What neighbourhood with nightlife and young people while working in Northbrook? (Chicago: rent, home)

[theateist]

I'm 29 years old. Male. Single. Straight. Good salary. Works as software engineer in Northbrook. I'm looking for a neighborhood with young people, single professionals women, with nightlife. Other posts suggest Lincoln Park, Wicker Park, Logan Square, Old Town. I'm taking into consideration that it will take me 40min to get from those neighborhoods to Northbrook. What do you think I should choose? Other suggestions are welcome! Maybe there are other places with what I'm looking plus nightlife and reasonable distance between the work and home.

[marothisu]

What type of nightlife are we talking about and what kind of commute do you want to (i.e. max amount of time)? Also, none of this means anything without a budget in mind.

[theateist]

I'm planing to drive. Up to 40min. Preferable rent is up to $1000. Nightlife is bars, clubs, meeting interesting people

[marothisu]

Thanks. I know that you meant bars, clubs, etc. What kind of bars? On that budget you probably won't be living downtown on your own (though there may be a few places you could get a studio in in the Gold Coast, but they won't be special). The great thing about Chicago is that you don't have to live in the neighborhood you do nightlife in.

The problem with your 40 minute commute time is that any areas you may find interesting in Chicago are still like 15-20 miles away from Northbrook. That commute time may not work if you don't get on the road early enough in the morning and come back after a certain time. Am I assuming correctly that your workplace is not near the Metra and your employer does not provide a shuttle from the Metra?

I guess if you had to live in the city, my suggestions would be Lincoln Square/Ravenswood, Albany Park (along the train line), Edgewater, Rogers Park, and Irving Park. I picked these because of your 40 minute commute. Irving Park offers a good thing because it is right near the Edens which you can take up to Northbrook. It's also on the Blue Line which runs 24/7 and can get you to some nightlife areas at any hour. It may take at least 15 minutes just to get to Logan Square from there.

Lincoln Square, Ravenswood, and Albany Park because they have things to do and they're on a train line (brown) but that train line doesn't run between like 1:30am and 4 or 5am depending on the day. It's more inland, though you can take Lawrence Avenue across to the Edens. Edgewater and Rogers Park because they have things to do, but they are on the Red Line which runs 24/7. Again like Irving Park, the ride to other nightlife areas will take a little bit, but at least it's something. These two are probably the furthest away from Northbrook out of any I listed.

I don't think with the 40 minute thing your options are amazing, but it's something maybe. I think if you were able to take the Metra to work instead, that 40 minute constraint would allow you to live in a few other areas like Logan Square.

[forumstuff]

i'm guessing Rosemont

[marothisu]

This thread is asking about areas in the city. Rosemont is not Chicago.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by marothisu

This thread is asking about areas in the city. Rosemont is not Chicago.

Mod cut: off topic.

Firstly, if the OP is working in eastern Northbrook near the terminus of the Edens they likely can drive from any neighborhood close to the Blue Line and north of of Belmont in about 40 minutes for the AM commute, evenings would be worse. If they work closer to the west end of Northbrook, nearer the Allstate Campus they may want to live closer to the Lawrence split as traffic will take longer and might be wise to consider 294 instead. Rosemont would be a could option for the latter commute and not only does it have a rapidly developing entertainment district of its own, good Blue Line access will put you into the hottet areas in under 20 minutes and enable a safe trip back home at any hour.

Sometimes one has to use their knowledge of the region to answer questions instead of playing silly games about borders.

[Isotope-C14]

Originally Posted by theateist

I'm planing to drive. Up to 40min. Preferable rent is up to $1000. Nightlife is bars, clubs, meeting interesting people

Without knowing what kind of bars/clubs/interesting people:

Any blue line stop north-west of Damen and you'll be near wicker, logan square, etc. You could even be out to Irving park, and be closer to work and an easy hop on to 90/94. Rent would be cheaper out there, but you'd be commuting to night-life.

It is a huge help when you say what kind of bar/club is preferential to you. There are many types. I think in Wicker, you really get a little bit of everything, but I don't consider the area to have much in the way of clubs or sports bars.

You can meet all different types of "professionals" in Wicker park/UKV. Lots of UIC/RUSH docs and nurses, students, hipsters (like chet ), and the thousands of graphic designers.

As an addendum chet, the second night-life is on the table, the suburbs should be basically thrown out. It's just not the same. While there are no doubt individual bars and night-life destinations in the suburbs, those are not what most under 40's are looking for. That and with the difficulty of finding public transit or being intoxicated while driving makes most of those areas undesirable to say the least.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by marothisu

This thread is asking about areas in the city. Rosemont is not Chicago.

Right, plus most suburbs are truly awful for night life and restaurants. Including Rosemont.

[nearnorth]

Originally Posted by marothisu

This thread is asking about areas in the city. Rosemont is not Chicago.

I'm pretty sure the poster to whom your responding was being facetious, seeing as how he's not Chet. Even if it were technically part of the city, there's no reason a 29-year-old looking for nightlife would ever live in Rosemont.