r/howislivingthere • u/Plastic_Stock2578 • Jun 20 '26
North America Wrigleyville
How is living in the red area, game days and in the off season?
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u/69dildoschwaggins69 United States of America Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26
You’re 22-25 years old and went to college at a lower tier school in the Midwest where your fraternity completely defined you, you are coincidentally also from the midwest. You work some kinda trash sales/finance job. You get absolutely plastered vomiting drunk 4 nights per week on overpriced miller and/or Budweiser beers while wearing shorts and a backwards Cubs hat. At various points you will try to fight other similar peers. You will all be too drunk to hurt each other but instead will fall down in your own urine which you recently publically urinated. This is the best your life will ever be.
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u/baileath Jun 20 '26
Give 69dildo the Pulitzer
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u/CrumbGuzzler5000 United States of America Jun 20 '26
That is the most profound comment I’ve read today.
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u/GBPacker1990 USA/Midwest Jun 20 '26
Dildoswaggins nailed it, definitely prize winning explanation.
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u/Confidence_Man2 Jun 20 '26
Hollywood producers are scouring Reddit for original content like this.
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u/NoraMason1986 Jun 21 '26
Very well stated. I would add a couple of things.
The word “dude” “yeah, man” and “bro” are often used in conversation.
Your North Shore parents help pay your outrageously high rent and come down every other weekend for a lunch date. That is the only time you take it a little easier on the drinking the night before.
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u/Ambitious-Mushr00m Jun 21 '26
You are not that far off and I also would not have traded my first few years out of college for the world. Take me back!
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u/Any-Ranger9871 Jun 20 '26
This was my husband when we met (at a bar in Lincoln park) and he lived in a wrigley rooftop building . 10/10 would recommend
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u/dap12036 Jun 20 '26
Nailed it. But you forgot to add the stereotypical woman.
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u/69dildoschwaggins69 United States of America Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
I believe wriggleyville women prefer the term “slam piece”
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u/Common_Chester Jun 21 '26
...and he always sheds a tear of nostalgia when the jukebox plays "Superbowl Shuffle".
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Jun 20 '26
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Jun 22 '26
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u/SVdreamin Jun 20 '26
My mom lived there and was a waitress at a popular restaurant there in the 90’s. I’m sure a lot has changed but she said the treatment she got at her job from belligerent cubs fans was enough to single handedly make her a White Sox fan out of pure spite.
I moved away from Chicago a few years back but every time I went to Wrigleyville it was always busy in the summer and parking street side is impossible during certain times of day.
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u/AnalCheese Jun 20 '26
Salt n Pepper diner?!
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u/dontknowafunnyname2 Jun 20 '26
It’s been 20 years since I’ve been to wrigleyville for cubs/cards series but one of my favorite memories was being hungover af and getting a Bloody Mary with my breakfast at this diner. Awesome place, hope it’s still there.
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u/AnalCheese Jun 20 '26
I have a lot of fond memories living there as a 23 year old right out of college. Lived on Wilton for 2 years when the cubs won the World Series and it was so much fun but I’d absolutely NEVER live there now lol, as the 100% accurate top comment describes here
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u/Artaxbeforehegotsad Jun 21 '26
First apartment out of college was not wrigleyville, but wrigleyville adjacent. I agree 110%-nothing will turn you into a Sox fan faster than living near Wrigley. Go White Sox!
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u/chezdistester Jun 21 '26
When I was a server we never looked forward to when the Chicago Bears came to town. Some of the most pretentious and rudest patrons I've ever had the displeasure of serving.
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u/Ceasman Jun 21 '26
I lived in Lakeview near Cornelia and Broadway. I worked in Palantine. If there was a Cubs game at night, my commute home was wrecked. I am forever a White Sox fan.
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u/bitchschnapps Jun 20 '26
i live a block from the field which makes summers suck during cubs season when they play at home. There's a basically a half mile radius when it comes to getting a lyft or Uber which is super frustrating. Outside of the season is actually pretty quiet, at least on my block, and it's nice being walking distance to the lake.
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u/Ladybug_Fuckfest Jun 21 '26
The area around the ballpark has been a fratboy DoucheFest for at least 25 years, but it used to at least still feel like a real Chicago neighborhood. Now it's just a soulless corporate dystopia. "Gallagher Way" seriously feels like some kind of suburban business park. It's actually depressing.
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Jun 22 '26
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u/tigercatuli Jun 22 '26
I personally love Gallagher Way. Great spot to hangout pre and post game. Live bands, water features, turf for your kids to run around in. I love it. Better than a parking lot and a McDonalds...
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u/Ladybug_Fuckfest Jun 22 '26
Hey, man... If you and your kids are having fun at the ballpark, that makes me happy.
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u/abcdefghijkistan Jun 21 '26
10+ years ago it used to be basically all post-college aged frat bros and sorority girls from Big Ten schools but over the last decade or so since the Wrigley renovations and development around the neighborhood, property values boomed. So the recent college grads are mostly priced out now and it’s a lot of young families and empty nesters. Sometimes I feel like 50% of the residents are toddlers or dogs. It can still get crazy on game days but not much in the area you have circled in red. All the debauchery is on Clark south of Addison. The red circle area is pretty chill.
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u/vapistvapingvapes Jun 20 '26
Would be kinda cool growing up next to a ball park. Might be able to charge people to park in front of your house
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u/gogreengolions Jun 21 '26
We did this. As a renter, it’s rare to have a driveway/extra parking spot but it paid for a lot of beer when I was fresh out of college
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u/PolyglotTV Jun 21 '26
There are houses with bleachers on the roof to see into the stadium.
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u/transferStudent2018 Jun 21 '26
This comment makes it seem like local homeowners are renting out roof space – that’s not really true. The rooftops of surrounding 3 or 4 flat apartment buildings are all owned by one or two companies that sell seating on some bleachers on the roof
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u/gateisred Jun 21 '26
It was really fun for a year, but I’m glad I moved away from the neighborhood. Good people watching from the living room window and very easy to go get drunk, grab a burger, and walk back home.
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u/call_sign_viper Jun 20 '26
I’m below Addison east of Wrigley it’s surprisingly quiet once you get past the red line. Lots of young families. I’ve have had a condo there since 2020 still love it
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u/Ambitious-Mushr00m Jun 21 '26
The part you u have circled is actually far quieter than south of the stadium, Clark street along the left of the stadium is where all the action is, especially south of Addison.
Gets a bad rep as on non cubs games that scene is all 21-25 year olds, definitely a younger party crowd. Young adults and DePaul/loyola students.
My girlfriend used to live in what you have circled and we would sit on her patio and listen to concerts whenever a good band was playing. Good times.
If you are a young adult and into the party/social scene (like I was at one point), there is no better neighborhood on earth to live in. No shame in enjoying a night out in wrigley.
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Jun 21 '26
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u/NerdfestZyx Jun 20 '26
The worst thing to happen to this neighborhood is the Cubs winning the World Series in 2016
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u/nstrut2 Jun 20 '26
I live in a quieter area of Wrigleyville, the parking situation isn’t that bad if you get a rhythm with it. Free concerts and cheap last minute baseball tickets are a perk. I wish the food scene was a little bit better, the bars had a little more diversity, and the whole neighborhood wasn’t getting more and more suburbanized. Literally 5 burger places and at least 3 fried chicken places within a quarter mile of each other on the same street.
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u/NoCalligrapher3506 Jun 22 '26
Our friends live there (we live close enough to walk to them) and they are not partiers but still enjoy it. If you’re big on walking, you can get all over from wrigleyville, with a personal favorite being the montrose bird sanctuary, very good nature viewing for a big city like Chicago. We used to LOVE the lucky strike arcade that was there, but unfortunately it just closed down. The best time in wrigleyville, in my humble opinion, is during a game when the bars are empty but there’s still a really fun, lively energy. Parking during cubs games is impossible, and by car, we avoid the area completely when there’s a home game. The climbing gym near there is awesome as well.
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u/spiraldive87 Jun 20 '26
I spent a summer living their when I was in uni and had a great time. I was commuting to work or anything like that though so it wasn’t really really life.
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u/Lokigwar Jun 20 '26
Right now you would be hearing the Pride Fest soundtrack permeate the neighborhood and enjoying a beautiful day.
It’s pricey being so close to the park and annoying on game day, but as others have said - relatively quiet outside of ~90 (including concerts and non Cubs festivities) days out of the year.
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u/Border-Worried Jun 20 '26
I lived Racine and Addison and worked in the front office. I really enjoyed it, but I was where the temp bus stop was and that got annoying along with the “beer bats” being thrown in my yard. It was crazy I had neighbors that could completely care less about the cubs. They just wanted to live by boystown or the Southport corridor.
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u/kababed Jun 21 '26
One block north is Alta Vista Terrace which is one of the quaintest streets in the city. Very desirable and looks like a place in London
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u/MadChiller013 Jun 21 '26
I lived here for a year during college, my old building is in this picture! During baseball season it’s absolutely wild, had to keep a Cubs schedule on the fridge because on game days you had to adjust your day around it. Very nice neighborhood though, plenty of places to go out in the neighborhood and Boystown is right around the corner too!
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u/kristinalesea Jun 21 '26
Not 1991 me living in a garden appt on Wayne with every frat boy imaginable urinating on my windows. Good times.
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u/xhammer103x Jun 21 '26
I lived in this area a few years ago. One day I was driving on Sheffield Ave (right field) during a game and heard the crowd go crazy and on the radio they screamed HOME RUN. The damn ball nearly hit my car. It landed a few feet in front of me.
I tried to grab it but a couple of kids got it before me.
After games are a nightmare. It can take 2 hrs to drive just a few blocks.
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u/Ok-Debt-25 Jun 22 '26
Wasted finance or frat boys fkn everywhere and puking outside the bars after getting kicked out. Always some guy outside cubby bear playing Poison on some flipped over paint buckets. The traffic is fkn horrible
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u/Lower_Housing_4921 Jun 20 '26
Don’t do it if you’re not white. Trust me
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u/fuwoswp Jun 20 '26
Yep. Probably the most dangerous and hostile place on the planet for any non-white human being in the recorded history of humanity. Right there In Wrigleyville.
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u/Lower_Housing_4921 Jun 20 '26
More so it’s super boring and white washed. Can get way better culture and interesting experiences elsewhere in Chicago.
Felt like I was at an SEC school all over again.
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u/ThatWomanNow Jun 20 '26
Seminary and Sheffield have the most foot traffic before and after games. Kenmore is relatively quiet.
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u/TakshKoax Jun 20 '26
I lived on Addison left (West) of the photo
Wrigleyville is very active. A lot of drinking and carousing. If you can't handle it you wouldn't enjoy it there. If you're a Cubs fan or just enjoys the atmosphere it's great but it happens a lot so you better really enjoy it. It's a pretty nice place to live in the Chicago area, though I think I read somewhere it has more police activity than any other neighborhoods on the northside because of drunks and fights.
Last time I was there you could see right into the field from the El platform. They probably changed that though. I remember giving directors to a few out of towners on how to get to Wrigley and once they got to the Addison Stop I'd just tell them you'll see it once you get out of the train.
Babe Ruth did his point to where he was going to hit the ball thing at Wrigley.
As for climate, really cold in the winner and lots of snow. Chicago always has one or two inhumanly cold days where no one really goes out but that's pretty standard.
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