HELP! I'm lost and don't know where I am! (Chicago: apartment, rental)

[A2DAC1985]

As a new citizen of the city, I'm a tad confused about neighborhoods. I have looked at neighborhood maps and I have not seen two that are the same.

Is the whole "neighborhood" aspect of Chicago one of subjectivity? That is, "Well, I live here, and I say I'm from X even though the maps say otherwise".

Or is it very objective? That is, "Neighborhood 1 is bound by streets A,B,C, and D".

Or both? I'm just looking for a little insight and some friendly discourse.

[ToriaT]

There is an official city of chicago map of neighborhoods. Problem is, over the years, there have been parts of the official neighborhoods that have aquired different names mostly as they have become popular. As far as I know this is the official map. You will note there is no area such as Boystown because its a part of lakeview. Sometimes people claim they live in "West Bucktown" and others say there is no such thing....its an invention of realtors trying to cash in on Bucktown's popularity.
http://www.cityofchicago.org/content...ods_poster.pdf

[Drover]

The map Toria provides is "official" insomuch as it's provided by the City of Chicago. But unlike the 77 designated Community Areas, there are no fixed, official boundaries for named neighborhoods. For many neighborhoods there is broad consensus about boundaries, other times borders are nebulous, and other times still borders or even neighborhood names are hotly contested (is there such a thing as Heart of Italy? The city and some businesses in the disputed area say "yes" while others will call you a jerk just for suggesting it). Sometimes you'll even encounter a neighborhood within a neighborhood, such as Wrigleyville or Boystown within Lakeview. Sometimes a neighborhood takes on the name of the official community area where it's located even though the "neighborhood" name does not refer to the entire community area, such as Lincoln Square. On the other side of that coin, a neighborhood name sometimes refers to the whole community area and even an adjacent community area -- for instance Bridgeport, which in colloquial terms includes the Community areas of both Bridgeport and Armour Square. It will all get less confusing the longer you live here, but many aspects of it will always remain at least somewhat confusing.

[A2DAC1985]

Originally Posted by ToriaT

...its an invention of realtors trying to cash in on Bucktown's popularity.
http://www.cityofchicago.org/content...ods_poster.pdf

Ahh... I see. So is this an example of making "something out of nothing"?

"It's not just Bucktown! It's Bucktown Heights!"

"It's not just Bucktown! It's Upper Bucktown!"

So on and so forth? Is that what's going to happen eventually?

[A2DAC1985]

Drover,

From what you're saying it seems like it's a little of column A and a little of column B. It's really a subjective and objective thing.

And it's weird for me hearing people talk about these neightborhoods all the time because where I came from, there were different areas of the city, but rarely did people use the "neighborhood name" to identify where they came from/live. A handful of areas had names that people recognized and knew the boundries to, but for the most part knowing where you lived meant knowing the closest major intersection.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by A2DAC1985

Ahh... I see. So is this an example of making "something out of nothing"?

"It's not just Bucktown! It's Bucktown Heights!"

"It's not just Bucktown! It's Upper Bucktown!"

So on and so forth? Is that what's going to happen eventually?

More often what happens is that a realtor, apartment finder/manager, or developer will try to expand the boundaries of a desireable neighborhood so that the property they're trying to rent or sell to you seems more appealing than it is, especially if the property is in a bordering not-so-desirable neighborhood. For instance "West Wicker Park" in a rental ad often really means "Humboldt Park," a good chunk of which is a gang war zone. Even if the eastern sliver of Humboldt Park is an OK neighborhood (and for the most part it is), Wicker Park is a much easier sell than Humboldt Park.

Also, sometimes neighborhood names or boundaries change because the composition of the neighborhood has changed. When I lived in Andersonville 12 years ago, the accepted northern border was Bryn Mawr and the accepted southern border was Foster, though a handful of Clark Street businesses (such as Hopleaf) were considered honorary Andersonville institutions. Nowadays the self-identified Andersonville neighborhood extends south almost all the way to Lawrence and west all the way up to Ridge. Why the difference? Because the gentrified business district that came to define Andersonville and was once confined to the stretch of Clark Street between Foster and Bryn Mawr has not pushed well beyond the old borders.

Some neighborhoods get renamed by developers who affect a near-total transformation of the neighborhood (West Loop, South Loop). Some neighborhoods were named after public housing projects that have since been knocked down (Stateway Gardens) so the names will probably vanish too if they haven't already. And some neighborhood names simply die after the generation that named it died off or moved out (I don't know of anyone who considers themselves a resident of Beverly View).

[Drover]

Originally Posted by A2DAC1985

Drover,

From what you're saying it seems like it's a little of column A and a little of column B. It's really a subjective and objective thing.

And it's weird for me hearing people talk about these neightborhoods all the time because where I came from, there were different areas of the city, but rarely did people use the "neighborhood name" to identify where they came from/live. A handful of areas had names that people recognized and knew the boundries to, but for the most part knowing where you lived meant knowing the closest major intersection.

It's common here to identify where you live by neighborhood name. And yeah, it can be confusing because neighborhood names and boundaries can be fluid, and sometimes they coincide with Official Community names (which have fixed, non-fluid names and boundaries). If you're ever confused, just ask them to identify the nearest major intersection or landmark.

[knitgirl]

Originally Posted by Drover

More often what happens is that a realtor, apartment finder/manager, or developer will try to expand the boundaries of a desireable neighborhood so that the property they're trying to rent or sell to you seems more appealing than it is, especially if the property is in a bordering not-so-desirable neighborhood. For instance "West Wicker Park" in a rental ad often really means "Humboldt Park," a good chunk of which is a gang war zone. Even if the eastern sliver of Humboldt Park is an OK neighborhood (and for the most part it is), Wicker Park is a much easier sell than Humboldt Park.

Also, sometimes neighborhood names or boundaries change because the composition of the neighborhood has changed. When I lived in Andersonville 12 years ago, the accepted northern border was Bryn Mawr and the accepted southern border was Foster, though a handful of Clark Street businesses (such as Hopleaf) were considered honorary Andersonville institutions. Nowadays the self-identified Andersonville neighborhood extends south almost all the way to Lawrence and west all the way up to Ridge. Why the difference? Because the gentrified business district that came to define Andersonville and was once confined to the stretch of Clark Street between Foster and Bryn Mawr has not pushed well beyond the old borders.

Some neighborhoods get renamed by developers who affect a near-total transformation of the neighborhood (West Loop, South Loop). Some neighborhoods were named after public housing projects that have since been knocked down (Stateway Gardens) so the names will probably vanish too if they haven't already. And some neighborhood names simply die after the generation that named it died off or moved out (I don't know of anyone who considers themselves a resident of Beverly View).

Great post Drover, I've repped you too recently to be able to do it again. You definitely captured what I had thought about Andersonville, I lived near there about the same time and was over there recently and noticed a big change.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by knitgirl

Great post Drover, I've repped you too recently to be able to do it again. You definitely captured what I had thought about Andersonville, I lived near there about the same time and was over there recently and noticed a big change.

Thanks. Though I would like to amend my comments to say "the gentrified business district that came to define Andersonville and was once confined to the stretch of Clark Street between Foster and Bryn Mawr has now [as opposed to not] pushed well beyond the old borders." I also meant to say north of Ridge rather than west.

I wish I could get on a decent sleep schedule.

[MassVt]

Another Chicago neighborhood question..

So, is it true that while Uptown is a troubled neighborhood, the areas around it ( Lakeview, Lincoln Square, North Center, Edgewater, etc) are quite nice, but then Albany Park ( one area removed) is somewhat marginal?

Also, the map I'm looking at doesn't even list Andersonville..must be a subsection of a larger area...