Anybody have any opinions, good or bad, of DeKalb? Modern DeKalb, I mean, moreso than circa 1980 or 1990 or whatever. The reason I ask is because I am thinking of maybe moving there in the not-too-distant future, and possibly attending school there. So I was wondering, what do you think of the town?

Don't move to 1980 DeKalb, scott, because then you won't be able to drive, so once you get there, you'll have a harder time leaving.

Sorry, no real opinion. Been there twice, it's like Palatine with more farms. I worked with a guy who went to NIU and he seemed to think it was an education bargain, and you are a resident.

I'm in the market for a PhD program, and I was thinking of asking the forum this very question. Surely somebody around here can pronounce some judgments on this city/town. I can Mapquest it all day and night, and it'll still say that it's about 65 miles from Chicago. Is this a commutable commute? Or is traffic too much of a bitch, roads inadequate? What of these problems come wintertime, which just occurred to me?

I went to college there and lived in DeKalb from 1992 to 1997. DeKalb was just fine. I received a decent education for a decent price. NIU, when I was there, didn't have much of a music scene. I think DeKalb would be nice as a graduate student as long as you have enough extra money to hit a good rock show in Chicago once or twice a month. If you have any specific questions about DeKalb just ask.

Bob

Thanks, Bob. A few additional questions: What's the cost of living there, relative to Chicago? Is this a city that's well-equiped? By that, I mean does it have the normal stores and places one'd need, or would I find myself needing to go to Chicago every week to get good groceries?

clocker bob wrote:Don't move to 1980 DeKalb, scott, because then you won't be able to drive, so once you get there, you'll have a harder time leaving.

Sorry, no real opinion. Been there twice, it's like Palatine with more farms. I worked with a guy who went to NIU and he seemed to think it was an education bargain, and you are a resident.

Having grown up in Palatine, Illinois and having attended college in DeKalb, Illinois, this statement caught my attention. But DeKalb must have changed A LOT .

Palatine was basically a tiny little community that sprang up around a rail stop in the late 1800s - small town center before the postwar subdivisions swept in in the 50s and 60s and continued and continued and continued and is still continuing. Strip malls, GINORMOUS subdivisions, etc.

I won't really comment on DeKalb, since my information is about 20 years out of date. But back in them days, it sure wasn't anything at all like Palatine. Larger business district, surrounded by farms, large university w/all that entails, townies lining the main drag on Friday night, etc.

You can still get you one of them nifty flying ear of corn hats there, though, I bet.

My description of DeKalb as 'Palatine with more farms' was not based on much empirical evidence. I can guarantee I've spent less than four hours total in DeKalb and less than 24 in Palatine, and I wasn't exactly doing research in either. I'll recuse myself after this post. DeKalb seemed pretty 'developed' last year as in 'predictable businesses arranged predictably in a way that favors an automotive-centric society' in the areas around I-88 and NIU, but that's all I saw. Maybe closer to Naperville with more farms than Palatine, on second thought.

There's other towns in Illinois besides Chicago?

Lemuel Gulliver wrote:Thanks, Bob. A few additional questions: What's the cost of living there, relative to Chicago?

Relative to Chicago, it looks crazy cheap. At least property, anyway. We're looking at houses that cost like $200 to $250K. In Chicago, in the city, these same houses would cost more like $500K-$1M or more. Also, gas is $2.99 to $3.05 a gallon there, rather than like $3.15 or $3.20 here. As of yesterday, anyway.

Lemuel Gulliver wrote:Is this a city that's well-equiped? By that, I mean does it have the normal stores and places one'd need, or would I find myself needing to go to Chicago every week to get good groceries?

If you have a car, you can get to just about any mainstream chain store you can think of. A five minute trip up Rte23 gets you to WalMart, Target, Kohls, BestBuy, Blockbuster, Lowe's, etc, like all of them in one stripmall complex from hell. There's a Farm&Fleet really nearby, which is awesome. Also, if you're into alternative stuff, there are a lot of non-chain stores, including a food coop that has natural and organic foods/vegetables etc.

There are two music stores on the main road, right near each other. One looked cool, the other looked full of generic new cheap equipment. Neither of them was a Guitar Center.

I just drove around there for a couple/few hours yesterday. The trip back was not what I expected, probably because of the holiday... from downtown DeKalb (by Lincoln and first) to my apartment in Ukrainian Village, this drive was almost exactly one hour. I believe this was exceptionally fast, and that when you add in rush-hour traffic on 290, it can be much, much more hellish.

I also look forward to seeing it when school is in session, rather than just on a holiday weekday during the summer.

About the townies... what are they like, to the best of folks' recollection? I imagine they don't change a whole lot in a short period of time...

Once played a rock show in the basement of a record store/skate shop. It was fun. Kids were nice. There was a classic bar up the street too that had some really bad cover band. I felt strangely at home.

That's all I got on DeKalb.

Oh wait, I have a great jacket from DeKalb - it's green and has a patch with a big piece of corn on it. Real sweet.