I’m a 25 year old SWF looking to move to the Rogers Park area. I’ve had several friends who live more toward Ravenswood and various locations off the brown line who are telling me I’m nuts for thinking of living there. However, one of my very close (gay) male friends has lived in Rogers Park for 2 years and has never had a problem. I’ve been extensively looking into the crime statistics of the area, different blogs, etc. Some of it scares me, but I also have seen reports of people who don’t have any issues living there.
I guess what I’m looking for are other opinions of people who may or may not have lived in RP. I’d like to hear from people who aren’t my friends.
Some things you should know before replying:
The apartment I’m interested in is at Estes and Paulina (top floor)
I formerly lived in Detroit, just off a college campus, for 2 years
I have a smaller scale budget (hence looking in RP), plus need a 1 bedroom that allows cats
I will be utilizing public transit, no car for me
I will have a part time job at a bar downtown, so there may be a few nights a week when I will need to walk from the morse red line to my apartment, alone, possibly after 2am
All spectrums of opinion are welcome and appreciated!
Thanks!
I’ve lived near Pratt and Sheridan for nearly ten years now, and I’ve never had any problems.
In fact, I love the neighborhood. It’s so cool living someplace so diverse, relaxed, and with such authentic grittiness.
I wouldn’t do it. Not by the Morse Red Line stop. You might as well move to the heart of Uptown and hang out by the Wilson Red Line. (That being said, at least one Doper I know used to live in Uptown and liked it, but after 4 years at Truman, I’d be delighted to never go back there again.)
I’d look further west, across Clark, or south, closer to Pratt. I lived at Howard and Western for many years, and it was quite nice. (Although I did get shot with a BB there last summer walking in the alley behind my old building. Fucking kids.) I only moved away because I wanted to get my daughter into a better neighborhood school.
I had my car - my *moving *car - attacked twice in five years driving by the Morse Red Line stop.
Pratt and Sheridan is another story entirely. Pratt and Sheridan is cool, especially on the east side of Sheridan at the lakefront. This is really a neighborhood where it’s safe or not block by block, not neighborhood by neighborhood.
actually, it looks much closer than taking the red line to morse and walking from there. google states it as a 4 minute walk from the 22 stop to the apartment on estes that i’m looking at. would that make a difference?
i’m so torn. i fell in LOVE with the apartment i saw. however, more than likely i’ll be looking elsewhere. sigh.
Do you live in Chicago now? If so, which neighborhood. (My surmise, given the question and the future tense regarding the job and the public transit, is that you do not.)
RoPa, particularly the eastern part of it, is known to be rough. But on the other hand, there was a cabbie shooting in Evanston this weekend (admittedly the south part of E-Town, near Rogers Park), and nobody expects Evanston to be dangerous.
Also, downtown to Rogers Park is a hell of a commute. Why not split a place with someone in the South Loop (although even split, that could be a tidy sum in rent) or Roscoe Village or Logan Square?
Umm, what makes you think that? Evanston has its share of urban problems - they have an undercover vice squad and everything, and it’s for good reason. I once stopped a mugging at fricking rush hour. South certainly has more issues than north, but this was in what is considered a good neighborhood, 2 blocks from the lake.
To the OP - how much are you looking to spend on rent?
I’m about the same level of nervous driving through the south end of Evanston alone at night as I am near the Morse Red Line. I wouldn’t walk alone in either place after dark without a large dog. And I lived at Hinman and Keeney for 3 years before I lived in Rogers Park.
Anyone who thinks Evanston is uniformly safe is misinformed. There’s a reason Saint Francis is a Level 1 Trauma Center.
My point was that, in the city, dangerous neighborhoods often are safer than is breathlessly reported (I say this as a former resident of Hyde Park; but then, on the other hand, I surely wouldn’t advise the OP to live in Austin or Englewood or anything like that). And what are considered nice neighborhoods (and suburbs) certainly see some criminal activity too. While the choice of neighborhood has some effect on your vulnerability, more important are the choices you make.
That said, I do think a really good choice to make is to make your solitary, late-night commute as short as possible. Why invite trouble?
We lived in Rogers Park right between the Howard and Jarvis stops (Greenview & Birchwood) for close to four years without too much trouble*. We had a lot of excitement in the neighborhood, to be sure, but it was mostly just walk-through traffic that was the problem.
The Morse stop area is pretty rough though, even compared to where we were, and I would strongly advise against you moving into the area with the idea of walking alone at night through there.
*Had a break-in at our apartment last summer which finally got us to pick up and move north to Evanston (Dempster/Dodge area… not perfect, but no place is… but we love where we’re at now).
Agreed. While I do agree with Kimmy that the perception of danger can be overblown and I find it amusing what neighborhoods some people find “dangerous” and which ones are “safe” I do have to say that anybody who thinks Evanston is a safe, rich suburb has never actually been there, or has only driven through it along Sheridan. It’s almost like a scaled-down version of Chicago–the southern and western parts get quite dicey, and there’s serious gang and drug problems. I’ve only had my car broken into three times in the Chicago area: once in Evanston, once in Logan Square, and once in Hyde Park.
Anyhow, as to the OP, as someone who tends to be a little casual about crime rates, I would say hell no if I knew I had to regularly be walking to or from the Morse station at 2 a.m. in the evening. Especially a 25-year-old female. At the very least, I would insist to take a cab home. Even at the coffeshop I worked at in Evanston, the proprietor would reimburse us for a cab if we needed it after the evening shift (which usually finished up at 1 a.m.), because of safety concerns.
I may be missing the joke, but safety wise, there’s a gulf of difference. Evanston scores a 20, according to that crime index. This means it’s safer than 20% of neighborhoods/municipalities in the US. Wilmette scores 72. Winnetka, 74.
Eh, it was a weak joke. Not comparing Evanston to Wilmette and Winnetka, but the idea that there are totally “safe” places. There are safer places, but every place has its crime. People tend to think of The Big Scary City and the Safe Suburbs, but I grew up in Tinley freaking Park and there was still violent crime sometimes.
OK, I did understand your point correctly, then. There’s no question crime is everywhere–I don’t think anyone is saying otherwise. My point was that Evanston was a poor suburb to use as an example if “idealized low-crime suburb” is the idea you were going for. Evanston is a gritty, urban suburb mixed with a healthy scoop of North Shore wealth and university students. It’s almost a microcosm of Chicago itself. Wilmette and Winnetka are more of what people think of when they think of “place with the amazing school system with minimal crime where the rich folk live.” (Winnetka is like top 5 in the country for median income.)
I lived on Touhy and Glenwood, between the El tracks and Sheridan Road, for 15 years. That is very close to Estes/Paulina.
I grew up in the Detroit area, then moved to Edgewater for a few years before moving to Rogers Park. When I moved in it was great. We left when it got dangerous to go out in the middle of afternoon. There was a rapist entering through people’s back doors that summer (until he walked in on a woman butchering a chicken - it did not end well for him). The day after we moved our former next door neighbor was shot dead at 2 in the afternoon walking down the street. There were multiple arson fires connected to gangs down on Morse avenue by the El stop (most notable was the burning of Kamar’s restaurant, which had been a major anchor point for the community). Several of our friends got mugged either coming to visit us or leaving after a visit. For awhile, someone was shooting cars along the street at night.
Granted, I’ve been gone for awhile, but from both news and our friendship with one of the landlords near there things have not really improved much.
I would recommend against moving to that area.
What part of Rogers Park is he living in? You have to evaluate block by block in that area. There are parts (particularly west of Western, and some west of Clark) which are OK. There are some effing dangerous spots in there, too.
Top floor is good - the problem is when you leave the building.
As I’m sure you’re aware, parts of Detroit are OK and other parts aren’t. Same for Rogers Park.
DO NOT DO THIS!
Holy crap, girl, you’re going to get mugged, raped or killed doing that. Morse El stop hasn’t been safe after 10 pm since around 1986 or something. No, I’m not kidding.
If you’re going to be coming home at 2:30 am either take the Clark bus or take a frickin’ cab. DO NOT USE THE MORSE EL STOP AT THAT TIME OF NIGHT. The bus will drop you on a marginally (and I do mean marginally) safer spot and much closer to the building.
Please, DO NOT use the Morse El stop at that hour. I wouldn’t do it even in a group of people, unless there were at least a half dozen people.
^ This.
West of Western is much better, but if you can’t do that, west of Clark street.
Yes. Stay the frack away from the Morse El stop after dark. Actually, at times it hasn’t been safe during the day, but that varies.
Yes, the apartments around there can be fantastic. Geez, if you were coming home from work at a more normal time it might be reasonable but 2:30 am? >sigh< The bus should be a better deal than the El at that hour.
@Kimmy_Gibbler: no, i don’t currently live in chicago, but have been back and forth 4 times between thanksgiving and now. each time i’ve in RP with my best friend, and most recently I traveled between two friends. One lives in Lakeview and the other in Ravenswood off the brown line (Paulina and Montrose stops). I am not willing to live with roommates. I’ve had one too many incidences in the past and I told myself a long time ago that I would never live with anyone again until I get married. (even then, do i really have to live with them? haha ;))
@Eva Luna: Ultimately, my top price is between $650 and 700.
@Broomstick: thank you very much for the information, especially about the Morse stop. while doing the research about the areas i’ve been looking at, i found a lot of things that i wish i would have known awhile ago.
I will for sure be looking at other apartments when i return memorial day weekend. any other tips and hints at great locations would be welcome from everyone! Thanks a bunch!
You should be able to find a tiny 1 Bedroom or average studio in Andersonville/Edgewater within your price range. Actually, I have friends looking to rent out their 1 BR condo in Edgewater asap. Want me to PM you the info?
i’m so torn. i fell in LOVE with the apartment i saw. however, more than likely i’ll be looking elsewhere. sigh.
