I live in Chicago now

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

This weekend I moved from suburban Detroit, where I’ve lived my whole life, to your city of wind, your towne on the lake, your go of chicag…

I live in Chicago now.

Now what?

My thoughts so far:

[ol]
[li]I’m getting a great deal on my apartment, but I’m still paying too much[/li]
Because I got my job and had to start with pretty short notice, I had to set up a lease on an apartment from home, without actually seeing the place first. The first time I saw my apartment building was the day I moved in. Because of that situation, I decided to go with a nicer place than I probably should of, so that if it was a bad choice, it’d at least be too nice of a choice instead of too crappy of one. What I’m paying is $475 per month less than the normal rate for my unit, and I didn’t have to put any kind of deposit down, and they pro-rated my first month to the day I moved in, AND they took $1000 off of my first month (which ends up being more than I’d have owed, so the balance comes off next month’s), AAAND because my dad is a Realtor and set up the lease, he gets a comission of 1 month’s rent, which he’s splitting with me, so in the end the building has actually paid me to move into it.

I live in South Loop, as it were, in a “soft loft,” I think they call it. I’m young, upwardly mobile, and stupid. It’s practically a given that I’d live in a soft loft in South Loop, so I’m staying predictable.
[li]Mass transit costs more than you’d think it should[/li]
$2.25 to ride the L sounds pretty damn cheap, until I realized I have to do it twice a day, 5 days a week. That means around $90 per month to get to work, which is more than I was paying for gas back home where I drove to work. I’ll have to get one of those fancypants Chicago Card Plus things with automatically reloading $86 30 day pass things. Sucks.

I’m considering breaking my leg so I’ll qualify for reduced fare.
[li]Walking isn’t as hard as I thought it would be[/li]
Before I moved, I spent lifetimes on Google maps seeing what businesses were within a few blocks of my apartment, because I assumed all I’d ever be up for walking for, say, a sandwich was a block or two. Turns out distances on Google maps seem much greater than when you’re on the ground, putting foot to pavement.

Last night, for the hell of it, I walked from work to home. 2.5 miles. About 40 minutes. No real problem. I walked about 9 blocks to a hardware store to buy 2 $0.49 key… condom things, to differentiate my otherwise-identical-looking office front door key and office fire door key. Door key. Heh. “Dorky.”

If I’m not 30 to 40 pounds lighter from all this walking within a week, though, I’m getting a Segway.
[li]Nobody cares about me[/li]
Where I’m from, if you were outside walking and happened upon another person, you and that person would be the only people outside for about a mile, so you’d feel some kind of connection and compulsion to talk or nod or wave or do something to acknowledge that you’re both human beings within the same physical space. Here, though, there’s people everyfunkingwhere. People see me as just one of a few million.

I love that part.
[li]Jebus Kriste, wtf sales tax[/li]
10.25% sales tax? For serious? This is a joke, right? A classic prank. Bazinga!
[/ol]

2

Welcome.

2.5 miles, my personal choice would be to walk or bike it whenever possible for the exercise, to save $, and to be more in touch with your new home.

Are you willing to give us the nearest intersections to your home and work?

Just a hint - don’t count on warm weather until June. :stuck_out_tongue:

3

Don’t break your leg! And wear a coat.

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4

I work in River North on Ontario near, uhh… the rock and roll McDonalds and Ed… Deveb…Dedeb…Debevics.

I live on State near Roosevelt.

Pls don’t murder me.

5

It’s windy here. And it’s a city with big shoulders. And hog butcher to the world. So, you know, prepare for all that.

edited to add - You work on Ontario in River North - as long as it’s not at Seaton Corp, that’s OK by me.

6

Enjoy the city, wierdaaron. If you think $2.25 is too much, get yourself a monthly CTA pass. They cost $86, so if you ride the El or the bus more than 38 times in a month (don’t forget to include non-work trips) you’ll be paying less than $2.25 per trip.

7

Welcome!

I live in Wicker Park/Bucktown and work in the Loop. I also recommend getting an unlimited Chicago Card. And a bike.

8

Ah yes, reason #1 why I’m leaving Minneapolis for a bigger town. I’m not used to living in a place this small, and it’s driving me batty. I hate all this small-town, everyone-wants-to-talk-about-the-weather bullshit. Don’t these people know that I’m busy? And that I’m mean? And old? Jesus, shut up talking to me, and don’t make eye contact.

9

Wow - you’ve got a huge percentage of what Chi has to offer on your path to and from work and within a mile of either terminus.
Get a bike and explore.

10

I live in the West Loop (Madison and Racine - ditto on the please don’t murder me). I heartily agree with previous posters on getting a bike! It makes a great difference. Nothing beats riding down to the Lakefront in the summer and biking to the museum campus or up to North Ave. Beach. Welcome!

11

Seriously, get a bike, and save the money on transit. If I lived that close to downtown, there’s no way in hell I’d shell out for transit except in the deepest days of winter.

Also, welcome to our illustrious city!

12

If I got a bike I’d have to get a helmet and reflectors and learn the rules about biking on a street. Nyea.

13

Welcome to the South Loop!

I walk everywhere, it’s great that Chicago is so flat (and I work in the Loop). I have a bike but don’t have the guts to ride it on the streets because of the maniac drivers.

14

If you’re worried then don’t bike on busy streets, or use the streets with nice, wide bike lanes. A bike is really convenient.

15

Aw, I miss living in Chicago. Hope you have fun there!

RE: the transit card - my old employer in Chicago (Jerry Springer, natch) reimbursed some of transportation costs for commuting. If you work in a big office/corporation, ask HR if they offer discounted transit cards. It never hurts to ask!

And ditto on the “don’t expect warm weather until June.” But when the sunshine comes early, it’s marvelous!

16

  1. Yeah there are tons of bargains to be had there, I have two separate friends who are both trying to unload their South Loop condos right now. But it’s a nice area if you work downtown, it’s a good balance between price and location.

  2. Well you can always drive to work, the city will be happy to collect parking tax from you.

  3. Yeah, I miss that lifestyle. What’s nice if if you need to stop at Macy’s or something and you can just pop in after work. Or just meet a friend for a drink, because you work two blocks apart from each other and you can.

  4. ::stares straight ahead:::

  5. Hah, yeah it’s just for shiggles. Keep an eye on Daley it just gets better.

Welcome to town!

17

On Sunday morning head over the Maxwell St. Market at Roosevelt and the Dan Ryan for an outdoor flea market with fantastic homemade Mexican food.

Check out www.lthforum.com for other food recs.

18

I’m jealous. I fucking loved living in Chicago. And I’ll probably never live there again.

sadface

19

In Chicago, you’ll find the best way to get a good deal on a flat is to walk around. A lot and I mean a lot of flats don’t bother to advertise, they just stick up a sign.

Also remember Chicago is very weird when it comes to neighborhoods, you can go two blocks and move from a nice area to a bad area. You really have to look around and get the feel for a neighborhood.

So get an idea of where you want to live and get your cell phone and go for walks in the neighborhood and start calling when you see the signs.

Once you get south of the loop the neighborhoods are a lot less dense. You have a good long walk to get places. The further north you go the more dense the neighborhoods are and the less walking you do.

Register for a library card. Chicago has a great public library and you can order books and have them delivered to your local branch. (No walking :)) Also they have museum passes you can check out from the library.

Chicago pretty much sucks in the Winter, once you get into May you’ll like it a lot. In fact between May and October it’s hard to beat Chicago. It’s great. But when Winter comes…Yech.

You’ve put yourself in the South Loop which is a decent distance from where the “action” for a young person is. You want to go from North Avenue on up to Evanston. Of course there are areas, in between that, like Uptown which are best avoided.

The thing I learned is Chicagoans are not friendly. The only city where I’ve met ruder people is DC. Nothing tops Washington for rude, arrogant people.

20

I’ve always found Chicagoans quite friendly, as long as you don’t get in their way.

State and Roosevelt sounds awfully convenient. :: jealous :: I used to work near State and Madison.

Nothing to add except that I miss Chicago. Boo.