Lakeview neighborhood Chicago

amother

Mauve

Sat, Sep 17 2016, 9:22 pm

We're a MO couple with a little 2 year old boy. We currently live on the UWS Manhattan but want something more affordable but still with that "city" like feel!
Do you think this could be a good fit for us?

OOTBubby

Sat, Sep 17 2016, 9:28 pm

The Orthodox presence there is very left-wing MO. The shul there is probably the most left-wing Orthodox shul in the Chicago area. I don't know how affordable it is. I don't know more about it than that.

amother

Amethyst

Sat, Sep 17 2016, 9:33 pm

I spent time in Lakeview over 20 years ago, and at the time I thought it had an UWS feel. Not sure what it's like now, but it's definitely worth a look.

amother

Mauve

Sat, Sep 17 2016, 9:34 pm

OOTBubby wrote:

What do you mean by very left wing? I do cover my hair- would I be the only one? Is there a Jewish day school (for when the time comes)?

amother

Mauve

Sat, Sep 17 2016, 9:35 pm

amother wrote:

I spent time in Lakeview over 20 years ago, and at the time I thought it had an UWS feel. Not sure what it's like now, but it's definitely worth a look.

Great! Thank you!

OOTBubby

Sat, Sep 17 2016, 9:41 pm

amother wrote:

What do you mean by very left wing? I do cover my hair- would I be the only one? Is there a Jewish day school (for when the time comes)?

There are very few if any women there that cover their hair. There is no day school there -- you'd need to go to one of the schools in the main neighborhoods. And the most MO school is in Skokie and at the end quite far from there. The area is basically young marrieds without school age kids.

amother

Mauve

Sat, Sep 17 2016, 9:43 pm

OOTBubby wrote:

Thank you- what's Skokie like? I'd say we're middle of the way MO. What kind of shul there would suit us?
Also what's it like regarding the city like feel?

OOTBubby

Sat, Sep 17 2016, 9:46 pm

amother wrote:

Thank you- what's Skokie like? I'd say we're middle of the way MO. What kind of shul there would suit us?
Also what's it like regarding the city like feel?

Skokie is a suburban community; not at all city-like. It is mostly a MO community, ranging from right wing to left wing. Most of the Skokie community goes to 1 of 2 schools; one is hard line MO and very zionistic, the other ranges from right wing MO to left wing chareidi (that's the parent body -- teachers are on the whole chareidi as is the official hashkafa of the school).

amother

Amethyst

Sat, Sep 17 2016, 9:47 pm

You may find these links helpful:

http://www.asbi.org/orthodox-in-lakeview.html
http://www.jewishlakeview.com/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik.....icago

OOTBubby

Sat, Sep 17 2016, 9:47 pm

amother wrote:

Thank you- what's Skokie like? I'd say we're middle of the way MO. What kind of shul there would suit us?
Also what's it like regarding the city like feel?

Sorry, I didn't answer the shul part of the question. There are probably several shuls in Skokie that would suit you.

amother

Mauve

Sat, Sep 17 2016, 9:48 pm

OOTBubby wrote:

Thank you this is so helpful!
Could you (or anyone else) tell me about the different congregations there?

OOTBubby

Sat, Sep 17 2016, 9:51 pm

amother wrote:

Thank you this is so helpful!
Could you (or anyone else) tell me about the different congregations there?

I don't enough about the different shuls to really tell you the differences, but these are at least the main MO shuls in the main part of Skokie (are there some other areas in Skokie with much small frum populations) -- these are in the main part:

Or Torah - oldest Orthodox shul in Skokie, very large, many minyanim.
Kehilat Chovevei Tzion - much newer shul there, has grown very large quite quickly. Also has many minyanim. Rabbi and Rebetzin are very charismatic and popular.

I'm sure someone else here can tell you how they differ from each other.

finprof

Sat, Sep 17 2016, 10:10 pm

I lived in both Skokie and WRP on Chicago. We also visited Lakeview several times. Lakeview has a city feel (its in the city) but is VERY MODERN. The only shul has a mechitza but its really low: the absolute minimum. Few women fully cover their hair and many wear pants outside of Shul. I loved it and wanted to move there but DH wasn't into it...There is food available and 2 restaurants but most people dive to Skokie or WRP for more grocery selections. There is a nondenominational day school in Lakeview and another near U chicago, plus the WRP and Skokie schools.

OOTBubby

Sat, Sep 17 2016, 10:13 pm

finprof wrote:

There is a nondenominational day school in Lakeview and another near U chicago, plus the WRP and Skokie schools.

Neither of the schools are fully Orthodox. As this poster says, one is non-denominational (and considered to be not particularly Jewish) while the other is under joint Orthodox & Conservative auspices -- however, it does have a significant Orthodox number of students.

chanchy123

Sun, Sep 18 2016, 11:30 am

I spent a Shabbat in Lakeview a few years back. It does have a city feel and I can see how you would get the UWS feel (also I've only visited thete as well). The shul is open Orthodox and caters to all types, we attended a Shabbat dinner with several young couples, some winen did cover.
There is a community day school in the area people send to. Another thing to note is that the Jewish/frum community is near/in Boyztown a very very gay neighborhood. On Shabbat you see frum families with kids and gay men. It's odd but I guess it works.

Fox

Sun, Sep 18 2016, 12:55 pm

DH and I lived in Lakeview when we were first married -- about 25-30 years ago. While many of my experiences are no longer relevant, I'll add one comment to what others have said:

While Lakeview definitely has the city vibe that you and so many of us enjoyed when we were single and/or newly married, the majority of people move to WRP, PP, Skokie, or Lincolnwood after one or two kids.

Unlike Manhattan, there's not a large cohort of upper-income/professional people raising kids in super-urban environments. Even hipster, artistic types generally move to places like Wicker Park, Bucktown, Logan Square, or other trendy outlying neighborhoods when they have kids. There are cultural reasons for this, but I won't make everyone's eyes glaze over with my analysis.

Living in Lakeview with a baby and/or a toddler is practical, but it you can feel very isolated. There are going to be very few other Jewish moms around; no playgroups; and good luck finding a babysitter if you want to go out. My DDs used to have observant Jewish clients in Lakeview and the Gold Coast, and it was insane: They'd book the girls months in advance, arrange parking for them, and pay them double the rate of our neighborhood. Eventually, almost all gave up and moved.

Though Chicago has had mild winters recently, there are always a few months in the winter when it's difficult to take babies and toddlers out -- you're not going to be jogging along the lakefront in January! If you're a SAHM and/or spending a lot of time in a small apartment with kids, that can be tough both practically and psychologically.

I know I'm sounding very discouraging, and I really don't mean to -- I loved living in Lakeview, and if you or your DH work in Loop, it's a million times more convenient than the Jewish neighborhoods. However, I've seen the community try to build a multi-generational base over and over -- each time, there are a handful of "pioneer" families who truly intend to raise their kids there but end up leaving, some earlier and some later.

chanchy123 wrote:

Another thing to note is that the Jewish/frum community is near/in Boyztown a very very gay neighborhood. On Shabbat you see frum families with kids and gay men. It's odd but I guess it works.

You can imagine how well DH and I fit in -- he was in kollel during our time in Lakeview, and I was taking the bus to the Loop every day, holding my shaitel against the wind.

However, we have a million funny stories. The best was the time that the newly-formed LGBT synagogue got wind of a "rabbinical student" in the neighborhood and offered him a job. You would think this would be a pretty quick conversation; alas, no. DH tried to be subtle to avoid being needlessly insulting, but the leaders of the group were not exactly quick on the uptake.

First, DH told them that he was Orthodox, thinking that would be enough. Nope, they were sure the members would welcome us and would enjoy the more spiritual approach DH would no doubt bring. Then he explained that he could only participate in "services" that followed the halachos of traditional davening: no guitars, no egalitarian participation; a mechitza; and a strictly Orthodox approach to "all things."

That was still not enough to discourage Scott and David, the organizers. We privately suspected that they weren't above antagonizing the "L" portion of the acronym and were delighted with an excuse to shut down womyn's poetry readings or whatever they feared might escape from the ladies' section.

I don't remember how DH eventually declined, but it was a near thing! His Rosh Yeshiva later joked that usually he advised yungermen to carefully check the mechitza when they accepted any kind of part-time congregational work, but in this case, perhaps it would have been more appropriate to insist on mixed seating.

amother

Mauve

Sat, Sep 24 2016, 9:26 pm

Hi again ladies!
So I looked into Skokie and it seems like it may be good fit. How long is the commute to the city though?
Can anyone outline all the different communities in Chicago because (and this is only from google maps so I've no idea how accurate it is) it seems like it may be a long commute.
Also, is the community there more MO or JPF?
Both are good! Just curious though. Tia!

OOTBubby

Sat, Sep 24 2016, 9:50 pm

amother wrote:

By commute to the city, do you mean downtown or elsewhere? And, do you plan to drive or go via public transportation. Realistically, to use public transportation, you would at least need to drive to the train (around 10 minutes from the main part of the Skokie community) and take the train from there; then switch to at least one other train, depending on the final destination. Probably around 45-60 minutes total. To drive would depend on the time of day, and again, exact location; anywhere from 30-60 minutes, plus you'd need to find and pay for parking.

Skokie has both MO and JPF; I'd say more MO, but I'm definitely not an expert on that.

The main frum areas in the city are at the city's northern border. Within the city, West Rogers Park and Peterson Park (not much MO in either of those, but a little in West Rogers Park), and just outside the city in Lincolnwood. Those communities all adjoin each other. Skokie is further north and does not directly connect to the other communities, keeping it more separate. There are other much, much, much smaller communities in various farther suburbs, such as Glenview, Northbrook, Highland Park and Buffalo Grove (and probably others I've missed).

One advantage to Skokie over Lakeview is that it is a true community, with schools, stores, plenty of restaurants, etc. plus a lot more frum people.

amother

Mauve

Sat, Sep 24 2016, 10:06 pm

OOTBubby wrote:

Thank you OOTbubby for all your help!
I looked at west rogers park on google maps and it seems a little closer.
What would you say the main denomination of the community is? Chassidish, yeshivish, sephardic, jpf or MO?
Equal amounts?
Also what's the feel of the neighborhood?

OOTBubby

Sat, Sep 24 2016, 10:10 pm

amother wrote:

WRP is much closer to downtown. It has a mix of people, but very little MO -- there is one old time MO shul, but it doesn't have a lot of people any more. There is one other quasi MO shul, but its membership is really more JPF. And it varies somewhat as to what part of WRP you're in -- it is a big area; around 2 miles north to south and between 1/2-3/4 east-west depending on which part. I'd say most of it ranges from JPF to Yeshivish. Chicago has very few chassidim despite the fact that 2 chassidish kollelim opened recently. WRP also varies in types of housing -- there are apartments, small homes, large homes and huge homes; again, varying by area. And tons of shuls, lots of shopping, but few restaurants. Most of the restaurants are in Skokie. I'd say overall, the city neighborhoods of both West Rogers Park and Peterson Park have been moving more and more to the right over recent years.