Chicago areas (Lincoln, Roscoe, Bridgeport: house, neighborhoods, to buy)

[sheena70]

Looking for suggestions for nice, safe, neighborhoods to live in Chicago. Ideally, would try buy a house (at least 1000sq ft or more), work at home (income of 75K), close to public transportation, try to enjoy the city/lake. have dogs. enjoy walking, coffee shops, bookstores. thanks!

[SpikeDurden]

Take a look at this map of Chicago neighborhoods (doesn't include the south side):

http://www.dreamtown.com/images/neig...rthcentral.jpg

What you're looking for is anything north of "The Loop" and east of the river with great choices geared towards your interests being Ravenswood, Lincoln Park, Lincoln Square, Lakeview, Roscoe Village, North Center, and Old Town.

In general, the farther north you get from downtown (downtown= The Loop/River North, Gold Coast, Streeterville, Near North), the cheaper the housing. The closer you get to downtown, the more expensive.

[jessme2]

My daughter is moving to Streeterville..that is a good area then?

[Manigault]

Originally Posted by SpikeDurden

Take a look at this map of Chicago neighborhoods (doesn't include the south side):

... which just about sums up my frustrations with this forum.

[Jandur]

Originally Posted by Manigault

... which just about sums up my frustrations with this forum.

I don't see why people get so defensive about the south side. In general people moving to Chicago don't really have a desire to live there. There are some perfectly nice areas on the south side but they are often isolated from the rest of the city. If someone wants to live in an urban environment they are probably going to gravitate towards the denser areas on the north side. On top of that the the south side can be hit and miss.

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by Jandur

I don't see why people get so defensive about the south side. In general people moving to Chicago don't really have a desire to live there. There are some perfectly nice areas on the south side but they are often isolated from the rest of the city. If someone wants to live in an urban environment they are probably going to gravitate towards the denser areas on the north side. On top of that the the south side can be hit and miss.

???

That's pretty broad generalization there. If you ignore the south side, you're ignoring, Hyde Park, Kenwood, Bronzeville, Bridgeport, Beverly, and Pullman, to name just a few. While its probably true that most white yuppies do not have a desire to live on the south side, not everyone is a white yuppie (despite the demographics of posters here on city-data).

[Jandur]

Originally Posted by oakparkdude

???

That's pretty broad generalization there. If you ignore the south side, you're ignoring, Hyde Park, Kenwood, Bronzeville, Bridgeport, Beverly, and Pullman, to name just a few. While its probably true that most white yuppies do not have a desire to live on the south side, not everyone is a white yuppie (despite the demographics of posters here on city-data).

I know its a generalization, and I made sure to use the word general a couple times just to be clear

Of course not everyone is a white yuppie but I think it's pretty clear that most of the people that come to this forum for moving advice are. I mean, when do you ever hear someone say "I'm looking to live in the city itself, but no where too dense. I would like to live an an area that is car friendly, and has lots of blue-collar and city workers as residents."

I'm not knocking the south side at all, I have friends in Beverly and they are some of the coolest people I know. People that gravitate to this board generally don't seem to gravitate to the south side, and I don't see why thats a big deal.

[Chicago76]

Originally Posted by sheena70

Looking for suggestions for nice, safe, neighborhoods to live in Chicago. Ideally, would try buy a house (at least 1000sq ft or more), work at home (income of 75K), close to public transportation, try to enjoy the city/lake. have dogs. enjoy walking, coffee shops, bookstores. thanks!

You got some very good advice on your question from others, but it would help to know roughly what your budget is on the place you'd like to buy and if you have a preference for low rise (2-4 story), mid rise, or high rise living. All of the neighborhood recs given are great, but I'd also add Andersonville to the list.

Since you mentioned dogs, the dog beach near Montrose is a gem. A couple hundred yards of wide sand beach where dogs can run off leash, play in the water, let their humans interact, etc. Some of the areas just north of Wrigley have particularly good access to this beach. The areas 4-5 blocks north of Wrigley are relatively quiet and safe. When you get into Uptown, there is some riff raff on a block by block basis though.

[Chicago76]

Originally Posted by oakparkdude

???

That's pretty broad generalization there. If you ignore the south side, you're ignoring, Hyde Park, Kenwood, Bronzeville, Bridgeport, Beverly, and Pullman, to name just a few. While its probably true that most white yuppies do not have a desire to live on the south side, not everyone is a white yuppie (despite the demographics of posters here on city-data).

In fairness, the OP did mention beaches, and half of the neighborhoods you mentioned aren't exactly beach-friendly, which is probably why Wicker Park, Bucktown and the like weren't mentioned either. Kenwood/Hyde Park/Bronzeville are solid suggestions that fit the OPs criteria, depending upon tolerance levels related to crime. Some parts of those neighborhoods are probably as safe as the average northside blocks, but other parts are far worse than 90% of the northside. They just require extra "on the ground" experience/recon work by the incomers.

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by Chicago76

In fairness, the OP did mention beaches, and half of the neighborhoods you mentioned aren't exactly beach-friendly, which is probably why Wicker Park, Bucktown and the like weren't mentioned either. Kenwood/Hyde Park/Bronzeville are solid suggestions that fit the OPs criteria, depending upon tolerance levels related to crime. Some parts of those neighborhoods are probably as safe as the average northside blocks, but other parts are far worse than 90% of the northside. They just require extra "on the ground" experience/recon work by the incomers.

I wouldn't have objected if Jandur stated: "in general people who post on city-data don't want to live there" [south side] or even "in general white people...", but the way he/she originally stated it just raised my hackles a bit, especially since the OP gave a minimally descriptive initial post.