Yeah, I live in Albany Park, and there should be a fair number of 1 bedrooms around here for that. Albany Park has its ups and downs, but I’d feel much better about getting off the Brown Line at Kimball late at night, where there’s foot traffic at all hours, than at Morse, which is a small stop surrounded by all kinds of alleys and hidey-holes. But there are lots of places along the Brown Line where you should be able to find an apartment for that; it’s just a question of how picky you are about apartments.
I’m also not a huge fan of East Rogers Park. I lived on Sheridan and Pratt ages ago, and my place was burglarized in broad daylight, as were a number of other apartments in my building. They stole everything that wasn’t tied down, including my phone - I had to find a pay phone to call the cops! The guy was caught later red-handed in another apartment; some teenager stoned out of his gourd on Lord knows what. West Rogers Park is a different story, but not so convenient either to the Brown or Red Lines.
i never thought i’d picture myself living at the end of the brown line, but i actually looked at an apt there last week. It wasnt bad, just too far of a walk from kimball for me. How do you feel about living there?
Well, we have a much nicer place than we would have been able to afford elsewhere. I mostly like it, but could live without some of the…interesting driving. It’s not postcard suburbia, even though it’s a LOT nicer here than it was 15 years ago when I first looked at apartments here, but one has to keep one’s wits about one. The grocery shopping, however, is fabulous - I can’t think of anywhere else in the city where I could find a wider variety in a one-mile radius. And very walkable/public transportation-able.
ETA: one very major reason we ended up here was because of the Brown Line. If it hadn’t been for Tom Scud’s need to commute to Lakeview/Lincoln Park rather than the Loop, we would have considered some neighborhoods along the Blue Line, for sure, but it just didn’t make sense for us, commuting-wise.
Have you checked out Logan Square? I live in Bucktown and am about your age. Logan Square is just west of Bucktown. There’s lots to do, lots of young people, and easy transportation downtown (blue line).
I do like Logan Square, but one of my jobs I have lined up is in Lakeview (near the Paulina brown line), and I don’t know how easy of a commute it would be. Again, I’m also picky about my living situation - definetely need to live alone - and I’m not sure I’d be able to find something in that area. But I’ll be back in a couple weeks, doing an intense apartment search. Maybe I will check out some places there too.
I’ve lived in RoPa for four years now, just off the Morse stop. Haven’t really had any safety problems like people sometimes complain about around East RoPa - if anything I feel safer at Morse than Wilson. (I’m also a tall guy, though… I don’t think it makes an enormous difference, but YMMV.) Sure, I have a ~45min commute every morning to the loop, but RoPa is far enough north to be cheap and quiet, which easily makes up for the train ride. Loyola beach is fantastic - very clean and quiet compared to the steaming pile of doucheyness hanging around North beach (and Foster too at times). And the diversity around here is amazing - on a nice day I’ll take a walk on the lake path and hear more languages by the minute than I ever thought was possible. Having come from a very rural, very white Colorado town seeing all the different shades of skin in RoPa is incredible. And having easy access to the foods of so many different nationalities is fantastic too - from Indian on Devon to Nigerian/Ethiopean/Thai/Vietnamese on Broadway, Jewish bagels on Pratt and fantastic tacos on Clark… I could go on, but suffice to say that I’m very happy I live in RoPa.
(SWF ringing in) I’ve lived by the Loyola Red Line stop for a year now, moved from Lakeview where I lived for 10 years. If you want to stick by the Rogers Park area, I’d say see how intense of a search you can make by Loyola. I work often until 1am or 3am, and take the Red Line at those times at least three nights a week. Aside from all the drunk people on the El after the bars close, it’s fine. My particular building is managed by Hunter Properties if you want to check their website instead of Craigs List or somesuch. Water pressure in my building is crappy, but that’s my only complaint. I have a good sized one bedroom for $740, all hardwood floors, 10-foot ceilings, fans in every room, new windows, rear decking/porch with a back door that opens to outside.
The problem with the Brown Line is that service stops for a few hours in the wee morning - not good if you’re going home after bars close. I would stick with Red Line or Blue Line, or Clark Street or Sheridan buses. I wouldn’t want to live farther than Belmont, though, if taking a bus. It’s a looooong ride.
SeaDragonTattoo - how far is your building from the el stop? or bus stop, for that matter. just wondering how far you have to walk by yourself that late at night. thank you for responding, by the way. it’s nice hearing from a female perspective that has to work those late hours too.
I’ve used the Morse line stop every day (albeit during the day) for the last 9 months and not had any issues. Granted, I’m a guy, reasonably big, and not there late. They’ve done a lot of work on the area. That said, the Clark bus might be closer to that apartment. I’ve found the Clark bus takes 55 minutes from Pratt to downtown in the mornings, but in the evenings it might not be that slow - especially late.
I haven’t lived in Chicago since 2005 but I got mugged 3 times in 2 years going home via the red line and getting off at the 69th street stop from downtown. Very very dangerous late at night, and I’m a guy.
Forgot to mention this was at the exact same times you are getting off work, 1-3am. You might get lucky I suppose and never have a problem, but it doesn’t mean it’s not incredibly dangerous.
after all this debate about the safety of living in the area, i actually may not need to work at a bar late nights after all. i have a full time job potentially lined up, but i won’t know until next week if everything will work out. so, if anyone else chooses to respond to this thread, i change the scenario entirely full time job during the day, not working til 2am or coming home super late at night anymore. and, with all my new found information about the red line, i would definetely not be taking it (alone) super late anyway. and so, with all that said, i am still considering the apartment.
That does change things considerably, IMHO. You still want to be aware, alert and a bit of a tough guy (gal), but 2 PM is not the same as 2AM in that area. I wouldn’t risk it for an apartment I kinda sorta like, but if it was one I really adore, it might be enough to tip the scales in favor of moving in.
I’m a block from the El stop, a block from Sheridan and 2.5 blocks from Devon. But on seeing that you may not be working late, maybe the Morse stop won’t be so bad. Personally, the likelihood of still going home late after going out with friends and such, I would still want to avoid the Morse El stop. The pocket around Loyola feels safer to me. But, on that note, I will also say I carry a knife and pepper spray, and am prepared to use them. I think that confidence and alertness is noticed by would-be mugger-types, and possibly they look for more likely targets. There is always a rash of pick-pocketing and such when new students arrive in Aug/Sept.
Of those folks who don’t like the Morse stop area, when was the last time you were there? I moved into the neighborhood 9 months ago, and in that time they’ve totally redone the sidewalks, added lots of lighting from the red line stop up to Ashland, etc.
I’m curious if the perception of danger is from several years back, or recent.
I drive through there pretty frequently, as I have some friends in the area, although not on Morse itself anymore. They have done some nice things with the place, you’re right. I still wouldn’t walk there at 2 in the morning, though.
You people shock me sometimes. Although he didn’t discuss the safety of the Morse area specifically, Cecil wrote at length about reality vs. the perception of crime in Rogers Park as of two years ago. See Is Rogers Park really as dangerous as people say?
By the last chart, I have to say, “yeah, Rogers Park is about *exactly *as dangerous as people say.” It’s not as bad as the West side, but it’s no Edgewater, either.
I’m surprised there’s less violent crime in Uptown, though. I guess I’ve been jaded by the shootings at the Wilson stop and the dead body(ies?) in Truman’s basement over the last few years.
And again, what several of us have been saying in this thread that your charts don’t account for: the perception is that Rogers Park is safe or not based on the block, not the neighborhood. There are some awesome parts of Rogers Park, particularly down closer to Loyola (although then you have the joy of drunk college kids, but they’re not usually dangerous, just annoying). There are some hellhole parts of Rogers Park. It’s like its very own microcosm-city.
I should also point out that the risks and perceptions of women in regards to safety in a neighborhood will often be significantly different than those of men. It seems most of the people saying “not that bad” are male, and this is a topic where gender matters. A neighborhood safe for a young man six feet tall may be extremely dangerous for a five foot tall woman coming home at 2 am.
full time job during the day, not working til 2am or coming home super late at night anymore. and, with all my new found information about the red line, i would definetely not be taking it (alone) super late anyway. and so, with all that said, i am still considering the apartment.