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Originally Posted by Handro
I never hear anyone talk about Uptown like it’s rough... maybe 15+ years ago? I felt no qualms about living there back in 2010-12 and it’s not like I’m some brave urban explorer. But for its location and potential density it’s pretty sleepy. A historic lakefront neighborhood with easy downtown access on the redline, dense prewar architecture, and relatively cheap rent seems like a pretty simple equation; i would have expected to see it become one of the more sought after neighborhoods than Logan Square, for instance. It always feels like Uptown is just... there. An afterthought. But it’s easily one of the most beautiful hoods in the city.
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I like Uptown and Rogers Park a lot. But they are really far from the Loop. The reason Uptown exists as a midrise environment is that it was becoming a second "downtown" due to its distance from the Loop. The commute keeps a lot people from moving there. Pilsen, Bridgeport, East Garfield Park and McKinley park are also affordable and probably closer to school or business. And if someone "just needs to be by the lake", many of those folks are turned off by Uptown's charming grit.
Until a few years ago the Alderman, New York transplant Helen Shiller, spent decades actively trying to make Uptown difficult to develop and less appealing to middle class Chicagoans. That momentum is reversing, but it's going to take a while.