I used to live 2 blocks from this place. Took a former exchange student there when he was visiting and he ordered his hotdog "raw" (he didn't want any toppings plus English as a second language). Those ladies let him have it about wanting a raw dog.
Tips for Visiting Chicago
- Thread starter Cycsk
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I used to live 2 blocks from this place. Took a former exchange student there when he was visiting and he ordered his hotdog "raw" (he didn't want any toppings plus English as a second language). Those ladies let him have it about wanting a raw dog.
If you've never been to Chicago beware there are scammers everywhere.
Was out drinking in Wrigleyville once, walking back to our cars, our entire group but me was stumbling around wasted, this guys just appears out of an alley offering to drive us back to our hotel at 3am.
Another time I had a guy come out of nowhere asking to shine our shoes. My friend is completely naive and let's him, then the guy says we owe him 40 bucks. We jsut walk away as the guy is verbally harassing us.
Some random train stations there's always a guy there "trying to get to South Bend" for 10 years straight. Guess he was never able to raise the 20 bucks it would take to get there.
And whatever you do be careful giving homeless guys really expensive Geno's or Giordano's pizza, they'll jsut scream at you and say they want money not food.
Was out drinking in Wrigleyville once, walking back to our cars, our entire group but me was stumbling around wasted, this guys just appears out of an alley offering to drive us back to our hotel at 3am.
Another time I had a guy come out of nowhere asking to shine our shoes. My friend is completely naive and let's him, then the guy says we owe him 40 bucks. We jsut walk away as the guy is verbally harassing us.
Some random train stations there's always a guy there "trying to get to South Bend" for 10 years straight. Guess he was never able to raise the 20 bucks it would take to get there.
And whatever you do be careful giving homeless guys really expensive Geno's or Giordano's pizza, they'll jsut scream at you and say they want money not food.
This is in my Top 10 things to do in Chicago. The Weiner's Circle is amazing, especially late night when the staff rip on the drunk young professionals.
Would this be viable/safe to walk? Or should I just Blue Line this?
I don't mind the distance. Just want to know the area is okay.
I don't mind the distance. Just want to know the area is okay.
You could follow the route on Google Maps and see it for yourself. And for reference, you could toggle to previous views. I can almost guarantee that you will see improvement almost everywhere on the route.
P.S. Chicago Detours does online neighborhood tours which use this technology. They take you down a street, but show you how it has developed in the last 10 years. https://chicagodetours.com/
Yeah, that walk would be safe (In daylight). A scenic walk too. If you have the walking shoes and time, it wouldn’t be too bad. Maybe stop at a couple bars along the way for a drink.
From the way he looked, he probably thought everyone looked liked Bohannon.
That's fine to walk in the day, but I'd take the green line back at night personally. Partly because downtown tends to empty out late at night, and because an hour long walk at like 11:30 doesn't sound like much fun to me. The Green line is going to be much faster than the blue.
I think the greenline might end at 2 am(?) Unless things have changed, on the offchance you hit up a bar and stay out late.
I also lived right there from about '02 to '06.
One night I got done waiting tables at midnight and came in there dead tired and one of those ladies just looked at me and said "this guy needs to get laid".
The dogs and burgers and fries are awesome...but the stuff they call cheese is inedible plastic goo. Stay away from the cheese and it's pretty great street food.
Bottom line, don't engage the homeless/panhandlers. Most are struggling with mental issues and can quickly become violent.
Never get lost in your phone on mass transit or even walking around. As an obvious tourist, you will be targeted if you look vulnerable.
Beautiful town, be aware of your surroundings and you'll have a great time!
I wouldn't call anything on that route a dangerous neighborhood to walk during the day, parts of it industrial and parts nice urban areas. Taking green line (get on at State& Lake, off at Ashland) would be way faster and it's above ground so you still get to see the city.
Avoid walking anywhere alone late at night is kind of the golden rule and you'd be walking through areas that are kind of empty of foot traffic at a few points there. During the day I've walked and biked all over that area many times. My wife is a photographer and we did urban setting/industrial setting shoots all the time right in the middle of that route.
I keep seeing references to getting off at Ashland so for those of you without much experience on the "El" Ashland is at the Harlem/Lake Stop which is the last stop on the Green Line. It may be self explanatory but for those of us Iowans who go by country miles and street names, the CTA stop names can get you mixed up...
yeah great point. The direction of the train you get on is signified by the last stops at the ends of the route. So if you were downtown, you'd get on the green line headed toward Harlem/Lake, then get out at the Ashland stop. Then if you took it back downtown, you'd enter on the other side of the stop (not the side headed to Harlem/Lake).
I studied abroad in Europe my senior year before I moved to Chicago and that REALLY confused me figuring out how to navigate trains for a week or two. Once you get the hang of it, any city is the same anywhere.
Another thing in Chicago specifically is "The loop" just refers to the neighborhood where the L trains all make a loop. The red and blue lines go through that area but don't really make a loop. The green line goes over part of the loop but not all of it...it's obvious at the stop if it has a green line or not.
CTA does a great job with their signage in the stations too. Overall I've found the EL to be very "outsider" friendly. When I visited NYC, figuring out the subway system was rough.
