What are some interesting neighborhoods to walk through? (Chicago, Evanston: home, university)

[Midwest Revival]

Englewood,Roseland, and Lawndale are VERY interesting

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Midwest Revival

Englewood,Roseland, and Lawndale are VERY interesting

Interesting in a sort of dangerous way

[chet everett]

The thing is, I doubt that any sane person would find those places interesting lately -- the crime is not "non stop", it is sporadic. It has resulted in LOTS of people moving the heck away. The businesses that may have once been supported by the folks that moved away are now closed. It is story of collapse / neglest / creeping decay NOT the sort of "explosive upheavels " that at one time characterized "hot"racial tensions. It is like "rot" that slows saps the vitality of the city...

[ChicagoMeO]

Originally Posted by eating while walking

Thanks for the quick replies guys. Just wanted to add that I am especially a fan of old-school industrial architecture like mills, storage silos, railyards and shipyards, so neighborhoods with those kinds of structures are especially good recs.

I was going to say Astor Street down near Division and State all the way to North Ave area..

But if you like that kind of scenery, go down 95th street, to Calumet Fisheries, i think it is about 3200 block of East 95th area (google it for sure) you can eat your lunch and watch the bridges and that kind of industrial scenery.

also if you to to Hammond, IN to Horseshoe Harrah's (free parking) , you can go to the buffet and go outside to the patio there and you get this really cool view of the lake, and on the horizon the Chicago lakefront, it makes you feel like your in Maine or something looking at the ocean. In the summer, there are boats that dock there in the lake.

Also if you go out to Lockport, IL, they have that industrial feel too especially where the jail is (limestone)..

There are some quarries around the suburbs. for sure those are a good view, not sure about if you can park and see stuff.

Also, go down Halsted, go south down from North Ave to maybe Lake Street, when you pass by the shipyards there, thats a cool site. (it might be Goose Island but Im not sure the name)

If you go down South Shore Drive (route 41) when you get about up to maybe 95th street, and you start to get to Chicago's east side, you might like to see that, its kind of beat up, but it has that look you might enjoy, I think it is relatively safe, as I take that on my way to Harrah's, it winds a lot, but if you keep following it, it has some interesting views.

If you go to the area along the south part of Lake Michigan, that area has a lot of industrial / shipyards, steel mills. The Chicago Skyway has that view too.

also, if you go down to Canal and Taylor, if you go into that little strip mall where Michael's is, and you go around to the back, where people go to park and shop, you will be high above the Metra train lines, and that is a very cool view looking east.

I dont know about walking all these things, but maybe combine a bus or car ride and jump out when you see a cool site.

[ChiNaan]

Originally Posted by nana053

Hmmmm. I think that would depend upon which suburb you are talking about. I walked down the lakefront from Evanston. I saw tons of people walking and biking both on the lakefront and in the neighborhoods. My kids walked to school most days at least in high school (about 1/2 mile each way). They walked to elementary and middle school too except for the two years when my dd went to middle school across town.

We had a walking club in Evanston that walked every Sunday from Dempster and the Lake up to the Bahai Temple in Wilmette.

Methinks, you are generalizing too much.

Of course I'm speaking in generalizations. There are pedestrian-friendly areas in suburbs and pedestrian-unfriendly areas in cities. Evanston is really an exception that proves the rule as far as suburban walkability goes, though. Between being wedged up against the city, right on the lake, and a major university town, it has a lot going for it in that department that most burbs don't.

[ChicagoMeO]

What about walking in Oak Park? You have the arts district on Harrison starting at Austin, and then the middle of the town by downtown, which might have some good views.

[It'sAutomatic]

Biking/walking around interesting areas has been my hobby for several years so I think my opinions should carry some weight. Here are some ideas in no particular order, and I certainly don't encourage sticking to any particular streets, but they can function as guides:

18th Street to 26th Street to the city limits. Mexican West Side.

Along the lake from Irving Park Rd. to the city limits. Uptown is great everywhere. Kenmore and Winthrop make a nice corridor of very large and nice apartment buildings. Sheridan is OK, Broadway kind of sucks, but west of it is worth checking out. Once you get north of Devon (in Rogers Park), there aren't even any sort of distinguished areas, it's all good.

The area around Touhy-Hebert Park south to Tri-Taylor. Some great architecture in a once ritzy area (in the former's case).

The near South Side. It's probably the most interesting area of Chicago to visit, it's been through a LOT of different situations and it's all plainly visible everywhere you go. It can all be called Bronzeville, though the community areas are called Grand Boulevard, Oakland, and Washington Park. I prefer to travel by bike because there is a lot of ground to cover, it has a moderate problem with crime, and it gets sparse in some parts (it doesn't even really begin until 31st St. due to urban renewal) The Gap is the northernmost part and a great area to start. All of the North-South streets have great buildings, in particular the more famous ones in Michigan Avenue, King Drive (formerly Grand Boulevard) and Drexel Boulevard. 47th Street is the original black commercial street in Chicago. Crime gets worse the further west and south you go, and the area west of Washington Park is as bad of a neighborhood as it gets, though it's still very interesting. So you can go southeast, paralleling the lakefront but cruising side streets, and then you can go through Kenwood and Hyde Park, two great neighborhoods.

Noble Street is short but it's my one favorite street to cruise.

Anywhere where there are historic districts are good choices. Look up the ones on the North and Northwest sides, they're all great, I recommend seeing them if you haven't.

[chrawnick]

In the Ukrainian Village area, I walked from Chicago & Western to Chicago & Milwaukee (about 1.6 miles), and it was like I went from Europe to Mexico to Chicago.

The Hancock looks good in the distance though.

[nana053]

Seriously, I walked or biked everywhere in Evanston. It isn't just the bike and jogging paths, but the fact that everything is easily accessible. Of course, I am a long distance walker, but many of my friends walked downtown, to the library, to the schools, to the parks, to the beach or to the stores in Evanston. I loved that I did not have to have a car. I actually did not have a car for *me* for two years after my oldest son was born. We had to have a car for my dh to get to work since he went to many locations, but I could and did get along without one. Once I had 2 kids, it was a bit harder, but I still walked a lot.

[marothisu]

Evanston is an exception to the suburb rule..