This may not help you, as you live in the city, but I learned to fly at Stick and Rudder Flying club at Waukegan regional airport. While training, I did run from Mundelein to the airport, which, arguably, is a bigger pain than driving up from the city (depending if you live near the Kennedy or the Edens). In any case, the membership dues were reasonable, and, more importantly, the training and equipment standards were high. The fellowship at the club was also very good - they were always having fly-outs and special events.



My highlight was, two days after getting my private certificate, flying to the Bahamas on a club trip (don't worry, the rules were that there was always a very high-time, instrument-rated pilot in the aircraft with me, and that we were able to swap around pilots for the instrument legs of the flight, and the club's chief pilot flew the over water leg with me).



Here's a link to their web site:



http://www.stickandrudder.org/