OK, so tell me about the Irving Park neighborhood... (Chicago: loft, condos)

[marothisu]

Just so we're clear: Old Irving Park is a section of Irving Park. Just like how Boystown is a section of Lakeview.

Why doesn't anyone ever say "There are inexpensive 4-squares to be had in OIP, with easy access to the loop."

If you're talking about on here, then it depends on peoples' needs. I have suggested Irving Park a bunch of times and so have others. There are posters on here that live in that neighborhood.

Otherwise just in general, tons of people only know a few neighborhoods in Chicago. When I told my coworker yesterday I was going to Lincoln Square after work, he just had this blank look on his face like "what's that? Where is that?" There's a ton of people who never leave downtown (Loop, West Loop, River North), Old Town, Lincoln Park, Lakeview, and Wicker Park.


Irving Park is a nice neighborhood. It's just not HOPPING, but it's not boring either IMO. There's plenty to do, and it's not that much of a hassle to get to somewhere like Lakeview if you want to go and party there instead. Of course too, the advantage is that it's easier to get to Wicker Park/Logan Square/UK Village from Irving Park than if you're in the heart of Lakeview.

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by ChiNaan

Old Irving Park is significantly further away from downtown, the lake, LP/LV, etc., than Roscoe Village is.

IMHO that's all it is... Old Irving Park is just more locationally challenged in its proximity to downtown and the "hot" parts of the North Side, although the location is not impossible either.

Personally, I think the residential sections of Old Irving Park are much more beautiful than those of Roscoe Village.

[ChiNaan]

Originally Posted by andrew61

IMHO that's all it is... Old Irving Park is just more locationally challenged in its proximity to downtown and the "hot" parts of the North Side,

That's all I was trying to say. It's pretty simple, really. Thanks for getting it.

[ChiNaan]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Okay lol, discuss only Old Irving Park then.

I did, thanks. Wouldn't make much sense to do otherwise when answering a question about Old Irving Park.

Originally Posted by marothisu

Just so we're clear: Old Irving Park is a section of Irving Park. Just like how Boystown is a section of Lakeview.

Yep. And if somebody asked a question specific to Boystown on a thread about Lakeview, I would respond with an answer specific to Boystown, not all of Lakeview. Thanks for the analogy.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by ChiNaan

That's all I was trying to say. It's pretty simple, really. Thanks for getting it.

Yes, I do agree in a way, but what I was trying to say is that it's really not that far from a neighborhood like Lakeview, and it's closer to Wicker Park, Logan Square, and UK Village than Lakeview is (at least it doesnt take as long to get there).

I do think this discourages people, but people aren't aware that it's a relatively short bus ride over. They probably think you have to ride the blue line all the way down to Jackson, then ride the Red Line up to ...lakeview, lp, river north, etc. When the reality is you take a bus 2 miles East, hop on the brown line and ride down a few stops.

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Just so we're clear: Old Irving Park is a section of Irving Park. Just like how Boystown is a section of Lakeview.

If you're talking about on here, then it depends on peoples' needs. I have suggested Irving Park a bunch of times and so have others. There are posters on here that live in that neighborhood.

Otherwise just in general, tons of people only know a few neighborhoods in Chicago. When I told my coworker yesterday I was going to Lincoln Square after work, he just had this blank look on his face like "what's that? Where is that?" There's a ton of people who never leave downtown (Loop, West Loop, River North), Old Town, Lincoln Park, Lakeview, and Wicker Park.


Irving Park is a nice neighborhood. It's just not HOPPING, but it's not boring either IMO. There's plenty to do, and it's not that much of a hassle to get to somewhere like Lakeview if you want to go and party there instead. Of course too, the advantage is that it's easier to get to Wicker Park/Logan Square/UK Village from Irving Park than if you're in the heart of Lakeview.

I have been enjoying the comments on this neighborhood, when it comes time for my wife and I to move and we look to Chicago, this will probably be the neighborhood at the top of my list, it looks like a decent place to raise a family and still enjoying being in the city.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by ChiNaan

I did, thanks. Wouldn't make much sense to do otherwise when answering a question about Old Irving Park.

I get it. Let me attempt to provide some more insight into the whole scheme of things

Old Irving Park is more family residential, and yes it's further away from things. If you are looking for an apartment, you aren't going to find a ton in OIP anyway. OIP has a number of SFHs, more than other parts of Irving Park.

Irving Park, more broadly, is a not a small area. If you were to search for apartments/condos/houses, it could be in many areas and not necessarily near the freeway. The Eastern edge of Irving Park actually borders the NW side of North Center. If you lived near Horner Park, you'd have about a 5-7 minute ride to the brown line on the bus. I believe it's less than 1 mile between the two, so if you walked, it wouldn't take you too much longer than the bus, or if you biked there. Does it makes sense for Old Irving Park? I think so, because Old Irving Park is more family residential. I wouldn't live in Old Irving Park right now, but I'd live in other areas of Irving Park. Old Irving Park has a few good eateries, but it's more geared for familes IMO (even if the rest of Irving Park has SFHs and many families).

However, there's a lot of housing closer to North Center..actually all throughout Irving Park. Really, I don't think people know about other neighborhoods outside of the popular ones, which is a major reason why too. They could easily live on the Eastern edge of the neighborhood. It would be no different than someone in Ukrainian Village riding a bus up to the Blue Line, and then riding that to the Loop to get to the South Loop.

Of course everyone has their own little nuances and reasons, but really if you work it out, living more in the eastern part of Irving Park is not that much of a hike to any of the hot neighborhoods. 6 minutes on a bus, say a few for waiting for the train, and then a few more to get to Lakeview or Lincoln Park. Yeah it's not like living in those areas, but the rental prices in Irving Park are very cheap. Like, $1500 for a 3 bedroom apartment, and possibly even less at some places.

I think it's a great alternative for people who want to live NEAR the action, but can't afford it. I really think if more people knew about it who want to live near that and can't afford it, more people would find out about the areas of Irving Park which are not that far from the Brown Line.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by urbanlife78

I have been enjoying the comments on this neighborhood, when it comes time for my wife and I to move and we look to Chicago, this will probably be the neighborhood at the top of my list, it looks like a decent place to raise a family and still enjoying being in the city.

It's a good area. I don't know if you saw some links in your other thread, but there's a pretty awesome almost 3000 sq foot condo there for under $450k. I think there's another great SFH in Old Irving Park I linked around the same price..built in 2003.

[Drover]

As most regulars know I live in Irving Park. It's pretty sleepy as most people note which is why I chose this neighborhood -- I wanted to minimize nearby distractions while I was at grad school. There is a tiny bit of gentrification going on, mostly on the Irving Park Road corridor east of Kedzie. While SFHs do comprise a good portion of the neighborhood, you can easily get by without a car if you so desire with plenty of solid transit options including 2 Metra lines/stations and 3 Blue Line stations, plus fairly easy access to the Brown Line from the Northeat corner of Irving Park. (The latter doesn't really apply to the Old Irving Park section though.) It may not look like it but the neighborhood density is nearly 20,000 ppsm and has attendant relative ease of access to amenities by foot, bike, or public transportation.

As for someone who asked "what's wrong with it" the answer is pretty much nothing except its distance from downtown means the gentrification wave hasn't hit it in full force yet and it might not ever. Evem so, a good-quality, modest SFH with semi-recent updates will set you back 300K. Larger SFHs can easily surpass a million. So while it's not on anyone's "hot neighborhood" radar just yet, it's also not completely overlooked.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Drover

As for someone who asked "what's wrong with it" the answer is pretty much nothing except its distance from downtown means the gentrification wave hasn't hit it in full force yet and it might not ever.

Yeah, some people have been figuring out it's not actually that far from the brown line on the eastern edge. If gentrification ever makes it to the freeway area there, I doubt it'll be for years.

It would be interesting, as well as seeing where the ever increasing "downtown" goes, for business. If for example you saw more businesses (non retail) opening up offices in an area like Wicker Park in like 20 years, then I bet the Old Irving Park area would start to see gentrification sooner or later. People want their commutes to be OK, and while the commute from Irving Park (the western part at least) to the Loop is not that much different than Roscoe Village to certain sections of the Loop, if more offices spread out west, then I think you'd see more people utilizing that.