Boystown

Boystown — officially Northalsted — runs along Halsted Street between Belmont and Addison in Lakeview, marked by the rainbow pylons of the Legacy Walk, the country's only outdoor LGBTQ+ history museum. It has been the center of gay Chicago since the 1970s and the anchor of the Pride Parade route, with institutions like Sidetrack, Roscoe's, and the Center on Halsted holding down a corridor that stays busy seven nights a week. Wrigley Field sits ten minutes north on foot; the lakefront is ten minutes east.

Apartments for rent in Boystown skew vintage: 1920s brick walk-ups and courtyard buildings on Melrose, Aldine, and Roscoe, mostly studios through two-bedrooms, with a band of newer elevator buildings along Broadway and Halsted itself. Renters trade unit polish for location — in-unit laundry commands a premium here — and the Belmont CTA station puts the Loop about 20 minutes away on the Red, Brown, or Purple line.

Homes for sale in Boystown are predominantly condos: walk-up conversions in the interior blocks, larger vintage units with sunrooms on Pine Grove and Lake Shore Drive's western feeders, and a handful of new-construction buildings on Addison. Single-family homes are rare and contested when they list. The neighborhood's condo inventory turns over steadily, and east Lakeview pricing still runs below comparable Lincoln Park blocks.