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If you like restaurants, clubbing, crowds, fun, you will enjoy Rush Street. Clubs tend to be more in the nature of entertainment clubs rather than bars, and restaurants aren't so much fast food as they are good sit-down places. It's a short street, near Division, and of course it gets a lot of runoff from the Friday/Saturday night crowds looking to have fun. It can get pretty wild!

Lake Shore Drive actually starts out East-West briefly, at the lower end of Lake Michigan, and curves upward along the western border of the lake for the rest of it. It is generally not commercial at all; it goes through areas like Lincoln Park, which of course has a zoo and is a neighborhood where young, hip and full of money types live and spend their money, but really Lake Shore Drive is a destination all its own. For the most part the apartment buildings, whether rented or owned, are more expensive when they are below, say Diversey (2800 N) and in fact those are some of the most beautiful mansions in the city. But even those that are much further north have the advantage of being on or very near the lake. A sprawling and beautiful thoroughfare.

Michigan Avenue is extraordinarily beautiful. Of course, there is the incredible view with the Lake right there. There is a lot of new architecture, expensive hotels and condominiums, etc., but then you have the Water Tower, that survived the Chicago Fire in 1971, and Water Tower Place, an amazing indoor shopping mall. Beautiful high end restaurants and clothing stores, great shopping and a great atmosphere. Go there!

I've lived on Division St. near Sacramento. Further east, near Dearborn,Clark,etc., it's a lot of fun and the crowd is young and excited and there are clubs and bars and good shopping etc. Further west it gets pretty seedy for a while, though there are some pretty busy intersections with large stores and long-established smaller ones. In the Wicker Park area, they've done tons of rehabbing of very old buildings, residential and commercial, and are waging a pretty good campaign to make it too expensive to live in. Past Western Avenue and on to Humboldt Park and further, past Pulaski Road, Central, etc., parts are ok but it can be a bit dangerous if you're not careful. I lived next door to a community garden space and no one (including the landlord) told me that 3 times a week there would be drumming classes into the night, sometimes 10 p.m.! Wasn't crazy about it there.

Belmont goes, East to West, through as much of Chicago as it could. Further East, especially around Halsted or Clark, there is great shopping, nice clubs and restaurants. Further West, there is usually a good cluster of commercial activity every 4 blocks or so, especially near the big subway station at Belmont and Kimball. I like Central and Belmont, even though it's a little seedy now, still some good places to shop, Belmont bus very reliable, BTW. At 7200W it connects with Harlem Avenue and then goes further west, and at that point it becomes more and more residential, and finally ends in a strip mall at Cumberland. A real microcosm!

North Dearborn Street is without a doubt one of my favorite Chicago streets. Closer to downtown there are good clubs and from about Oak Street up some exorbitantly expensive but beautiful apartment buildings, brand new, being built among the period architecture that is still there. The Newberry Library is a great place for scholarly research, and the Ruth Page Foundation a marvelous place to learn to dance. It is beautifully atmospheric, still has a good amount of leafiness (!) and nice shops. Enjoy it, it's great.

Without a doubt Chicago Avenue has got many different personalities. Further east it goes through trendy neighborhoods like the Gold Coast, has great shopping, restaurants etc., excellent bus transportation throughout. Go a bit further west and it becomes extremely rough and has a high crime rate, and there are surveillance cameras on every corner. Further west than that, you start going through Oak Park, with its pretty homes, and again the real estate is very expensive and the general environment somewhat safer. All in all it can be a great commercial street in almost every area, except for the west side from about 3000-5000 west. Be careful there.

Washington Street really changes from one end to the other. I lived on Boylston and Tremont, adn would often walk down Washington to go shopping at Downtown Crossing, most often at Filene's, where the basement was my absolutely favorite place. The previously shuttered Opera House, which was an absolute wreck for years, has been fixed up, which makes an enormous difference, as that part of the street was very depressing for a long time because of it. When you get to Downtown Crossing (lots of shopping along the way), it's closed to traffic. At lunch time people from the office buildings around usually come there and there are a lot of places for a good lunch.

Well I agree a great deal, I have to admit I like Newbury Street and it's lovely, although *majorly* overpriced. Years ago I remember a friend paying something like 300 dollars for a set of sheets for her bed and I know some wouldn't flinch at it (pillowcases included) but I certainly did at the time. I enjoyed the little restaurants/cafes a lot. It compares somewhat to Columbus Avenue in New York; lots of young/rich types, still friendly. Much more comfortable if you have money than not, certainly.

Well it is a pretty street, and it does have a lot of pretty places; buildings with pretty exteriors. I have had friends who lived here and in one case a friend's apartment had been carved out of a space that wasn't originally meant to be one, and it was a very uncomfortable living area. In addition, like a number of them, it was entirely electric heat, which in the winter can make for some very uncomfortable bills! Being in the South End, Chandler Street is certainly nice looking and can be a pretty walk to make, and people are generally quite friendly, but I'm not sure it's worth the kind of money you have to pay to live there as a renter or a buyer.

Clarendon Street, from Tremont West to the train station (the portion I'm writing about) is of course in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in Boston. It's just packed with beautiful buildings, at Tremont is the church that was converted to condos, and along the street until you get to the train station, tons of pretty little brick buildings. There are some small businesses and of course the big Boston Ballet building there, and I have known people who lived there, but I know it's expensive, much too much, for instance, for the dancers and students who go to the ballet to live in. However, good to look at.

This is about Tremont from Arlington Street eastward. At the corner of Arlington there are theaters like the Shubert and the Wang Center, the Wang increasingly presents mass-market stage spectaculars so it's gotten less interesting. Tremont is the south end of the Common and that is a beautiful park. There's a lot of good shopping along Tremont until you get further down toward the government buildings and smaller streets that lead to shopping at stores like Filene's. I liked taking the Tremont bus east to go shopping. Great pass by the State House, old church with a cemetery,etc., very historical.

George Balanchine Way is a segment of West 63rd Street that was renamed for the founder of the New York City Ballet in June of 1990. On the western end is the Empire, a building that was first an inexpensive hotel for people to live, then an expensive hotel for people to visit and is now condos! Its biggest purpose or attraction, of course, is that it leads directly to the New York State Theater, where Balanchine created so much for the New York City Ballet, and in general to the theatres and plaza at Lincoln Center (Metropolitan Opera, Avery Fisher Hall, the Vivian Beaumont Theatre, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and Damrosch Park). An incredible place to be.

Of course, Riverside Drive, for the most part, is never going to have its views taken away by people building high buildings across the street, since across the street is Riverside Park and the Hudson River and a great view of New Jersey. The majority of the street from the 60s to uptown and past has an incredible group of beautiful apartment buildings, some with great histories and with the historic designation, including Marion Davies' House near 103th Street and the beautiful mansion at 106th Street. There is a pleasant walkway that runs along the west side of the park and you can enter the park at various places like 103rd Street and 79th Street and others, just go down a level to the park area. At 103rd Street there is a marvelous dog run, and a small cafe that opened some years ago. Very enjoyable all around.

On one end 112th Street has the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the most beautiful Episcopal cathedral, worth a morning's visit just for the vastness and artwork of it. There are a lot of nice old brownstone type buildings as you go further west and at the corner of Broadway of course there is Tom's Restaurant, whose exterior was immortalized in Seinfeld. As with a lot of streets, it goes further to Riverside Park, which is one of my favorite city parks. This is a very dog friendly neighborhood filled with students. Casual, relaxed, lots of fun. Getting too expensive because of Columbia University, who have bought a lot of real estate in the area, but still enjoyable.

Try to keep in mind when you visit Broadway how very long it is. Also give some thought to visiting parts of the street that are not in Times Square! There's more to this incredible avenue than overpriced Disney themed stores. As a tourist you might gasp at the prices for your meals or souvenirs, but I guarantee you that if you will just take, for instance, the M104 bus up to Broadway in the 70s, 80s, 90s and above, you will be stunned at how different it is. I Go to Gray's Papaya at 72nd and Broadway, to the West Side diner at 82nd and Broadway, to Zabar's in the low 80s, to Fairway Market at 74th and Broadway, to the wonderful different international restaurants all the way up and down. Stop at 125th street and go east to explore that great street too. Not to mention that the M104 also turns east at 42nd Street and goes as far east as the UN, which you were going to see also, right? You could spend your whole trip just on Broadway! Don't let it be limited.

It's a very quiet street, if you live here you won't be bothered much. It's all residential, no real commercial presence. A lot of one-story homes, they are similar looking, probably date from the late 50s-early 60s. But it is pleasant, quiet, peaceful, a nice place to live.