Where do you live and why do you love it? (Chicago: neighborhoods, school)

[yankeegirl313]

Illinois? Country living for me!

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Pebbs78

Andersonville - nice community feeling + the lack of chain stores make this area great.

Except for the Jewel, McDonalds, Ranalli's, Jiffy Lube, KFC (though I think it has since closed), Marathon gas station, Hamburger Mary's, True Value, Starbucks...

[Manigault]

I live in Hyde Park: highly diverse, lots of cultural attractions, good transportation, close to the lake, close to downtown. Still able to claim I live on the south side.

Its great to confuse people's conceptions of the south side.

[nJohn]

Originally Posted by Manigault

I live in Hyde Park: highly diverse, lots of cultural attractions, good transportation, close to the lake, close to downtown. Still able to claim I live on the south side.

Its great to confuse people's conceptions of the south side.

Confuse people's conceptions of the south side, what do you mean by that?

[Lookout Kid]

Buena Park. It's great because I'm really only two blocks from Lakeview and can still use the restaurants and stores down there, but my condo was probably $70,000 less expensive for being in "Uptown". Also, when I tell people I live in Buena Park they generally have no idea where it is, and assume it's a suburb--even thoug I live half a block from Lakeshore Drive and can be downtown in fifteen minutes via the express busses. I have all of the wonderful Lakefront ammenities at my doorstep, low crime, beautiful architecture largely unscathed by ugly teardowns, and fewer annoying 23-year-olds running around than in Lakeview. Also I have great access to the rest of the far North Side, like Rogers Park and Edgewater, which I largely overlooked when I lived further south. And there are some really great bars in Buena Park, like the Holiday Club, Nick's Uptown, and the Bar on Buena. Buena Park is awesome!

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Drover

Except for the Jewel, McDonalds, Ranalli's, Jiffy Lube, KFC (though I think it has since closed), Marathon gas station, Hamburger Mary's, True Value, Starbucks...

Chase Bank, White Hen (or is it Seven Eleven?), Einstein Bros Bagels...

Yep, no chains in Andersonville!

[Manigault]

Originally Posted by nJohn

Confuse people's conceptions of the south side, what do you mean by that?

1. Around here it is quite common for a white person to buy a black person's house. Where else in America does that happen?

2. I have nuns living near to me, a Mormon church and a synagogue at the end of the street. All three have racial diversity within their memberships. That confuses folks' preconceptions.

3. Folks seem to believe that south of Harrison Street people are knifing and stabbing each other left and right. I see females walking around after midnight. The university police and the city police are on patrol.

4. People do look at you strangely -- If you honk a car horn to get someone to come out or throw paper out of a car window you are bound to get strange looks.

5. Hyde Park / Kenwood is about 50% black; right in the middle of the south side which has areas more than 90% black.

5. New construction surrounding HP/K is in the $200-400 range for a townhouse. Many of the pioneers are white people.

5. There is bird watching, lawn bowling golf and soccer in Jackson Park. Folks in white pants play cricket in Washington Park.

Ain't that confusing?

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Manigault

5. There is bird watching, lawn bowling golf and soccer in Jackson Park. Folks in white pants play cricket in Washington Park.

I'm curious, how many of them are students or university personnel from the Asian sub-continent?

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Manigault

1. Around here it is quite common for a white person to buy a black person's house. Where else in America does that happen?

2. I have nuns living near to me, a Mormon church and a synagogue at the end of the street. All three have racial diversity within their memberships. That confuses folks' preconceptions.

3. Folks seem to believe that south of Harrison Street people are knifing and stabbing each other left and right. I see females walking around after midnight. The university police and the city police are on patrol.

4. People do look at you strangely -- If you honk a car horn to get someone to come out or throw paper out of a car window you are bound to get strange looks.

5. Hyde Park / Kenwood is about 50% black; right in the middle of the south side which has areas more than 90% black.

5. New construction surrounding HP/K is in the $200-400 range for a townhouse. Many of the pioneers are white people.

5. There is bird watching, lawn bowling golf and soccer in Jackson Park. Folks in white pants play cricket in Washington Park.

Ain't that confusing?

Nah. Hyde Park has always been nice, and Kenwood is definitely regaining a lot of it's past glory. I'm tempted to buy property in some still-sketchy-but-architecturally-intact area of the South Side near public transportation, so I imagine others are too. It seems most of the deals in Kenwood/Oakland have been snatched up already...

[Manigault]

Originally Posted by Drover

I'm curious, how many of them are students or university personnel from the Asian sub-continent?

Those are our West Indian and East Indian brothers in the struggle who play cricket. I found this out when they told me where to stand to watch their games (in other words, get off the field). I don't know how many of them live in the area. The proposed Olympic Village would be on top of their pitch.