Advice: Lakeview vs Lincoln Park

[ChicagoMeO]

I just saw a show on TV - Check Please - and they visited a Lincoln Park restaurant.. they said that Lincoln Park has lots of little shops (vs Big Box Stores).. and i said, yeah, that's why Lincoln Park is more appealing than Lakeview. Oh yes, Lakeview has them, but its not as appealing as Lincoln Park shoppes.

[jfre81]

Without knowing where in Lakeview, it's hard to say. It's a big place.

Wrigleyville gets conflated with Lakeview. While it's part of Lakeview, it's only part of it. That said, much of it is affected by the presence of Wrigley, at least when the Cubs are in season.

Not all of Lakeview is raucous and noisy, but on Cubs game night, traffic is a mess, and the congestion even carries over to the Red Line. And that's assuming there's no delays on the Red Line, which are about as common as Cubs games themselves. Sick passenger at the next stop up slowing it down. Signals down. Switches down. Smoke reported in the subway at North and Clybourn, as it was the other day. Of course this is just a fact of life here and you should travel to work or wherever you want to go with that possibility in mind.
But the traffic when the Cubs are about to play/playing/finished playing? Yeah. Forget Addison. Forget that stretch of Clark. So you might use Irving Park, which is the only east-west two lanes wide in that area, or Belmont, which is still going to be loaded with traffic because people are parking at lots on and off Belmont to the tune of $30 to hoof it over to the game, or taking a short hop on the Red from Belmont to Addison. Then toward Halstead/Broadway it's Boystown and that's a whole 'nother deal in itself.

I'm thinking if I was you I'd take that Lincoln Park option, just based on what you've shared. You've got the park, the observatory, the zoo, the shops and while they get their visitors, it's not the madhouse that Wrigley creates. Even if you're not in Wrigleyville proper, the mobility headaches extend beyond Clark/Addison/Waveland/Sheffield. It may well get old to you fast. LP is still accessible to transit, and you can make better use of Lake Shore Drive when it's not backed up beyond belief.
Even with a wind coming off the lake, it's not like you're going to smell the zoo in your place. Besides, it's not really that big of a zoo, although it's one of the better free ones you'll find anywhere.

[Nearwest]

The western portion of Lakeview is anchored by the Southport corridor. This stretch of Southport Ave. has shopping, dining, and entertainment options, including the Music Box Theater. The choices for shopping and dining include both chains and franchises as well as locally owned operations.


This part of Lakeview seems to be more stable and family oriented and less transient. And, for L service, it's actually served by a Brown Line station at Southport and Roscoe.

[Chicago_Person]

Same ish.

[glass_of_merlot]

If price is the same. Go with LP!

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by jfre81

But the traffic when the Cubs are about to play/playing/finished playing? Yeah. Forget Addison. Forget that stretch of Clark. So you might use Irving Park, which is the only east-west two lanes wide in that area, or Belmont, which is still going to be loaded with traffic because people are parking at lots on and off Belmont to the tune of $30 to hoof it over to the game, or taking a short hop on the Red from Belmont to Addison. Then toward Halstead/Broadway it's Boystown and that's a whole 'nother deal in itself.

Irving Park traffic can get pretty heavy before or after a Cubs game. I used to live on Irving Park near the lake and used to commute home in the late afternoon by car down Irving from the Kennedy Expressway, and there were days during baseball season when the traffic was much heavier than usual down that stretch.

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by andrew61

Irving Park traffic can get pretty heavy before or after a Cubs game. I used to live on Irving Park near the lake and used to commute home in the late afternoon by car down Irving from the Kennedy Expressway, and there were days during baseball season when the traffic was much heavier than usual down that stretch.

You're right, but being four lanes it can handle more than any other E/W road in the area, all of which are taking people looking for an alternative to Addison.

There's no easy way, no matter what. In addition to the Cubs traffic, of course, you have just your residents in the neighborhood trying to go about their business. That's the fundamental difference between a neighborhood ballpark like Wrigley and others located where there's a freeway feeding people right into a massive parking lot. That's how Kansas City rolls.

It's just a fact of life for anyone living in, going to or just passing through the area when it's game day/night.