CTA – Jarvis

Since I was crowned Duchess of the Jarvis Red Line today I saw
it only fitting to write a review.
Honestly, I am the duchess of some of the coolest places.
Like my Dr’s. Office, His Pharmacy, yadda, yadda, yeah right… Anyway
As far as CTA Stations go this one is truly one of the cleanest, most
secure stations I have ever seen.
It is well lit and doesn’t smell like pee-​pee or anything offensive which is
a definite plus because my old home Uptown Station smelled like a toilet
everyday.
So, moving on, there seems to always be an attendant on duty and there
are a couple of working Ventra Machines.
And it feels safe/​secure upon entering and even up on the platform.
I really like having this station so nearby and it does seem to have a
steady stream of traffic even for a smaller station.
So, not missing my old Uptown Station at all, in fact not missing Uptown
at all.
Living here in East Rogers Park 1 block from the lake is pretty sweet.
Pretty Sweet Indeed…

Post-​reconstruction, the station looks great. Lights are brighter than ever, the new concrete sealant looks great, and it’s all shiny. Of course, someone vomited in the place in the first 2 days, and the Chase ATM that was there has yet to reappear (interestingly, CTA called Chase 5 times to get the ATM a worker told me. Chase didn’t respond, so they demoed part of the station and set off an alarm that made CPD come and retrieve the machine… ggoooo Chase)

Does it smell? Sure. Are there hoodlums about? Not that I’ve witnessed. Is it the best CTA stop on the red line? Can’t claim that. Is it an adequate station? I think so… it will be interesting to see what comes of these progressive CTA station face lifts, but this station works okay for me for now.

Seriously… it always smell like piss. Some times are definitely worse than others, but even after they scrub it down, it still reeks of Lysol with urine additive. Here’s a thought… install a toilet so the monkeys with tiny bladders have an alternative to the stairs.

Are you going to get robbed, catcalled or harassed for change for 40s and blunts at Jarvis? Probably not. Does it smell like pee, yeah sometimes. Does it feel safer than Howard or Wilson? For sure.
I lived by the Wilson stop for 3 and a ½ years, so I’ve witnessed the third rung of hell. Any other station is almost paradise. So grow up, thee who whine.

this stop is mediocre.
it doesn’t have any of the credit card machines for to add money to your card.
it does have a chase atm this event and my poor planning and a $ 125 coupon prompted me to get a chase account.
bam.
problem solved.
it’s pretty rickety and the howard stop is so close.
i prefer to go there.

You know and I know that using the CTA to transit anywhere in Chicago is all about minimal expectations. So the Jarvis station is pretty awesome. It doesn’t always smell like piss. It’s not always covered in graffiti and gang tags. Both turnstiles can work at the same time (no, really, I’ve seen it happen!) and people can go in and out.
But seriously, you’re taking the subway, urban hipster. It’s not going to be as cool as your fixie and it’s not going to be as clean as your mom’s BMW. It’s Chicago, not Toronto or Berlin. Get over it, put those headphones on, and be happy that you live off a line that has stations every few blocks. The Jarvis stop isn’t on the bleeding edge of mass transit. It’s functional, safe if you keep your wits about you, and very convenient. As long as the trains go, that’s all you need.

This station is as gritty and bare bones as you want an El station to be. OK, maybe you don’t really want an El station to be either gritty or bare bones, but I’ve never lived in Chicago, so I tend to romanticize Windy City life.
I used this station a few times when I had friends who lived in the neighborhood. It’s a little scary at night, but the presence of other scared people actually makes you safer. (Kind of like a nervous herd of wildebeest.)

They’ve been making a lot of changes here lately. Added a bunch of new lights (not sure how the people in the apartments across the way feel but I like it) painted it and opened up the space.
I also like that the urine stench is gone. Way to go CTA! It almost makes the price increase bearable.

The other day I made a rare weekday-​morning appearance at this station, and a CTA employee had just mopped the stairs. So the smell of cleaner was a pleasant/​unpleasant change from the usual stink.
Jarvis is one of the lesser stations; what do you expect? You show up, pay through the turnstile, wait for the train, and board when it arrives. Not much else to it. Howard station is so close that you can see when your train is departing.
However, bonus points for the Onion paperbox outside, and the Chase ATM inside. Slight detraction for the ATM working only 60% of the time. Charmers Café across the street for your caffeinated beverage of choice in the morning; Poitin Stil next to it for your final drink of a boozy night out. And wherever you’re going after leaving the station, it’s a much nicer walk from Jarvis than from Howard.

I give Jarvis Station 5 stars because it perfectly symbolizes the Chicago Way: Help your (rich) friends steal as much public money as feasible, drill the average citizen in the patootie (no lube), and leave the poor to rot in their misery. Why the hell should Joe Moore care that the city is full of homeless people who have little choice but to ride the trains all night and use Jarvis station as a toilet? Why should Daley care? They’re busy in meetings thinking up new ways of sucking more blood out of the citizenry (Denver boots, triple fines for parking tickets, mandatory surrender of young virgin daughters… whatever the Oligarchy demands). This is the city, mind you, that had the Great Idea to dismantle all the public housing down around the Rich White People areas (e.g. Cabrini, South Loop, Little Italy, UIC)… for the good of the poor folks! Yes, Great Care would be taken to provide adequate new housing for these legions of angry, dysfunctional, disenfranchised ghetto hicks … or not. Ooops! Well, they’ll find a way! That is, they’ll find their way to the very few parts of town with low-​cost section 8 housing and a familiar cultural millieu. Welcome to Rogers Park! Don’t you worry about a thing — our Alderman has the duck-​liver issue firmly in hand!
God this city makes me sick. Fortunately, I live just ’round the corner from the Jarvis Avenue vomitorium. Watch your shoes!

smells like pee.

This el stop is disgusting. The poor guards that hang out in the CTA cubicle– they should get hazard pay. Saying this place smells like pee is an understatement. I would say that even if you would tear this station down and burn the ground and salt it and whatever, the smell of urine would haunt this plot of land like the indian burial grounds the house in Poltergeist was built on. Although I have to say I don’t want to get political, but the smell is sooo appropriate for Joe Moore’s office a mere pee stream away.
The saving grace for the station is the area it serves. It’s come a long way since I moved to Rogers Park.

This stop always smells like urine for some reason. Other than that, it services Poitin Stil (a little Irish pub), Charmers Café, and a pretty decent Italian restaurant.
Edit — On the plus side, the stop no longer smells terrible. Unfortunately, Charmers is now closed. Also, it would be nice if they brought back the Chase ATM…

I love this stop because it gets me to Romanian to buy the best hot dogs in the city.

I’m revising my initial estimate of 3 stars — that review was based on this station being slightly safer than Morse. Slightly.
Alderman Joe Moore’s office is a few hundred feet from this station. (Next to a laundromat and a check-​cashing place.) I can only assume that neither he nor his staff have ever taken the Red Line to work. While the Jarvis Square area is starting to improve in general, the ‘revitalization’ certainly doesn’t extend to the El.
I have started to feel unsafe while standing on the platform, as though the boards were going to give out underneath me. It just feels more rickety than most other stations I go to.
If the station doesn’t smell like urine (as another reviewer pointed out), it smells overwhelmingly like bleach. Even on the driest days, there’s always a puddle outside the stairwell — I don’t even want to think about the explanation for that one.
To top it all off, I think there are more broken 40 oz. beers on the tracks here than anywhere else I’ve seen. I’m guessing that the empty bottles land on the tracks and the ‘rented’ beer ends up back on the stairwell. It’s truly gross.