The Chainlink

bike-commute friendly neighborhoods to the south side?

I am considering moving out of Hyde Park and am looking suggestion for possible neighborhoods to move into. My job is still in Hyde Park so I am looking for less than a 50 minute commute by bike, with decent public transport on days when I'm not biking.
Ideally rent should also be reasonable (say less than $650/month if I share a 2 bedroom).
Trendy/young-professional neighborhoods a plus.

Suggestions?

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Roscoe Village - 30 minutes to downtown with several good routes (Lincoln, Clyborn, Elston, or Lake Path). Decent access to Addison and Paulina Brown Line stops (10-15 minute walk depending on where you are) or Belmont bus to Belmont Red/Brown station.
I'd say the South Loop might work for you, or the University Village area near UIC.
Pilsen could be good.

I work at U of C and I moved to Logan Square and don't recommend that. The commute stinks.
Oh, sorry, I mis-read and though the commute was to downtown. RV to Hyde Park seems like a bad idea.
Bridgeport? South Loop and Uni Village may be a little pricey, not that I'm up on prices down there.

Bridgeport and Pilsen aren't bad. I have coworkers that commute down from Bridgeport and don't have any problems with the bike ride. Pilsen isn't bad either.

Thanks for all these suggestions guys...keep coming with them :-)

Clark - I think Hyde Park is a wonderful neighborhood with unique set of characteristics. However, sometimes I do find living here...hmm...socially challenging. I moved from NYC and while I do like Hyde Park, and I see myself living here if one day I'm not so inclined to hit the social scene as often. It is also not where most people of my demographic lives (25-35 young professionals), whom I'd like to meet more of. Lastly, public transportation to Hyde Park at night is terrible. The last bus from downtown stops at 12:30am.

Pilsen is on my list of places to checkout. I have yet to check out Univ Village. South Loop seems expensive - location-wise it is perfect. I only been to Bridgeport a few times and I find it non-happening for my taste and less convenient in terms of public transportation, but perhaps someone could correct me on this.
Do you mean less than $650 total or each for the apartment?
I have an open apt.-- 1000 sf, 2 BR, $750/mo, meets most of your stated criteria.
Why do you want to move out of Hyde Park?
Wow! Bridgeport not happening? Public trans lacking? Where ya been, under a rock? We have one of the best bars in the city, Bernice's Tavern! We have one of the best alternative art space's in the Co-Prosperity! The Southside Ride meets every 1st Monday of the month at Bernice's! You have easy access to the Red, Green, and Orange lines, plus you can take the Halsted bus to 47th or 51st street buses to Hyde Park. Also you can take the Halsted bike lane to the north. Rents are cheap! I just rented a huge 3 bedroom for 700 bucks a month!

Amy Y said:
Thanks for all these suggestions guys...keep coming with them :-)

Clark - I think Hyde Park is a wonderful neighborhood with unique set of characteristics. However, sometimes I do find living here...hmm...socially challenging. I moved from NYC and while I do like Hyde Park, and I see myself living here if one day I'm not so inclined to hit the social scene as often. It is also not where most people of my demographic lives (25-35 young professionals), whom I'd like to meet more of. Lastly, public transportation to Hyde Park at night is terrible. The last bus from downtown stops at 12:30am.

Pilsen is on my list of places to checkout. I have yet to check out Univ Village. South Loop seems expensive - location-wise it is perfect. I only been to Bridgeport a few times and I find it way too non-happening for my taste and a bit less convenient in terms of public transportation, but perhaps someone could correct me on this.
But Chuck, everyone knows that everything cool is on the blue line.

Geeze, you kids are so not hip down there.

Chuck a Muck said:
Wow! Bridgeport not happening? Public trans lacking? Where ya been, under a rock? We have one of the best bars in the city, Bernice's Tavern! We have one of the best alternative art space's in the Co-Prosperity! The Southside Ride meets every 1st Monday of the month at Bernice's! You have easy access to the Red, Green, and Orange lines, plus you can take the Halsted bus to 47th or 51st street buses to Hyde Park. Also you can take the Halsted bike lane to the north. Rents are cheap! I just rented a huge 3 bedroom for 700 bucks a month!

Amy Y said:
Thanks for all these suggestions guys...keep coming with them :-)

Clark - I think Hyde Park is a wonderful neighborhood with unique set of characteristics. However, sometimes I do find living here...hmm...socially challenging. I moved from NYC and while I do like Hyde Park, and I see myself living here if one day I'm not so inclined to hit the social scene as often. It is also not where most people of my demographic lives (25-35 young professionals), whom I'd like to meet more of. Lastly, public transportation to Hyde Park at night is terrible. The last bus from downtown stops at 12:30am.

Pilsen is on my list of places to checkout. I have yet to check out Univ Village. South Loop seems expensive - location-wise it is perfect. I only been to Bridgeport a few times and I find it way too non-happening for my taste and a bit less convenient in terms of public transportation, but perhaps someone could correct me on this.
University Village, or at least what I think of University Village is an almost complete redevelopment of the old Maxwell Street Market area. Seeing as though it's mostly new construction most of the commercial is chains. Pilsen's a pretty big area with some gentrification (artists/hipsters) in the eastern end. You might just want to consider living within a few blocks of the red line on the north side. Depending on where you work in Hyde Park you may be able to do it in about an hour.
I left Hyde Park for Logan Square. While I think it's a beautiful neighborhood with a lot of great attributes, there were two main reasons I left:

1) As Amy Y said, the night life is pitiful. Jimmie's Woodlawn Tap is the best they have. While it's awesome in its own way, who wants to have that as your best option unless you want to leave the neighborhood? No venues to see music besides the Checkerboard Lounge and if you don't like the blues, you're S.O.L. If you want to go outside of the neighborhood for night life, Pilsen is the closest bet, but it's not super close. Reggie's is a bit further. And if anything you want to do is going on in Wicker Park/Ukrainian Village etc, have fun with the 1+ hour commute to get there on the CTA. I won't even mention places like Andersonville, which will take you years to get to on the CTA from Hyde Park.

2) Some people (me included) need space between work life/school life and personal life. In Hyde Park if you run out to buy condoms you are guaranteed to run into 27 people you know in CVS. Or if you get drunk and act silly at Jimmie's, you have 100 witness, most of whom you work with/for or otherwise are connected to in some way through the university. Space is nice. Space is good. Sometimes you need breathing room.

Clark said:
Not sure why you're leaving Hyde Park...what aren't you finding there? Or what don't you like there? As a northsider, I've always thought that I might like living in Hyde Park if I were to move south. Hyde Park strikes me as having most of the benefits of Lincoln Park, without the attitude.

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