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Advice on Moving to Chicago
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Hi everyone! I am going to be attending the School of the Art Institute of Chicago next year, which is super exciting! However, I'm a little bit overwhelmed by the prospect of moving to Chicago, a city which I have never been to and know next to nothing about.
I've been doing a lot of research about neighborhoods, but I'm still pretty fuzzy on what is what. Easy transportation to the Loop is a necessity, as that is where my classes will be located, so it seems like I'll want easy access to the EL (unless there are other transportation options I'm unaware of). It would also be nice to be near other young people/artists, and having access to vegan friendly restaurants would also be cool. Of course price is also a huge factor. I have two friends at my current school who are also moving to Chicago, and we're hoping to share an apartment.
The school's pamphlet says that most off-campus students live in Lakeview, Logan Square, The Loop, Wicker Park, and Ukrainian Village. It also suggests Bridgeport and Rogers Park as other options. Right now I'm leaning towards Logan Square, but I'd like to hear takes on other neighborhoods by natives.
Aside from apartment advice, I'm also open to any tips on Chicago in general. In terms of large cities I'm used to New York, so any major differences between there and Chicago would probably helpful.
Thanks in advance, I would really appreciate any advice at all!
I've been doing a lot of research about neighborhoods, but I'm still pretty fuzzy on what is what. Easy transportation to the Loop is a necessity, as that is where my classes will be located, so it seems like I'll want easy access to the EL (unless there are other transportation options I'm unaware of). It would also be nice to be near other young people/artists, and having access to vegan friendly restaurants would also be cool. Of course price is also a huge factor. I have two friends at my current school who are also moving to Chicago, and we're hoping to share an apartment.
The school's pamphlet says that most off-campus students live in Lakeview, Logan Square, The Loop, Wicker Park, and Ukrainian Village. It also suggests Bridgeport and Rogers Park as other options. Right now I'm leaning towards Logan Square, but I'd like to hear takes on other neighborhoods by natives.
Aside from apartment advice, I'm also open to any tips on Chicago in general. In terms of large cities I'm used to New York, so any major differences between there and Chicago would probably helpful.
Thanks in advance, I would really appreciate any advice at all!
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For transportation, yeah, the El is it. The bus system is decent in the city/neighborhoods too. Anything past Jefferson Park you start getting into the 'burbs, and options drop off dramatically.
Really nothing major if you're familiar with NY. It;'s a lot smaller in comparison, but still a good size city. downtown/loop area is dead in the evening/weekend as it's mostly all businesses.
Check the usual real estate sites like Zillow, etc. for rentals. Doing a quick search came up with around $2,000 for a 3 bedroom in Logan Square.
That said, all the neighborhoods definitely have very unique feels to them. I'm not familiar with all the ones on your list, but Lakeview is fairly young and busy (especially near Wrigleyville), Lincoln Park is quite yuppy and I've heard Wicker Park described as hipster paradise. Really the best thing to do though would be to take a weekend and spend some time walking around the neighborhoods in question. Price also will vary quite significantly, generally getting more expensive the closer you are to the Loop.
The bus system in the city is just as good as the El and between the two you can get just about anywhere via public transportation. Google maps has a nice feature for giving directions via the bus and El, so I highly recommend checking what your commute would be like via public transit (parking in the loop is awful) before you commit to a place. I general try to avoid transfers (i.e. taking a bus to an El to get to school/work) because waiting outside in the winter can be pretty brutal.
One of the first things you're going to want to do when you move here is get a CTA card and an IPASS (if you own a car). You can sign up for a CTA card online and I think you can pick up an IPASS at Jewel-Osco (a major grocery chain here).
Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions, I don't check H/A all that often.
http://spotcrime.com/il/chicago
All of the neighborhoods you mentioned are good choices, except possibly Rogers Park. My brother lived there when he was going to school at Loyola, and never did like the area. I didn't think much of it when visiting him either. It's rather far from downtown compared to some of the others, and honestly just not as interesting as any of the others.
Logan Square, Wicker Park and Ukrainian Village are probably the neighborhoods that would have the most other artists. I worked at the AIC for a couple of years, and a lot of my co-workers who were artists lived in those areas. Bridgeport is a decent choice as well, and you should also consider Pilsen, which is nearby on the south side. Pilsen sometimes gets a bad rap because it was an area with a lot of crime for a while, but it has really improved in recent years and tends to be a neighborhood chosen by younger people who are more willing to trust that it has improved in exchanged for some cheaper rent. I've been to some exhibitions at galleries in the area.
Can't really help you when it comes to vegan restaurants - the only two vegans I've known in Chicago generally just picked carefully from menus at more general restaurants, though that may have been because they both married meat-lovers. Bleeding Heart Bakery is a popular bakery that offers a lot of vegan selections, but I've always found too many of them to taste terrible to risk it for the ones that are genuinely good. In any case, I can't think of any vegan restaurants with good reviews that have lasted a long time. They tend to come and go, I think.
Oh, I forgot to mention Green Zebra. Quite excellent, and that's coming from someone far on the carnivore side.
Living in Chicago is pretty quick to pick up. Your life will revolve around the L and buses, but the CTA has a handy bus tracker app, and the L trains come very often. But mostly everything will be in walking distance from your apartment. I'd very highly recommend that you try not only to find a place close to the L, but even closer to a grocery store. Going grocery shopping and lugging stuff back on the bus or walking is a chore. So I guess my biggest piece of advice is before you take an apartment, walk or google the neighborhood of like a 4-5 block radius and check out what's around there as far as bars, restaurants, stores, etc. This assumes you aren't bringing a car, which if you are, I would completely avoid Lakeview as street parking is a bloodthirsty competition in that neck of the woods.
As for some of my favorite spots Wishbone is a great little southern restaurant, Hot Dougs has the most amazing hot dogs and sausage in existence, Kuma's has amazing burgers.
Green Zebra was a good call - I haven't eaten there myself, but have heard many good things about it in reviews and from friends. Wishbone is fine as long as you aren't looking for really authentic southern food. If you are, Big Jones for southern coastal cuisine would be my choice. Hot Dougs is great if you can make it on a weekday, not really worth the long weekend lines though, imo. Also not very vegan-friendly. Kuma's is great if you like burgers with a wide variety of unusual toppings, but the burgers themselves are average.
My wife's best friend is vegan, and she went to Avec frequently before she moved away, so they should be a good option from time to time. Not a cheap option, but definitely quality.
Don't forget to pack a shovel.
Crashing at a friend's or family would be best, but yeah, if you're going to be here awhile that's fine. Probably should have all the friends moving in look together, so everyone can sign the lease. Call/email the places you want to look at and try to book them all over a weekend or two days.
You may not have a choice, but main TV and 'net providers are either Comcast/Xfinity or AT&T UVerse. Most likely you'll get stuck with Comcast - not great, but no worse than other near monopolies. AT&T cell is probably the worse of bunch here.
Your best advice will come from talking to upperclassment at SAIC who've lived here for a while.