Moving to Chicago

[kilgore]

I'm moving to Chicago this summer and want to get an apartment in a fun, interesting neighborhood with good restaurants, shops, art, etc. Any suggestions. Thank you.

[Guest]

hey kilgore.

i feel that i know chicago very well, and that i can help you a lot if you give some more info about what you are specifically into - what type of area you would like to live in, what you are expecting to pay for rent, what you are into/what your scene is, etc.

[Guest]

hey kilgore.

i feel that i know chicago very well, and that i can help you a lot if you give some more info about what you are specifically into - what type of area you would like to live in, what you are expecting to pay for rent, what you are into/what your scene is, etc.

[confidant]

hey kilgore.

i feel that i know chicago very well, and that i can help you a lot if you give some more info about what you are specifically looking for - what type of area you would like to live in, what you are expecting to pay for rent, what you are into/what your scene is, etc.

[rabka]

ughh got waitlisted at uchicago

ak

[Guest]

Thanks confidant. The less rent the better. But must be under $900 for a one bedroom. I tend to like older buildings with interesting details. I go to a lot of small music venues here in Seattle and hope to have a good one in the neighborhood. Also like small shops focused on local art/design, vintage furniture, good music shops, coffee. A neighborhood that is nice for walking/window shopping. I guess I like fairly hipster/trendy neighborhoods, liberal, open-minded. Preferably on the green or red line. Thanks again for any help you can provide.

[kilgore]

Thanks confidant. The less rent the better. But must be under $900 for a one bedroom. I tend to like older buildings with interesting details. I go to a lot of small music venues here in Seattle and hope to have a good one in the neighborhood. Also like small shops focused on local art/design, vintage furniture, good music shops, coffee. A neighborhood that is nice for walking/window shopping. I guess I like fairly hipster/trendy neighborhoods, liberal, openminded. Preferably on the green or red line. Thanks again for any help you can provide.

[confidant]

you and I definitely have very similar tastes. in my opinion, wicker park, ukrainian village, east village, noble square, and the west loop are the neighborhoods that you should check out.

wicker park

(boundaries: n-bloomingdale ave, e-ashland, s-division st, w-western ave)

blue line stops at division and damen.

this is the best neighborhood to find all of the things that you are interested in. tons of restaurants, bars, coffee, music, and shops. the intersection of damen ave, north ave, and milwaukee ave is the center of all the action. division st between ashland and leavitt st is also full of food, bars, and shops.

ukrainian village

(boundaries: n-division st, e-damen, s-grand ave, w-western ave)

a little bit of a hike from the el, but great housing, and also home to my favorite music venue (see below). and while it doesn’t have the amount of places that division st does, i think that chicago ave is a really cool street with some good food, bars, and a few shops.

east village

(boundaries: n-division st, e-ashland, s-grand ave, w-damen)

blue line stop at division.

better access to the el than the uk village, and therefore i would say more popular. again, lots of good stuff on division st and chicago ave, and a good record store on ashland ave. (dusty groove, 1120 n ashland)

noble square:

(boundaries: n-north ave, e-kennedy expressway, s-chicago ave or grand ave, w-ashland)

blue line stops at division and not far from the chicago ave stop.

technically this small area is a different neighborhood than wicker park and the east village, but it's really more like an extension of them.

west loop

(boundaries: n-grand ave, e-kennedy expressway, s-eisenhower expressway, w-ashland)

green line stop at ashland, blue stops at halsted and racine.

this area is the center of the gallery scene. it is also considered to be the city’s loft district. randolph, lake, and fulton are the main streets. randolph in particular is full of trendy restaurants.

here is a recent article that the new york times did on division street that may help paint a better picture:

http://travel2.nytimes.com/2005/07/03/travel/03dayout.html?ei=5070&en=d408961c5214dccf&ex=1144296000&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1144166937-pzbXof5GXKYbsSUNSBvToQ

you may also want to look into bucktown, lakeview, and river west.

the best music venues:

the empty bottle

1035 n western ave (ukrainian village) – my personal favorite.

metro

3730 n clark (lakeview)

hideout

1354 w wabansia

double door

1572 n milwaukee (wicker park)

subterranean

2011 w north ave (wicker park)

beat kitchen

2100 w belmont (roscoe village)

abbey pub

3420 w grace

sonotheque

1444 w chicago ave

also, i don’t know when in the summer you are moving, but there are 2 awesome music festivals in chicago, both held at union park in the west loop.

Intonation Music Fest (June 24-25)

http://www.intonationmusicfest.com

Pitchfork Music Fest (July 29-30)

http://pitchforkmusicfestival.com

i hope that this helps. if you look at a google map of chicago, you’ll see that the neighborhoods that i mention are all on the west/near northwest side of the city. i hope you like chicago, and please don’t hesitate to drop a message in my mailbox if you have questions about anything else.

[kilgore]

That’s great info. I'll check out your suggestions. Thanks so much for your advice. I really appreciate it. Those festivals look great. Unfortunately I won’t be there in time. Luckily I’m heading out to the Gorge in eastern Washington for The Sasquatch Festival http://www.hob.com/tickets/festivals/sasquatch/2006/artists/. I see KEXP is a sponsor for Intonation. They're out of Seattle and in my opinion one of the greatest stations out there. One of their best shows is John in the Morning from 6-10am Mon-Fri. If you haven’t already checked them out their web address is http://www.kexp.org/home.asp?noflash=false [url=" "] <a href=" " target="_blank"> You can listen to archived live performances, all past radio shows, and live radio.

[absolut]

im in east village, rent is cheaper than wicker and 5 mins away, you can get something large here for under 9.

[kilgore]

What is the Bridgeport neighborhood like?