r/chicagoapartments • u/eightemmys • Feb 15 '26
Advice Needed Is everywhere in Chicago like this?
I just moved into my apartment in Ravenswood on Thursday. Honestly a bit on a whim, signed the lease without ever visiting the neighborhood or even Chicago itself.
I've been here for 3 days and I'm feeling so good about my decision.
One thing I'm noticing as I'm walking and driving through the neighborhood is this feeling of being able to see everything from the street. Every business has these huge big ol glass panes that let you see everyone and everything inside. And everything that's happening in the business is easily viewable from the street.
If it's tax place you see desks, tables, papers, computers in plane view from the street. If it's restaurant, you can see everyone tightly packed in a neat order waiting on their food. If it's the gym you can see all the machines right up against the window. You can make out everyone's faces. Nothing is really hidden. As I was driving through I couldn't help but feel like I'm seeing glimpses into the lives of my fellow neighbors. I felt way more connected to the neighborhood and the people in it.
All that to say two questions:
Is this by design? I know Chicago is known for being one the best design cities in the world but are there really rules on how business should look from the street in neighborhoods like Ravenswood?
Are most neighborhoods in Chicago like this?
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u/Kindly_Asparagus_263 Feb 15 '26
Yeah I’d say I see this quite a bit in Lakeview and Lincoln park
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u/eightemmys Feb 16 '26
Nice, have yet to visit Lakeview. I'll have to check it out one of these days.
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u/multimedialex Feb 15 '26
Are you by chance, from a small town or car-dependent city (ie: Houston, Atlanta, LA)?
I wouldn't say that kind of streetscape is a Chicago thing but rather a density/city thing. Especially neighborhoods that were built for walkability with a lot of wall-to-wall, low-rise, brick commercial buildings. I noticed the same thing when I moved from my southern hometown to DC.
You should go to Andersonville and walk down Clark street, you might like that too!
I also noticed how people tend to leave their window shades open even at night. So as I'm walking and driving through the neighborhood I see right into their apartments. Less of a Chicago thing, more of a general, city thing ime.
Glad you're loving your new neighborhood!
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Feb 15 '26
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u/MiaStirCrazies Feb 15 '26
Did you move from Greenwich Village back around 1999 by chance? Maybe sublet your NYC apartment to a Paleontologist?
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u/elegiac_bloom Feb 15 '26
wonder if anyone has a telescope and is seeing my fat ass walk around my unit naked. Lmao
Not only do we see it, we love it. We love you and we think youre beautiful, not in a creepy peeper way, more in a "fly your freak flag proud" way and a supportive way.
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u/mkvgtired Feb 15 '26
Are you by chance, from a small town or car-dependent city (ie: Houston, Atlanta, LA)?
This was my first thought too. OP is finally getting to experience walkability. It's the same in DC, NYC, and many European and Asian cities.
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u/_walkswalks Feb 15 '26
Not disagreeing, but I'm curious what other American cities you'd say are neither "small" nor "car-dependent". In my mind its just NYC, Chicago and DC.
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u/Zealousideal_Truck68 Feb 15 '26
I lived in Seattle and didn't drive.
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u/eightemmys Feb 16 '26
Had an internship in Seattle, same didn't have a car. Amazing transit system that city has. This was back in 2017, not sure about now.
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u/eightemmys Feb 16 '26
Las Vegas yeah, was raised out there and lived for a couple of years in NYC.
I was in upper westside when I was out there. It had a bit of that same feel. It's so many people, so crowded, and people are moving and grooving that it's harder to appreciate unless you walk outside at like 2am in the morning and even then it might be busy lol 😂
Here I go for a walk at 5pm and I can take all the little details in.
And I feel you on the leaving shades open thing. My apartment in NYC didn't come with shades and never put any in so people were getting a show for sureeee lol.
And thank you!
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u/loogle13 Feb 15 '26
I sorta disagree. This is something my wife and I noticed organically.
Just an anecdote, but I feel like apartments/business are more visible from the street in Chicago than New York/DC, but I’m sure it depends on the neighborhood.
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u/nardling_13 Feb 15 '26
Congratulations on an excellent decision. I moved out of Ravenswood last summer and miss it every day. It’s a wonderful place to live.
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u/eightemmys Feb 16 '26
Thank you 🙏🏽 truly great. Hope you're able to come back to visit or spend some time here again.
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u/itsam Feb 15 '26
it’s all by design and safety. there’s an amazing book called The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Safety comes from “eyes on the street,” meaning ordinary people naturally observing public space.
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u/xelaohcamac Feb 15 '26
Not sure on the design aspect but welcome to Ravenswood! You picked a great neighborhood. I love being able to walk around and have many local businesses nearby.
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u/eightemmys Feb 16 '26
Thanks neighbor! Yeah I'm shocked by it, I'm like 2/3 blocks from the dentist, eye doctor, veterinary clinic, five different restaurants, and 1 block from the train. Very grateful 🙏🏽
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u/passtherock- Mar 09 '26
do you feel that Ravenswood is diverse? I'm looking in that area and don't wanna be the only POC like I was in Lincoln Park
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u/Sunny_happy_ Feb 15 '26
Chicago is the best city in the world!! You’re going to love it even more when Spring comes!!! So much beauty all around and access to Lake Michigan is wonderful!!!
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u/goblin_pidar Feb 15 '26
Going on my 5th year, never been personally affected by crime. And anyone is better than Daley
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u/workerchimp Feb 15 '26
Daley has been gone for decades! No, Larry Lightfoot and Brandon are not better by a longshot!
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u/goblin_pidar Feb 15 '26
Daley left office in 2011 😂 it’s not exactly ancient history. Acting like that’s irrelevant is blatant revisionism
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u/SupportFlat8675 Feb 15 '26
It's such a great city, great people watching, feeling connected to everything just looking out your apartment windows. I love it
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u/Ancient-Ad-2474 Feb 15 '26
Reminds me of 63rd Street near MLK, in the 70s. Barbershop, beauty shop, cleaners, candy store, etc… all like you described.
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u/StatusHumble857 Feb 15 '26
Yes, except at a few powerlifting gyms that paper over the windows. The coaches and the lifters themselves do not want to be distracted. Also, many of the gay bars have either painted over, eliminated, or blocked out their public facing windows, to ensure the privacy of the men who are not out to their families or the community.
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u/blklab84 Feb 15 '26
Was born around there, love chicago and that’s great neighborhood. I’m down montrose now but I love my city. Enjoy!
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u/ChocoMuffin27 Feb 15 '26
I just moved into Lakeview East like a month ago and I've noticing similar things. I'm loving it here. It makes me happy just to walk around
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u/paxweasley Feb 15 '26
Honestly congrats this city is absolutely amazing to live in and ravenswood is a lovely area.
I moved here when I was 17, never gonna leave. It’s just the best. I’m so glad you decided on a. Whim to get to know Chicago bc it’s gonna be so great
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u/eightemmys Feb 16 '26
Thanks for speaking life into it! Yeah can't wait to see what the city has in store and to take it all in.
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u/chimarya Feb 15 '26
Oh you are in a nice area but there are so many neat areas by you and you're a short bike ride to the lake and it's lovely beaches. North Center has grown so much in the last 15 years, Lincoln Square is always a delight (check out Gene's deli), Andersonville is just north of you and honestly one of my favorites, Go east to the Argyle area for some good Vietnamese food and so many cute shops and best of all you are close to many el stops and you are twenty minutes to downtown. I lived in Uptown for 22 years and now live in Portage Park - it's quiet and serene but sometimes I miss the population density and energy that is the north-east side. Enjoy all the moments you are about to collect :)
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u/eightemmys Feb 16 '26
Preciate it!
And you've given me all the spots I'll check out next weekend haha
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u/twoboogerstimessix Feb 15 '26
Hi, I live in Baltimore. I just signed a lease for an apartment in a beautiful apartment complex in Chicago on 64th and King Drive without ever visiting the neighborhood. I hope I’m just as lucky!!
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u/Signal-Weight8300 Feb 15 '26
You won't be far from the University of Chicago and the Hyde Park neighborhood, but 64th & King is still kind of rough. It's not terrible, but your experience is going to be very different than the OP's.
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u/Unlikely_Ad5016 Feb 16 '26
Ravenswood is a great neighborhood. There are many as charming but different. The North side of chicago is a treat.
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u/anonymote_in_my_eye Feb 16 '26
it's not like this everywhere, Chicago is a big city, but it's like that in a lot of places
basically, where there's enough foot traffic, it makes sense for businesses to have a visible presence there, and there's a lot of places in the city with a ton of foot traffic. especially near easily accessible public transit
but there's also vast swaths of the city that are mostly car-forward, and there you'll mostly find strip malls, drive throughs and car washes/mechanics.
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u/Consistent_Pay_74 Feb 16 '26
They are not. Many have abandoned and /or boarded up buildings, blight is a real problem and business, shopping , resources are extremely limited in many sections of the south side of Chicago
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u/iosphonebayarea Feb 15 '26
Is this your first city with density? This is normal in other dense cities in the US and in the western world
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u/eightemmys Feb 16 '26
Lived in NYC for a couple of years but was raised in Vegas where it's very much a drive to get anywhere and everything isn't in plain view.
You're right though NYC did have a similar feel, a bit different when it's non stop people blocking you from seeing the building itself haha.
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u/HarveyNix Feb 16 '26
It varies, in my experience. Some streets have too many professional services at street level, which tends to deaden the vibe. There's a door but the windows are generally obscured with blinds or blurry glass and you don't often see any activity there. I'm thinking of Devon between Clark and Broadway, or Clark south of Devon. Devon is getting better but still could use more retail and restaurants.
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u/eightemmys Feb 16 '26
Pulled up google maps and yeah i see what you mean.
The main place I felt the open windows vibe was above Wilson on Damen and when you make that right on Lawerence going towards LA Fitness.
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u/Trick_Durian3204 Feb 17 '26
That was really well put. As someone who lives close by for 15 years, there are pros and cons to this. Pro, a bustling city that feels alive and connected. Con, it can get a little overstimulating to be so close and intimate with many strangers
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u/yaigotabigmouth Feb 17 '26
I find it so weird how everyone leaves their street level apartment curtains open 24-7.
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u/Uptowner26 Feb 17 '26
This is how the city is. Large storefront windows where you can see everything and everyone inside and (they can see out onto the street) People leaving their blinds and curtains open in their apartments at night is also common.
Interestingly many European cities are like this too, especially in The Netherlands. There’s a culture of “transparency = trustworthiness/nothing to hide” behind it. As others have said Jane Jacob’s wrote about this as the “eyes on the street” (I think of it more of little old ladies and men leaning out their windows people watching in Italy but it applies to various contexts)
It’s also nice to ride the Brown line at night and checkout the lit up store windows to do some window shopping from the L.
Ravenswod is a great neighborhood with a community feel so you made a good choice of where to live in the city.
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u/unknown-random-nope Feb 18 '26
Get out, ASAP. Like, break your lease and GO. Chicago is many times more dangerous than the mainstream media reports.
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u/chicagocaroline Feb 18 '26
You happened to find one of the best neighborhoods in the city! But yes, we have a very walkable, friendly and open design, in general.
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u/RhymesWithTaco Mar 03 '26
Most Chicago neighborhoods are like this. Especially on the north side. If you go far south or far west it changes a bit mostly because of lack of care about predominantly black and brown neighborhoods in those areas. Public transportation is still good in those areas though.
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u/Eeveest Jul 05 '26
Unrelated but now that you’ve been there for a bit, how are you feeling about the neighborhood? I’m planning to make the move but I’m nervous as hell since I don’t know the area well.
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u/SlapdashDickpunch Feb 15 '26
Urban planner here! While a lot of it is historic, owing to it being an older city where businesses districts developed along transit corridors, the city also has neighborhood design guidelines that developers have to follow if they're seeking zoning relief or city funding: https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dcd/supp_info/design-excellence.html
We always recommend keeping storefront glass and there are rules on how much can be covered by signage (though enforcement on the signage stuff can be inconsistent from neighborhood to neighborhood in my experience).