chicago

Let's talk Aguachile Alley

Postby tgk » Thu Apr 19, 2018 11:25 am

wuk wrote:Who has a sick ass brunch recommendation? My wife wants to actually go to a mother's day brunch. We don't get out much


i had brunch last week at cafe ba ba reeba and it was a very good play on brunch tapas style. i also like nana and little goat. Not sure how you'll swing getting a seat anywhere on m-day brunch tho.
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Postby identikit » Sun Apr 22, 2018 6:48 am

tgk wrote:
theendoftheworld666@aol.com wrote:
does anyone have any suggestions for what areas i should focus my housing search?


Uptown
rogers park
Edgewater
Andersonville
lincoln square
avondale
Logan square
Humboldt park
Ukranian village
Pilsen
Bridgeport


If you have certain things you want in location let us know but these are good neighborhoods to start your search


we finally fell in love with a place. it is ours. has to be. only - the district is not on your list! is there anything wrong with Bronzeville?
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Postby wuk » Sun Apr 22, 2018 8:54 am

Bronzeville is a good neighborhood. Certainly has some of the most amazing stock of cool old graystone buildings in the city. A stone's throw from south loop, Chinatown, Bridgeport. Right near the damn lake.
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Postby identikit » Sun Apr 22, 2018 10:01 am

I don*t think I have ever actually been there myself, but who cares, I am so done with looking, we have been since February with no luck around Pilsen, and even less luck in walking distance of Columbia College. Not meant to be.

Finally the agent picked up the phone, good morning Chicago. Now I just need 3 days off, fly over, and sign. We already made a down payment lolol. I love this house. (And I have a feeling I will curse it every week - built 1900, what could go wrong.)

Almost ready to move in, right?? :ahuh:

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Postby kirito » Sun Apr 22, 2018 11:38 am

holy shit that place looks rad congrats
They say more money more problems. Bring on the problems. Bring on the problems. Bring on the muhfuckin problems.
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Postby viachicago » Sun Apr 22, 2018 12:05 pm

Buying a 100 year old mansion sight unseen is a kind of life beyond my fantasy
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Postby snuggle » Sun Apr 22, 2018 12:11 pm

Yeah that’s some baller shit
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Postby Fullscreen » Sun Apr 22, 2018 12:16 pm

Kuboaa wrote:also a good gaiter, so much better than a scarf, especially when you are out in the wind

get a balaclava, bought one for work this winter and it was a life saver. I can flip down the hood and wear it as a gaiter if it isn't stupid cold.
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Postby galactagogue » Sun Apr 22, 2018 3:59 pm

identikit wrote:I don*t think I have ever actually been there myself, but who cares, I am so done with looking, we have been since February with no luck around Pilsen, and even less luck in walking distance of Columbia College. Not meant to be.

Finally the agent picked up the phone, good morning Chicago. Now I just need 3 days off, fly over, and sign. We already made a down payment lolol. I love this house. (And I have a feeling I will curse it every week - built 1900, what could go wrong.)

Almost ready to move in, right?? :ahuh:

Image




yesss
when i was looking, i was also looking at bronzeville. it's an underrated neighborhood that is great for it's location but somewhat 'stagnant' in terms of businesses, cafes etc. i personally love the spot tho. you're sooo close to the lake. if more places were for rent around there i'd have moved there in a heart beat, but it's mostly long term residents who own.
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Postby identikit » Sun Apr 22, 2018 5:57 pm

stagnant sounds glorious to me, the speed of where I work and will go to college is more than enough for me.

finally, not knowing where you'll live and checking listings every day for over 2 months had started to terrify me. I shall never attempt to move again while not even being in the city, getting too old for this shit really.

I love you, Chicago.
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Postby tgk » Sun Apr 22, 2018 7:27 pm

identikit wrote:
tgk wrote:
theendoftheworld666@aol.com wrote:
does anyone have any suggestions for what areas i should focus my housing search?


Uptown
rogers park
Edgewater
Andersonville
lincoln square
avondale
Logan square
Humboldt park
Ukranian village
Pilsen
Bridgeport


If you have certain things you want in location let us know but these are good neighborhoods to start your search


we finally fell in love with a place. it is ours. has to be. only - the district is not on your list! is there anything wrong with Bronzeville?


there's nothing wrong with bronzeville it is a lovely, historic neighborhood. did you get one of those brownstone 2 flat houses on king drive?
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Postby wuk » Sun Apr 22, 2018 7:29 pm

It's on Drexel right? That house is incredible. When's the housewarming party?
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Postby Dear You » Mon Apr 23, 2018 1:13 am

i can't believe my lease is up in only like 4 months. i need this thread to give me life again.
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Postby inmate » Mon Apr 23, 2018 1:24 am

just postin' in the chicago thread so i don't miss any of the sweet sweet chicago talk
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Postby viachicago » Mon Apr 23, 2018 10:47 am

identikit, is that place landmarked? planning on doing a top down rehab? how is it structurally? so rare to find a place like that which hasnt been completely hacked to bits over the years, and lord knows the city has lost its fair share to demolition. these sorts of homes need all the faithful stewards they can get. congrats.
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Postby identikit » Mon Apr 23, 2018 2:20 pm

funny enough it has no landmark status, no. apparently it had some renovations done 30 years ago. We want to keep the hardwood floors, ceilings etc. as much as possible. what has to go is kitchen and bathrooms, that is just not doable. but that*s cosmetics to me, and not surgery. But that's all theory, mister identikit is in Chicago now and will see in what shape it really is.

I have no intention to tear it up, I was born and grew up in one of the Unesco World Heritage euro dirt old museum cities - I only learned in the US that in some places, people are actually allowed to rip down old buildings lol. Still weird to me, and probably the reason why I like old buildings.

Thalia Hall for example. I just need to walk by and see that facade, and it feels almost like home!
Last edited by identikit on Mon Apr 23, 2018 2:25 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Postby identikit » Mon Apr 23, 2018 2:20 pm

ah yes, good old double.
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Postby tgk » Mon Apr 23, 2018 2:38 pm

we've talked about the preservation of bronzeville mansions before and it's really a fascinating debate. Back before the great migration the stretch of MLK blvd (back then known as grand boulevard) was where the richest of the rich in chicago lived in stunning mansions and brownstones

Image

for the most part, these mansions still remain, however, there is little to no market for them, people who live in bronzeville are middle and low-income and rehab/upkeep/utilities for 100+ year old mansions is cost prohibitive for many and speculators who just want to fix things up and flip them are wary of these buildings because the millionaires they want to sell them to won't live in the neighborhood, so these buildings remain empty for years. Tearing them down and replacing them with high rise affordable condominiums would solve this problem but would also destroy the rich history and identity of the neighborhood so its not a great solution so i'm glad you're enterprising to live in the neighborhood and preserve the building.

So exciting for you identikit, can't wait to hear updates as the year progresses.
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Postby identikit » Mon Apr 23, 2018 2:49 pm

thank you, I am excited too.

My family was/is super into jazz, there were so many books and LP covers with pictures of "old Chicago" growing up, that it took me a long time after I finally got there to accept that current Chicago does not quite look like that!

It's also really odd to me, Bronzeville - location alone - seems really good to me. yet the sqft price of this place is a third of the average for Chicago. Even if the house might be rotten - you still get the lot, so why is it that cheap? Is there some real estate development allergy when it comes to Bronzeville?

Because with what you are saying - okay then someone could buy it, tear it down, not live in that district themselves -but rent it to people with a higher income who would want to live in bronzeville? no?

wait is that where my logic fails - people with higher income somehow do not want to live in Bronzeville?
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Postby tgk » Mon Apr 23, 2018 2:54 pm

well, unlike the latinx neighborhoods that are rapidly gentrifying, white people do not move into black neighborhoods no matter how appealing they are, so speculators and developers don't invest in them to make money. Bronzeville also skews older, there aren't like, tons of hipster bars or destination restaurants.
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Postby xxx-xxx-xxxx » Mon Apr 23, 2018 2:55 pm

Bronzeville to me, seems likes place Rahm and the planners would like to keep the south loop expansion going, however as TGK mentioned, there's a lot of history that needs to be torn down.

In regards to the relative cheapness of the land, that might have a lot to do with a racial stigma. I drive through Bronzeville daily, as I live in Bridgeport, and my parents who've lived in Chicago 60+ years, still worry when i do.
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Postby identikit » Mon Apr 23, 2018 2:57 pm

aaah, I did not get that memo that white people don't flock to live in a black neighborhood - even if you get to have a garden, have trees everywhere, near the lake, and a great public transit connection.... - nor did I consider that that might affect the price. wow. good morning to me!
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Postby viachicago » Tue Apr 24, 2018 2:48 pm

chicago has a rich history of extreme segregation and institutional racism, and what tgk has said is true to an extent. that said, i think the "white people wont live in historically black neighborhoods" is more complicated. i think it more or less comes down to the residual effects of the 60s riots, as huge portions of chicago's black belt were decimated. the open scars are still evident if you drive through EGP or North Lawndale. its absolutely visceral crossing from the north side of the pink (N. Lawndale) to the southern side (Little Village)...completely night and day. the issue is those events led to extreme disinvestment, and hispanic neighborhoods more or less creating unwritten barriers between bordering black neighborhoods. you simply didnt go into North Lawndale if you were hispanic...different gangs, culture, different everything. and that was compounded by good manufacturing jobs, which used to serve the south and west sides, disappearing. places like Pilsen/Little Village, Avondale, Logan Square etc, which were heavily hispanic, fared better because if nothing else their streetscapes remained in tact, even if they became a bit run down over time. there was at least something left to restore and a sense of place. they also benefited hugely from a surge in immigration from Mexico in the 90s, which at least kept the population base fresh and dynamic. its a way bigger task to rebuild a community that has only 2 or 3 houses on a given block..no one wants to live in such a fragmented neighborhood, and the sense of safety is also greatly diminished. the reason Bronzeville has historically been so cheap is tied into this. the lack of amenities/retail, disjointed and fragmented urban fabric, crime, etc.

in regards to Bronzeville, it had been touted for a while as the next "it" area prior to the housing crash. there was also pre-olympics hype, as the village was expected to be built on the former Michael Reese site. lots of middle/upper middle class black families were buying up properties again and some signs of revitalization began to pop up. then '09 happened and you had massive foreclosure rates. some of those greystones were going for 100k or less. And then on top of it, you had the same families basically cutting their losses, saying "fuck it" and leaving chicago altogether. the increased gun violence as a result of the CHA's "transformation" played a big role, as did the opiod epidemic (west side is the primary distribution hub for the midwest). the city lost something like 200k AA's in the last census, most all from the south and west sides. this destabilized formerly pretty stable middle cass AA neighborhoods like Chatham and South Shore further.

but its obvious to anyone who can look at a map that Bronzeville eventually will be rebuilt. the thing is, you really dont need to tear down much, because thats more or less already been done. i expect more and more professional families who are priced out of buying a SFH on the north side to be looking pretty closely at the area. and theres already huge luxury developments filling in a lot of the long vacant land south of roosevelt. the city is pushing aggressively to build more SFHs in bronzeville, and offering developers cheap city owned properties for them to build on. its going to take a long long time to patch everything in, but it also has the most potential of any existing chicago neighborhood, given its location and remaining housing stock. Hyde Park has changed drastically in just the past 5 years, as has the south loop. if you drive around some of the side streets, theres increased levels of rehabs of historic homes in Bronzeville which i think is flying under the radar of most people.

for the most part, these mansions still remain, however, there is little to no market for them, people who live in bronzeville are middle and low-income and rehab/upkeep/utilities for 100+ year old mansions is cost prohibitive for many and speculators who just want to fix things up and flip them are wary of these buildings because the millionaires they want to sell them to won't live in the neighborhood, so these buildings remain empty for years.


yea it takes a certain kind of person to buy a property like this. its gonna have to be a labor of love. most people in a position to buy these sorts of homes want turn key luxury. they dont want to deal with refinishing the plaster and the original trimwork, or dealing with a wonky heating system, or a compromised foundation. theyre expensive to maintain and a lot of work. if youre dedicated to restoring the property thats awesome, because those types of people who are willing to approach one of these buildings sensitively is rare.
Last edited by viachicago on Tue Apr 24, 2018 3:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby tgk » Tue Apr 24, 2018 2:56 pm

great post

viachicago wrote:. and theres already huge luxury developments filling in a lot of the long vacant land south of roosevelt.


I am NOT looking forward to this, the area is already too congested since there are no north/south running streets between clark and canal and nothing east/west between roosevelt and 18th. Turning that enormous prarie lot into packed in high rises is gonna wreck everything.
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Postby domesticwhite » Tue Apr 24, 2018 3:11 pm

dude that's a sick house i am so stoked for you
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Postby viachicago » Tue Apr 24, 2018 3:16 pm

tgk wrote:great post

viachicago wrote:. and theres already huge luxury developments filling in a lot of the long vacant land south of roosevelt.


I am NOT looking forward to this, the area is already too congested since there are no north/south running streets between clark and canal and nothing east/west between roosevelt and 18th. Turning that enormous prarie lot into packed in high rises is gonna wreck everything.


the currently under construction Wells-Wentworth Connector is supposed to help address this
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Postby tgk » Tue Apr 24, 2018 3:23 pm

damn didn't know about that, very necessary
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Postby domesticwhite » Tue Apr 24, 2018 3:25 pm

yeah truly, i am into that project
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Postby kirito » Wed Apr 25, 2018 1:21 am

quenchers is becoming a doctor's office
They say more money more problems. Bring on the problems. Bring on the problems. Bring on the muhfuckin problems.
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Postby identikit » Wed Apr 25, 2018 7:04 am

dang, viachicago, thank you so much for that post, I'll read it a couple of times - and read up.

Mister identikit checked that place out - with a professional - it is in a much much better shape than we had assumed (due to the low price and not realizing all these factors), so hurray, it's ours.

It's odd, while I am somewhat aware of the city's history with racism - segregation I was not. Not in present day. It somehow clashes in my brain, one of the reasons why I love Chicago so much, I have never worked or lived anywhere as diverse as this city. What I am used to with my Eurobrain is you have bio-locals versus immigration. So in terms of blocks or neighborhoods, I still thought with a system of one pot with "real Americans" (lolol), where black and white would mix in the same hood before they mix with the second generation of immigrants from wherever really.
Obviously, that is NOT what Chicago or the US is.
The "fragmented urban fabric" in desperate need of investment is what I find so charming really. I mean Berlin looks like shit - you still have WII remains and entire areas that have been rebuilt afterwards, then been torn down after the wall came down - and then investors either turned parts of it into glossy hipsterville or ran off. Berlin is extremely ugly - the kind of ugly I find very beautiful! So torn down but not rebuilt and then old gems scattered here and there, is the closest thing I find in terms of feeling visually at home lol. Architectural beauty meets torn up - yay!

I am just starting to wonder if we might be seen as intruder to some extent, who bought a house that should not be ours? When mister identikit met the local real estate agent, she asked him if his wife is black. I don't understand why tbh. Would a mixed couple increase the chances that someone is actually moving into the house instead of holding at as "asset" for the next 10 years, is that why she asked? My closest friend in Chicago who works in the same industry bubble is highly amused. 3rd generation Somali American, and she keeps saying she'll make sure to show her face when we move in... (That's her making fun of "but I have black friends", isn't it. I haven't asked yet!)
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