P R A C T I C A L   C O M P A N I O N

    C H I C A G O

    North Center and Lincoln Square

    The City That Shrinks to a Neighborhood

    Cover of The Home Index Practical Companion: Chicago, The City That Shrinks to a Neighborhood
    Author
    Ludovicus Aurelius
    Kind
    City Companion (not ranked)
    Edition
    First Edition · October 2026
    Length
    27 pages
    Research current through
    5 October 2026

    Read the companion (PDF, 27 pages) →

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    Map of the North Center and Lincoln Square area of Chicago, from Irving Park Road to Lawrence Avenue. A shaded band follows Lincoln Avenue, deeper between Irving Park and Montrose. Brown Line stations at Western, Damen, Montrose and Irving Park; seven numbered places in and around the seam; arterial frontage, the rail embankment and the six-way crossing marked as edges to avoid.
    The seam drawn to scale on the Chicago street grid: where to place the search, the heart of it between Irving Park and Montrose, and the edges to avoid.
    1. Sulzer Library: 4455 N Lincoln
    2. Supermarket: Lincoln at Berteau
    3. Tuesday market: Leland Ave, just off Lincoln
    4. Gene's Sausage Shop: 4750 N Lincoln
    5. HarvesTime: 2632 W Lawrence
    6. Old Town School of Folk Music: 4544 N Lincoln
    7. Metra Ravenswood station: 4800 N Ravenswood, at Lawrence

    A practical companion for living in Chicago two or three months at a time, based where North Center meets Lincoln Square along Lincoln Avenue and the Brown Line. The book covers the house, the ordinary week on foot, running ground, food, hosting, going into the city, getting around, the seasons and practical matters.

    Chicago is enormous. The life you build here can remain deliberately small.

    This companion stands outside the Home Index boards. Chicago was not chosen by the Index: the book takes the city as given and asks only where in it to live, and it carries no rank.

    Chapter II carries one AI-generated illustration, labeled as such. Details that will change are collected in Reference under Confirm before booking.

    Cover of The Edgebrook Case: When the Household Changes, the Answer Can Change, a hypothetical case by Ludovicus Aurelius, with a simple drawing of Edgebrook, Devon, the forest and the Metra line

    A HYPOTHETICAL CASE

    The Edgebrook Case

    When the Household Changes, the Answer Can Change

    The Chicago Companion answers one question: where should you live a deliberately small Chicago season of your own? This case asks a different one. Suppose the household changes, and one home now has to serve two lives. Under that condition, Edgebrook appears, not as a new Chicago ranking and not as a correction to North Center–Lincoln Square, but as the answer to a different question.

    Read the Edgebrook Case (PDF, 15 pages) →

    Evidence current to October 2026

    Hoc est opus. Et satis est.

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