Ravenswood Metra and Area Questions (Chicago, Evanston: real estate market, apartment, transfer)

[reiddar]

I think I have found an apartment near the Ravenswood Metra that fits almost everything I was looking for in my apartment search. I was originally trying to find an apartment near the el for my commute downtown. But, seems like this metra line runs right into downtown near where I will be working. MY questions are:

How long is the commute to the downtown station from the Ravenswood Station?

How long does it take in between trains...realistically. I saw the schedule. But, are these schedules accurate.

Looks like the nearest el stations are right at a mile away. In Chicago terms, is this a long way away to walk? I'm in Atlanta and we drive a half a block. But, I'm willing to change my ways. By the way, looks like the Ravenswood station is .3 miles away from the apartment.

Which is a better form of transportation into downtown...el or metra.

ANd finally, I google map searched the area around the apartment. I really couldn't find any grocery stores...where in the heck do you shop??? And, what is there for night life in the area?

Like I said, I'd be real close to the Ravenswood station so any opinions on these questions would be great!

Thanks.

[Mel2882]

Metra is on time and probably more dependable, but I honestly haven't ridden it that much. The el comes more frequently...a mile in the spring or summer isn't bad, but you'll probably get tired of it real quickly in weather that's less than 5 degrees and icy. Plus, I assume you're talking about the Damen el, which is closed right now due to construction. You're right next to Lincoln Square, so there is plenty of nightlife. I can't think of any grocery stores within the immediate few blocks of the Ravenswood station, but they are in the area...not more than a short 2 minute bus ride away.

[chet everett]

Metra into Loop in Am and out in the PM generally runs better than anything this side of Switzerland! Really very reliable, breakdowns are rare, most delays are caused by idiots stepping in front of training moving 70 MPH -- takes a while to put all the ground meat into doggie bags for the coroner to ID...

Schedule: Metra / Union Pacific North Monday - Friday Inbound

Closest Dominicks might be a bit of ride on a bus or two: grocery loc: ravenswood and lawrence Chicago IL - Google Maps
Jewel is not much better:
grocery loc: ravenswood and lawrence Chicago IL - Google Maps

Lots more options if you count all the Korean/Asian grocers...

[Drover]

Originally Posted by reiddar

I think I have found an apartment near the Ravenswood Metra that fits almost everything I was looking for in my apartment search. I was originally trying to find an apartment near the el for my commute downtown. But, seems like this metra line runs right into downtown near where I will be working. MY questions are:

How long is the commute to the downtown station from the Ravenswood Station?

How long does it take in between trains...realistically. I saw the schedule. But, are these schedules accurate.

Looks like the nearest el stations are right at a mile away. In Chicago terms, is this a long way away to walk? I'm in Atlanta and we drive a half a block. But, I'm willing to change my ways. By the way, looks like the Ravenswood station is .3 miles away from the apartment.

Which is a better form of transportation into downtown...el or metra.

ANd finally, I google map searched the area around the apartment. I really couldn't find any grocery stores...where in the heck do you shop??? And, what is there for night life in the area?

Like I said, I'd be real close to the Ravenswood station so any opinions on these questions would be great!

Thanks.

Well, let's see... if you found an apartment near the Ravenswood Metra station, that means you're also right near the Damen stop of the CTA Brown Line. They're only a block from each other. You may not be finding it on the map because the station is closed for renovations. However, it will re-open in November. Even so, you should still be less than a mile from an open station. The Addison stop is only half a mile south of the Damen stop, and the Western stop is only half a mile west of the Damen stop. As for walking a mile in the city versus elsewhere... I have no idea how to even answer that. A mile is a mile is a mile. It's 5,280 feet in this town just as sure as it is anywhere else.

The commute from the Ravenswood Metra station to Ogilvie is about 15 minutes station to station.

The Metra schedules are pretty accurate. When they say 3:18pm, they don't mean "somewhere between 3:00 and 3:30pm." They mean 3:18pm.

"Which is better" depends on where you need to go and when. The Brown Line offers a lot more flexibility with trains coming about every 5 to 10 minutes during rush hour. But it has a dozen stops before you get downtown (versus one stop for Metra) so it takes twice as long. It also depends on how often you would use the CTA. a CTA monthly pass is $75 a month, but you can use it to go anywhere, any time within the CTA or Pace Bus system. (Pace serves mostly the suburbs). By contrast, a Metra monthly pass to get you back and forth between downtown and Ravenswood would be $63 a month, but it's only good for two zones -- meaning, you could only use it to get to the Clybourn station, downtown (Ogilvie), or any of the Evanston or Wilmette stations. If you don't plan to use public transportation for any other purpose but to get back and forth to work, that may well be the way to go. But all you have to do to break even with an unlimited-distance CTA pass versus a limited-distance Metra pass is use the CTA 6 times per month (one full-fare, one transfer back to where you came).

As for grocery stores, there's a Jewel grocery store (Albertson's with a different name) located on the 4500 block of N. Lincoln Avenue, which is less than a mile from the Ravenswood station. There's a Dominick's (a local full-sized/full-service grocery store chain) on the 5200 block of N. Lincoln, which is also about a mile away from the Ravenswood station.

[Johnny Northside]

Please, 99.825 percent of your posts are intelligent, helpful and accurate. But this one suffers from the same thing as your Cubs/Sox post about playoff sellouts.

-- The Ravenswood Metra station is a minimum 3 blocks from the Damen L: 2 blocks from Damen to Ravenswood Ave., 1 1/4 blocks from Lawrence to the alley between Leland and Eastwood. If the OP is the other direction from Lawrence and Ravenswood, it could be 4 blocks or more from the Damen L.
-- The L station that's less than a mile south of Damen is Montrose, not Addison (though I understand why you have Addison on your mind)
-- The Jewel is in the 4200 block of North Lincoln.

Originally Posted by Drover

Well, let's see... if you found an apartment near the Ravenswood Metra station, that means you're also right near the Damen stop of the CTA Brown Line. They're only a block from each other. You may not be finding it on the map because the station is closed for renovations. However, it will re-open in November. Even so, you should still be less than a mile from an open station. The Addison stop is only half a mile south of the Damen stop, and the Western stop is only half a mile west of the Damen stop. As for walking a mile in the city versus elsewhere... I have no idea how to even answer that. A mile is a mile is a mile. It's 5,280 feet in this town just as sure as it is anywhere else.

The commute from the Ravenswood Metra station to Ogilvie is about 15 minutes station to station.

The Metra schedules are pretty accurate. When they say 3:18pm, they don't mean "somewhere between 3:00 and 3:30pm." They mean 3:18pm.

"Which is better" depends on where you need to go and when. The Brown Line offers a lot more flexibility with trains coming about every 5 to 10 minutes during rush hour. But it has a dozen stops before you get downtown (versus one stop for Metra) so it takes twice as long. It also depends on how often you would use the CTA. a CTA monthly pass is $75 a month, but you can use it to go anywhere, any time within the CTA or Pace Bus system. (Pace serves mostly the suburbs). By contrast, a Metra monthly pass to get you back and forth between downtown and Ravenswood would be $63 a month, but it's only good for two zones -- meaning, you could only use it to get to the Clybourn station, downtown (Ogilvie), or any of the Evanston or Wilmette stations. If you don't plan to use public transportation for any other purpose but to get back and forth to work, that may well be the way to go. But all you have to do to break even with an unlimited-distance CTA pass versus a limited-distance Metra pass is use the CTA 6 times per month (one full-fare, one transfer back to where you came).

As for grocery stores, there's a Jewel grocery store (Albertson's with a different name) located on the 4500 block of N. Lincoln Avenue, which is less than a mile from the Ravenswood station. There's a Dominick's (a local full-sized/full-service grocery store chain) on the 5200 block of N. Lincoln, which is also about a mile away from the Ravenswood station.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Johnny Northside

Please, 99.825 percent of your posts are intelligent, helpful and accurate. But this one suffers from the same thing as your Cubs/Sox post about playoff sellouts.

-- The Ravenswood Metra station is a minimum 3 blocks from the Damen L: 2 blocks from Damen to Ravenswood Ave., 1 1/4 blocks from Lawrence to the alley between Leland and Eastwood. If the OP is the other direction from Lawrence and Ravenswood, it could be 4 blocks or more from the Damen L.
-- The L station that's less than a mile south of Damen is Montrose, not Addison (though I understand why you have Addison on your mind)
-- The Jewel is in the 4200 block of North Lincoln.

Sorry, I was off by one whole block here and there. BTW, the Jewel on Lincoln is on the corner of Lincoln and Cullom, which is the 4300 block. So sorry, I was off by about 20 feet by virtue of which side of the street it's on. Thanks for that incredibly useful correction.

And yeah, I don't know what I was thinking about Addison v. Montrose. I got the two confused because I was thinking about which stations are closed and have recently re-opened, etc. Those two stations were closed and re-opened at the same time.

[Avengerfire]

Maybe Jewel now is (in some senses) "Albertson's with a different name" since it is owned by Albertsons now. But I dont think it is too much different than the Jewel of the past. Sure the Albertsons "brands" replaced the Jewel brands, but other than that not much has changed.

It was not owned by Albertsons until fairly recently-(10 years or so ago?). Jewel is as local as they come in Chicago just like Dominicks and Butera were and are still to a point. Why Jewel gets the outsider treatment, but Dominicks gets the local label kind of makes no sense...

[chet everett]

PEOPLE -- SuperValue bought Albertson's and Jewel-Osco in a HUGE deal that resulted in the sell-off closure of the Chicago area Cub Foods and the freestanding Osco stores to CVS Jewel-Osco: SUPERVALU SuperValue has moved Jewel's HQ into the old Boise Office Products HQ in Itasca from Melrose Park... Doesn't have much to do with Ravenswood, but is HUGE impact on business/residential in SEVERAL important Chicago area real estate markets!

[pianogal34]

my friend lives around there, and used to take the Brown line downtown for work. last year she switched to the Metra, and LOVES it. so much faster!!

[UnderTheLiveOaks]

If you work close to Ogilvie Station, there's no reason to take the el downtown. Get to know the schedule. The Metra is almost never late. I used to ride it every day and think it was late exactly once. The el is far slower and less reliable.

Now, the el IS useful for a lot. The only Metra stop after Ravenswood is way down at Clybourn, and then downtown. The Metra, therefore, is no good for hopping around the North side.

In addition to the listed grocery stores, there is a joint called HarvestTime Foods at Lawrence and Rockwell that I like to visit from time to time. Also, there's a Trader Joes at Lincoln and Grace, which isn't all that far. In both cases, a bus pass or a bike would do the trick.