It is BAL-boe. A lot of bus drivers said “Balboa.”
The reason I’m confused is because MikeS writes previously:
What is this “correct” pronunciation, then?
Yeah, I’m curious, too…I’ve lived in Chicago for 22 years, and have never heard any other pronunciation besides BAL-bo.
Merriam-Webster seems to think it is pronounced Ball (like a baseball) and Bow, like a bow and arrow, with the accent on the first syllable:
From my years of riding the #6 bus, I distinctly remember that the automated CTA bus voice pronounces it as “Bal-BO”, with the “a” pronounced as in “mat” and the emphasis on the second syllable. But maybe this isn’t as standardized as “Paulina”.