The name alone jolts the imagination with images of a gorgeous coastline, beautiful people, and well-groomed dogs. If you agree, visiting the neighborhood you won’t be disappointed. A mixture of mansions, row houses, and high-rise apartments fuse the hustle of the city with the resort-like feel of the miles of sand along Lake Michigan.

The neighborhood is often quoted as the second most-affluent neighborhood in the US (after Manhattan’s Upper East Side). It’s a bit of a dubious claim to fame since the cost of living (or at least renting) an apartment on the Gold Coast is nowhere near the cost of a comparable space on the Upper East. Prices aside, I’d much prefer living on the Gold Coast along the magnificent water views of Lake Michigan with a beach right outside my window than enclosed in a tiny space on the Upper East Side in Manhattan.