Best neighborhoods to explore without a plan (Chicago, Oak Park: homes, live)

[irishimm]

Just curious...if you were to get off at any stop/any neighborhood in the city and walk around, which one would be the most interesting or fun? This is excluding downtown...

[Chi-town Native]

Lake View.

[Avengerfire]

Englewood or Austin. (Only if you are or will be in the Armed Forces and expect to be shipped to Iraq or Afghanistan though.)

To be honest I would say somewhere like Edgewater or Uptown.

But it all depends on what you really want to see or do and what you like.

[Venom]

Depends what you find intresting

[Chi-town Native]

true enough, but Lake View is the most dense for walking around, IMO. get off at Belmont, walk east to Clark and then walk up to Wrigley, walk down to the lakefront & Belmont Harbor, etc. You've got good restaurants, bars, music venues. Yes, I am biased having grown up there, of course.

[It'sAutomatic]

Old Town + Lincoln Park come to mind. River North. Wicker Park.

[linicx]

Let me qualify this by saying when I lived in Chicago I never set foot on a train or a bus. IF I went to Chicago tomorrow I would still do some of the same things.

I would go to Oak Park for its Frank Lloyd Wright designed homes.
I would go to Lincoln Park Zoo because it is one of two oldest zoos in Illinois
I would grab a cabbie that knows the city and it's history, and take a tour of Lower Wacker Drive- even though it is close to 'downtown'. .

I would want to see Buckingham Fountain at night and the Chicago

[NearWestSider]

Chinatown.

[Ron.]

Chicago has dozens(77 areas and 200 plus neighborhoods) of neighborhoods but every thread about "what neighborhood to........."


You always see the same 5 or 6 neighborhoods. Why is that?

But the same folks that just looooooooove Chicago so much can never name any other areas. That just confims my thoughts.......Chicago is a dump with only a few decent places that are worthy of seeing.


Ironically most of the areas are usually majority white yuppie areas.

And before anyone reads into my post, don't even go there. I am presenting something I have noticed in the Chicago forum.

[5Lakes]

Blue Line:
Damen Stop (Wicker Park) - walk down Damen (north of North Ave), Milwaukee (south of North Ave), and then down to Division (Ashland to Leavitt).

Red Line:
Belmont Stop (Lakeview) - walk east on Belmont, then up Clark to Wrigley Field, then head east over to Broadway and walk down until you come to Diversy.

Brown Line:
Armitage Stop (Lincoln Park) - check out the area around the Halsted/Armitage intersection

Western Stop (Lincoln Square) - walk down Lincoln from Lawrence to Montrose.

Southport Stop (West Lakeview) - walk down Southport from Belmont to Grace.

Sedgwick (Old Town) - check out Wells Street