Thoughts on Berwyn? (Chicago, Naperville, Cicero: renters, house prices, employment)

[C. Maurio]

Originally Posted by urza216

Really? Such as?

You can live in Hoffman Estates or Palatine for probably as much as you can in Berwyn and they are far better places. Cicero and Berwyn are dumps in my view.

[BigLake]

Originally Posted by C. Maurio

You can live in Hoffman Estates or Palatine for probably as much as you can in Berwyn and they are far better places. Cicero and Berwyn are dumps in my view.

I hesitate to post on this, but I'm kinda with you on this. I live "near" Berwyn and frankly it's probably the most depressing nearby suburb that isn't Cicero. Berwyn is supposed to have this hip factor. I've never seen it or at least it's not very much on display. The commercial / downtown district leaves a lot to be desired, schools are not the greatest and the housing stock overall, ain't great. Meanwhile, another nearby suburb-- Forest Park-- really gets no props but frankly it's a much more charming and hip suburb than Berwyn.

Apologies to any Berwyn fans/residents. Just my opinion. It does have Cigars and Stripes which gives it some instant cred.

[urza216]

Berwyn also has Horrorbles - which is one of he few bussinesses that truly is one of a kind.

[BigLake]

Originally Posted by urza216

Berwyn also has Horrorbles - which is one of he few bussinesses that truly is one of a kind.

True, and Fitzgeralds.

[Hatchetman]

Autre Monde is a great restaurant.

[Vlajos]

Berwyn is so much better than Hoffman Estates and Palatine. Those places are the definition of suburb.

[BRU67]

With Lower Wacker Drive re-open it now only takes me about 25 minutes to drive from my house to the State of Illinois Building/Daley Center, in morning rush hour traffic. In clear traffic it would be probably less than 20 minutes. And I have a Metra station four blocks from my house that's a 20-25 minute ride to the Loop. I'm sorry but unless there are bullets flying through my window I'm not giving that up, LOL

I don't want to bash Hoffman Estates or Palatine -- don't know enough about them to have any opinion one way or other. But I do know they'd substantially add to my commute time. The Metra schedule shows it's about 1:00-1:10 from Palatine to Ogilvie on the UP-NW. A lot of people would consider an extra 80-90 minutes of commuting per day to be a pretty important factor, especially if you need to drive. There are a few express trains in the morning but even those take 45 minutes, and they don't help you on the way home.

There are a lot of good suburbs and people will have different opinions on what those are. The problem is finding one that offers the most convenience for the best value. I think Berwyn is good in that regard.

[chet everett]

Those that really follow my posts know that I always include factors on my list for "individual situation" including life stage, employment, budget, family size / status , desires for newer / older housing stock, preference for traditional / modern / isolated developents and anything else offered up.

I rarely if ever call any community "a dump". Even when nut jobs types seem to genuinely want to move into bombed out areas I gently suggest that perhaps the consider the bigger picture...

Berwyn is a pretty decent option for what it is -- an older suburb that is once was very solidly "blue collar" immigrants and a handful of more well to do locals that may have worked in its healthcare, retail or banking facilities. It was never "high end" but was always, and remains, a very solid value...

I also have to say that folks that bash Palatine or even Hoffman Estates probably don't spend enough time in those towns to really understand that they do have some nice pluses -- Palatine in particular has a very cute "downtown" that by virtue of the funky layout of NW suburban raillines and roadways is a little off the beaten path but nearly as charming as Barrington or Long Grove at 1/3 the cost. Yes, the those other towns do feed into school districts that are more highly regarded and for those than can afford those places and would have a better commute I certainly would not wave 'em off but instead say "weigh the pluses with the minuses". Similarly Hoffman Estates is one of the less visually appealing towns in the NW burbs and was largely developed during the period when characterless strip malls and curvy cul-de-sac subdivisions were the height of modern convenience. That said it has not been stuck in a post-Brady Brunch decline and the level of community services that are available to residents at a relatively modest price point is impressive -- wise efforts to exploit both office developments and sales tax revenues mean lots of well funded schools, first rate Park District faciliities including ice areans and pools, well maintained roads and very pro-active police force...

The same unfortanate souls that slavishly believe every spot of dirt that lies inside a 606xx zip code is a little slice of heaven also have a foolishly uninformed view of which suburbs offer a nice mix of amenities at a good value.

[usagisan]

Normally I try to make more substantive comments but I cannot believe no one mentioned what Berwyn was famous for. First of all it is Burrrr-WIN and the suburb has been a running joke on the TV show the Son of Svengooolie:

Svengoolie (Rich Koz)

If you scroll down the page you will find a link for the Berwyn soundbytes they use several times show:

http://usersites.horrorfind.com/home...lie/berwyn.wav

And with that, ends my knowledge of Berwyn.

LOL!

[BigLake]

Best slogan I have seen on a t-shirt recently...

"Ich bin ein Berwyner"