception of UK Village though, I have been able to find one bedrooms on the market in all those neighborhoods.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by StuckOnRepeat

Thanks for the advice. There is a certain allure of being close to UC and the cultural events it likely brings in, but if it's that isolated and dead then I doubt it's worth it. I don't really need to experience myself. I would just like to go to a normal bar with a similar age bracket. Do any of those places have a good arts scene in regards to lit?

I have actually seen some studios that are easily big enough to be turned into one bedrooms. With the exception of UK Village though, I have been able to find one bedrooms on the market in all those neighborhoods.

I like Andersonville, Edgewater, Lincoln Square/Ravenswood to be honest with you. Of course UK Village is good or parts of Near West (West town area) if you can find it are fine too. Sure the U of C brings in cultural events, but this is Chicago. Tons of areas do as well. Not to mention, if you end up not living in Hyde Park, but you want to go to some cultural events, there's nothing stopping you from taking a bus down there.

It's kind of like people who want to live near the museums. There's not enough variance in the exhibits to make it worthwhile living right near it IMO especially with public transit the way it is.

[SCCP]

Hyde Park isn't actually so bad, IF you have a connection with a group currently living there (in other words, a connection with current UChicago grad students who decided to stay in HP). There are actually quite a few interesting cultural activities, and I personally wouldn't be against using Jimmy's as a weekday drinking spot. But you would need to have a way to find out about the stuff going on at the university, etc., and/or a willingness to make new friends with random people within the community. Nobody from outside HP would pick it as an evening destination. Also, as some have already pointed out, the public transit options really dry up after midnight.

I spent my first year in law school living in HP, but I always had a large crowd of classmates available for cab sharing to and from the north side on weekend evenings. I moved to South Loop the next year along with a majority of my friends.

[mjtinmemphis]

I guess the bottom line is there isn't nightlife in Hydepark however there are things to do.

As a transplant, I never had a problem meeting people waiting on the Metra or in line at Treasure Island. There are cultural events and fun things to do for non bar types along with a worldly diverse population not to mention the best shoreline lakefront views in the city.

It depends on what your looking for.

[aragx6]

I really really really think I'd choose Edgewater.

I like Hyde Park quite a bit, but if I didn't have any connection to UC, I think I'd end up feeling left out.

[chicagobear]

Of those choices, I'd go with Edgewater. I'd also look at Uptown and Lakeview which are just to the south along the lake. Try to get something close to an el stop.