I spent a good part of the last three weeks helping a young friend look for an apartment, and the experience was revealing. Amon

I spent a good part of the last three weeks helping a young friend look for an apartment, and the experience was revealing. Among other things, it made me realize that so much has changed in the city where I(26)grew up and have lived most of my life that I(27)scarcely know it. The experience also showed the crucial role of computers even in such fundamental activities as finding(28)shelter. And it revealed, finally, the pressure that the current economy has(29)put on the stock of available rental property.
    My friend is in her early twenties,(30)attractive and intelligent, a visual artist by training. She has been renting an apartment on the twenty-third floor of a building overlooking Lake Michigan with a spectacular view of Chicago’s(31)downtown skyscrapers(摩天大楼). Views, though, even magnificent ones, will take a person just so far. She has felt isolated in this apartment, and(32)longed to live in a livelier neighborhood among her contemporaries.
    Her first choice of neighborhood was one located in the north central part of the city. I knew it but had not been there for many years. My father’s place of business, a one-floor factory(33)manufacturing costume jewelry, was located in Wicker Park when I worked for him as a boy.
    Her demands were(34)straightforward enough: She was looking for a two-bedroom apartment, with hardwood floors, a secure parking space, a safe neighborhood and(35)decent light. Central air-conditioning and an in-unit washer and dryer would be nice, but not absolutely essential. She had between $ 1,200 and $ 1,500 a month to spend on rent, and five weeks in which to find a place.