Young gay male moving to chicago this summer (Addison, Roscoe: apartment, rental) - Illinois (IL) - City-Data Forum

biggestloser · 01-19-2010, 01:21 AM

Hi everyone,

Soon to be graduated grad student here, moving to Chicago for work this coming summer. I've been spending some time checking out neighborhoods and such well in advance of actually moving, in an attempt to make sure that I end up somewhere I will like. I'll be working downtown (I think it's technically a part of south loop), but I am thinking I would enjoy living in lincoln park/lakeview (open to hear other people's thoughts, especially about places that will be closer to where I will be working). A few notes about myself:

I'm 22 and will be moving to chicago by myself. I could afford to pay up to 1600-1700/month in rent, although less than that is cool too. I am gay (and black). It appears like Chicago is rather racially divided, so I've more or less given up on being around a bunch of other black people (although having other people of color around would be nice) and have aimed for a gay community instead.

I have a rather specific question for the chicago gays on here. Last summer, I lived in san francisco (around 15th st and market for those familiar with the city) within walking distance of the castro area. I lived 900 feet from my favorite bar and was within 7-8min walking distance of 6-7 other gay bars. I would like to find the chicago analogue of this. I am having trouble geographically figuring out where a clustering of gay bars are, so I was hoping someone could help. I hear a lot about belmont as a street to look for? although I guess I would need cross streets to make that useful.

As far as practical concerns, I am assuming that this area is reasonably safe (it seems like gay people congregate in nice parts of cities...just an observation). Let me know if you think this untrue. As far as my commute, I will be working normal hours for a little while, but then I will be working Asia hours after initial training and such (like 4pm-2am or so). I will only have to deal with public transportation to get to work in the middle of the day, I will get a taxi back home in the evening. I'm guessing the commute will be about 35-45 minutes or so? Does that seem right?

Anyway, any insights on a fun gayboorhood for a new young person in chicago will be much appreciated. I'm excited to move to the city.

chirack · 01-19-2010, 01:27 AM

The boy's town area around halted and Belmont is the along of that(lake view is the name of the neighborhood). Another heavily gay area is Andersonvile(a bit further north).

Spandau · 01-19-2010, 03:03 AM

Yeah, start with boystown - anything between addison and Belmont, east of Clark (but better to be near Halsted. Best is between Halsted and Broadway IMHO). Chicago is racially divided, and lakeview in general is pretty white, buy boystown mixes it up a bit more because of the gay population. (Not everyone in boystown is gay, however.) I think the walkability of this neighborhood makes it a better place to start for a non-Chicagoan than andersonville. Plus, it seems like a younger neighborhood to me. You'll have fun there and get a nice place for a lot less than $1600/month.

soulful · 01-19-2010, 08:26 AM

East Lakeview would be my suggestion (many call the area close to the bars "Boystown", however, it is within the boundaries of East Lakeview).

If you mapquest the intersection of N Halsted and W Roscoe you will be at the epicenter of the gay area. Three major gay bars at that intersection (Sidetrack, Roscoe, and Cocktail) and just two blocks from Spin, the Lucky Horseshoe

, Hydrate, and several others.

There are also some smaller bars in the area of 5200 N Clark (which is called Andersonville) and that's a coolish area with plenty of gays. However, I would probably suggest starting with East Lakeview.

You won't have any problem finding an apartment within, or less than, your price range. Check out craigslist or the Chicago Reader as a starting point. There are also a couple of apartment rental agencies that are free to you (landlord pays the fee) in Lakeview. One big one is The Apartment People in the 3100 block of North Broadway. By the way, Broadway runs parallel to Halsted and has lots of shops and restaurants (2 short blocks east of Halsted). 2 major grocery stores: Treasure Island at N Broadway and W Cornelia, and Jewel is 1/2 block further north on Broadway. Also, a Whole Foods store is on N. Halsted 1/4 block north of Addison (and it is in the same building as the City's official "gay center").

Let us know if you have additional questions..

chirack · 01-19-2010, 11:02 PM

Another thing to add is even the gay life is racially divided. Most of the black gay life is at a bar on the south side(can't remember the name at the moment). Boystown is mixed but it isn't that mixed. In addition there are one or two gay bars in the downtown area(mostly for office workers not partying). Most(but not all) of the gay life in the state is in that area.

Kevin J · 01-20-2010, 12:30 PM

You asked if Lakeview is safe and the answer is yes, with the usual qualifier that bad things happen even in "safe" areas of big cities. You'll always need to exercise the caution I'm sure you're used to living in a city like San Francisco.

For purposes of commuting to the Loop, being in Lakeview would be easier for you than Andersonville, which is another 2-3 miles away from downtown. But to minimize your travel time on public transport, you want to live within a short walk to either the Addison or Belmont stops on the Red el line, or to Lake Shore Drive north of Belmont, to be able to take one of the express buses downtown. Given a choice, I would try to live closer to the el, because that's faster, particularly if you are on the south end of the Loop.

biggestloser · 01-20-2010, 05:11 PM

Thanks a lot for all of the responses everyone--really appreciate it. This is quite useful in narrowing down exactly where I should be looking for a place to stay. This N halsted/w roscoe area sounds like a fun place to be

.

Avengerfire · 01-20-2010, 05:22 PM

emathias · 01-20-2010, 07:06 PM

Just to parrot in here, if you want to be near gay nightlife, Boystown/East Lakeview is your best bet if you work downtown. For commuting to the South Loop (feel free to toss out an intersection near your office to help us out with suggestions), the Red Line is probably your best option. The Lakeshore Drive express buses are great if you work along Michigan Avenue or the north or east Loop, but crossing the Loop takes a lot longer in a bus than in the Red Line.

Andersonville also has several gay bars in close proximity, and you will find the occasional gay bar in other parts of town, but the clustering is really just Halsted between Belmont and Addison and to a lesser extent Andersonville. Downtown did have two gay bars, but one closed (Gentry on State) and the other (Second Story Bar) is sort of more like a throwback to an earlier era, minus the back room it once had. Probably not the kind of place you're looking for. In the South Loop there has been some movement to create a "virtual gay bar", by getting a bunch of guys to just show up and "make a club gay" for a night (with or without the club's cooperation). I don't have much info on that - maybe a South Loop resident knows more.

That said, most of dense parts of the city are gay-friendly or, at the very least, gay-tolerant, so once you've lived in Boystown for a couple years if you want to branch out to another part of the City, it's very much doable. I live in River North, near Lasalle St and Chicago Ave, which I like for the short commute, proximity to a lot of great restaurants and galleries, and proximity to Michigan Avenue. Sometimes I do miss the tree-lined streets of Lakeview, though.

biggestloser · 01-20-2010, 10:29 PM

I'll be working near west madison and north clinton st. intersection, if that is helpful information regarding public transit. I haven't really started trying to learn how public transportation works in Chicago, although I probably should get on that.

Thanks a lot for the suggestions so far, I really appreciate everyone's willingness to help out

. It sounds like Andersonville will be within a reasonable distance to travel to on weekends if I wanted to from boystown. I'd also be up for going to some of the downtown bars as well since thats where I will be working.

I've noticed the housing in lakeview/east lakeview is very different from the style of south loop, which seems to include a lot of pretty new buildings that look like they almost have a hotel like feel to them. would anyone happen to know if there are housing options similar to that in the east lakeview area? I've been looking at craigslist for a good while, but haven't been able to find much like that. The housing options that I have seen in the boystown area seem fine, and if nothing else fairly cheap, but if I could pick up and move one of those new south loop buildings to lakeview I would :P. I guess that's just a part of not living downtown?

Thanks again everyone!