Like most Chicagoans, 25-year-old Nili Krausz remembers the polar vortex of 2013-14 as a cold, snowy and frustrating time. But she does have a warm memory mixed in with her frosty recollection of that winter.
The West Ridge resident had just begun shoveling the path to her house one bitterly cold night. The day had already produced about 6 inches of snow, and the city expected more overnight.
“I’m a single, young female outside in the dark shoveling my walkway and, you know, some people might think that was crazy,” Krausz said. “My mother probably would not have approved.”
Suddenly Krausz noticed the shadow of a man behind her. To her surprise, the stranger — who she later learned was her neighbor — offered to do the heavy lifting for her.
“He shoveled the rest of my walkway for me. And when I woke up in the morning, the whole walkway in front of my house and my neighbors’ to the left and right of me had been shoveled again, presumably by the same person,” Krausz said. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so thrilled to see a clean walkway as I was that one time.”
This tale encapsulates Krausz’s experience in West Ridge, commonly referred to as West Rogers Park, and is the reason why she loves the primarily residential middle-class neighborhood on the Far North Side.
Residents have been “warm and outgoing and just so hospitable,” she said. “There is a really warm, neighborly sort of feeling in the area.”
Named for its placement on the west side of Ridge Boulevard, West Ridge was annexed to Chicago in 1893. The community shares a colorful history intertwined with its Rogers Park neighbor — a separate yet similar living environment — and continues to work closely with Rogers Park residents, businesses and institutions.
A Denver native, Krausz moved to Chicago two years ago for graduate school. She is a doctoral student at Northwestern University, studying biomedical engineering with an emphasis on neural engineering. Krausz values West Ridge’s proximity to Evanston, where she takes classes, and downtown Chicago, where she conducts research.
Krausz just embarked on a six-month research fellowship with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland. Besides the friendliness of West Ridge, she said she will miss the ethnic diversity of the neighborhood, which is known for its Indian, Pakistani, Korean and Jewish communities.
“It’s an interesting area because there are so many different types of people who live in the neighborhood,” she said. “It’s kind of this melting pot of all sorts of different cultures, which is kind of a neat experience.”
In her free time, Krausz enjoys walking around the vibrant, tree-lined neighborhood and spending time outdoors. Her favorite reading spot is a bench in Lerner Park, where she is surrounded by nature. Indian Boundary Park and the North Shore Channel Trail are her other go-to retreats. Where does Krausz like to go when she wants to eat out with friends? Hamachi Sushi Bar and The Main Pizza.