Some, but Skokie? Illinois Nazis? I hate Illinois Nazis. I know there are some really nice areas on the lakefront, but Some of those areas were just scary.
And I say this as a former inmate of Great Mistakes Naval Training Center. I usually went to Milwaukee versus Chicago on the weekends, and not just because the drinking age in Wisconsin was lower.
Bottom line--if you're going to sell a city in this country for the Olympics, you can do a whole lot better than Chicago. At least Zero isn't trying to sell Detroit as an Olympic venue!
Who told you Skokie was "Nazi"? Skokie is predominately Jewish, has been forever. There's a pocket of Catholics in there.
My brother lived on the edge of Lincolnwood, bordering on Forest Glen....very nice neighborhood, across the street from the elementary school. A 1700 SF detached row house that they just sold for $650K. They went to church in Skokie ( a very very old Epicopal Church).
There are a lot of nice areas of Chicago, as all city employees are required to live within the city limits. We've stayed in downtown Chicago and walked to restaurants at night.
There have always been "scary" areas of Chicago. I can remember going down to Rush Street when I was in college and my dad just about going into cardiac arrest over it...
...it was "funkytown" then - could buy anything you wanted on the street...now it's a very popular area of restaurants and boutiques.
Navy Pier, down at lakefront, is fun. Went there with my son and a buddy of his just after they graduated from Great Lakes.
If I had stayed in the area after I graduated from college, I would have ended up being a social worker in Cabrini Green....which is why I moved to Omaha. Didn't have a death wish.
