Which neighborhoods should I be looking at for Chicago apartments? I loves me some old buildings with hardwood floors and big windows, and I want to within walking distance to stuff I'd want to walk to or at least within walking distance to a train that'll take me there. I do not enjoy ridiculously high rent. Please and thank you.

Which neighborhoods should I be looking at for Chicago apartments? I loves me some old buildings with hardwood floors and big windows, and I want to within walking distance to stuff I'd want to walk to or at least within walking distance to a train that'll take me there. I do not enjoy ridiculously high rent. Please and thank you.

 

You need to give us more information

 

• Where/what type of neighborhood do you currently live in?
  
• What is your budget?
  
• Where will you be working?
  
• What are the most important things you're looking for in an apartment/neighborhood? (ie number of bedrooms?  Walkup or elevator bldg.?)
  
• When you say "I want to within walking distance to stuff I'd want to walk" what exactly is "stuff" to you?
  

 

The more information you give us the better we can help you.

- East Walnut Hills. But that doesn't mean I want to move into the East Walnut Hills of Chicago. I'm open to just about anything.

- Less than $1000/month

- Irrelevant

- I like old buildings. Hardwood floors, big windows. At least one bedroom. No studios. I've got a dog and I guess I have a cat now (long story).

- Restaurants, bars, parks, generally neighborhoody places of interest.

- East Walnut Hills. But that doesn't mean I want to move into the East Walnut Hills of Chicago. I'm open to just about anything.

- Less than $1000/month

- Irrelevant

- I like old buildings. Hardwood floors, big windows. At least one bedroom. No studios. I've got a dog and I guess I have a cat now (long story).

- Restaurants, bars, parks, generally neighborhoody places of interest.

 

I think the area you're working in is relevant, considering you want to live/be close to a train.

 

For $1,000 I would look in these areas

 

North Side

• Avondale
  
• Logan Square
  
• Wicker Park (the west part)
  
• Lake view
  
• Bucktown
  
• Roscoe Village
  
• Lakeview
  
• Wrigleyville/Boystown
  
• Goose Island/SoNo
  
• West Town
  

South Side

• South Side (not the south loop)
  
• Pilsen
  
• Hyde Park
  
• Armour (I think this is the right name it's near white sox stadium)
  

 

Central

• The area by the United Center (I can't remember the neighborhoods name)
  
• Greektown
  
• University
  

 

 

I'm sure there are others NorthAndre should be by sound to give more indepth coverage.

Lincoln Square seems to fit your description.

Lincoln Square seems to fit your description.

 

Good catch, I left that out.  I posted Lakeview twice.  One of those was suppose to be Lincoln Square.

But if I were you, I'd reverse "America, Fuck Yeah!" and move to Avenue Montaigne in the 8th Arrondisement and never come back.  EVER!!!  And make it Quick like the burger.

But if I were you, I'd reverse "America, f$&k Yeah!" and move to Avenue Montaigne in the 8th Arrondisement and never come back.  EVER!!!  And make it Quick like the burger.

 

Oh laaaawd, CDM has gone off his meds again.

If you want to be near the lake, check the Buena Park section of uptown...Sheridan Station on the red line.  North of Irving Park,  South of Montrose, East of Sheridan.  It is the safest part of uptown...an extension of Lakeview at this point.  It will be hard to find a decent apartment under $1000 in any of the hotter neighborhoods...but good parts of Uptown you might.

 

- Reasonable rents compared to Lakeview/Wrigleyville just south of Irving Park

- Close to Wrigley

- On Lakefront/bikepath

- Lots of Express bus service to N Mich and loop

- New Target Store, Jewel (Grocery Store), World Gym, Borders, a few bars and restaurants, local coffee shop.  There is not a ton of stuff...but enough to serve most needs

- Can easily/safely walk to North Lakeview(tons of bars and restaurants)

- Dog beach at Wilson Beach.  Dog Park area behind Walt Disney School...not sure if its legal but they run around unleashed.

- Great old housing stock, and you will get more for the money than Lakeview/Lincoln Park.

 

I would also check the Margate Park section of Uptown, Argyle Red line stop (Little Vietnam/Asiatown) for even cheaper rents and lakefront access....but stay east of Sheridan Rd, North of Lawrence  closer to Lakeshore Drive.  A new Dominicks Grocery Store is about to open there that is very nice and new-urbanist at Foster and Sherdian

 

 

Magnificent Mile!!!!!

 

..posted by mts..

North Side

 

    * Avondale

    * Logan Square

    * Wicker Park (the west part)

    * Lake view

    * Bucktown

    * Roscoe Village

    * Lakeview

    * Wrigleyville/Boystown

    * Goose Island/SoNo

    * West Town

ewwwwwwww

Definitely SoNo to SoNo.

Magnificent Mile!!!!!

 

..posted by mts..

North Side

 

    * Avondale

    * Logan Square

    * Wicker Park (the west part)

    * Lake view

    * Bucktown

    * Roscoe Village

    * Lakeview

    * Wrigleyville/Boystown

    * Goose Island/SoNo

    * West Town

ewwwwwwww

 

Where on or within 2 Ave's of the mag mile, can you find an apartment for $1k?

Definitely SoNo to SoNo.

 

I didn't think the eastern part of that area was that bad.  Sometimes you have to live a bit off the beaten path, to get all the "wants" you want.  I just put it out there as an option.

As a former Chicagoan, I would say anywhere along the brown line.  My favorite spots to live were in the Southport corridor, or Roscoe Village. 

I thought roscoe village was boring until I lived there, then I loved it.

^I doubt at this point your able to find anything along the brown line under $1000 for a decent size/or in good condition....except maybe at the stops past Western Ave/Lincoln Square.  It's the Yuppie line pretty much now....especially Roscoe Village and Southport.

 

MLOhio:  Advice I would also give is beware of deals that seem too good to be true...strangely cheap apartments in great neighborhoods.  The city is still full of slumlords, and if it seems too good, it probably is.  Could be infested with roaches, bedbugs or even rats and mice.  Also CHECK WATER PRESSURE.  For some reason, that is a big complaint for a lot of people....esp in old buildings. 

I had a $650 two bedroom on Seeley and Addison in 2007.  It was decent, typical.

Have rents gone up that much?

 

 

EDIT: I used to bartend in the city, so I always moved into apartments that other restaurant workers lived in. 

So my advice, find a part of the city you like, go to a bar and see it you like it as well.  Then explain to the bartender or server that you want to move into the neighborhood and you wanted to know if they knew any good priced places.

Magnificent Mile!!!!!

 

..posted by mts..

North Side

 

* Avondale

* Logan Square

* Wicker Park (the west part)

* Lake view

* Bucktown

* Roscoe Village

* Lakeview

* Wrigleyville/Boystown

* Goose Island/SoNo

* West Town

ewwwwwwww

 

Where on or within 2 Ave's of the mag mile, can you find an apartment for $1k?

 

I was joking somewhat.  I think most people that come to Chicago are neighborhood people.  Although living downtown does have its benefits.  In a business environment you get way more cred. when you list some address on prestigious street they know.  As opposed to the "welll uhhhh wrigleyville."  Not that there's anything wrong with that.  But my address has certainly worked to my advantage.  There are units that rent for $1000 and maybe just under (like $995) that will get you a reasonably sized studio.  But for the most part, one bedrooms typically begin at $1250 and go right up from there.

 

I tossed out SoNo just because I'm not fond of the direction that neighborhood is going.  Really it's a haven for people from the suburbs who want to be in the city, but still have things that are familiar to them.  Certainly the area has superb transit access, and tons of retail, but it's also traffic clogged.  For people not familiar, it's basically like someone took a bunch of big box stores and shopping malls and stacked them all on top of each other.  They tried to force parking requirements and retail square footage onto parcels that just could not accommodate them.  As a result, it's like a big suburb tipped sideways.  If Wicker Park would "Good Chaos", the SoNo area would be "bad chaos."

Magnificent Mile!!!!!

 

..posted by mts..

North Side

 

    * Avondale

    * Logan Square

    * Wicker Park (the west part)

    * Lake view

    * Bucktown

    * Roscoe Village

    * Lakeview

    * Wrigleyville/Boystown

    * Goose Island/SoNo

    * West Town

ewwwwwwww

 

Where on or within 2 Ave's of the mag mile, can you find an apartment for $1k?

 

I was joking somewhat.  I think most people that come to Chicago are neighborhood people.  Although living downtown does have its benefits.  In a business environment you get way more cred. when you list some address on prestigious street they know.  As opposed to the "welll uhhhh wrigleyville."  Not that there's anything wrong with that.  But my address has certainly worked to my advantage.  There are units that rent for $1000 and maybe just under (like $995) that will get you a reasonably sized studio.  But for the most part, one bedrooms typically begin at $1250 and go right up from there.

 

I tossed out SoNo just because I'm not fond of the direction that neighborhood is going.  Really it's a haven for people from the suburbs who want to be in the city, but still have things that are familiar to them.  Certainly the area has superb transit access, and tons of retail, but it's also traffic clogged.  For people not familiar, it's basically like someone took a bunch of big box stores and shopping malls and stacked them all on top of each other.  They tried to force parking requirements and retail square footage onto parcels that just could not accommodate them.  As a result, it's like a big suburb tipped sideways.  If Wicker Park would "Good Chaos", the SoNo area would be "bad chaos."

 

Ahh Ok.  I was going to say, that seem quite cheap

Wanted to say thanks for all the input. We settled into Logan Square in late December and are enjoying it very much. Feels a lot like Northside in Cincinnati, which means it feels good.

Great to hear.  Logan square is a great neighborhood, and lots of cool architecture.  My favorite coffee hangout in this neighborhood is New Wave on Milwaukee.

Welcome.  Lula Cafe is one of my favorite restaurants in the city right now...right near the square

^ Absolutely. 

Thanks. We're about a block and a half from the square, so I've frequented New Wave quite a bit so far. Haven't been to Lula, yet, but I hear good things.

 

One thing I do want to know: who's got the best pizza delivery? Thin crust, Chicago-style, doesn't matter. Where should I be ordering from?

Hmm, I'm not familiar with any delivery places in the LS area other than the generic chains.  There's alot of independently owned places in Near North that I order from but they don't have locations in LS.  I would say for carry out at least, try Piece.  Actually, I'd highly recommend going there.  It's on North Ave in Wicker Park.  Get there early.  The wait on friday evenings gets up to 4 hours.

Piazza Bella in Roscoe Village was my favorite, not sure if they will deliver to Logan Sq.

They just opened this place in Uptown called Papa Ray's and I really like it.  They are locally owned and the service is great.  There is also a location on West Fullerton that is close to Logan Square, so they probably deliver there.

 

http://www.paparayspizza.com/locations.php

 

The pizza isn't thick as hell or cracker thin which seems to be all you can get in Chicago...and I am not a fan of pizza in Chicago.  It is more like what I used to get in Ohio which is closer to being NY style I guess, or reminds me of Luigi's in Akron....if that makes any sense to you.

 

I've had Papa Ray's. It was decent. I've had Lucky Vito's on 2 occasions, the first being pretty good (I was drunk), the second time being not so good. There's a little spot under the Western Blue Line called Plazzio's that has some pretty good pizza by the slice. Which reminds me that I need to find out if they deliver to LS.

Too bad Bella Bacinos doesn't deliver that far out.  It's not very well known, but it's the best deep dish pizza I've eaten by far.  Their thin crust is great too.  I just wanted to point out though I have plenty of friends that don't care for deep dish, but they love it when it's from Bella Bacinos.

I'd highly recommend getting a carry out from Piece.  The place is way too crowded to eat in usually but their pizza which is New Haven Style is very good.  The problem is they don't deliver, but its literally half a block from the Blue Line in Wicker Park, two stops down - its well worth it but a bit pricey.

 

Their beer is good too, comes in a glower that you can get refilled for a few bucks less than ordering it.

 

For a chain pizza place, I really like Sarpinos. 

 

The weird thing about Chicago is it seems that Chicagoans don't seem to eat Chicago Style pizza as much as outsiders think they do. (Its way more a hot dog/italian beef/polish sausage town).

U are right, Sarpinos is not bad for a chain, and also correct about the deep dish pizza, I don't know anyone who lives here that eats it regularly....but out of towners want it

Wanted to say thanks for all the input. We settled into Logan Square in late December and are enjoying it very much. Feels a lot like Northside in Cincinnati, which means it feels good.

Congrats!

Too bad Bella Bacinos doesn't deliver that far out.  It's not very well known, but it's the best deep dish pizza I've eaten by far.  Their thin crust is great too.  I just wanted to point out though I have plenty of friends that don't care for deep dish, but they love it when it's from Bella Bacinos.

 

I went to Bacino's of Lincoln Park last night and it was absolutely delicious. Definitely my favorite so far. Is that the Bacino's you're talking about, or is there a different one?

Yep, there's one in LP and the flagship is Bella Bacinos on wacker near mich ave.  They set up a stand often at the corner with free pizza!  Glad you enjoyed it!