The commute to the Loop is why I wouldn’t recommend it for dstark’s kid. It might be fine for someone who was working in Evanston but didn’t want to live in Evanston proper.
Back when we were first married we lived in Lincoln Square for 4 years. The reason I am mentioning it is that it was no big deal to get to the beaches from where we lived. I assume that is true for a number of neighborhoods so I wouldn’t worry about that so much as having access to the L if you aren’t super close to work… We were able to walk to the L from our apartment. But I don’t think Lincoln Square is the place young people live in.
Thanks for clarifying oz park area is part of “Lincoln park” - and “southport area” is part of lakeview area.
I was trying to highlight the subsection as you pointed out.
We learned very fast about “Lincoln park” area which includes all those high rises overlooking Lincoln Park. More expensive condos with garage parking fees, too.
But, if you go a couple blocks west, most buildings are vintage, remodeled, tree lined streets, bars, and restaurants, and that is also " Lincoln park" but somewhat far from the actual park, and a sense of community and neighborhood.
The DePaul/ oz park area should be a designated area- so different from the high rises along the park.
Avoid south-side (south of 18th) and west-side (west of Ashland). Consider West Loop, Bucktown (no hi-rises), and Streeterville and River North (lots of high-rises). Be careful in Lakeview and Uptown (big uptick in muggings and burglaries). Worth reading Secondcitycop blog and CrimeinBoystown blog for more insight. Chicago is less safe than NYC.
That iamchicago website is SOOOOO incredibly inaccurate.
sidebar: lincoln park is far more upscale than lakeview
My credentials here: I’ve been working with a real estate agent for LP and Lakeview helping guide my daughter, who will be closing on a unit next month, so I think my knowledge of LP / Lakeview real estate is reasonably up to date.
I said upthread that LP is a bit more upscale than Lakeview. However, from a real estate perspective, we found that difference mostly at the very high end of the spectrum - for example, the multimillion dollar homes on Burling Street in LP. (Though the homes on Stratford, Cornelia, etc. in Lakeview aren’t slouchy either.)
For the price range of most 20somethings – especially renters – there’s not a marked difference between the two areas. For my daughter’s price range, she found much the same thing in LP as in Lakeview, and she has pretty much the same amenities. She wound up buying in Lakeview just because that’s the unit she liked best, but the two areas bleed into one another so much. Do you have other information to suggest otherwise? I think it’s misleading to suggest major differences to “outsiders” who are just beginning their search. Their decisions need to be about River North vs Wicker Park vs Lincoln Park / Lakeview, not LP vs Lakeview.
As for the website, what’s inaccurate about it? Apparently they photographed people at those locations. In a city of however many million, not everyone is going to fit the stereotype of the area they are standing in. Not everyone in Lincoln Park is going to be a Lincoln Park Trixie or Chad.
@pizzagirl you are current with values and Lincoln park/ lakeview ! Congrats to your daughter with her new purchase.
I just found this 2014 real estate/ neighborhood guide to Chicago neighborhoods. I hope it’s still relevant, and maybe helpful to @dstark and others moving to Chicago.
http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/April-2014/chicago-neighborhoods/
@pizzagirl mentioned above the street of burling -Lincoln park
A little dated 2007 - most expensive city blocks in US -
http://www.forbes.com/2007/08/30/most-expensive-blocks-forbeslife-cx_mw_0831blocks_slide_3.html
( near Lincoln park high school and oz park )
"Recent construction and expansion projects can also tip the balance. In Chicago, there are several blocks in close competition for the title of most expensive, but the block between Willow, Armitage, Burling and Orchard notched the top spot due to top Chicago families combining lots.
“People have been able to combine as many as seven city lots to build massive new homes,” says Deborah Fischer, a broker at Koenig & Strey. This once low-key area in Chicago, known more for its small Victorians, now features Richard Parrillo’s seven-lot home, Penny Pritzker’s five-lot home and Sara Crown Star’s three-lot home."
My son has been in Chicago for the past nine years. He has lived in Hyde Park, the South Loop, Ukrainian Village, and Wicker Park (actually, right on the border with UV), and he just moved a couple of weeks ago to Logan Square. He has worked in Hyde Park, Lincoln Park, and the South Loop. He has never had any interest in moving to Lincoln Park or Lakeview, notwithstanding spending a fair about of time there – he much preferred Ukrainian Village/Wicker Park and Logan Square.
Logan Square is by far the most popular neighborhood for his friends from college who stayed in Chicago – certainly a substantial plurality lives there, if not an outright majority. He would bristle at being described as a hipster – he isn’t at all – although his housemate of the past few years probably qualifies by dint of being a music journalist. He isn’t so bro-ish either, although he enjoys both beer and Cubs games.
One year a few years ago, he and my wife shared a two-bedroom apartment on the western edge of the Ukrainian Village while my wife was working in the Loop (and he in the South Loop). My wife, mid-50s at the time, absolutely loved living there. And loved the relative low cost of living there (the rent was about $1,400/mo. for the two of them). It definitely wasn’t an “all mod cons” kind of place – it has character, high ceilings, quirky landlords, and a certain amount of dust.
He and some friends had a sensational sublet in the South Loop for several years – a two-story lofted apartment in a converted industrial building.
Any hipster worth his artisanal salt bristles at being described as a hipster, JHS. I’m not surprised your son preferred Ukrainian Village/Wicker Park and Logan Square. It’s “cooler” to like those places than it is to like Lincoln Park and Lakeview, which, for heaven’s sake, your suburban parents in cargo shorts feel comfortable walking around. And I’m not really kidding, either. It’s mainstream to like LP and Lakeview and for some people, mainstream is the kiss of death.
@jhs @dstark I think, dstark has found her CC expert on the area best fit for her son
From the original post, this question
Pizzagirl and I may have more info regarding Lakeview / Lincoln Park/ Oz Park , but clearly
JHS is the hipster/ cool area consultant.
Son, and soon to be wife ( in 3 days) purchased a condo in roscoe village area last year.
I said forget about West Village a post or two after that West Village comment. 
@dstark ^ whoops I missed that - carry on all
Yet, another neighborhood guide
http://www.choosechicago.com/neighborhoods-and-communities/
@JHS, I’m sorry, I see hipster all over this …
In all seriousness, Lincoln Park and Lakeview ARE mainstream. Normcore. Acceptable to the 'rents. Lots of Big 10 grads. Boystown is outré but that’s about it.
It’s funny, because I don’t really know what “the West Village” means in New York anymore. My daughter, who IS a hipster, lives in Greenpoint (in Brooklyn – it’s where most of the girls on Girls live), and almost all of her friends live in various neighborhoods in Brooklyn, too, except for the ones who now live in the hipster neighborhoods in Queens. Lots of her friends can go week to week without so much as visiting Manhattan. To them, I suspect, “the West Village” registers as “yet another place where rich old people and investment bankers live and there are a bunch of businesses that cater to rich old people.”
For that reason, it’s hard to translate between Chicago and New York. People often compare Wicker Park to Williamsburg, and that’s true to some extent, But the differences among Chicago neighborhoods – at least the ones where college-educated, employed people live – don’t seem to mean as much as they do in New York.
@Pizzagirl : Is Logan Square not supposed to be acceptable to the 'rents? Did I screw up? Did I miss that my son and his fiancee were calling me out by moving there? I was happy. I love Lula Cafe – it’s pretty much exactly what I think a restaurant should be. I love that every Halloween they “dress up” as another restaurant and serve its menu. Last year, they dressed up as our favorite restaurant here.
Nothing wrong with Logan Square at all! I too like Lula Cafe. I’ll meet you there next time you’re in town. I also like Wishbone in the West Loop; check that out next time you’re in town.
@jhs ok, I’ll play lulu dressed up as your favorite restaurant mmmmm I know you like fine dining, indulged in molecular gastronomy
Mmmmmm your favorite Chicago place -
Alinea? My final answer
I went to Alinea (a famous restaurant in Lincoln Park, very expensive and much talked about) once, and was pretty ambivalent. It was really entertaining, but in the end I thought it was all about being clever, subversive, and self-congratulatory, and not much about wonderful food. In general, I think there’s a lot of that among expensive restaurants in Chicago. It’s not that I am opposed to what gets called “molecular gastronomy;” it’s that if that’s what a restaurant is most famous for, I probably won’t love it. I wasn’t kidding when I said Lula Cafe (a much less fancy restaurant in Logan Square) was my favorite restaurant in Chicago.