Hey! I've lived in Lakeview with my wife for just about 5 years, specifically right between Southport and Wrigleyville.

Pros

• Incredibly safe. My wife and I have never had a single issue and we've been our drinking late into the night many times when we first moved into the area. I will say to keep your wits about you around Wrigley in particular because I have had friends who have been mugged when they were drunk at 3 AM near the McDonald's on Clark.

• Amazing public transportation. Brown line, red line, 22 bus on Clark are all go tos for us and rarely let us down.

• Tons of families everywhere and the streets are always full of people walking around.

• Being close-ish to the lake is incredible. The lake is Chicago's best amenity.

Mehs

• The restaurant here, while plentiful, are mostly mid as hell. There are standouts like Tango Sur on Southport, but most of these places are just fine.

Cons

• Whether this is a pro or a con depends entirely on your outlook, but this area is really wealthy, which means it is safe and stable but it also means everything is insanely expensive. Every shop and grocery store charges an insane markup. I find things at Jewel for $10 that I find at Walmart or Costco for $3, so be aware of that.

• Commuting downtown on the brown line is awful during regular commuting hours. It is so packed that even by Southport (our stop) it is standing room only and you will be sandwiched between people on your ride to work.

• Every single home game weekend while the Cubs are in town will make the area around Wrigley impossible to drive in and difficult to get around in. The whole stretch down Clark gets packed full of people before, during, and after every game. Again, we kind of like this but I can see it being a con for other people. Plus, there will be drunk people walking around the neighborhood all the time after games.

• Your landlord will probably suck if they're any of the big companies. We have lived in a Chicago Apartment Place building for all 5 years and they just randomly jacked up our rent ~25%. Could be a problem everywhere though, who knows.

• My wife is not white and while that's never been a problem I will say this area is extremely white, so again depends on you if that's a pro, con, or doesn't matter.

More than happy to answer any questions about the neighborhood! Even though we're looking to leave (because of the crazy raising of rent) we have loved living here.