Seriously there are no parts of Oak Park that are not decent.
It’s a block with no alley which gives you more backyard.
Hah - my brother lives in Oak Park though he’s in the process of moving - I think to Forest Park!!
Yeah, they gots real winter there. I remember him once telling me it hadn’t been above zero in several days. And since things are so flat, it is indeed windy. Oak Park has decent transit into downtown, I believe - that’s how my brother always went, until he took a job closer to where he lives.
Depending on where you actually wind up (e.g. apartment, house, condo) you may find parking a bit surprising; at my brother’s house, you could not park on the street at night. His house had a garage, which was accessible via an alley behind the house.
And snow. Well, we used to live in a townhouse (DC suburb) and when we moved to a real house with a garage, we were excited about not having to dig our car out of the snow. Then we realized that a driveway is a hell of a lot more shovelling than a parking space.
In any case, do look at the parking situation wherever you wind up. If it’s street parking, that can be tough in the winter: once you dig out the car and go somewhere, chances are very good someone else will snag your space and you have no place to park when you get home.
Snow blower, for sure, unless there’s an enterprising teenager on the block who will do it for a sum of money.
Ditto! The only times I’ve been in Chicago, it’s been 70º summer, but from experience in upstate NY as well as skiing on 10º and even 0º days, layering is crucial especially if you’re going to be outdoors for more than 10-15 minutes. If scarves aren’t your thing, try a neck gaiter. It can cover you mouth and nose in bitter freezing windy weather. There are balaclavas too, to help out whatever hat you have, even a cheap one. Long underwear, too, top and bottom. 2 pairs of gloves, a thin pair inside the thicker Thinsulate pair, and 2 pairs of thin or medium socks are warmer than 1 thick pair.
Good luck with your move! And as well as a small shovel in the car for snowy/icy days, I also keep a pint container of ice melt and a couple of old car mats or bathmats. More than once when stuck in snow they’ve helped get us out. Bob Vila’s site has dedicated traction mats but improvised ones work OK too.
Just to add, I hate having to scrape snow and ice off the car, and one tip I wish I’d learned earlier is to put on some kind of windshield cover and just pull it off after the snowfall. Someone gave me an expensive one as a gift but it fell apart after a few winters. After that I’ve just used plastic tarps or tablecloths which work fine for me too.
That’s what I most remember about Chicago. “Spring” weather that was basically six weeks of no sun, 30’s-40’s every day with rain from early march to mid or late April. It really got to me not seeing the sun for weeks on end. This was in the '80s, so perhaps the pattern has changed.
Yeah, but don’t they have a problem w/ stalkers? 
Yeah - to me, that is almost worse than the horribly cold January-February. By March, you are ready for it to get nicer. And sometimes it is. But more often, I feel like an idiot, searching out crocuses or listening for birdsong - while still wearing my winter coat/hat/gloves. Waiting for the ground to thaw/dry enough to play in the dirt.
I’ve told the story of the car I got on ebay before. I bought a one way ticket to Fort Lauderdale and drove the car back to Chicago one winter month. Somewhere around Indianapolis, I noticed the washer fluid was a little sluggish. Yep, it was mostly water and froze solid. I couldn’t use it for months till we had a big thaw and I’m damned lucky nothing got cracked. Look for the stuff rated to -20 degrees.
Here’s a winter weather driving tip: If it’s snowing, turn off the windshield defroster as you approach your destination. That’s the climate control icon that looks like a frowning rectangle pierced by arrows. You don’t want to park the car with a warm windshield as snow will melt on it at first and later freeze into ice. Also, if you ever leave a car parked outside at home, a standard kitchen broom is hard to beat to get the worst of the snow off.
Good tip-I keep a broom on my front porch for just that purpose. It’s especially great on the fluffy stuff. Don’t forget to brush snow off your roof too or the first time you stop the roof snow will slide and cover your rear window again. Those windshield covers mentioned are great too. Can really cut down on laborious ice scraping time. I’ve used the made-for-that ones with magnets and I’ve had just as much luck with tarps and cheap plastic paint drop cloths.
I struggle so much with this. Not that you guys are wrong, I’m sure. I’ve never lived in Chicago and I literally haven’t been there in 40+ years. But I did spend some time there a few times, including a couple of weeks there in the dead of winter two years in a row as a kid. In 1977-79 
. I was living in a suburb of Detroit as that time and I though the Chicago winters by comparison were absolutely brutal. Which they were in exactly those two years!
Ever since then the only image I can conjure up in my head about Chicago is sweltering, miserable heat from one brief visit in high summer and the Ninth Circle of Hell in the winter. Not fair, I’m sure not accurate, but childhood impressions are all-powerful .
I love that we have four distinct seasons, even if they’re a little blurry around the edges. That first few flakes of snow down the back of my neck are glorious. A month later, I hate them but, that’s ok, spring is right around the corner. A few months later, I also love the crocuses, snowdrops and first robin but the dreary weather is a bummer. That’s ok, summer is right around the corner.
Yes, sorry, I didn’t mean take it outside from the kitchen outside to clear the car. I’ve also got a broom on my front porch. It’s often all I need to clear the porch steps, too.
It looks silly but I’m not above flipping my wipers up if we’re expecting big snow or freezing rain. I’ve got a garage and alley but I’ve never parked my car there so it’s exposed to all the weather.
Ok…just told the real estate agent to put in an offer.
Another good tip. I do it too, when I remember. Saves ripping the embedded blades free from the ice.
My dad used to use the plastic tablecloths with the flocked backing. The flocked backing wouldn’t freeze to the windscreen, which sometimes can happen with the plastic. (I have a garage, a short driveway, and very nice neighbors, so this is no longer an issue for me. I like being able to get the car under cover before having to carry the groceries in when it’s raining. Or just get me in when it’s bloody cold and icy windy out.)
Stacking up the good learned wisdom here. Thank you. And, nicely, those flanneled back tablecloths can be found for cheap at dollar stores and walleyedworld. Putting one on my list (for when we can go to store again for non-essentials, til then it will be what I already have in the house.
Hot damn! Move in party! 
Bear in mind, this was in Northern Virginia, not Chicago. Different weather patterns, but my recollection is that we had a number of years with very nasty winters and it worked well. As I recall, he used the windshield wipers to hold it down and tucked the edges in between the car doors and the car frame to keep it from blowing away. The wipers didn’t freeze to the tablecloth, either, or at least not as badly as they might have to a windscreen.
My daughter who has lived the past 5 years in Michigan’s U. P. has decided to move in with a friend who lives in Ravenswood area of Chicago. Doesn’t have a job there yet but she’s adamant about going through with it. I don’t know wether to call it foolish or adventurous.
I admit, I am showing a little bravado and exagerrating a bit there, but I really don’t feel it’s as bad as people make it out to be. Then again, I grew up here, so this is my “normal.” I’ve been to much colder and much snowier places in the world. My wife always teases me when I consider a foot of snow a lot. (She’s from Buffalo.) But I wasn’t exaggerating when I said I don’t own a proper winter coat. I did when I had to spend hours at a time outside, but for a half hour or so, three layers plus a decent fall coat suit me fine.
And, yeah, the years you were there were particularly bad winters. I was only 4 in 1979, but I certainly remember all the snow we got then.
I was 17 in 1979. I still remember driving down neighborhood streets with the plowed snow so high that you couldn’t see the neighborhood, just endless canyons of snow walls, miles and miles.
On the other hand, I also remember a Christmas day in the '80s when it was 60 degrees and we grilled steaks outdoors for our holiday dinner.
Chicago is all over the place for weather.