A tour of Chicago's brown line neighborhoods on a beautiful spring day - Page 2

Paulyt23 · #21 Posted **May 4, 2009, 1:24 PM**

Great photos. I used to live off the Kimball station and it's interesting to see how much the neighborhood has changed since I lived there 6 years ago--many new buildings.

Atlantan26 · #22 Posted **May 4, 2009, 2:47 PM**

Great neighborhoods. I never realized how much earlier we start spring in Atlanta. I bet its an exiciting time right now in Chicago, it always sparks a certain excitement when the seasons change.

Steely Dan · #23 Posted **May 4, 2009, 3:11 PM**

excellent tour ohioguy!

Quote:

Originally Posted by rob_1412

I preferred the old names for the CTA lines, as compared with the color-coding system that has become the standard for urban rail transit just about everywhere. Ravenswood has a pleasant sound to it; at least they could have come up with something better than "Brown."

well, perhaps you'd like the nickname for the brown line better. as evidenced by all of the starbucks in these shots and the general yuppification of the hoods along the brown line, i've heard more than one person refer to it as the "cappuccino trail".

smArTaLlone · #24 Posted **May 4, 2009, 4:37 PM**

Fantastic! Its great to see some lesser known areas of the city.

VivaLFuego · #25 Posted **May 4, 2009, 4:45 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by J. Will

I didn't know the El had at-grade crossings. Is this the only one, or are there more places it does this? Does the train have to slow down here, or can it go full-speed?

I -think- there are 4 at the end of the Brown Line, and three at the end of the Pink Line. Speeds are limited to 35mph. When the lines were built/extended by speculative moguls in the early 1900s, they ran through empty farm fields on the periphery of town. Most lines were eventually elevated (or demolished completely in some cases), but some never were, and circa the 1970s the long range strategic plans stopped bothering planning for line elevation after it became clear that getting such a project past the Environmental Impact Study stage would be a very heavy lift politically and there were simply other priorities for scarce capital dollars.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BnaBreaker

IMO, Lincoln Square is one of the most underrated neighborhoods in the country.

Indeed - it should be a model for how a quiet, "peaceful," nearly-suburban family-friendly neighborhood can actually still be quite diverse demographically and built to be transit- and pedestrian-oriented.

Steely Dan · #26 Posted **May 4, 2009, 4:48 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by VivaLFuego

I -think- there are 4 at the end of the Brown Line, and three at the end of the Pink Line.

i think there are actually 6 at-grade crossing at the end of the brown line and 10 at-grade crossings at the end of the pink line.

additionally, the yellow line has 7 at-grade crossings as it runs through skokie and the purple line has two at-grade crossing just before it hits the end of the line in wilmette.

EDIT: i just realized that you were probably talking about at-grade stations and not at-grade street crossings.

the urban politician · #27 Posted **May 4, 2009, 4:50 PM**

^ These at-grade crossings kind of remind one of a streetcar

Steely Dan · #28 Posted **May 4, 2009, 5:13 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ These at-grade crossings kind of remind one of a streetcar

even stranger to me is seeing those massive bi-levels of the metric electric south shore branch run at grade down the middle of 71st street.

bnk · #29 Posted **May 4, 2009, 10:37 PM**

Nice photo tour. It is going to be a good summer! Jimmy Conway

Southport lanes is a really cool place.

The last time I was there the pins were still replaced and set by the hands of men.

Old school bowling.

TXLove · #30 Posted **May 4, 2009, 11:43 PM**

Excellent tour and great photos!

jcchii · #31 Posted **May 5, 2009, 12:49 AM**

southport lanes tends to be my retreat when wrigley is too cold

harryc · #32 Posted **May 5, 2009, 2:06 AM**

What a tour, brought back many memories, and many WTF ! , I really need to get into that part of the city more.

Quote:

mrherodotus · #33 Posted **May 5, 2009, 12:23 PM**

Great tour!

arbeiter · #34 Posted **May 6, 2009, 4:37 PM**

What can I say, I fell in love!

i_am_hydrogen · #35 Posted **May 6, 2009, 5:05 PM**

Great idea for a thread. I really enjoyed these shots, OhioGuy.

OhioGuy · #36 Posted **May 6, 2009, 7:16 PM**

I'm glad everyone enjoyed the photos! Thanks for all of the kind compliments.

bnk · #37 Posted **May 8, 2009, 3:09 AM**

edit

urbanactivist · #38 Posted **May 8, 2009, 3:27 AM**

What a breath of fresh air!!! Thank you for the tour of some of Chicago's beautiful neighborhoods.

denveraztec · #39 Posted **May 8, 2009, 7:16 PM**

Very cool! I am ready to go back! Love how the Art Deco buildings are all over the city.

jodelli · #40 Posted **May 8, 2009, 11:32 PM**

Thanks for the tour. The stations look pretty nice now. Maybe someone could paint the Metra? overpass at Addison.
I never quite got this far with the exception of somewhere in the vicinity of the Music Box.