Lakeview, Chicago Ridge by Raven Johnson
Belmont & Sheffield (Red/Brown/Purple Line)
Taboo Tabou
Raven Johnson: Taboo Tabou's window display shows A PART of Belmont & Clark's populace idea... "gay rainbow culture". You can see many shops with this kind of gear near Belmont & Clark and down to Halsted where is Boyztown. (Past Halsted, the rest of Lakeview, is just normal people :P.) You can also see by the various everyday shops and coffeehouses around that the "gay culture" is only a part of this area... the "normal," "yuppies", and metalheads walk down the street right next to the various types of queers who like "queer culture".
SUBWAY® Restaurants
Solar Compacter
Raven Johnson: A solar compacter: Being the home of the gay neighborhood, Boyztown, as well as the home of the yuppies and next door to the art neighborhood, Wicker Park, you can see a few great green initiatives such as this solar-powered compacter which serves both to keep garbage off the streets (surprisingly, the richest neighborhood also has the dirtiest sidewalks!!) and to allow everyone to recycle when they're not inside a business... although there are also decent businesses you can easily enter every 24 ft. You can also see the "trolley" behind it. This is the "trolley" which does beer tours for about $20. Drunk people like to wave out the window and scream :P.
Stuff
Raven Johnson: You can leave your stuff outside for a few minutes and it won't get stolen. Notice there is even a laptop there. I wouldn't recommend leaving a laptop for an hour, but you can leave it for 5 minutes while you walk across the street to take a pic. You can leave a backpack for 40 minutes or so.
637 Surf St.
Rainbow towers
Raven Johnson: These Rainbow towers are posted around Boyztown, mostly on Halsted. The type of gay people in Lakeview are the flamboyant ones and queers... if you don't want to be around them, you can live in the West side of Lakeview, which has more "soccer mom" type people. If you are in Lakeview West you will not see anyone from Boyztown.
Falafill Kitchen + Mezza Bar
Raven Johnson: Lesbians + Pagans = unlimited options for vegetarian and vegan restaurants. The Pagans don't show up in any kind of "local culture" or by stores, but there are many Pagans living here. Falafill is slightly concerning in that it sells fries, but there are as mentioned innumerous vegetarian restaurants.