Belmont goes, East to West, through as much of Chicago as it could. Further East, especially around Halsted or Clark, there is great shopping, nice clubs and restaurants. Further West, there is usually a good cluster of commercial activity every 4 blocks or so, especially near the big subway station at Belmont and Kimball. I like Central and Belmont, even though it's a little seedy now, still some good places to shop, Belmont bus very reliable, BTW. At 7200W it connects with Harlem Avenue and then goes further west, and at that point it becomes more and more residential, and finally ends in a strip mall at Cumberland. A real microcosm!