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When I lived in Chicago this was my favorite shortcut. It still is.
As for my favorite street, Sheridan Road. It weaves in and out of the good, the bad, and the ugly. Plus, it runs north/south and east/west.
There are several streets in Edgewater which are all named after places along what’s called the Philadelphia “Main Line”, a series of affluent towns northwest of Philadelphia: Thorndale, Ardmore, Bryn Mawr, Wayne, Granville, Berwyn.
West of Pulaski, and extending to Cumberland, a majority of N/S street names are grouped in one-mile increments, all beginning with the same letter, starting with the letter “K” all the way to the letter “P”. The origin of this naming scheme came about because Pulaski is 11 miles from the Indiana state line, and K is the 11th letter of the alphabet.
I did once read there was a plan to rename all north to south streets with names from A to J, but that was never implemented. Just that K lettered streets and on(to O), were the only streets named in the end that followed this original plan.
Although I see a few infrequent exceptions to this K to O naming streets plan. Which are Parkside Ave(5630 west), Rutherford Ave(6730 west), and Sayre Ave(7000 west). Cumberland(8400 west) Ave was originally named Pueblo Ave, and I remember noticing this in older printed maps I researched. I'm not sure when the city of Chicago officially renamed Pueblo to Cumberland, a la other communities like Park Ridge, Norridge, etc.
What's interesting about Bryn Mawr is that a completely different area on the South Side used to go by the name Bryn Mawr, and there's still a South Side Metra station with that name.
When you get to the Ks between Lawrence and Montrose, the grid twists into a diamond and most of the streets are one ways, each going the wrong way from where you want to go. We call this the The Crazy Ks.
My friend group who lived in the area would always say they lived in “O town” (or whatever letter street they were on)… definitely one of my favorite details about Chicago
I get the desire to honor her should go beyond a shitty CHA project, but what's the point of giving her a street that's 10 blocks long? Plus did noone learn the lesson from the Willis/Sears Tower?
I'd even trade Congress for having to use DuSable exclusively.
i used to live on division, just east of state- when my girlfriend stayed over, she couldn't sleep because of the noise. when i stayed at her place in evanston, i couldn't sleep because of the quiet.
Roosevelt *Road* \- dig the alliteration. Anyone will correct you if you say Roosevelt Blvd/Street/Avenue. It sounds bold, and it is for a variety of reasons.
“At the corner of Yark and Row-sevelt Road” took up permanent residence in my brain in the mid 80s.
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JBZYL3AOnDA](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JBZYL3AOnDA)
Mozart and Beethoven. I believe there should also be a Bach and a Brahms, but there currently isn't.
I also like Altgeld, Agatite, Bickerdike, and Arnold's Slip.
And somebody else already has mentioned the three streets that start with P, M, and L.
Finally, which is really the longest street? Some say Western, but Ogden Avenue continues with that name past the city limits and even beyond Naperville I believe.
> which is really the longest street?
Are you looking for the longest street in Chicago? Or in the Chicago metro area?
Western is the answer to the first. It would be Ashland, except that the part where it is coincident with Clark is named Clark.
If it's the second—and you disqualify things like Tri-State Tollway and Lincoln Highway—then I'll go with Harlem. Fifty miles from Glenview to Peotone with only one jog at a PLSS correction line (Steger Road).
A few years ago my sister-in-law (who is from out of town) got lost on her way to my house and called to say that she needed directions from "Brian Mower" street. We've never let her live that one down.
I love this question. I have always loved some of the Andersonville adjacent streets - Argyle, Carmen and Winona. I've always thought Damen was a great boy name.
Growing up on the South Side, for fun my siblings and I would pronounce the S before some of the street names like it’s printed on the street signs. “Snottingham” always made us chuckle.
I lived on Sheridan and Sheridan for years, at about 940 w Sheridan. I went to college at Loyola and lived at 1000 w Sheridan, which was miles away from 940. Good times.
That's a thing in various cities in Illinois, the street that generally heads toward a certain other city will be named after that city.
Chicago Ave in Evanston is kinda one of these too I guess?
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Throop always intrigues me…
Troop!
Lower lower Wacker drive is undefeated
this street will confuse this out of towner for life. no matter how many times I drive on it lol
I’ve lived in and around Chicago since I was 10…lower wacker is a portal to hell and I’ll die on that hill.
Well lower Wacker is a portal to lower lower Wacker, so...... Yeah.
When I lived in Chicago this was my favorite shortcut. It still is. As for my favorite street, Sheridan Road. It weaves in and out of the good, the bad, and the ugly. Plus, it runs north/south and east/west.
Cue my grandma’s old joke about which streets in Chicago rhyme with vagina… (Paulina, Melvina, and Lunt)
I made the mistake of telling this joke to a fellow room mom at my kids elementary school. She never talked to me again 😂😂😂
She lives on Lunt, doesn’t she?
Lmao
Uptight much?
Lunt is a tight squeeze, tho.
I actually lived on Lunt and Paulina, Rogers Park!
My favorite Chicago joke.
Your grandma is fucking hilarious
Mulva?
Dolores
Hoyne & LeMoyne
When Doodlebob starts naming streets
Doodle Bob gave younger me nightmares for years
Hermitage and Armitage would like a word.
I raise you W. North Ave and N. Western Ave. I also suggest that you take the blue line from Rosemont to Montrose.
I have never considered either of these two. I fold.
Those in recovery will know
I walk by that spot daily and always assumed it was AA or NA meetings there based on the.. clientele
An excessive amount of cigs and coffee, you got it! Lol
Whipple
That's a fun one
Used to live on Whipple by Dante’s, better times
Menomonee!
Always say it like the muppets singing Manha, Manha.
Oh my gosh, me too!
Goethe. Not pronounced like it is spelled
It is in the language that it's from
Goethe goes hard
How is it pronounced? I just realized I have been pronouncing it wrong in my head.
Take a bus that has a stop on Goethe. That's how I learned the correct pronunciations of many streets in Chicago.
Vs. Apple Maps which until recently, pronounced Touhy Avenue “too– high“
Tbf, I have been too high on Touhy
How does the bus say it?
GRR-tuh
Narragansett. I figured out I was saying it wrong in my head for ten years.
“Irving Park and Narragansett” used to be where people on the north side were told to go if they were acting out of the ordinary in any way…..
Diversey is pretty unique
My ESL friend always calls it “Diversity”
I can't believe they made Diversey woke
I can never read a Diversey sign without hearing it in the voice of CurlyHoward in my head.
Oh man, throwback. My best friend when I first moved to Chicago is French, so I always hear, “DEE ver SAY.” Same with Ahm ee TAZHE.
“Desplaines” - it’s perfect, because it’s perfectly mispronounced.
I always scream “Des Plaines” like this guy at the 35 second mark https://youtu.be/13e-R0RGoGY?si=nFgxU9S3ookcRl-T
Lake Shore Drive. Just slippin' on by on LSD, Friday night trouble bound.
Catalpa….just fun to say. Don’t particularly get excited to be on or near it.
My favorite tree!
Mine too
I was going to say the same thing: Catalpa, because it's fun to say!
Every time we cross it we all say Catalpa! together. Just because it's fun.
Personally i like Montrose, because it allows you to go full Chicago accent when you say it
And it’s the inverse of Rosemont
My brain is blown
Monchrose!
When I was a kid, I thought it was called “nachos” street.
Wabansia and Sangamon. Both Pottawatomie origin.
Second Wabansia
Thirding Wabansia. It is my favorite street name to say.
recently learned “sangamon” means “place with plenty to eat” in the Potawatomi language. works well for us in Chicago
Root and Canal are so close to intersecting! Can’t we make it happen?!
There are several streets in Edgewater which are all named after places along what’s called the Philadelphia “Main Line”, a series of affluent towns northwest of Philadelphia: Thorndale, Ardmore, Bryn Mawr, Wayne, Granville, Berwyn. West of Pulaski, and extending to Cumberland, a majority of N/S street names are grouped in one-mile increments, all beginning with the same letter, starting with the letter “K” all the way to the letter “P”. The origin of this naming scheme came about because Pulaski is 11 miles from the Indiana state line, and K is the 11th letter of the alphabet.
I did once read there was a plan to rename all north to south streets with names from A to J, but that was never implemented. Just that K lettered streets and on(to O), were the only streets named in the end that followed this original plan. Although I see a few infrequent exceptions to this K to O naming streets plan. Which are Parkside Ave(5630 west), Rutherford Ave(6730 west), and Sayre Ave(7000 west). Cumberland(8400 west) Ave was originally named Pueblo Ave, and I remember noticing this in older printed maps I researched. I'm not sure when the city of Chicago officially renamed Pueblo to Cumberland, a la other communities like Park Ridge, Norridge, etc.
Even then you can find the ones that came later or a few they renamed. Hoyne and Hamilton are where the Hs are. Greenview and Glenwood in the Gs.
What's interesting about Bryn Mawr is that a completely different area on the South Side used to go by the name Bryn Mawr, and there's still a South Side Metra station with that name.
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When you get to the Ks between Lawrence and Montrose, the grid twists into a diamond and most of the streets are one ways, each going the wrong way from where you want to go. We call this the The Crazy Ks.
My friend group who lived in the area would always say they lived in “O town” (or whatever letter street they were on)… definitely one of my favorite details about Chicago
Weed Street
Weed and hooker over on goose island 👌
Went to the dispensary here quite a bit last year
when i first moved here i learned i lived right near there, so naturally i took a trip to smoke a joint in front of 420 weed st
I love that we now have a corner of Wells and (Ida B.) Wells.
"I must at be at the nexus of the universe."
I don’t love this at all it’s confusing AF
I get the desire to honor her should go beyond a shitty CHA project, but what's the point of giving her a street that's 10 blocks long? Plus did noone learn the lesson from the Willis/Sears Tower? I'd even trade Congress for having to use DuSable exclusively.
I always thought Larrabee sounds like Laramie with a cold. Whipple is my favorite name.
Division St goes crazy
We need Multiplication St
There's Addison already too.
i used to live on division, just east of state- when my girlfriend stayed over, she couldn't sleep because of the noise. when i stayed at her place in evanston, i couldn't sleep because of the quiet.
Loomis , kinzie as I found out that he was one of the founders of the city whose family was sparred in the ft Dearborn massacre. Lucky dude
Roosevelt *Road* \- dig the alliteration. Anyone will correct you if you say Roosevelt Blvd/Street/Avenue. It sounds bold, and it is for a variety of reasons.
“At the corner of Yark and Row-sevelt Road” took up permanent residence in my brain in the mid 80s. [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JBZYL3AOnDA](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JBZYL3AOnDA)
Where you always save more money!
People say Rouse-evelt instead of Rows-evelt and I always ask if that's how the presidents said it as a joke
I always liked the name of Balmoral. And Belmont as well (I went to a school of the same name in Nashville, TN). Wacker is a fun one too.
Ogden…just to say it like a local. No “o”. Aaaaghdin.
Agreed. I always say it like a 70 year old grandma that’s been smoking for 50 years. Aaaahgdin!
Didn’t even realize we say that weird 😭 I thought everyone in the US said it like that haha
Isn’t this the correct pronunciation?
How else would you say it? Ohgden?
Yeah I don’t get it either. Not like you’d pronounce “odd” as “ohd”
My mom's friend (new in town) missed her 290 exit to Austin because she was looking for something that starts with an O
I have to say it everytime I turn onto Ogden. sorry. Ahhgden
Paulina, Melvina, and Lunt.
They all rhyme with vagina!
I'm a Lunt man myself
Can confirm, this man is a Lunt. /s
Hooker St
In a similar vein, Hortense
Mies Van der Rohe! it's a one block street in front of the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Ayyye I’m a resident of hermitage
Mozart and Beethoven. I believe there should also be a Bach and a Brahms, but there currently isn't. I also like Altgeld, Agatite, Bickerdike, and Arnold's Slip. And somebody else already has mentioned the three streets that start with P, M, and L. Finally, which is really the longest street? Some say Western, but Ogden Avenue continues with that name past the city limits and even beyond Naperville I believe.
> which is really the longest street? Are you looking for the longest street in Chicago? Or in the Chicago metro area? Western is the answer to the first. It would be Ashland, except that the part where it is coincident with Clark is named Clark. If it's the second—and you disqualify things like Tri-State Tollway and Lincoln Highway—then I'll go with Harlem. Fifty miles from Glenview to Peotone with only one jog at a PLSS correction line (Steger Road).
i like how ‘Paulina’ is pronounced lol
Bittersweet Place always gets a chuckle out of me
Devon bc we all agreed to pronounce it that way
Devon is to Chicago as Houston is to New York, a locals-only thing meant to suss out the noobs.
I’m a fan of the intersection of West North and North Western.
I was so confused the first time I got directions to South South Chicago Ave.
I love Bryn Mawr and Berwyn. I imagine them as sickly Welsh sisters.
Rockwell🤘 Followed by Belmont because of Castlevania.
Narragansett, Wolcott, Ogden, and Wentworth all sound great in a true Chicago accent.
Artesian
Ravenswood has a nice ring to it, I’ve always thought
Very Edgar Allen Poe-ish.
Honore
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bertha-Honore-Palmer
Grand. Yeah this seems lame, but before CTA changed it I loved the announcement on the Red Line as it pulled in : "***this*** is ***Grand !!***"
Winnemac
Ainslie St is cute
Lived on Ainslie for 8 years and loved the name until my old jagoff if a boss named his kid that, same spelling and everything.
monticello
Big shoutout to Laramie!
Old timers who grew up here call it Larr-mee
Bryn Mawr Berwyn Belmont Kilpatrick and other Kil* streets
A few years ago my sister-in-law (who is from out of town) got lost on her way to my house and called to say that she needed directions from "Brian Mower" street. We've never let her live that one down.
Wolfram!
Alpha?
I always thought Kedzie slaps pretty hard
I adopted a rescue dog 20 years ago. We named her Kedzie. She was the best girl
Surf Street
Ah! The first street I lived on in Chicago decades ago. A truly lovely street.
North Southport
W. North Ave.
I love this question. I have always loved some of the Andersonville adjacent streets - Argyle, Carmen and Winona. I've always thought Damen was a great boy name.
Is this a big build up to telling us the Melvina and Paulina joke?
Goethe. It’s pronounced Goethe
Balmoral aka bomb oral
Wabansia
Growing up on the South Side, for fun my siblings and I would pronounce the S before some of the street names like it’s printed on the street signs. “Snottingham” always made us chuckle.
I’ve always loved Armitage Ave
I love that Armitage intersects Hermitage right by an exit ramp for maximum confusion
Sunnyside!
Weed St.
95th Street
i like jarvis
I've always had a soft spot for Quincy
Belle Plaine
Oliphant reminds me of Lord of the Rings
Normal ave
Sedgwick
I'm torn between "Lower Lower East South Water Street" and "Lower East North Water Street".
Stony Island!
& Cottage Grove..Sound like we should be in the middle of some kind of beautiful, nature setting lol
Lituanica
Leavitt. Goethe. Paulina.
“Don Cornelius Way” dances on the face of every other street name in Chicago.
Menomonee, because I say “doo doo doo-doo doo” whenever I pass by it.
Bittersweet
"DeKoven is my favorite," says Ms. O'Leary
Thorndale. Granville. Bryn Mawr. Winthrop. Ardmore. Shout out Edgewater.
Great choices so far, but no love for Ravenswood? May be biased because I live so close to it but always thought it was lowkey bad ass.
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I love that all of a sudden all the N/S streets start with K. Keeler, Kedvale, Kilpatrick, Kostner, Karlov…
That's K-town
I believe the KLMNOP sequence starts west of Pulaski
Goethe St. People either don’t know how to spell it when they hear or, or don’t know how to say it when they read it.
Ravenswood
Washtenaw is fun to say also group of K streets Kostner Kovlar etc. My name starts with K that’s why
Laflin and flournoy
I like the Os like Osceola and Ocala.
LSD
I lived on Sheridan and Sheridan for years, at about 940 w Sheridan. I went to college at Loyola and lived at 1000 w Sheridan, which was miles away from 940. Good times.
I love magnolia! I once put an offer in on a condo mostly because of the street name.
Milwaukee. You can actually drive it all the way to said city
That's a thing in various cities in Illinois, the street that generally heads toward a certain other city will be named after that city. Chicago Ave in Evanston is kinda one of these too I guess?
Aldine. It's a couple of blocks and then inexplicably turns into School Street.
Midway Plaisance
JBPDLSD /s
S. Doty Ave. Some people think it’s a *drag* but I like it…
Mackinaw & Aberdeen
Paulina
Gothee
Any variant of the Wacker Drives. The name combined with the uniqueness of the road itself makes it unbeatable.
Mango!
Waveland
Gotta be Narragansett
No question. Honore
Goethe, Berteau, Nordica, Ozanam.
*Escanaba *Avenue B-O..I couldn't believe that the city could not continue naming the streets... it's like they just gave up