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It may be on the outskirts of Chicago, but because the O’Hare International Airport is here, businesses abound and flourish. It’s the site where many major businesses have set corporate headquarters, and just like in any American city, hotels have sprung up in great numbers close to the airport (and anyone who has ever missed a connecting flight understands why).

If all of this is turning you off from visiting the neighborhood (outside of landing in an airplane and catching the first cab you can get), I don’t blame you one bit. O’Hare is known for its congested runways, and personally I wouldn’t want to live too close to a place constantly filled with the sounds of Boeing jets landing and leaving.

There ARE nearby residential areas, and there is a high concentration of shopping and entertainment outlets in the area – which are something I look for in a neighborhood, but they aren’t the trendy kind – more like the American chain kind. There are a few restaurants of note, like the Italian Da Luciano or the French Chez Colette, but I still say that this neighborhood really owes its popularity to the airport – which is the kind of place one visits merely out of necessity.

This South Side neighborhood is nothing to brag about – what you’ll find here are a lot of bare-looking brick duplexes, single family homes and the occasional tree (some are pretty impressive evergreens).

In the north area of the neighborhood, parking on the streets in this residential area is relatively easy, and the streets stay pretty quiet in this relatively middle class area. The southern area of Burnside is more of a working class area, and some would say that it is a sketchier part of town.
The neighborhood hasn’t seen much changes in recent years, but the low real estate values are beginning to attract a few developers – especially to renovate old homes in the area. If you want to move into the area, it’s best to do so pretty soon, as rumor has it that prices won’t stay low for long.

On the plus side, the area is affordable, but on the down side, it is extremely residential and it’s the kind of Chicago neighborhood that makes you glad to own a car. There’s no reason to visit Burnside if you are only in Chicago for a few days – and if you do find yourself here, take precautions to stay safe.

Like that other neighborhood close to the airport, Clearing has attracted a number of strip malls, stores and restaurants that wouldn’t be there without the presence of the Chicago Midway International Airport. Outside of the airport action, Clearing is a residential ‘hood with an architectural population of single family homes and rows of bungalows.

Clearing may have some crime creeping in from surrounding neighborhoods, but the presence of the airport and the jobs and business that it brings to the area make Clearing one of the safer South Side Chicago neighborhoods.

To the naked eye, Clearing is a clean area – but beware that the surrounding areas are not as great. Also, prospective residents may want to consider the constant air traffic noise of Clearing’s skies.

In my opinion you are better off heading to other areas for a real taste of Chicago – the businesses that are set up here are often outdone by restaurants and shops elsewhere in the city. With that, I’ll leave a suggestion for anyone stuck at the airport with time for a short walk or cab ride: visit El Gallo Tapatio on W 63rd St.

This South Side area is not especially safe – there have been recent shootings (one outside the local high school in January), so watch your back in Gage Park. Overall, it’s not a place worth visiting if you only have a few days in the city, and it’s not a place where you would want to move if you could afford not to live here.

Gage Park is a working class neighborhood whose streets are mostly lined with bungalows of the sort that are pretty popular in the surrounding neighborhoods. They look okay from the outside, if not pretty standard, and the streets stay relatively maintained.

The population here consists mostly of working class Hispanic people, and there are nearly a million Mexican restaurants out here. There is at least one taco stand (that I know of) that lives up to expectations – Elias Tacos on South Kedzie Ave. In addition to Mexican cuisine, the area seems to stock plenty of car dealerships and auto mechanic shops, giving it a kind of industrial feel. It’s not a place where you want to be left alone after dark.

If any neighborhood in Chicago deserves a mixed review, it’s Garfield Park. It’s actually divided into east and west sections on the community board, and one side of the divide differs slightly from the other. Whereas the West Garfield Park area is clearly being gentrified as the area around the Loop becomes more expensive and drives more residents further from the lake, East Garfield Park hasn’t yet seen this action.

So the western half of Garfield Park as earned a reputation as a hipster magnet and an “up-and-coming” spot, but it has yet to completely overcome its working class roots.

The local conservatory is, in a word, inspiring. If you go to Garfield Park for any reason, make sure you stop by this, one of my favorite Chicago attractions. (Currently the conservatory is hosting a tropical flower show and honey bee presentations.)

Even if there are hipsters moving in, Garfield Park remains a pretty rough neighborhood, so I wouldn’t recommend that anyone unfamiliar with the area go alone. I always recommend to city visitors that they keep to more established neighborhoods, as the “up-and-coming” ones aren’t always what you would imagine.

Hermosa is pretty far from the real city action – there’s nothing interesting around, unless you count Walt Disney’s birthplace as such. You are of course still in Chicago, and should take the usual precautions, but it seems like an okay neighborhood to me (I stayed here briefly when I first moved here, but haven’t been back since without any reason to visit).

I wouldn’t recommend Hermosa as a completely safe place – it is a working class area which has been noted in the past (a few decades back) for some violence, and it’s not as stable as some of the more established Chicago neighborhoods. A potential resident may want to take advantage of low cost properties and constant development in the area, but a tourist would probably not bother themselves with Hermosa. (If you do decided to move here, remember that you are probably going to be leaving the area a lot of if you are the type who likes to go out on the town.)

Since Hermosa is pretty family-oriented, nightlife and bars in the neighborhood aren’t what they are in other parts of the city (think Wicker Park), and you’re unlikely to find much in terms of great places to shop, either.

Yet another “up-and-coming” Chicago ‘hood (though it’s not quite there just yet). Word on the street is that Humboldt Park is going to be the new Wicker Park/Bucktown – because of the influx of starving artist types. (Wicker Park/Bucktown isn’t as cool these days for starving artist types – all the commercial things springing up in those neighborhoods are apparently drawing in a yuppie crowd.)

Anyway, some parts of Humboldt Park are nicer than others – there are places that can be a little sketchy at night, so be careful if you’ve never been to the neighborhood. It’s weird: each block in Humboldt Park is pretty different from the next. There are a number of families that live here, and there is still a certain amount of crime, which is what I’m beginning to think “up-and-coming” really means – that artist-types are moving into a neighborhood where crime is beginning to drop.

Paisano’s is a good taco place in the area, and Bite on Augusta is worth checking out as well. There are also a number of little bars in the neighborhood – hole-in-the-wall type places with a really laidback vibe. Just be careful walking home!

Those of us who live in Logan Square love it, and with good reason – crazy development has been going on here in the past few years, including the establishment of a number of new art galleries, bars, coffee shops and restaurants.

Residents of Logan Square have a strong sense of community, with the presence of their our own farmers market co-op and Logan Square Kitchen, which offers a nice space for meet-ups. Thrift stores are everywhere, and Milwaukee is home to a lot of cool places for movies and music and sushi. There are two neighborhood festivals, Metronome and Milwaukee Avenue Arts – and even if Logan Square has gotten pretty gentrified, it hasn’t lost its edge.

The population remains somewhat diverse (you cans still hear the occasional Spanish or Polish being spoken), and there is a decent choice of multinational cuisine available in the neighborhood.
Nightlife here is outstanding – there are so many bars within walking distance. Really, there is a lot within walking distance; just about anything you can imagine is convenient to get here. It’s also easy to get to the lakefront from here – a number of buses will take you there.

There really is a unique energy that makes Logan Square my favorite Chicago neighborhood.

Chicago Lawn: this South Side park may see the occasional crime statistic, but for many it’s a source of fond memories of sledding, fishing and jogging. On the east side of the park you can find every outdoor activity you can imagine – softball diamonds, basketball courts, tennis courts, a running track and soccer fields are there for residents’ use, and the west side of the park is the side where you could take your book and just relax in the greenery or by the lagoon. (There is also a nine-hole golf course on this side, which I hear is not the most clear-cut of courses.) Summer sees a lot of roadside BBQs going on in the area.

On the down side, gang signs can be found tagged on nearby buildings and there is a strange lack of parking signs around. But: in recent years Mayer Daley really did a number on this park, cleaning up a place that used to have too much garbage, homelessness and prostitution in its midst.

People are always fishing in this park – though I’m not sure what exactly they are catching or if they actually can eat the fish.

This is a very stable community in that people who live here never seem to leave (although I’m not exactly sure why). While a lot of the homes here in this suburban-like section of Chicago are very nice indeed, there isn’t a lot going on in Montclaire that could keep someone like me – who likes to go out evenings – in the area for very long.

To be fair, though, Montclaire is where some of the largest homes in the entire city are located, and a family that somehow scores one (and doesn’t mind living on the city fringe) is lucky indeed, since they hardly ever go on the market. It’s even better that these huge Victorian, Tudor and Georgian homes go for relatively cheap ($250,000 - $350,000) considering how beautiful and spacious they are.

There are some good schools in the area, and this is where Shriner’s Hospital is located as well. Shopping tends to be of the strip-mall variety, like what you find at the local Brickyard Shopping Center (where they have a Target, Lowes, McDonalds – you get the picture).

It may not be very exciting (and, let’s face it: the reason you move to or visit a city has a lot to do with the pursuit of excitement), but residents seem to enjoy it for what it is.

Morgan Park is on the southwest South Side of Chicago, but it’s different from many South Side neighborhoods in that it feels less like an inner city area and more like a little village or something. It’s a middle class place, and unlike a lot of surrounding Chicago neighborhoods you can actually walk around the shopping district (as opposed to driving around it) and visit its shops and offices on foot.

It’s a predominantly African-American (with some Irish Catholics thrown in the mix) middle class area, and outside of the shopping district it’s very suburban-feeling (as most of the neighborhoods on the outer edge of the city limits tend to be). Housing options start around $100,000 – which isn’t too bad, but consider that you may have to travel through some pretty bad neighborhoods on a trip to North Side Chicago, or even on the way to the lakefront.

Surprisingly, the area around Morgan Park used to be a sort of vacation spot for the city’s elite – but these days it’s not much of an attraction for the well-to-do.

Some residents complain of the traffic and congestion surrounding the Morgan Park Academy, who like to block off streets so that the children can leave safely. The school itself is known for being a top-notch educational facility, if pricey.

Tourists looking for a little bit of a break on hotel prices might want to check out this neighborhood, since it’s close to the real Chicago action (the Loop, Magnificent Mile, etc) but a little bit cheaper than staying right IN the action. And those who are interested in parks and museums will find them here as well (like the Shedd Aquarium or the Adler Planetarium). Near North Side is close to the White Sox’s field, as well as a number of historic buildings – and as an added bonus, the neighborhood is not nearly as congested as the Loop.

Near South Side is less expensive than neighboring North Side neighborhoods, and it keeps things competitive. A lot of new construction is going on in the area, but hopefully the historic homes and buildings will be kept safe by the city.

The neighborhood has seen just about every kind of condition, but these days – with all the new condos and apartment buildings going up – the Near South Side enjoys a certain amount of stability and is a place that I recommend visiting.

The Near West Side is a pretty okay slice of Chicago life – it’s near the Loop and it’s full of historical spots like the Hull House neighborhood, Little Italy and Greektown. There are endless places to eat in the area – especially in Little Italy and Greektown – and it’s also home to quite a few towering office buildings.

The neighborhood is one of those being gentrified – and of course the closer you get to the lakeside, the more gentrified, safe, and “up-and-coming” it becomes. It’s not a bad area at the moment, but it’s not very high end, either. There are some interesting-looking restaurants on Ashland, and you can check out live music at the Cobra Lounge just about every night.

I am always hearing about good deals on condos in the area, because many were recently built by developers who ended up with a negative cash flow. Keep in mind that this neighborhood does vary quite a bit – the further you move west, the less in-transition it is.

There’s a farmers market on Sundays in Ellen Gates Starr Park, the only one of its kind in the neighborhood. And the area is definitely not without culture – the Chicago-style hot dog, deep dish pizza, Chicago blues and the Blues Brothers all have ties to the Near West Side.

Empty lots have recently been transformed into new developments in Oakland, but in my opinion the neighborhood still has plenty of room to grow. And in the vernacular of the current economy, the phrase "new developments" often means new condos and high rise apartment buildings, which is true for this South Side, lakeside area. It’s not a cheap place to live, but the population remains pretty diverse – many of the African-American residents have been in Oakland for a long time.
The neighborhood has been on the up-and-up since a number of housing projects were razed to the ground in the late nineties (thanks, Obama), but it remains so residential that you have to travel outside of it for a lot of things.

Because of its South Side locale, I wouldn’t advise that any newbies just go strolling into the neighborhood without supervision. It isn’t the roughest neighborhood, but it’s not the best Chicago has to offer, either. Use caution when in the area. And, on a personal level, I would probably never move here myself. Houses – many of which are newly built or newly renovated – are pretty cheap out here, but with good reason.

There are a lot of things planned for the actual park (like a new playground), and currently it hosts one of the best Chicago Park District swimming pools (it is beautiful, enormous, and will only put you back $40 for a seasonal membership). The surrounding area can be loud with traffic and car stereo music – and there isn’t much space in Portage Park to get away from the racket.

Early fall is my favorite time to visit Portage Park, because the leaves are changing colors, and it is a tad bit less packed with people and subsequent noise. At the entrance on Irving and Linder, there is a little botanical garden where you can both wander or linger (there is some hard-to-find seating). The park also has football fields, baseball fields and a field house where both the pool and a boxing ring are housed.

It’s a nice place to visit during the day, but don’t linger in the park after the sun goes down. That really goes for any Chicago park – you just don’t want to risk getting jumped.
The surrounding North Side neighborhood is a working class area, but there is a strong sense of community there – as well as a lot of bungalow housing units and quaint little churches.

This is a nice area in the upscale Lincoln Square area – a North Side neighborhood with a reputation for affluence. There are a lot of shops and courtyard-style apartment housing (a staple of the community), and the area enjoys a lot of transportation access (the Brown Line, Metra, and a whole lot of buses) and it’s a quick ride to the Loop.

The area is beautiful – tree-lined streets, parks, cleanliness, the whole bit – and Lincoln Avenue hosts a range of trendy and upscale restaurants. Recent years have made sure that Ravenswood enjoyed something of a real estate renaissance – it is practically overflowing with (high priced) bungalows, flats and condos. Some of the neighborhood is only recently gentrified, but don’t let that deter you from visiting – this neighborhood is doing very well for itself at the moment.

One of my favorite stops in Ravenswood is Ravenswood Used Books on North Lincoln Ave. It’s a chaotic-seeming cubby-hole of books – but I (and many other neighborhood dwellers) love it. The guy who runs it generally knows what is in there and where it is, so if you are doing more than browsing you need not worry!

Not my favorite neighborhood – the landscape/architecture in the area is sparse and banal, and even if legend has it that improvements are being made, Roseland is still a neighborhood of few opportunities. The crime rate has stayed high, and someone with better options is better off not moving in – or even visiting.

There isn’t much out here by way of commercial activity – just a lot of run-down residences. It’s not a place that I consider safe, worth visiting, or even worth driving through. There is some debate as to whether Roseland is actually one of the worse-off neighborhoods in Chicago (Englewood is definitely on that list), but I’m putting it on my list. Lately there has been a lot of stuff in the news about how neighborhoods like this see a lot more murders (mostly due to gang violence) during summer weekends – a scary fact to have to face.

If you can avoid Roseland at all (and you should be able to do so), please do. You’ll be that much safer.

Once the home of the now-defunct steel mills, South Deering is still home to a lot of industrial areas. Of course it is not without residencies, either, but deep in the South Side is not where I would care to live – even if this neighborhood IS home to one of the best seafood places in Chicago.

Currently there are a lot of robberies and burglaries that go on in South Deering – not surprising for a neighborhood with so many industrial nooks and crannies. South Deering has yet to come out of the economic depression that hit it when the mills closed, and I can’t say that I blame people for not wanting to move in or develop the area. It’s just not a safe bet or a good investment.

That said, Calumet Yacht Yard on East 95th Street has been in the neighborhood for more than half a century, and has seen the neighborhood undergo plenty of changes. It’s one of the best seafood markets in the entire city, and you won’t have to wait very long in line due to the out-of-the-way nature of its location. Just make sure you don’t stay in the neighborhood after dark.

I love a neighborhood that hasn’t gone the ways of extreme capitalism – one that has its share of mom-and-pops style restaurants and shops. In other words: I really appreciate the Ukrainian Village for what it is. It’s a safe middle class haven, and even if it is being gentrified more and more these days, it still maintains a certain amount of eastern European style. Lately, due to all of the renovation going on, people have started referring to this area as “East Village.”

It’s close to the trendy Wicker Park (can’t beat that), and only about ten minutes from the infamous Loop, with Blue Line and Metra transportation available nearby. Lately there have been a lot of new restaurants and shops springing to life, making the Ukrainian Village able to hold its own when it comes to things to do and enjoy.

There are some gorgeous Ukrainian churches (complete with spires) and old-fashioned housing in the area, with more modern buildings thrown in the mix. Visitors with time on their hands should do themselves a favor and take a walk around this eclectic and entertaining neighborhood. And if you happen by, do yourself a favor and check out the Sweet Cakes Bakery on North Damen – it may be a bit pricey, but every bite of their homemade vegan goods is worth the extra change.

A warm Chicago community, West Lawn is also known for its diversity and constant fluxuation. Like many of the neighborhoods on the far west side of Chicago, West Lawn feels more like small town or suburb than a city neighborhood – but of course that’s the reason why many families move out here. That is not to say that I am a big fan; personally, I enjoy city life too much to live in an area that feels like the ‘burbs.

But West Lawn is something of a unique take on an outskirts-of-Chicago-style neighborhood in that the people in it are very easy going and helpful. It’s a working class neighborhood populated by a variety of ethnicities and home to the Balzekas Muesum of Lithuanian Culture, the delicious steak tacos of Zacatacos and the classic pizza of Palermo Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria.

Residential homes here are pretty standard-looking – nothing special, and the shopping tends to be of the stripmall sort (Sears, Old Navy, Etc) found in the Ford City Mall. It’s more a place that only someone who lived there could grow to love (and maybe only in retrospect), and not one that a visitor would care for very much.