Chicago neighborhood information needed

Not sure about play groups but when DH and I lived there Lincoln Park was a nice place to live. Several of the fellows and residents from Children's and Northwestern that I worked with in the lab lived in Lincoln Park because of the vicinity to Children's Hospital. It has a lot of young professionals, families, parks and great public transportation. It's very close to just about everything. If you want to be even closer to downtown, Gold Coast and Old Town are great places too! Gosh, I am trying to remember all the neighborhoods we looked in when trying to find our apartment! Lakeview and Bucktown are also decent. Do some homework online. You can find out about different neighborhoods, prices and pics. You may want to find a place that helps you find apartments. Competition is fierce!

I think if you are only going to be there for a year, be as close to downtown and the lake if you can. Lake Michigan has so many amazing personalities! I miss sitting and watching a storm roll in and the colorful transformations the lake would go through!
Can you tell I miss Chicago??!! I can PM you a list of great restaurants and fabulous Yoga Studios to try as well! Chicago has incredible restaurants! Everything from Cuban food to Thai to Indian, Chicago does it goooooooood!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Annie!

Welcome to Chicago-- I've lived in the city for 4 years and grew up in the suburbs, so this has always been home to me! If you have time, I'd definitely recommend driving through different neighborhoods to get a feel for them-- it's also a great way to see "for rent" places that aren't listed anywhere. Apartment search services are free, so I'd also recommend using a few of those (they usually specialize in a couple of neighborhoods, so you might have to check out a few) because many of them will drive you around and show you units.

I don't know much about Roscoe Village, but I've heard it's a great place for families. Also, Southport and Lincoln Square, but they're a little bit far from downtown. Lincoln Park has tons of great shops and cafes, but I think the demographic is a little immature. It feels too much like a giant fraternity/sorority and I've never wanted to live there, but it's fun to hang out there. You'll find that Chicago neighborhoods tend to be very segregated and that they change dramatically if you walk a couple blocks in any direction. Also, the closer you are to downtown, the easier it is to commute in any direction because all the expressways radiate outward from downtown (but the more expensive the apartments will be and the harder it is to find parking). You might want to check out Old Town- it's close to downtown and the lake and mostly young professionals live there (but not as young as in Lincoln Park). Once you've narrowed down your neighborhood preferences, the Chicago Reader online: http://www.chicagoreader.com has a great housing search function by zipcode. You'll find tons of listings there.

I hope that's helpful. PM me if I can help with anything else about the city.

I lived by Roscoe Village and I loved it. Its a safe area and the housing is still affordable. There are cute little independent shops, restaurants as well as a Whole Foods, Traders Joes ect. I don't have any kids but there were always moms walking around with strollers. Its a family friendly neighborhood. The school I was teaching at was close to the Medical district and the commute wasn't too bad. I mainly took the sidestreets.

I found that there are lots of apartments for rent on craigslist also. Let me know if you need more info.

[HeartRN]

Evanston is probably too far for you from downtown, but I LOVED it there...lots of quaint little shops, the beautiful Northwestern campus right on the lake, etc etc. I commuted via L train nearly every day to downtown Northwestern Memorial. To be honest, I LOVED the commute....it was so great to be in a REAL metropolitan area!!!!!

I think DH and I are really going to try to make it back to the area permanently (small hijack, sorry!) After MIL/SIL here, it really brought home to us how much it means to have family nearby (in spite of how bizarre they can be! )

Marla, you enjoyed that commute?? That's pretty far, especially if you don't make the express.

I guess I'm just impatient- I moved to the south end of the loop so now I just walk 15 min to work.

[PrincessFiona]

Esther...you'll have to write a review so that you can provide all of the chicago info

Annie you're moving at such a perfect time. Chicago in the summertime is so much fun and there's always a festival going on on the weekends. In fact, Taste of Chicago begins the end of June through July 4th so be sure to enjoy that. Fireworks are great at Grant Park too on July 3rd, but they do have firework shows every weekend off of Navy Pier on the weekends, where there's a great Children's Museum there too and lots of entertainment for the kids.

A great website for fun things to do is http://www.metromix.com. They keep up to date with the latest restaurants, events, festivals, etc. in the city.

And if Michigan Avenue proves too pricey and you need some bargains, the Chicago Premium Outlets in Aurora opened up last year and it's fabulous.