W. Hastings St and S. Damen Ave, safe area to work?

[jdiddy]

Easy commute neighborhoods would be University Village, Tri-Taylor, Pilsen, Ukranian Village, and Wicker Park.

[Damage Control Freak]

Originally Posted by jdiddy

Easy commute neighborhoods would be University Village, Tri-Taylor, Pilsen, Ukranian Village, and Wicker Park.

Not to forget Bucktown. he good thing about these hoods is that you could avoid going through the Loop which is a pretty time consuming detour.
If you have a high tolerance for a commute of like one hour or slightly more, Lakeview and Lincoln Park would also be fine. If tha's the case even Lincoln Square or Ravenswood and a bunch of other hoods up North would be ok, the commute from like Ravenswood might be even be slightly shorter than from Lakeview, depending on the exact location.

[jdiddy]

Originally Posted by Damage Control Freak

Not to forget Bucktown. he good thing about these hoods is that you could avoid going through the Loop which is a pretty time consuming detour.
If you have a high tolerance for a commute of like one hour or slightly more, Lakeview and Lincoln Park would also be fine. If tha's the case even Lincoln Square or Ravenswood and a bunch of other hoods up North would be ok, the commute from like Ravenswood might be even be slightly shorter than from Lakeview, depending on the exact location.

Yeah, Bucktown, the Hamlin Park area, and Roscoe Village are all realistic options as well, provided the OP finds a place close to Damen.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by aragx6

...Otherwise you'll have to do some transferring. To get northwest to LP or Lakeview you'd probably want to take the Damen bus north to the blue line, take the blue line into the loop and transfer to the red line to head to those North side neighborhoods...

QUOTE=jdiddy;7703336]Yeah, Bucktown, the Hamlin Park area, and Roscoe Village are all realistic options as well, provided the OP finds a place close to Damen.[/quote]

Additional info for the OP:

The western portions of Lake View and Lincoln Park are very close to Damen, or have Damen bordering, and in certain parts encompass Damen.

Unless the OP moves really close to the Lake (like east of Southport or so), using the train is usually not beneficial. (It depends: there are cases where it is very much so if one lives close to a Red or Brown line station.)

If one lives in the western portion of either Lincoln Park (like West DePaul,Sheffield Neighbors,Wrightwood Neighbors) or Lake View (like Hamlin Park and West Lake View) or Roscoe Village and North Center for that matter the Damen bus is sufficient. One can walk a few blocks east (or west) if needed after the bus ride.

[aragx6]

^^ That is actually a really good point. But that will be a very long bus ride. Damen north of 6 corners is a freakin' nightmare (in large part due to the awfulness that is the Elston/Fullerton/Damen intersection) and it doesn't get much better north of there during rush periods.

Not that it would be much, if any, worse than dealing with the trains to commute to the eastern parts of LP or Lake View.

Honestly, I can't see much reason to live in either of those neighborhoods when you have several perfectly good options within a much easier commute.

I have a commute of well over an hour in the evenings, and my advice to anyone is: avoid that if you can. For me, it's an easy call. I'd rather have that commute than move back out to the suburbs.

But if you can live in a fun, vibrant, nice, safe neighborhood AND have a nice short commute -- DO IT. I guarantee you'll be happier in the long run.

[jdiddy]

Originally Posted by aragx6

^^ That is actually a really good point. But that will be a very long bus ride. Damen north of 6 corners is a freakin' nightmare (in large part due to the awfulness that is the Elston/Fullerton/Damen intersection) and it doesn't get much better north of there during rush periods.

Not that it would be much, if any, worse than dealing with the trains to commute to the eastern parts of LP or Lake View.

Honestly, I can't see much reason to live in either of those neighborhoods when you have several perfectly good options within a much easier commute.

I have a commute of well over an hour in the evenings, and my advice to anyone is: avoid that if you can. For me, it's an easy call. I'd rather have that commute than move back out to the suburbs.

But if you can live in a fun, vibrant, nice, safe neighborhood AND have a nice short commute -- DO IT. I guarantee you'll be happier in the long run.

Yeah, you're probably right. I live around Damen/Belmont currently, and I was thinking of the length of commute heading to the United Center in the evening rush, which is only about 35 minutes. But occasionally I've taken the damen bus south to the Blueline when I need to work downtown mornings (since Paulina closed). That can take a half an hour in itself. Going back north during rush hour is probably worse, as it backs up at North, then Fullerton, then Diversey.

[red27]

Great, thank you all for your suggestions. I'll take a look at all the neighborhoods suggested. I really do not want to have more than an hour commute so I guess the closer I am to Damen the better. Which neighborhood, that is close to Damen, would be best for a young single woman? I really like Lincoln Park, are any of the other suggested neighborhoods similar to it? I also want to be in a safe area.

[jdiddy]

Originally Posted by red27

Great, thank you all for your suggestions. I'll take a look at all the neighborhoods suggested. I really do not want to have more than an hour commute so I guess the closer I am to Damen the better. Which neighborhood, that is close to Damen, would be best for a young single woman? I really like Lincoln Park, are any of the other suggested neighborhoods similar to it? I also want to be in a safe area.

Bucktown.

[aragx6]

Ditto jdiddy.

[Avengerfire]

I would go with Roscoe Village around Damen and Roscoe.