This is a lovely apartment in a traditional Chicago style building in Avondale - if you like old buildings, you’ll be delighted in particular by the period details in the front vestibule! Everything was very comfortable and, although we did not meet, the host took extra steps to coordinate with us and make sure we were well looked after.
My husband and I like to explore and love to walk, so we didn’t mind selecting an Airbnb that isn’t right in the middle of things, and we didn’t have a car at our disposal. Since others might be wondering if this approach would work for them, we wanted to share our observations about the logistics. We found that the apartment is just about equidistant from Logan Square and Belmont stops on the blue line, and from Healy station on the MD-N line. While we only walked to the first two, and we found the walk down Milwaukee to Logan Square our preferred of the two walks, any one of the stations can be reached in about 20 minutes on foot (keep in mind that Chicago is flat!!!). There’s also a bus that runs straight down Milwaukee that was promising but a bit irregular in practice, and easy access to other bus routes such as one that goes basically across Belmont and straight to the nature center at Lincoln Park. The frequency of service and the length of walk weren’t an issue for us since we were just doing touristy things and neighborhood exploration. On the other hand, if you have a car this apartment is also definitely a great base of operations!
We found that our explorations were oriented chiefly south and east from the apartment (we had been Frank Lloyd Wright worshipping in Oak Park on a previous visit, but that would be convenient from here as well). In particular, there are good casual places to eat around Logan Square (Chiya Chai is amazing, La Boulangerie, Buzz Coffee Roasters, and a co-op market are all right there). On the side streets there are wonders to discover (Necessary and Sufficient coffee, Caribella, and Tacos Loteria - the latter is the furthest afield from the apartment) but it is good to go looking - google maps seems to be very selective in what it displays, and the restaurant landscape in the area seems to be changing every day. We did not get delivery at all during our stay, but that could have been a good option as well (we liked to get back “home” before dark).
The apartment itself was just as pictured - one larger bedroom and one smaller one, one bathroom, a well stocked kitchen, and access to laundry in the basement and the back yard (May is not quite back yard season in Chicago, although we had a couple of hot days). There are some great design and color touches, and it was a great homelike place to come back to and crash on the couch after an 8 mile day of walking! As I mentioned, it is in a historic building with other apartments upstairs, and is located in an urban neighborhood, so it would be unreasonable to expect a totally noiseless environment. With that said, during the hours you’d expect quiet, it was quiet, and it was also quite peaceful during the day the couple times we were there mid-day.
Hopefully those tips will help you get the most out of your stay at this great Airbnb, which we definitely recommend!