Pretend you're me: Which apt to rent? (Bonus pts for Chicagoans)

In My Humble Opinion
61

You’ll find Mexican stuff all over Chicago. Irving Park is something like 40% Mexican.

Pilsen is cheaper because it’s the South Side, and the South Side is not the trendy part of town. I live on the Southwest Side, in a predominantly Mexican and Polish working class neighborhood. It’s fairly inexpensive around here. You can find 2 bedrooms for under $1000 a month. You can buy a house for $150K.

Pilsen was hailed as the “next Wicker Park” in the mid-90s, when Wicker Park and Ukrainian Village became too expensive for the artist types. I never got the sense that it ever achieved quite that cachet–the North Side is still far more desirable for whatever reason, but it does appear to be continuing its gentrification. Pilsen is a diverse neighborhood and great value for what it offers. Not everyone is going to fall in love with it, but I think it’s great. It’s got a good mix of young arty types, neighborhood blue-collar family types, and white collar business professionals. Some people may try to tell you it’s “dangerous.” It’s an urban neighborhood, so you do need some situational awareness as in any other neighborhood, but it’s no worse than Logan Square or Uptown or any of a number of up-and-coming/up-and-gone neighborhoods.

Of the neighborhoods mentioned (Irving Park, Ravenswood, Pilsen), Pilsen would be the one I’d go for in terms of bang-for-buck, proximity to the city, and overall “stuff to do” in the neighborhood.

Other South Side neighborhoods worth looking at include Bridgeport and Hyde Park (University of Chicago area.) Maybe even McKinley Park. I personally like Hyde Park quite a bit, but I’m a sucker for university neighborhoods. It’s located right on the lake, you have many dining options (although most of them are just mediocre), a handful of bars (it doesn’t have the greatest nightlife, but Woodlawn Tap aka Jimmy’s and the Cove are both nice little dives.) Getting to downtown is best achieved via the Metra. Plus you can easily find one bedrooms at under a grand a month. Hell, you could probably find a studio for $700 or so.

62

“Far South”? This is exactly why the South Side tends to be cheaper–people have this impression that anything south of Madison is exurbia. Pilsen is about three miles, as the crow flies, from State and Madison (0 N/S, 0 E/W), located in the heart of the Loop. It’s literally only about 3-4 miles from Wicker Park, where I’m sure a lot of your acquaintances will be living. Sure, maybe if all your friends live in the Loyola area, but it’s not “far South” by any reasonable metric.

ETA: Skylark and Honky Tonk are both awesome. Skylark is one of my favorite watering holes on the South Side.

63

It’s far south for someone looking at Ravenswood and Irving Park, don’tcha think?

Skylark made me reconsider tater tots. I used to hate tater tots. Is the May St. Cafe still around?

64

By my metric, no. Hyde Park might qualify, though. I’m assuming MOL is just looking for a place to live, reasonably close to centers of entertainment, public transportation, and work. Irving Park is farther from the usual areas of interest than Pilsen is. Irving Park and Ravenswood are 8 miles from the Loop. Pilsen is 4. They’re almost all equidistant from Wicker Park (with Irving park being about 5 miles away, and the others 4.) I mean, I wouldn’t call Lakeview “far North,” either, and I live near Midway Airport.

Ah, yes, Skylark’s legendary tots. They are, indeed, fine culinary specimens. As far as I know, May St. Cafe is still there–I’ve passed by it a number of times, and looks like it’s still going. Never popped in to eat there, though.

65

I’m not looking at Irving Park and Ravenswood specifically because I love being north; I looked at them because I think they’re okay for my tastes and are easily Loop-accessible. I don’t care if I live north or south. I just want an easy trip to work.

66

You’re probably right, puly. If I think about it, my personal gauge for how far I am from “stuff” doesn’t have as much to do with the Loop now that I don’t work there anymore. It has more to do with proximity to any line of the El and 90/94.

67

I don’t have a car, and I rarely think of Chicago in terms of miles. Usually when someone asks how far away something is I’ll respond in either minutes by CTA or how much a cab costs. Every one-ninth of a mile in a cab is $0.20 - or $1.80/mile. Assuming (good assumption? I dunno…) you’ll be socializing mostly at least as far north as Wicker Park, that’s an extra ~$12 round trip in a cab.

eta: Division St. in Wicker Park is 1200 N, which is 1.5 miles North of Madison (0 N), so add another 1.5 miles to that calculation…

68

I don’t understand. If you’re thinking in terms of cab fare, you’re thinking in terms of miles, are you not?

Irving Park will cost even more if you’re taking a cab there to Wicker Park. And that’s also assuming you’re socializing in Wicker Park. One would assume, I should think, that MOL will also make the acquaintance of individuals who live and hang out in UIC, West Loop, South Loop, etc., areas.

69

I had to look up how much cabs cost per mile. I can intuitively ballpark how much it costs to get from Bucktown to Wrigley. I can’t tell you how far it is. (Well, now that I just looked up how much fare is per mile, I could). I guess my point is that 3-5 miles isn’t insignificant.

In Mpls/St. Paul you can jump on 35W, 494, 694, etc. and travel many miles relatively quickly. Chicago isn’t quite the same.

70

You need to decode the apartment-speak ‘Vintage’=Drafty Which is JUST as important in the summer as the winter, depending on how high up you are and if you’re paying for your own electricity. ‘Heat Included’=uncontrolled radiator heat which means you will likely always be cold in the winter and have to use window-shakers in the summer. ‘Laundry on-site’= having to schlep your textiles up and down god knows how many stairs and trust in your neighbors not to do something stupid or mean to your clothes.

Ravenswood is nice, but more family than fun.

Uptown is more fun but far more dangerous Uptown Update: Search the word ‘shot’ it’ll surprise you. Uptown is a haven for social services and as much as I liked the idea of living there for the six months I did, the 9-on-1 gang beating that I broke up on my nightly dog walk, the patron getting shanked in the country bar down the block, the guy giving himself a bath while talking to his genitals in the Chase Park water fountain and the woman taking a crap on Clark street in front of the Walgreens made me leave.

The color is important but you can decorate in other ways that won’t bankrupt you and will still give you the color you want/need. Also, central air and heat usually mean a more insulated apartment which is a cost savings AND you can usually control the temperature in your own place!

The longer daily walk to the train IS a downside, but it also means you get free exercise every day and that you’re not making that trip with an armload of laundry.

Pilsen WAS a hot market, it’s not anymore. South Loop is a warm market, it’s up and coming AND it’s close to transport, nightlife and work in the loop, though it is adjacent to some sketchy areas, it’s not anywhere NEAR as bad as uptown. You may want to consider that, but that’s coming from a heavy bias on my part ;).

I admit that when we were looking that I liked Irving Park, but for me, it’s not cooked yet and too far west for my taste. 5 years from now? May be a different story.

Not for nothing, but those suggesting that you buy a stackable W/D are setting you up for a mess, it’s not just getting water TO the machine, it’s also, and more importantly, about drainage, which you may not have access to, especially in a vintage building.

I think you either need to re-evaluate apartment A or seek a C or D.

71

I don’t know what your budget is, but looky here Nice building, nice location, LOTS of inclusions.

72

Another Chicago apt. search site:

73

And my point is that 3-5 miles is what she would have to go from Irving Park, too.

Irving Park -> Loop: 8 miles
Irving Park -> Wicker Park: 5 miles

Pilsen -> Loop: 4 miles
Pilsen -> Wicker Park: 4 miles

It does depend where your social circle is, though, and what you want out of your time here. If you’re young, want reasonable access to the Loop, have disposable income, and want many nightlife options, and generally be “in the middle of the action” you’ll get no argument from me that you will probably want to be somewhere bounded by the Lake, California Ave., Chicago Ave., and, say, Foster.

74

Yeah, in my universe where I hang out it going to factor more heavily than where the office is, because I mostly don’t work downtown anymore, and all Els lead to the Loop anyway. It’s not hard to get downtown as long as you’re starting near an El station.

Of course, this is me, so MOL may have different priorities. If she has friends in Pilsen, I imagine most of her hanging out will be near there. If she has friends in Rogers Park, it’s going to be a pain in the ass to live all the way down in Pilsen. I had a friend who moved from Ravenswood to Pilsen, and I made the trip down there to see him maybe 3 times in the following two years (after which he moved to Boston).

75

My friend, also a Twin Shitties refugee, who is hard-selling Pilsen lives there so points for that neighborhood! My other pal lives up in Wrigleyville, but I see myself hanging out with her more than him. She’s my age and I know her better, plus she’ll spend less time in gay bars, which are cool, but you know.

76

Bonus points for Pilsen, that’s where the Chicago Fringe Festival will be in September, and it’s bigger and better this year. They’re supposed to switch neighborhoods every year, but they haven’t yet. (Granted it’s only the second year, and for a young, large festival, it makes sense to take advantage of connections you already have while you’re building up capitol.)

Other than the Fringe Festival, my impressions of Pilsen are limited. I always felt safe walking down the street, but during the Festival I was never alone, and visiting my friends, they only lived 2 or 3 blocks from the El (Damen on the Pink line, I think). Their little corner of the neighborhood seemed pretty quiet. There’s a bunch of artsy stuff going on along Halsted around 18th Street. I didn’t see a whole lot in the way of bars or restaurants though.

77

Then hell yeah, you should be looking closely at Pilsen. You know somebody there already and it’s a more interesting neighborhood (IMHO) for someone your age than Irving Park and Ravenswood.

78

I’m not terribly familiar with most neighborhoods south of North Ave., but the only thing I’d be concerned about is transportation if you’re thinking you’d like to do without a car. ZipCar and iGo are harder to find, in my experience it’s a lot more car-centric and things are just more spread out. So getting to larger supermarkets and Target and such may be more difficult to a downright pain if you don’t have a car. Also make sure if you’re near an el stop, that it’s a line that runs all the time. Some stop service before the bars close, and some have limited to no service on the weekends.

So, if you’re figuring you’ll keep your car if you’re in Pilsen, then go for it! I think the draw for a lot of people on the north side is just that it’s more dense, so walking to stuff tends to be closer. Bus lines seem to intersect more, so there seem to be more CTA options in certain neighborhoods. I always ruled out moving south because I figured I would need to get a car, and I really like not having one and just using iGo a few times a year.

79

So I picked apartment F!

Top floor, shining hardwood floors, Portage Park/Irving area, three blocks from groceries (and a shoe store ;)), comfortable walking distance to a few small neighborhood bars, close to the El and the Metra, no dining room which is a bummer, but an insanely large kitchen that has room for a full table and chairs. I’ve learned that on-site laundry is a deal-breaker, so it of course has that, a dishwasher, elevator, bla bla bla, all the stuff I like, and fits very nicely into my budget.

I chose this apartment over two others in Ravenswood, one of which was $150 more, also top floor, very lovely, had a dining room, but lacked a lot of the amenities the apartment I chose, plus wasn’t as walker-friendly. The other one was a first floor, which is majorly bad, same price as the one I picked, also had a dining room, but still had the general Ravenswood need-a-car problem.

I’m very happy with my new digs and can’t wait to move in!

80

It’s too bad you’ll have to forfeit whatever money you put down on the place. MN passed a law, remember? :wink:

Kidding. Sounds nice. Enjoy!