Chicago Associates: Where to Live? Forum

[moandersen]

You'll do fine with Lincoln Park elementary schools. Bell School is also quite good, although farther north I believe. Where you will get into trouble is high school. The only good public high schools in Chicago are Whitney Young and Walter Payton. They are both selective enrollment schools (test in) and no sibling preference. But then by that point you may be going the private school route. I'm thinking Latin School is tops private HS in Chicago but there are others. You could always have your kids try for Walter Payton/Whitney Young and enroll in Latin as a backup.

ETA There's a new performing arts High School in Chicago that' supposed to be awesome. Admission is via audition.

Not sure why anon....

But this information provided above is only partially true. As a WY alum, I like to think WY is the top school in the city (and the state), but there are other great public high schools other than WY and Payton. Northside, Jones, and Lane are also on the top "tier" of schools, with Lincoln Park's IB program up there as well. All are extremely selective, but provided your kids go to a selective elementary school, there should be little problem getting into one of the top 5 high schools. Latin is a very expensive school and I would never send my kids there, but I think thats just my CPS bias.

[Bronte]

ITT: TLS takes prestige whoring to the elementary school level.

[rayiner]

I would also note that you should live where you play, not where you work. Lincoln Park is a great place to play. Streeterville/Goldcoast not so much.

Depends on your play/work ratio. If I'm only going to get to go out a couple of times a week, I'd rather take a cab up to Lincoln Park on the weekends than commute down for work every weekday.

[masochist]

I am not sure why the Gold Coast is running 2nd in the polls. There isn't much there unless you count Rush St., and nobody I knew in Chicago ever went to Rush. It is also crazy expensive (for Chicago) and parking is a mess.

I don't like Lincoln Park, but I'd pick it over the Gold Coast.

By the way, this might be relevant to people's interests in this thread

http://chicagocrime.wordpress.com/

Take-away from the above, stay away from Fuller Park.

[YourCaptain]

bumping this - thoughts on possibility/merits of subletting from u-chi students for the summer?

[bk1]

bumping this - thoughts on possibility/merits of subletting from u-chi students for the summer?

If you're working in downtown, Hyde Park is far imo.

[ToTransferOrNot]

bumping this - thoughts on possibility/merits of subletting from u-chi students for the summer?

If you're working in downtown, Hyde Park is far imo.

Saving the money is worth it for a SA, imo. I didn't move out of HP for this year, either, but I wouldn't be able to do this commute as an associate.

[YourCaptain]

ive never rented an apt in chicago. i did a bit of quick searching (looking to be near loop) and prices for 1br/studios seemed about $1000-1500. is this about right?

[STLMizzou]

bumping this - thoughts on possibility/merits of subletting from u-chi students for the summer?

Also, it is the shittiest of the shitty areas of Chicago. UChicago is an amazing school, but it is surrounded by trash. I would never want to live there.

As far as Gold Coast goes, I live there now. It is super expensive, but besides from that awesome, Better commute to city then Lincoln park/ wrigglyville, Awesome in the summer for oak street beach, plenty of sweet bars on Chicago/ division.

[STLMizzou]

ive never rented an apt in chicago. i did a bit of quick searching (looking to be near loop) and prices for 1br/studios seemed about $1000-1500. is this about right?

Yes

[YourCaptain]

k. im not looking for serious area-side attraction and am looking to cut down on cost, so i dont want to be dumb about this

[bk1]

k. im not looking for serious area-side attraction and am looking to cut down on cost, so i dont want to be dumb about this

Just north of the loop (like Streeterville/Gold Coast), I'd imagine are around $1000ish for studios. You might be able to find an NU student who you could sublet from for cheaper than that. You can save some more money by going farther north towards Lincoln Park as well.

As TTON said, the commute from Hyde Park isn't the end of the world, especially if you're doing normal 8 hour days as an SA. I think it's around 40 mins from HP to the Loop, but maybe it's more during rush hour. I used to commute 1hr15min prior to law school and I'm really over long commutes.

[ToTransferOrNot]

k. im not looking for serious area-side attraction and am looking to cut down on cost, so i dont want to be dumb about this

Just north of the loop (like Streeterville/Gold Coast), I'd imagine are around $1000ish for studios. You might be able to find an NU student who you could sublet from for cheaper than that. You can save some more money by going farther north towards Lincoln Park as well.

As TTON said, the commute from Hyde Park isn't the end of the world, especially if you're doing normal 8 hour days as an SA. I think it's around 40 mins from HP to the Loop, but maybe it's more during rush hour. I used to commute 1hr15min prior to law school and I'm really over long commutes.

Don't think it's 40 minutes - even during rush hour. Will try to remember to time it when I leave work today (though today might be on the long side, since it's snowing).

The one big problem is that you have festivals to contend with during the summer, and that can really screw with the commute in short bursts.

[YourCaptain]

might as well just do s-ville/gold coast. any recommended sites? craigslist kind of sketches me out.

[bk1]

Don't think it's 40 minutes - even during rush hour. Will try to remember to time it when I leave work today (though today might be on the long side, since it's snowing).

Definitely possible. I've only done it a few times and haven't timed it exactly. Also, I was not expecting snow today!

[STLMizzou]

There is no way to live cheap in Chicago without sacrificing either safety or commute time.

You live south of the loop; you will be living in an extremely shady area. You live in the loop/ north of the loop you will spend less and less the more north you go but will also be a longer and longer commute to work because every even decent firm is located either mid-north loop.

You can live west burbs along a metra route for fairly cheap, and the commute won’t be bad, but the metra only runs certain times so if you ever want to spend a night drinking downtown you better have a coach to crash on.

My advice? Don’t skimp on the money. You are only in Chicago for so long, I am making 15/hour working as a clerk, but my tiny studio costs me about a grand after rent/utilities/cable+internet. To me it is worth it because the location is awesome/safe, the commute is a 20 min bus ride, and in the summer I can walk to the beach. I would rather spend a little less on food and have a real Chicago living experience for the time I am here than skimp out and miss out on half the fun of living in one of the best cities in the world.

[bk1]

might as well just do s-ville/gold coast. any recommended sites? craigslist kind of sketches me out.

I'm a fan of http://www.hotpads.com and http://www.padmapper.com though the latter does pull data from Craigslist.

[theaccidentalclerk]

Also, it is the shittiest of the shitty areas of Chicago. UChicago is an amazing school, but it is surrounded by trash. I would never want to live there.

Actually, Hyde Park is probably the nicest neighborhood on the south side, at least if you exclude the South Loop. (Which says more about the south side than Hyde Park.) That said, I'd probably live somewhere else as a summer associate. Most of the events and activities are going to be on the north side, and cab fair from (say) Lakeview to Hyde Park is steep (probably $30 or so) and the drive can take a while. And yes, the firm will pay for most of it, but you'll undoubtedly forget to submit a few receipts. Plus, it's really not that inexpensive -- it's not like we're talking Bridgeport or Beverly. And also, it's been a while since I lived in Hyde Park (2001, I think), but service at the shops and restaurants was really atrocious. Like so bad you didn't like living there. The employees were just downright rude most of the time.

If you really are looking for places that are cheap, safe and close to downtown, I'd probably look at sublets from IIT students or UIC students. With respect to the former, make sure it's between the Dan Ryan and Halsted and north of 39th. With respect to the latter, anywhere in Tri-Taylor is fine, but really east of Racine is preferable. Warning: These are not trendy areas. But there are some decent restaurants, both are public-accessible, and you're a 10-15 cab ride from the loop.

[theavrock]

Just checking in as I will be spending the summer in Chicago. If anyone in the thread is subletting or knows a subletter for the summer send 'em my way.

[Drewtheman84]

Streeterville and River North are nice. Old town as well. At my firm, most people lived either in those areas or the South Loop. I feel like you want to be close to your job, especially if you can afford it. I lived in the Edgewater area one summer and the long commute after a long day of work sucked. My second summer, I lived in River North and the summer was much more fulfilling socially and workwise because I was in the center of everything (grocery stores, gym in building, bars, the beach, etc). But, the downside is if you're 23-30, a lot of your friends probably live in LP and Lakeview. Seeing them on weekends kinda sucked (parking dowtown sucks, cab rides can be expensive, and no one wants to ride the red line late at night after being out). That was the only downside I experienced.

[Xifeng]

I mean, Hyde Park isn't awesome, but it's not too bad (you might have to be more aware of your surroundings than in other places, but it's not like whenever you step outside you're going to get stabbed). If you want to live down here, I suggest somewhere near the lake. Not only is it safer, but it's right on the 6 or Metra. And it takes ~20-30 min to get downtown on the 6 bus, which isn't bad.

Also, the rent is pretty cheap, and if you sublet from law students the building that most everyone lives in (Regents) is pretty nice.