Some help looking for parts of Chicago that might look like Boston

[Sun Belt]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

For the area around Harvard, you'll want something that doesn't look like a grid. Ideally the streets would be curvy but those are rare in Chicago.

It's not so much curvy streets, there aren't many in Cambridge, it's more about finding narrow streets. Cambridge has a street grid, it's just not organized to the compass.

https://goo.gl/maps/qSbwph7Ti6xtp19N8

[Xing]

Thanks guys! I’m saving all of these .

As far as these Cambridge neighborhood residential streets I was thinking Evanston, Oak Park , Riverforest, or Riverside .

This is a street in Oak Park IL that we’ve scouted before for other projects, and I think it might work for the Cambridge street I’ve posted below :

https://goo.gl/maps/ryh7vAHY4x1xf4p18

This is one of the streets we’re trying to emulate (Cambridge MA)

https://goo.gl/maps/eyfgVnwG2wK2dZpy5

[Xing]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

For the area around Harvard, you'll want something that doesn't look like a grid. Ideally the streets would be curvy but those are rare in Chicago. Maybe somewhere like here?

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9326...7i16384!8i8192

or this?
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9202...7i16384!8i8192

Having lived in Cambridge for 5 years though, it's hard to think of a place that looks a lot like Cambridge in Chicago... not enough wood frame buildings.

Logan Square Park might be able to pass for Cambridge Common?
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9287...7i16384!8i8192

These are really great!

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by Sun Belt

It's not so much curvy streets, there aren't many in Cambridge, it's more about finding narrow streets. Cambridge has a street grid, it's just not organized to the compass.

https://goo.gl/maps/qSbwph7Ti6xtp19N8

Yeah, but most of the grid sections are residential and primarily wood-framed. Finding a lot of dense wood-framed buildings is hard to do in Chicago.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

Finding a lot of dense wood-framed buildings is hard to do in Chicago.

not that hard. chicago's dense wood frame is just a different typology than cambridge's.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9348...7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9277...7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9327...7i16384!8i8192

[DZH22]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

not that hard. chicago's dense wood frame is just a different typology than cambridge's.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9348...7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9327...7i16384!8i8192

The first and third links (quoted above) could pretty easily pass for Somerville (which is technically the densest city in New England although parts of Boston are much denser).

Here's a Somerville shot for reference:
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3887...7i16384!8i8192

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by DZH22

The first and third links (quoted above) could pretty easily pass for Somerville (which is technically the densest city in New England although parts of Boston are much denser).

Here's a Somerville shot for reference:
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3887...7i16384!8i8192

yeah, somewhat close

the dead giveaway (to the trained eye) that you're in the midwest and not new england are the parkways (or tree lawns as they're called in some places) in the chicago street scenes.

~99% of chicago residential side-streets have a parkway between the curb and sidewalk. they vary in width, anywhere from 3' - 10' (narrower usually = older), but they're always there.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by Sun Belt

It's not so much curvy streets, there aren't many in Cambridge, it's more about finding narrow streets. Cambridge has a street grid, it's just not organized to the compass.

https://goo.gl/maps/qSbwph7Ti6xtp19N8

He was specifically referring to Harvard Square, which is notable for having several of Cambridge's many curved streets. You can't film on a grid and convince anybody you're at the gates of Harvard.

[Sun Belt]

Originally Posted by craigs

He was specifically referring to Harvard Square, which is notable for having several of Cambridge's many curved streets. You can't film on a grid and convince anybody you're at the gates of Harvard.

Except my street view post, was 3 blocks from Harvard.

Outside of Harvard Law:

https://goo.gl/maps/TESm8ZMVExHuqdPUA

[craigs]

I lived about 2,800 feet from that intersection you posted. It's not what people think of when discussing "Harvard Square." It won't look right in a film if Harvard is supposed to be the setting.

Should anyone be confused about this, hit up Google Maps and enter "Cambridge MA." Zoom in on Harvard Square, and the curvy streets that define that area will be evident.

[Sun Belt]

Originally Posted by craigs

I lived about 2,800 feet from that intersection you posted. It's not what people think of when discussing "Harvard Square." It won't look right in a film if Harvard is supposed to be the setting.

Should anyone be confused about this, hit up Google Maps and enter "Cambridge MA." Zoom in on Harvard Square, and the curvy streets that define that area will be evident.

There are a couple curves in a couple roads. Most roads are straight. Confusing because they aren't aligned to cardinal directions, but they are straight nonetheless.

[Segun]

You'll find a bunch of buildings that look similar to Commonwealth Ave Too

Commonwealth Ave:
https://goo.gl/maps/iSzu9JaqAut2DhrT9

S.Side
https://goo.gl/maps/EMJhrYfnVXsjL9xy6

[Xing]

Originally Posted by Segun

You'll find a bunch of buildings that look similar to Commonwealth Ave Too

Commonwealth Ave:
https://goo.gl/maps/iSzu9JaqAut2DhrT9

S.Side
https://goo.gl/maps/EMJhrYfnVXsjL9xy6

The southside has always given me east coast vibes. Definitely considering it.

[emathias]

The hardest part in my opinion is the flat geography. The Boston area is so much more hilly.

Anyway, I think parts of North Center, Lincoln Square, and Avondale look like Somerville and the less dense parts of Cambridge, and more wood frame housing than some other parts of Chicago.

The Old Town Triangle area and maybe the Armitage area of Lincoln Park also looks a bit like the side streets in the Inman Square and Central Square parts of Cambridge. You could probably make parts of Broadway just north of Diversey look like parts of the Boston Area.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by Xing

The southside has always given me east coast vibes. Definitely considering it.

It broken up a lot, so you'd have to make use of careful freaking and tight shots, but it could be done I would think. Parts of Hyde Park remind me of the area around Harvard where a lot of Professors live, for obvious reasons. For example, the areas in Hyde Park South of 55th between South Lake Park and Woodlawn Ave.

It really depends on exactly what you're looking to replicate, but I think it can be done.

[Sun Belt]

Maybe the OP can help us zero in on the right type of neighborhood.

Blue collar, upper middle class, or elite?

Parts of Boston are very bourgeois, other parts are gritty - same goes for Chicago.

This is very much Boston, just as much as Beacon Hill is. This location is just 6 miles from downtown. Surely there are many parts of Chicago that look like this:
https://goo.gl/maps/Zq6tu6q9FHvbaWC66k

Saugus: about 7 miles from Boston, major arterial road into downtown.
https://goo.gl/maps/jZ3dQBPaaYXtx5Kj6

This is in Boston, next to a commuter rail station, equipped with a drive-thru Dunkin'. Certainly Chicago has similar stuff near a Metra Station?
https://goo.gl/maps/UG1HNwwjvEuP7HnN8

North Quincy [pronounced Kwinzee], at a Red Line T station. Heck the Red Line goes to Harvard Square. Great shots here. The Red Line is in many films, usually going over the Longfellow Bridge though.
https://goo.gl/maps/T6UeNMmmGPvUErjJ6

[montréaliste]

Originally Posted by Sun Belt

Maybe the OP can help us zero in on the right type of neighborhood.

Blue collar, upper middle class, or elite?

Parts of Boston are very bourgeois, other parts are gritty - same goes for Chicago.

This is very much Boston, just as much as Beacon Hill is. This location is just 6 miles from downtown. Surely there are many parts of Chicago that look like this:
https://goo.gl/maps/Zq6tu6q9FHvbaWC66k

Saugus: about 7 miles from Boston, major arterial road into downtown.
https://goo.gl/maps/jZ3dQBPaaYXtx5Kj6

This is in Boston, next to a commuter rail station, equipped with a drive-thru Dunkin'. Certainly Chicago has similar stuff near a Metra Station?
https://goo.gl/maps/UG1HNwwjvEuP7HnN8

North Quincy [pronounced Kwinzee], at a Red Line T station. Heck the Red Line goes to Harvard Square. Great shots here. The Red Line is in many films, usually going over the Longfellow Bridge though.
https://goo.gl/maps/T6UeNMmmGPvUErjJ6

You could hardly have found more unprepossessing shots of Boston if you tried real hard, like scraping the bottom of the baked bean pot.

I think that the OP suggested some views of more urbane interface in the older districts that could play off each other, chicago for Boston/Cambridge and vice-versa. Some of what was posted above looks really good to me.

Of course, the triple deckers clad in wood or vinyl are a New England feature that multiplied on a vast street grid don't mesh with Chicago. Around Harvard Square, the stone and brick buildings that resemble Chicago's are on the main arterials. A lot of the frat houses outside the main campus of Harvard U are colonial type clapboard houses, and some date back to colonial times indeed.


I think the trick is to stick to main commercial streets, and the winding Chicago streets posted above are pretty good.

I worked on a movie set in Boston but entirely shot in Montreal in 2001 (Heist/David Mamet). The Southie type neighborhood we used was Pointe St-Charles, the closest equivalent in atmosphere in human terms since this was an old Irish working class part of town. The housing typology is totally different, Montreal is heavily bricked with interspersed clapboard. The exterior shots around a jewelry shop in Old Montreal had more of the look and feel of downtown Boston because that part of town has very similar architecture throughout.

You oftentimes need to help establish settings with visual cues like signage or street furniture to fake it in a good way.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by Sun Belt

Maybe the OP can help us zero in on the right type of neighborhood.

Might want to read the first post: "I’m looking for parts of Chicago that might look like parts of Boston, as well as parts of Chicago that could look like Cambridge, mainly the area around Harvard. I also need something to double as Harvard."

In any case I think it'd be safe to assume that if someone is looking for parts of Chicago that look like Boston, they're looking for something that is quintessentially and identifiably "Boston", and not for generic big box suburbia.

[Xing]

Lol... they went to Boston! But no worries, they plan on coming back , so this info will be saved for later!

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Xing

Lol... they went to Boston!

As they should.

If you want Boston, fucking go to Boston.

This shit ain't rocket science.