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Sorry in advance for all of the "yall's" I will use in this post, it will take some getting used to for me to break that habit
My boyfriend and are moving to Chicago next summer from Alabama. I am 22 and he is 25, so we are looking for a neighborhood with lots of bars, restaurants, shops, etc. We don't want to be near the drunk college kids scene (been there, done that). He will be working in the financial district, and I am still on the job hunt, so we have accepted the fact that we will have to have a commute for work every morning, because we don't really want to live right downtown in the River North area. Were more interested in the surrounding neighborhoods. I have a couple of questions I need yall's help with:
1) We are planning on bringing a car, mostly just because we are so used to it, were not sure if we can cope without one. But, then again, we have never lived in a big city with public transportation before so what do we know! Is this a bad or good idea- thoughts?
2) Were interested in Lakeview East, Lincoln Park, Old Town, Wicker Park, and a few others. We have a renting budget of about $1600/mo and a buying budget of about $330,000 What are yall's thoughts on these neighborhoods and what else can you recommend?
3) Were trying to decide between renting or buying. Seems like, from what we have looked at, you can get way more for your money when buying an apartment, then with renting. What do yall think?
1) It really depends on what your lifestyle will be, where you will be. There's many people here with cars in the neighborhoods that you want, but they don't always use them a ton. Some may have them for a reverse commute to the suburbs, but in their daily non work life, they may not use the car very often. The thing is that when you live in these areas, you're going to be walking to the places directly around you as driving is pointless (why drive when you just walk for 5 minutes?). For things like groceries, in some areas you could still be within walking distance of it. If you aren't, then a car could come in handy, or if you don't do mass shopping you could actually take a bus for a few blocks. Or you could use a delivery service like Peapod and do your shopping online for groceries (they actually have good produce believe it or not).
Your boyfriend is going to want to take public transit to the "Financial District." There's hundreds of thousands of people from all over the area working there and most take public transit. Parking is pretty damn expensive and you don't want to do that - it's a waste of money unless his job pays for it which IMO is decently rare unless you're at a high employment level.
Parking in the lower-rise areas - not all buildings have private parking. Some do maybe in back and down an alleyway, but if the building doesn't, then you'll have to park on the street. Street parking in some areas is zoned, meaning you can only park there if your car is registered for that area. Apart from registering your car in IL and abiding by the taxes you have to pay for stuff in the city (like a wheel tax/sticker), the zone parking is like $25/year. For the private parking in low rise, it might be closer to $100/month (obviously it varies per place). Sometimes you may get lucky and it could be included in the price of rent.
2) Those are all good areas, but you have to be beware with Lincoln Park and Old Town about the college stuff, especially Lincoln Park. DePaul University's main campus is in that neighborhood, so there can be areas that are rather college-y. Lakeview East is a good area, and it's not that college-y. Some people will tell you it is because it's close-ish to Wrigleyville and they just assume things, but it's actually more mature. Not tons of bars there (there's some), but it's more full of restaurants, cafes, and shops.
You might also want to check out parts of Bucktown and Logan Square along the blue line train (for your husband).
3) My suggestion is, since you don't know about Chicago, to rent for your first year. What if you buy something in an area you hate? You're stuck with it kind of. Rent and figure out the city a little bit and if you don't like it, then you can move.
Frankly the people that complain about "drunk college kids" probably live far too close to one poorly run beer bar and there are no shortage of these type establishments in LOTS of otherwise nice parts of Chicago that really do have an overall appealling mix of resturants, shops and other entertainment.
In short you'd be a FOOL to not explore Lincoln Park or Old Town.
There is no disputing the fact that the core of DePaul's subneighborhood in Lincoln Park that is bounded by Southport to the west, Halsted to the east, Diversey to the north and Armitage to the south is, far and away, the most dense and interesting mixturing of EXACTLY what the OP is looking for and really has far more upscale dining and shopping options and FEWER "drunken mess" type bars than Bucktown or Logan Square which is rapidly becoming a "Disneyland" of post college types...
DePaul is hardly a "party school" with a large percentage of students taking classes not at the Lincoln Park campus but the downtown business / law / computer science downtown campus, which is essentially an office building. Even in Lincoln Park there is no real "campus town" like you'd find in a Big10 locale -- Chicago takes Illinois 21 year old drinking age seriously and there are no frats or sororities that can afford to own a mansion in Lincoln Park even if the Vincentian priests would allow such a thing, which they don't because they are a real deal hard core "vow of poverty" type order of missionaries... Congregation of the Mission
Again, you misinterpreted me. I never said to not explore Old Town or Lincoln Park. I meant that there are college parts of those areas and be careful of where you end up if you do, in those areas. DePaul isn't a massive "party school" but the bars around there usually have that college bar atmosphere (not all, but there are a number of them that do). I remember this summer, a friend of mine wanted to meet up with his friend who just moved here at a bar near there. She picked a bar near DePaul for some reason, and we must have been the only people out of over 500 in the entire bar over the age of 22.
Again, you misinterpreted me. I never said to not explore Old Town or Lincoln Park. I meant that there are college parts of those areas and be careful of where you end up if you do, in those areas. DePaul isn't a massive "party school" but the bars around there usually have that college bar atmosphere (not all, but there are a number of them that do). I remember this summer, a friend of mine wanted to meet up with his friend who just moved here at a bar near there. She picked a bar near DePaul for some reason, and we must have been the only people out of over 500 in the entire bar over the age of 22.
....probably too close to one poorly run beer bar and there are no shortage of these types of establishments in LOTS of otherwise nice parts of Chicago...
If you / your friends do not know which bars are magnets for the kids maybe your advice about neighborhoods is less than ideal... Here is a tip, if the place is on this list, avoid it, The 100 Best College Bars for Bros - BroBible.com (Benchmark clocks in at #76, bro... )
....probably too close to one poorly run beer bar and there are no shortage of these types of establishments in LOTS of otherwise nice parts of Chicago...
If you / your friends do not know which bars are magnets for the kids maybe your advice about neighborhoods is less than ideal... Here is a tip, if the place is on this list, avoid it, The 100 Best College Bars for Bros - BroBible.com (Benchmark clocks in at #76, bro... )
The place was actually nice on the inside. Not luxury nice, but not even close to a dive bar or anything. It was just overrun by college kids. I knew it was a magnet for college kids, but my friend and I were too lazy and said "okay" to his friend who told us to meet her there.
Thank you for your suggestions, they were very helpful.
I think you have convinced me to reconsider taking the car up there (again, were from a place where everything is spread out, so nothing is in walking distance). It will be nice to be able to walk to restaurants, etc and not have to worry about parking when we get back at night.
As for the neighborhoods, I have heard people refer to Bucktown as a "yuppie" sort of local. Granted, we were in sororities and fraternities, I wouldn't quite classify us as this type. But nor would I consider us "hipsters" as people refer to them. What is a nice in-between?
Also, I like to go out for a beer as much as the next person, but were more interested in being able to leave our apartment in the morning before work and grab a coffee and relax, then we are in going to bars at night. Would Lakeview East be a good place for us this respect?
Also- what about Wicker Park and Ravenswood? These are two names I have seen thrown around a bit and I'm not too familiar with them.
I think I would classify myself the same as you. I am not a yuppie, I'm not a hipster, but I have a few things in common with both but am in between. At its current state, I enjoy Wicker Park because I feel like it has a nice balance. Bucktown is more yuppie perhaps than Wicker Park, but it has establishments there (i.e. Danny's) which are a nice in between. Wicker Park and Bucktown used to be not so good parts of town, now they have nice stuff in them but they also have shades of what they used to be (i.e. Danny's in Bucktown and Flat Iron, Double Door, etc in Wicker Park). I actually enjoy seeing that dichotomy of lifestyles in certain areas of Wicker Park you'll find like being able to go to one of the nicest Cocktail lounges in the city and then 200 feet away finding a music venue that specializes in hard rock, then having a night club across the street from that and then a nice coffee shop not far away. It's very interesting to me because I live somewhere in the middle of those lifestyles.
Wicker Park and Bucktown have that whole grab a coffee thing, but East Lakeview might have more of that vibe in my opinion. Ravenswood/Lincoln Square is a nice part of town, very safe, and with a number of things, but it's less "busy" than a Wicker Park or Lakeview is. The area is kind of a mix of people in their mid 20s and older and families. It's a quiet area but there's good stuff up there too. I'd say it's a little more mature minded crowd and Lincoln Square I would describe as "quaint." I'd group the area of North Center in with that too, at least the area of North Center that borders Lincoln Square/Ravenswood. The types of restaurants in Lincoln Square I feel also is semi diverse, but so are the other areas that have been listed.
As far as the car thing goes, do what's comfortable with you. In areas like Wicker Park/Bucktown/Logan Square/Ukrainian Village (south of Wicker Park) or Lincoln Square/Ravenswood, having a car is not totally useless. You may not use it a ton, but it may come in handy sometimes. My suggestion is that if you currently have two cars, try and bring only one. If you are really used to having cars around, then I'd suggest bringing one and playing it by ear. It's probably better to bring the car and slowly adjust to a different type of transportation lifestyle than to jump right into it.
Your budget is quite nice for a 1 bedroom apartment (and in areas like Lincoln Square/Ravenswood, that will afford you a 2 bedroom, and in other areas further out you haven't considered, you could get a 3 bedroom probably. Just south of Wicker Park area, you may be able to find a 3 bedroom for that price, but it may not be luxurious, but not totally crappy either. Just old.) so you can position yourself nicely to be within walking distance of many things if you really want to.
Last edited by marothisu; 11-12-2013 at 11:37 AM..
I think Wicker Park and Ravenswood would be fine. Bucktown too. Parts of Logan Square near the boulevard. There is a mix of people there. Stay away from the north Halsted, Clark St. bar scene...its easy to do. Personally I would bring a car. I've lived here all my life city and suburbs and would never be without one. ...it gets damn cold here. Just know that you have to pay for parking mostly and lots are strictly monitored and your car will be towed if you park there and leave it. And if you work downtown or in the financial district, you will take the "L" (subway) or a bus to work as parking downtown is way too expensive per day.
Don't buy until you figure out what neighborhoods you like and don't. Bring the car at first, ditch it later if you decide you don't need it. Also, you can check out Andersonville in Uptown/Edgewater.
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Perhaps you misread my post...
