West Loop, Near West Side

 

Deciding which neighborhood to visit on the Near West Side was difficult. The area includes unique places, such as Greektown, Fulton Market, and the quiet residential Tri-Taylor. Before moving to Chicago I had read quite a bit about Little Italy, and considered locating my family there. Using Google street views I liked the style of the homes and its proximity to a university and downtown. After nine months of living in Chicago I still hadn’t gone to the neighborhood.

My daughter and I do regularly go the Morgan L (elevated train) stop of the Near West Side. I adore the shrimp grits at Wishbone restaurant, Khloe at Solo Salon is a genius at giving me a beautiful shade of “natural” red hair, and Wigglyville is my favorite spot to buy dog treats.

Still, the point of my project was to experience new places. Before locating to Chicago I’d read about the French Market. Unfortunately, it’s closed on Sundays, when my family and I often travel around the city. I talked my daughter into accompanying me during a weekday to West Loop.

We took the L to the Clinton stop. The French Market was only a block away. While I would have liked to have eaten lunch in one of the finer nearby French restaurants, none I found were within our budget.

I’m a big fan of public markets because they are so important to the health of a community. The eastern side of West Loop is adjacent to Chicago’s downtown and lives in the shadow of one of North America’s tallest skyscrapers, the Willis Tower. (Locals still call the building the Sears Tower.) Rents in West Loop are climbing similarly sky high.

The public market provides space to small and local vendors who couldn’t otherwise afford to be the in the area. We were able to experience interesting food without breaking the bank. The market is located in the Ogilvie Transportation Center, combining two of my favorite things—markets and trains. Shopping in the train station allows Metra commuters to grab groceries or a bite to eat as they pass through.

Nearby is Union Station, serving more Metra lines and Amtrak. Chicago is the largest rail hub in the United States, both for freight and passenger travel. West Loop is unique in that many of those tracks run under the neighborhood. While cities like New York have contentious battles over air rights, the problem for West Loop is ground rights. It’s difficult to find empty places to anchor new buildings along the river.

Upon arrival to the French Market we pursued various vendor stalls to choose our lunch. Options included a number of nationalities, including Mexican and Asian. I was tempted by a Croque Madame sandwich or fresh crepes. In the end, my daughter and I both opted for delicious Belgian hamburgers and fries. I’ve never tried mayo on my fries. It was much tastier than I expected.

After lunch we traversed the eastern side of the neighborhood, starting along the river. It was an unseasonably warm early February day in the low forties. Small groups of people walked in the sunshine or took smoke breaks outside office highrises.

It didn’t take long to complete a loop, going as far as the freeway on the western side. We purposely ended up back at the French Market to find mid-afternoon desserts. There were plenty of chocolates, pastries and sweets. Before we finished I bought treats to take home and some wonderful fresh tortellini to add to our salads for dinner. I plan to keep the market in mind for cold winter days ahead.

 

 

Choosing Chicago Part 5

Part 1 (Go the beginning of Choosing Chicago, if you missed the first part of the series. Otherwise, read on.)

Part 5

We returned to Miami for a final night in downtown. It was the last stop on our itinerary.

We’d investigated trying to cross the Florida panhandle and travel the southern USA to return home by train. More than a decade ago Hurricane Katrina severely damaged sections of the track, particularly in Mississippi and Louisiana. Amtrak service has never been restored from Florida to New Orleans. Taking the train would have meant back tracking long distances we’d already covered previously. We flew home instead.

I was happy to be rid of the rental car, even if it meant circling downtown Miami’s one way streets several times to locate the car company. I then suggested we walk from downtown to our hotel in the adjacent Omni neighborhood. In Chicago, Boston, and Philly we had traveled on foot from train stations to our hotel accommodations. My daughter pointed out we didn’t know the area. We could already see some blocks looked dicey.

I was looking forward to riding the free downtown PeopleMover anyway. Based on a monorail and driverless track system developed for Walt Disney’s Tomorrowland in 1967, many cities studied installing them to revitalize their downtowns. Jacksonville and Detroit started, but only Miami would go on to complete theirs. Later designs would become ubiquitous around the nation’s airports, but the only downtown one is still Miami.

Despite the good press I’d been reading about Miami, we could observe from the elevated PeopleMover track that walking to the hotel would have been somewhat impossible, despite the relatively close proximity. Abandoned sidewalks didn’t link up. The river lacked a decent pedestrian crossing. The area was dotted with empty lots and abandoned warehouses. Clearly people didn’t stroll around except in parks and shopping malls. When we later walked a couple blocks to a diner, we were constantly badgered by cabs for pick up. It was assumed we weren’t planning to go anywhere without a vehicle.

Miami presents an impressive skyline. From a boat it appears equal to other cities, like Chicago. It is only up close and on the ground that the differences are striking. It was in Miami I had my “Aha” moment.

Part 6 (American have a choice we don't want to make.)

Choosing Chicago Part 3

Part 1 (Go the beginning of Choosing Chicago, if you missed the first part of the series. Otherwise, read on.)

Part 3

We skipped visiting New York, as we’d spent a couple recent vacations there. I adore Brooklyn, where I’d gone to college at Pratt in the late 1980s, when the borough was a very different place. I still find the transformation of hopeless ghetto to desirable, leafy brownstone neighborhoods amazing. It also continues to worry me how quickly even the most desolate places can soar to exorbitant prices in less than a decade or two if it has good bones and somehow becomes the next darling.

Our next train stop was Philadelphia. The layover proved momentous. First, we took a break to reconnect with a couple of my childhood friends. But secondly, I fell in love.

Going in I knew Philly was a smaller city down on its luck, which made it reasonably affordable, even in the best downtown neighborhoods of Center City. I was happy to discover blocks of row houses, and other historical styles. It was Rittenhouse Square, specifically, where I became smitten. It was love at first sight.

It was as if someone had taken Newbury Street out of Boston and merged it with some brownstones of Brooklyn, with some French restaurants thrown in for good measure. I have never seen a more dog friendly neighborhood. Fido often went into the little stores. He didn’t have to worry about being regulated outdoors to the patio, even in some of the restaurants, if he fit into a purse.

Bicycles were everywhere. I watched laundry pickups by cargo bike. The neighborhood was free-spirited with young people drinking beers on their stoops in the summer evening, while mature folks drank wine on the sidewalks outside of cafes. People greeted each other on the streets.

I decided we should move to Philly. My husband’s company only has one urban location in the USA, within a mile of Rittenhouse Square. He would have the option of using an office instead of having to work from home. I was so sure this would be “The One” I bought my husband a Philadelphia 76s cap with his name monogramed on the back, which he now politely stores in the closet.

My daughter didn’t share my enthusiasm, declaring the city to be as sleepy as Boston. It didn’t matter. She would be heading off to college. Besides, both Washington, DC and New York City were train rides less than a couple hours away. Some people even refer to Philly as the sixth, affordable borough of New York.

Part 4 (Rittenhouse Square, Philly versus South Beach, Miami.)

Choosing Chicago Part 2

Part 1 (Go the beginning of Choosing Chicago, if you missed the first part of the series. Otherwise, read on.)

Part 2

Trying to determine the perfect neighborhood turned out to be more difficult than I anticipated. At first, I started to collect surveys and “best of” lists for this or that category. Soon I amassed a vast pile of conflicting opinions. My only conclusion was if Forbes magazine liked a city, I probably wouldn’t. Otherwise I was lost.

I did hold on to one magazine article after throwing the rest in the trash. It not only ranked the current “walkability” of various U.S. cities, it also projected where would be most walkable in the future. I decided I could make some comparisons for myself on the train trip. Sure, New York City or San Francisco might be pedestrian heaven, but we couldn’t afford them. This was insider knowledge on how to make a budget choice on finding an unassuming city poised to bloom into an urban utopia.

Who knew there were places like Miami that were positioned to bypass some of the old industrial cities of the North? The article claimed it wasn’t just a single neighborhood in downtown. Entire areas were about to have sidewalks brimming with pedestrians. Sure, I might think a certain city looked appealing right now, but was I missing a golden opportunity for the future? Who was going to keep their urban advantages over time?

The Great American Train Ride to Miami would help me narrow down the city selection process. We were already working with some constraints, particularly our budget. We’d decided we were likely to find our desired amenities in the middle of a major city, except there was a problem. We couldn’t afford an apartment in the downtowns of any of the largest cities, except Houston. That alone should tell you something about the Lone Star state.

Most southern cities were built out after World War Two, air conditioning, and a reliance on cars for transportation. Therefore, they tend to be auto-centric and what we were trying to leave behind. I’d say it’s a toss up whether driving is the more miserable commuter hell in LA or Atlanta. However, I was trying to keep an open mind about how cities would evolve in the future.

My daughter and I struck out on Amtrak. Bunking in the sleeping car, as opposed to coach, we were headed on a land cruise. First stop was Chicago. We’d taken long weekend trips to the city in the past. Unlike LA, the train station is easily accessible to dozens of hotels and miles, upon literal miles, of walking neighborhoods of restaurants and shops. We have no problem strolling a dozen miles in a day if the area is hospitable.

Since we were already familiar with Chicago we quickly headed off to Boston, which has some of the best universities in the world. My daughter was expecting a young vibe, given the density of colleges. However, the downtown area where we stayed was tourists and chain stores. In between the historical sites were bland corporate high rises. Chinatown was a bit dicey but only covered a couple blocks. The old neighboring red light district appeared to be all but gone. Only the trendy boutiques on Newbury Street in Back Bay provided a diversion from the requisite history tours we took.

My daughter took Boston off her own dream cities list. It was too sleepy. Having lived there for some brief spells I knew their snow-packed winters got really, really cold. With the high cost of living I didn’t see a compelling reason to move there either.


Part 3 (The day I fell in love with Philly.)