Writing a novel set in Chicago, need some help (Irving: middle-class, crime)

[jokerman1]

Hi, I'm working on a novel that partly takes place in Chicago. I really need some help if anybody out there's got this kind of info:

My character owns a supermarket. What part of the city should it be located in? It needs to be a good neighborhood, but not too upscale because he isn't super rich. Just a good location for a middle-class kind of grocery store. Street names would be appreciated.

Thanks very much!

[marothisu]

Interesting. Good, middle class, nothing upscale.. grocery store. I guess you could pick from a lot of neighborhoods like an Avondale, Irving Park, Portage Park, Belmont Cragin, Jefferson Park, Dunning, Garfield Ridge, West Elsdon, Ashburn, West Lawn, Hegewisch, Montclare, etc.

Also, is this a store that's more urban that people might normally walk to, or is it a grocery store that has a sizable parking lot?

[eating while walking]

Originally Posted by jokerman1

Hi, I'm working on a novel that partly takes place in Chicago. I really need some help if anybody out there's got this kind of info:

My character owns a supermarket. What part of the city should it be located in? It needs to be a good neighborhood, but not too upscale because he isn't super rich. Just a good location for a middle-class kind of grocery store. Street names would be appreciated.

Thanks very much!

This is an interesting question. Can you give us some more parameters? What kind of overall feel do you want this store to have? What ethnicity are the shoppers?

Thanks
Jeff

[jokerman1]

I guess I want it to be more of an urban grocery store that people might walk to, but a pretty decent-sized one. The character who owns it has a great deal of pride in providing his community with food. So something with a real community feel, but a safe neighborhood with low-crime rate.

Thanks for the quick response, guys.

[marothisu]

Well, on the north and northwest side areas like like Edgewater, Avondale, Irving Park, or even Albany Park may work. I wouldn't say these areas have no crime going on in them, but they're relatively safe neighborhoods that have an urban enough fabric that people may walk to it. The people there are pretty neighborhood focused IMO (like a lot of Chicago).

The north side is kind of famous in Chicago and not a ton about the South Side gets written about. I think maybe an area like Bridgeport in that case might be good - I always think of it as middle class. Maybe even small areas of West Elsdon (which is near Midway Airport).

[emathias]

Originally Posted by jokerman1

I guess I want it to be more of an urban grocery store that people might walk to, but a pretty decent-sized one. The character who owns it has a great deal of pride in providing his community with food. So something with a real community feel, but a safe neighborhood with low-crime rate.

Thanks for the quick response, guys.

I think that this place is pretty much exactly what you're looking for:

A&G International Fresh Market

Near Belmont Ave and Central Ave, it serves Polish, Mexican and established American residents on the Northwest Side of Chicago. It has a strong street presence, so people do walk there, it's big and I'm sure the owner is quite proud. It's on the border of the Belmont-Cragin and Portage Park neighborhoods, which are pretty typically middle-class parts of Chicago. They are not the safest areas in Chicago, but they are not dangerous by any real measure.

[scratchie]

Not to second-guess, but why don't you write a novel that's set in a city you're more familiar with?

Or... why don't you write it in such a way that it doesn't need specific street names or neighborhood names?

[MassVt]

Originally Posted by jokerman1

Hi, I'm working on a novel that partly takes place in Chicago. I really need some help if anybody out there's got this kind of info:

My character owns a supermarket. What part of the city should it be located in? It needs to be a good neighborhood, but not too upscale because he isn't super rich. Just a good location for a middle-class kind of grocery store. Street names would be appreciated.

Thanks very much!

Make sure that it's not a Dominick's...

[chet everett]

MY GAWD! First rule of writting -- DON'T WRITE ABOUT SOMETHING THAT YOU DON"T KNOW ABOUT!

Seriously. Chicago has been whipsawed by the recent closure of what was once a locally based of groceries that were once owned by a local family before being liquidated by Safeway. If you would do even a simple google search you'd see what sort of hardships this caused -- Dominick's Parent Company Leaving Chicago Market: Chicagoist

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by chet everett

MY GAWD! First rule of writting -- DON'T WRITE ABOUT SOMETHING THAT YOU DON"T KNOW ABOUT!

Seriously. Chicago has been whipsawed by the recent closure of what was once a locally based of groceries that were once owned by a local family before being liquidated by Safeway. If you would do even a simple google search you'd see what sort of hardships this caused -- Dominick's Parent Company Leaving Chicago Market: Chicagoist

You don't write about something you don't know about, unless it's fiction and you do your research. I don't think the second part matters, though. The average reader is not either going to know or care about that when they're reading a work of fiction. A market in an urban setting is accurate enough for the city as is still.