So I'm staring at my Rogers Park photos.. (Chicago, Evanston: section 8, apartments)

[MassVt]

...which were taken last year, and are centered near Loyola Univ, and include streets such as Chase, Greenleaf, Lunt, Farwell, Morse ( all offshoots of Sheridan), and I think that the area looks fine, even quite desirable. I know that Rogers park usually gets mixed reviews on this forum, so I'm wondering: do the less desirable neighborhoods begin west of North Ridge Blvd, or even further away from Lake Michigan?

I also realize that appearances can be very deceptive..

[Larry Siegel]

Rogers Park is one of the oddest neighborhoods in Chicago or in any city. It is a patchwork of very nice, nondescript, and very unpleasant buildings, often on the same block. It has an unusually large amount of Section 8 housing - and it also has an unusual number of young singles and young marrieds who are upwardly mobile and who will move to Evanston, other North Shore suburbs, and other parts of the city when their income increases. Practically every ethnic group is represented there. Because of the school situation it's a tough place to raise a family but for others, it has quite a bit of promise.

The area around Loyola University is the best part, unless you count Rogers Park Manor which is the well preserved bungalow area near Indian Boundary Park (but RP Manor is really in West Ridge, not Rogers Park proper). The worst part is around Howard and Sheridan. But (surprise) a few hundred feet east of Howard and Sheridan are the fancy lakefront apartments of Eastlake Terrace. Odd neighborhood, all right.

[DELL37]

I grew up in Rogers park back in the 80'-90's 1400 block of farwell. Went to field school etc.

I was there when the neighborhood went to crap. I drive through the old neighborhood when I'm in the area. Unfortunatly it will never be as nice as it was in the early 80's.
the area is still over run with gangs and violence. You have young wanna be hipsters living next door to section 8. It's not a good combo.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by Larry Siegel

Rogers Park is one of the oddest neighborhoods in Chicago or in any city. It is a patchwork of very nice, nondescript, and very unpleasant buildings, often on the same block. It has an unusually large amount of Section 8 housing - and it also has an unusual number of young singles and young marrieds who are upwardly mobile and who will move to Evanston, other North Shore suburbs, and other parts of the city when their income increases. Practically every ethnic group is represented there. Because of the school situation it's a tough place to raise a family but for others, it has quite a bit of promise.

The area around Loyola University is the best part, unless you count Rogers Park Manor which is the well preserved bungalow area near Indian Boundary Park (but RP Manor is really in West Ridge, not Rogers Park proper). The worst part is around Howard and Sheridan. But (surprise) a few hundred feet east of Howard and Sheridan are the fancy lakefront apartments of Eastlake Terrace. Odd neighborhood, all right.

This is a great summary.

[emathias]

I lived in RP for a summer, in 1995, and it was truthfully a huge part of why I fell in love with this city. I loved the diversity, I loved the proximity to the lake, I loved that it had Metra, Purple Express and Red Line service to the Loop, I loved the little cinema, I loved the little cheap ethnic restaurants, I loved everything about it except for the distance from downtown - and even then, if I was only worried about the commute aspect, Metra made the commute pretty quick.

Which is kind of odd, considering I lived in a flat with no air conditioning during one of the hottest summers ever, renting a room from a newly-divorced guy who rented both bedrooms plus the living room to various tenants and slept in a hammock in the back sunroom, and one of the other renters stole my laptop. But other than that, it was great. I was young and, while not exactly naive, not particularly in tune with gang-related violence, so I was never afraid. I walked down alleys to get to the Metra station when I took Metra, saw a skunk that lived on my block, got solicited by (female) prostitutes on Rogers Ave right by the Red Line viaduct. Good times.

[MassVt]

Thanks for the responses--I guess I got Rogers Park on a good weekend. To be honest, I didn't cover a wide expanse of territory, but what I was exposed to seemed just fine, although I didn't go into the section of Rogers Park west of the subway line...

[Maintainschaos]

Originally Posted by MassVt

Thanks for the responses--I guess I got Rogers Park on a good weekend. To be honest, I didn't cover a wide expanse of territory, but what I was exposed to seemed just fine, although I didn't go into the section of Rogers Park west of the subway line...

Yeah, I think east Rogers Park is much nicer and much more vibrant, especially the part along the lakefront all the way south to Loyola. Everything west of that area is very hit-or-miss, it seems. Excellent whole-in-the-wall food along Clark, though.

[PerseusVeil]

Originally Posted by MassVt

Thanks for the responses--I guess I got Rogers Park on a good weekend. To be honest, I didn't cover a wide expanse of territory, but what I was exposed to seemed just fine, although I didn't go into the section of Rogers Park west of the subway line...

Not necessarily. Rogers Park East near the lake is the nicer part of the neighborhood, and you also stayed close to Loyola. That's the part that I lived in, and that specific part of the neighborhood really isn't bad at all to be honest.

[Lookout Kid]

My favorite part of Rogers Park is Eastlake Terrace, with it's micro-beaches and small-scale walk-up buildings that are RIGHT ON THE LAKE with no breakwater. It's a really cool enclave. But the area just west of there is one of the worst in Rogers Park, so it's a bit isolated.

[Lookout Kid]

Hey MassVt, can you post your photos?