Few questions about Chicago
 

Hey, I am sorry if you have clicked into this and are now furrow browed cursing the wasted time on the other hand if you are from chicago please read on!

I am 21 and Irish, am heading to chicago for 3 months from end of may till end of august with my girlfriend.

I just have some questions about Chicago

Areas to live, ease to get jobs, the nightlife etc etc

Just any insight into chicago life for a 21 year old would be lovely!

http://www.xmanster.net/wp-content/u...night-1993.jpg

This film should just about cover it.

Just typed the film title into google and the IMDB tagline reads

'When they took the wrong turn, it lead them to witnessing a murder, which left them running for their lives from the perpetrators.'

Fantastic!

I lived there for five years and its one of my favorite cities. It has an absolutely amazing nightlife, terrific public transportation, and is fairly affordable for such a large city. What specific questions do you have?

1) What neighbourhoods would you recommend for fun and youth etc? We have heard wrigleyville advised?

2) Where is the best of the nightlife?

It depends what you're into. I always thought Wrigleyville was fairly overrated as it's pretty expensive and filled with yuppies. It also gets packed up with annoying sports fans on a regular basis since Wrigley Field is there. Basically, it's a fun place to visit sometimes because it has a lot of bars but I wouldn't want to live there. Keep in mind, if you live anywhere on the north side along the red line, Wrigleyville is easily accessible to you 24 hours a day.

When I lived in Chicago I was in Rogers Park (sometimes referred to as Loyola Park by realtors), which is kind of an overlooked neighborhood IMO. It's on the red line so you have 24 hour public transportation and it's on the lake, which is really nice. It's also the most ethnically diverse neighborhood in the city and home to Loyola University so it has a wide range of great restaurants, bars and small music venues. It really depends what you're into though. I love a variety of ethnic foods, off-the-beaten-path bars, going to see local bands at tiny venues and neighborhoods with a strong art community so it was really my kind of place. If you want to be surrounded by sports bars and booming clubs it's probably not the place for you.

Chicago has a couple good areas for nightlife depending what you're looking for. I already talked about the Wrigleyville/Lakeview area which can be fun, there's definitely a lot going on there, and a couple great music venues. There's Lincoln Park, which people will tell you is great, but is really pretty boring. There are the areas north and west of downtown which are home to quite a few clubs, I'm not sure of the actual names of those neighborhoods, but I'm referring to the area around North and Clybourn as well as the former stockyards area. There's Pilsen, which is generally quiet but has a great art scene and is really fun on first Fridays when all the galleries and studios are open and having parties. And then there's Wicker Park, which I always liked a lot. It's a fairly yuppified but there are a bunch of cool bars there and a handful of terrific music venues as well as quite a few really neat places that are sprinkled throughout the fringes.

One of the best pieces of advice I can give you about Chicago's nightlife though is that it is most fun when you do some exploring. Don't just stick to the neighborhoods where the suburban people come to party, like Wrigleyville. Chicago is very big and some of the best places can be found a bit off the beaten path.