Where do tree hugging, vegetarian liberals belong in north Chicago? (Evanston: crime, houses)

[Chicago60614]

I'd go for Evanston. It's an awesome little city that everyone loves.

It's also very easy to jump on the L or Metra and be anywhere on the north side of Chicago or downtown Chicago. It'll open you up to a ton of things to do without being a slave to your car.

[jaynetarzana]

Originally Posted by nanannie

Lincolnshire??? No, not with your requests. Its an expensive area with really no "town" to speak of. Some nice McMansions homes, busy traffic,very crowded area. I dont get why tree hugging liberals would be steered there unless your realtor has listings there. I love Highland Park,thinks its a great town. I also like Evanston or any of the lakefront towns. I would find a town you love, and then a house that is "home" for you and through all the wonderful activities,volunteering, and clubs etc you could find your own group of friends and like minded people........ Or else move to Northern California or Oregon

That is what I thought! I told this agent exactly what we are looking for and who we are, but from what I have read, Lincolnshire doesn't fit at all. We are certainly not looking an a McMansion.

We live in Northern California now. My husband's company wants him to relocate to Chicago, so we are considering it for his career.

[jaynetarzana]

Originally Posted by Paige65

Highland Park is pretty liberal. It has a strong government and great schools. I don't think it's quite the tree-hugging community you're looking for, but there is a sense of volunteerism, community involvement, etc. However, I don't think you really get much of that "granola vibe" in Highland Park at all. If you are looking for that, you should look toward Evanston. The commute to/from Mettawa will be fairly long though.

Highland Park has a great downtown and a nice, but small commercial district called Ravinia. If you are looking for family friendly areas where people know one another, I'd check out the Ravinia neighborhood or Sunset Park neighborhood. Sunset Park is close to downtown and Ravinia is close to the Ravinia Festival and business district (dry cleaners, restaurants, hair salons, coffee shop, etc.)

You would probably be able to find a mid-century house in your price range in the area immediately west of Green Bay Road.

The granola vibe isn't exactly ours either. We are the well dressed, clean smelling folk whose core values just happen to be in line with the granola types.

There is a mid century house off Old Mill Rd that our agent is having us look at. Anyone have comments about that area? Is that near either the Ravinia or Sunset Park neighborhoods?

My husband only drives into work twice a week, so a little longer commute isn't as bad on him.

Thanks again for all of the input everyone. How did people relocate before these forums existed? I think a lot of people probably ended up in the wrong place for them.

[jaynetarzana]

Originally Posted by ahava

La Grange and Oak Park are great but if your husband is going to be working in Mettawa you don't want to live that far away. I work in Lincolnshire (near Mettawa) and live in Western Springs (next to La Grange) and my commute is horrible! I'm looking for a new job because I can't take it anymore, and I've only been living here for two years. I'd say you don't want to look any farther south than O'Hare, if your husband's sanity is important to you . With that in mind, I think Evanston is exactly what you're looking for.

Thanks for the input on the commute. It sounds like Evanston is the promised land.

Does anyone know any top agents that specialize in that area? Feel free to send me a private message. Thanks in advance.

[jaynetarzana]

Originally Posted by chiados

We've lived in Evanston for 3 years now and have two young sons. We lived in Berkeley for several years before returning to the Midwest and have found Evanston to be the closest thing to Berkeley in Chicagoland. As to your affinities, there are a number of good vegetarian restaurants in/near Evanston (Blind Faith Cafe, Lakeside Cafe, etc.), the downtown is pretty active with adjacent houses/neighborhoods in your price range, a number of "green goods" stores have opened in the past couple of years, the city council conducts foreign policy on occasion, folks are actually very concerned about their trees and the environment more broadly, the farmer's market is great all summer long, there's a group starting an organic farm within city limits, there are decent parents groups including The Parents' Circle, the schools are good, etc.

This was super helpful input. I absolutely LOVE Berkeley. What brought you back to the Midwest? (feel free to private message me)

Thanks so much for the restaurant suggestions. Now we have a few places to eat while we are in town. We usually print out a list of veg friendly restaurants before we go on a trip only to find that most of them have already closed.

[jaynetarzana]

Okay, I just looked up ratings on the greatschools.net website and elementary schools in Evanston do not rate well. However, Highland Park elementary schools do very well. Obviously schools are at the top of our list of priorities since we have little ones. Now I am confused. I was getting the feeling that Evanston might be the ticket, but I feel like I have hit a road block.

Perhaps I need to define our priorites in order of importance:
1) Safe, low crime area, away from gang activity etc...
2) Clean air
3) Great schools
4) Liberal, like-minded neighbors
5) Nice downtown area hopefully within walking distance from house
6) Mid century modern architecture (open to a house, condo, townhouse or brownstone)
7) Health stores in a reasonable distance
8) Short commute to Mettawa

[chiados]

Guess I should clarify that Evanston is not quite Berkeley, but it's the closest we could find to it in Chicagoland. For instance, there is not the same plethora of cheap ethnic restaurants so close together as in Berkeley and there's not quite the same ease with diversity in the Midwest as we experienced in Berkeley. You can find good restaurants in Chicagoland, but not all in such close proximity. Also, the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago, just to the south of Evanston is one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the country so there's plenty of variety there as well.
Our kids are not yet in the elementary schools, but our research about and recent tour of our neighborhood school was very positive. (I hope our research was correct given what you found.) As I understand it, the two-way immersion (Spanish and English) programs are very well-regarded, there are magnet schools, and not everyone will be driving a BMW/Mercedes to school -- as the more northern suburbs are stereotypically described. We've not yet looked into the junior high schools.
There are plenty of older houses in Evanston with lots of other variety as well.
Northwestern University raises the usual town-and-gown issues with the city, but brings a lot to Evanston as well.
Hope this helps and clarifies my earlier post.

[jaynetarzana]

What about Wilmette, Kenilworth, Winnetka, Glencoe? They all feed into New Trier, which is supposed to be one of the best public schools in the nation.

[Windy City John]

Huge pressure on the kids at New Trier-- Are your kids over achievers and 10 points away from genius? If so, than they might be o.k. Can't see whay you would want to pressure kids to that point. Wilmette and Winetka is the Brentwood of Chicago. $600K will get you a dated bungalow or 60's split level.

[nanannie]

Originally Posted by jaynetarzana

What about Wilmette, Kenilworth, Winnetka, Glencoe? They all feed into New Trier, which is supposed to be one of the best public schools in the nation.

Wonderful sought after towns, and the lakefront !! It is expensive. New T is a top notch school and people move there just so there kids can attend. My cousins went to New T, none over achievers, and they did very well and had a great school experience. There really are activities for all, not just sports.I dont buy into such generalisations for thousands of kids.