Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by on2wheels on August 25, 2009 at 8:42am

Thanks for the simplicity Rosa, I was actually curious about a place that was one block west of kedzie, just north of armitage. Looks like it is just outside of your red boxes of doom.

Can I ask what makes those not so good areas?



Rosa Diaz said:

There are a few rough areas. Just try to stay clear from the boxed areas.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by on2wheels on August 25, 2009 at 9:00am

Thanks Rose, Although no car here, I will probable take a few bike rides through with friends to check out the scene.

Rosa Diaz said:

lol, Well, these areas are still gang infested. If you go block by bloc, there are some blocks better than others. Overall, that area still has plenty of shootings, drug dealers, and things of that nature. I say, in order to get the feel of a block. Drive by in a car during a weekend in the summertime. The summertime in these areas are dangerous. In the winter time you see less gang activity because everyone likes to stay inside. I am not saying not to buy a house in this area, but you should be cautious of it.


on2wheels said:

Thanks for the simplicity Rosa, I was actually curious about a place that was one block west of kedzie, just north of armitage. Looks like it is just outside of your red boxes of doom.

Can I ask what makes those not so good areas?



Rosa Diaz said:

There are a few rough areas. Just try to stay clear from the boxed areas.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Primitive Don on August 25, 2009 at 9:04am

LOL Rosa! I have lived in LS on Kimball & Belden for 10 years, and would tend to agree with Rosa that west of Kimball and south of Fullerton is not the greatest ever, although I do walk through there to shop at Tony's Grocery on Central Park and Fullerton.

Even outside the 'evil boxes,' I would say there are some neighbors in particular who are excessive noise polluters (insane amounts of bass, cursing, yelling, and slutty behavior in front of children, etc.) who have little regard for others living nearby. Of course most of our neighbors are quiet, respectable people; there are just a few bad apples that I want to flatten. Like most neighborhoods, it's a block-by-block situation.

Other than that, LS is very well located for public trans, and has a nice residential feel away from the bustle of trendier neighborhoods. It's very bike friendly, and some of your friends probably already live here.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by yaj 7.4 on August 25, 2009 at 9:06am

I live just outside of the southern red box of doom. I love the neighborhood, except for no local grocery store. I give the neighborhood an A for bike-ability, because there are many great bike-friendly streets right here (avoid some at night, eg parts of California, see Humboldt park attack thread).

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by A.I. Kay on August 25, 2009 at 10:42am

I have lived in Logan Square for 3 years, as far east as Rockwell and as far west as St. Louis (always hovering around Fullerton). There are groceries, it's close to or houses several venues for arts and music, and has plentiful neighborhood bars and restaurants. By way of retail shopping, it doesn't have a lot, if that's important.

The neighborhood is great for transportation. We have a few useful buses and, naturally, the Blue Line. In terms of bike transportation, I used to commute to Downtown (about 6 miles) in only 30 minutes by bike. Milwaukee, California, Kedzie (in places), Diversey, and Armitage, are all important bikeways. I bike to work in Lakeview on Belmont everyday and find it quite to my liking, even though it's not a marked bikeway. It's very easy to connect to the North Shore Channel Trail to get to the farther Northside Neighborhoods. Or California -> Wilson (one of my favorite little routes) to get to Andersonville or connect to N. Clark.

If you're in it for the long haul, maybe you'll see something happen with the Bloomingdale Trail, too.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Brendan on August 25, 2009 at 5:25pm

I'm with Howard on this one. I live at Cortland and Sawyer and was a little irked to find out I was so close to the "danger zone". Yeah, there are bangers around, but it's not like they are fenced in by an imaginary red box. Anywhere in the city is block by block. If some one is looking for 100% white bread security they should move to Naperville. Otherwise I think LS is one of the most colorful and bike friendly areas in the city.

I also agree with his thoughts on the CTA. The Armitage bus is a cruel mistress who cannot be trusted, but the Kimball bus pretty much the best ever. In any case I'd try to keep within walking distance of either the Logan or California blue line stops.

h3 said:

Wow, Rosa, a lot of people are going to be offended when they see you've declared their block "bad."
I lived on Sawyer in the block north of Palmer from 96-'02. I watched it go from a colorful area with street life and all sorts of people of all ages to a dead-as-doornails place where the only action on the street is someone parking their car and going inside to blog . . .
If I were the OP I'd specifically aim for the places inside Rosa's evil boxes.
The block you're looking at (sounds like 2000 block of Sawyer) is fine. Close to the Streetside and some other amenities; unfortunately the Armitage bus is mostly worthless, and you're more than a 15 minute walk to the Blue Line. The Kedzie/California bus is on California at that point-- the Kimball bus rocks but I don't know if it goes anywhere you want to go.
Stores-- 10 years ago the folks moving there hoped there would be more to walk to soon; they're still hoping, for the most part. Tony's is the nearest grocery store-- if you're more of a Jewel/Dominick's type you'll have a long way to go.
There are some nice things about the area, and I used to come home and think I was in the best part of Chicago, but I guess my perspective has changed.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by mattbikes1 on August 25, 2009 at 8:39pm

I live in Ravenswood and I love it. I checked out places in Logan Square for the last two years and found no place that my girl or myself would feel very comfortable about walking our dogs late night. Ravenswood is very accessible via bike, bus, or rail. Check out the crime stats if you are concerned and serious about moving into an area that you don't know well. Get informed, don't rely on somebody's advice just because they have never had a problem. Crime is always opportunistic and can happen anywhere at any time.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Primitive Don on August 26, 2009 at 2:31am

I was walking through the neighborhood on the way to work, and it occurred to me that the area just east of Rosa's northern-most box is a pretty good area. Between Kimball and Kedzie, between Fullerton and Palmer is pretty quiet, as far as I can tell. Also Bernard Street is really nice (priced proportionally I'm sure), as are some of the areas north of Fullerton.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Brendan Kevenides on August 26, 2009 at 3:59am

I've lived in Logan Square since May, 2008. (Before that we were in Wicker Park.) I love it. Our home is on Chanay St., near the intersection of California and Point. Our neighbors, for the most part, are great. More and more money is coming into the neighborhood. In fact, an investment banker just built a home next to ours where he lives with his wife and son. It's a beautiful home.

I was nervous at first about moving into the area but I am happy we did.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Annette on August 26, 2009 at 5:20am

May I suggest using EveryBlock (http://chicago.everyblock.com/) when researching a neighborhood. It's a datafest for searching all sorts of public records, including crime. Type in the address, neighborhood, or zip and you can see tons of information block by block. Then you can get real geeky and start comparing a particular place with city-wide stats using the "Citywide Overview" tab. Perhaps not the complete portrait of a place, but as the site develops more it will be an amazing "one stop shop" for information related to a block. As a side note, the site was just recently aquired by MSNBC - will be interesting to see what happens next.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by on2wheels on August 26, 2009 at 5:33am

Yes, that site is great. The only problem I have with it so far is that it is hard to see an overview on the map of a wide range of time, it will only show 30 events at a time. But its better than nothing.



Annette said:

May I suggest using EveryBlock (http://chicago.everyblock.com/) when researching a neighborhood. It's a datafest for searching all sorts of public records, including crime. Type in the address, neighborhood, or zip and you can see tons of information block by block. Then you can get real geeky and start comparing a particular place with city-wide stats using the "Citywide Overview" tab. Perhaps not the complete portrait of a place, but as the site develops more it will be an amazing "one stop shop" for information related to a block. As a side note, the site was just recently aquired by MSNBC - will be interesting to see what happens next.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Gin on August 26, 2009 at 12:46pm

We have lived near Kimball/McLean (close to where you are looking ) for over 7 years. For the price we were able to get our building, it's been great. Armitage bus is blah, but Armitage itself is a fast biking street. Kimbull bus has been a very pleasant surprise. Love having Armitage Produce (actually a proper little grocery store) across the street.

Our main probs in the past have been noise related. This summer has been quieter. The corner just to the west of us has seen some violence. I know there are some gang probs, esp with Central Park being so close. That said, I have always felt comfortable. Our biggest prob now is rats in the back yard. Also, we have a going on 3 year old son. FWIW. Good luck!

• ▶ Reply

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next ›
• Page