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This issue comes up a lot on here. Everyone seems to say that there is no "night life" in the suburbs and therefore if you are in your twenties, your social life will suck if you move here. And it's almost even stated like it's a fact.
There is NO mistaking that nightlife in the city is better. However, nonetheless, if you hit up Holsteins in Tinley Park, Lassen's in Homewood, Dunnigans in Park Forest, Glass Tap in Steger or White Rhino in Dyer, IN on any given Saturday night, you are bound to see the place packed with young people. If you're from the area, there's a good chance you'll run into someone you went to high school with - unlike a bar in the city.
This brings me to my second point.. Not everyone went to college in the city of Chicago. Not every young person is a friendless transplant from Michigan. Me, personally.. If I made the choice to move to the city, it would be IN SPITE of my social life not to BETTER my social life. It would be a sacrifice made for more excitement and perhaps more opportunities. I've lived around here my whole life.
Why do people on this forum talk about the suburbs like there's no young people and what's up with these intense warnings to young people to NOT move to the suburbs? In the end, Chicago suburbs are still a part of the 3rd largest metro area in the country. There's a lot Chicago suburbs have going for them that smaller metro areas don't.
This is where Chicagoland lacks. Other metro areas in the country, really have a leg up in terms of eclectic, vibrant suburbs full of single people.
Why would I want to bump into someone who I went to high school with?? Nothing against them, but our lives are different as adults? If you weren't friends with them then, why would you have anything in common with them now. Besides if thats appealing any small town in America is going to have bars where you can bump into people you went to high school with. And if its not the suburb you grew up in, then obviously you are not going to have as much in common with them.
Relative to many other metro areas, Chicago suburbs are almost universally family-ville. For all the great things that Chicago and Chicagoland have to offer, the reality somewhat stands that Chicagoland, compared to other metro areas, somewhat lacks in the middle of the continuum between Stepford wives suburbia and sloppy drunk Bourbon street style revelry (Wrigleyville, Wicker Park, etc.).
Before I moved to LA, I lived in Oak Park for two years and absolutely loved it. However, I was expecting it to be where I could have a blend of urban and suburban. However what I found that most people in my age group were still young couples/newlyweds that were transitioning away from the city life, but not ready to go into full blown suburbia. Some north side neighborhoods are similar such as Lincoln Square.
I agree that Oak Park often serves as sort of "training wheels" for folks either reluctant to move into Chicago if they want something smaller OR for folks going the other way leaving the city behind for a shorter commute to suburban offices or easier access to more uniformly high performing schools, unsure that they can survive without beer swilling fools a few blocks away from their apartment... Funny that even nicer neighborhoods inside Chicago get a "bad rap" from some one who has chosen to leave Chicago for LA.
The composition of the mix of young adults in many suburban areas is largely kids that grew up there -- that is like any small town, however the suburbs that have a substantial employment base also do attract a fairly large number of "after work" socializers. Some nightspots make an effort to attract locals while others try to appeal to a broader crowd.
I find it completely laughable that anyone living in LA would feel a need to denigrate the many accomplished Illinois women who hold very demanding jobs in corporations, are lawyers, physicians, college professors and yes, even stay-at-home parents as "Stepford wives" simply because they choose outside the City, perhaps this sort of rude misogyny is acceptable in LA. In the nicer suburbs it is not tolerated by men or women.
I am glad you brough this up Urza. And let me just say personally I followed the move to the city route myself and I loved it while I lived there and spent most of my adult life there. However, each and every one of my cousins who were brought up in the inner ring suburbs never expressed any desire to live in the city. They were perfectly happy to stay in the burbs. Even now the next generation of their kids in their twenties are still in the burbs and never wanted to go to live in the city. They just looked at the city as a heap of old buildings grandma and grandpa lived in, dirty, congested, crime ridden, and did not want to live there. (of course I do not agree) They know they would not have the money to move into a slick apt on Lake Shore drive, etc and would be relegated to a more modest existence in the neighborhoods. Its a myth that there are no young people in the suburbs. I agree there are many many neighborhoods that are filled with lively young people in the city. But that does not mean there are not young single people that prefer to live in the burbs. And there are establishments they congregate for nightlife too.
P.S. Yes I lived in the suburbs for years and was no stepford wife...taking the train at 7 am getting home after 7pm earning over a six figure income at a large organization downtown. It is laughable.
Suburbanites are suburbanites. More young people STAY in the suburbs than move to than city. And young people re-locate to the Chicago area to be with family or to get married or have job offers or whatever. And many join the 8 million people in the suburbs. They don't all join the 2 million people in the city.
It's usually a comfort zone thing - not necessarily because young people in the burbs actually have negative attitudes about the city. Unless you're a guy like Chet, most suburbanites are proud of Chicago, IL - regardless of age or other demographics. It's just a comfort zone thing..
I mostly talk up Chicago in real life, it is just with the attitude of too many posters on these boards being so ridiculously hostile to the 'burbs that I go out of my way to point out the many shortcomings that many are blind to...
I am always saying very positive things about Oak Park in real life to other south suburbanites. It's a great town. But it really annoys me how people on this forum talk about Oak Park like it's the holy grail of neighorhoods..
I'll side with urza on this. His main point that the suburbs do have a great nightlife is true. I've lived in the SW burbs all my life and if you know where to go and what night to go you can see some great nightlife.
I apologize if I offended anyone with the Stepford Wives comment. That in NO WAY was a comment on the actual women of suburbs in any way, shape, or form. My comment was more alluding to the fact that the Chicago suburbs are simply suburban in a very traditional sense. And one where many people suggest that it is the ideal way once you get to age 30. And yes, there is an emphasis on traditional suburban values, such as getting more house for your money, etc. Thats all I was saying.
but the comment I made was more about how Chicagoland doesn't have a whole lot between very urban and very suburban is something I do stand by. Compared to other metro areas, there just aren't that many areas that are a mix of both worlds.
But some people actually like that about Chicagoland. They prefer urban living be urban living, and suburban living be suburban living. Some people find the hybrid urban-suburban environment of California metro areas for example, to be the worse of both worlds. I really enjoy it, but even after being in California for about a year now, I can understand why people might prefer Chicagoland, even though I'm enjoying it out here.
I would agree that the somewhat haphazard "urbanized" bits and pieces of LA are VERY different than the relatively uniform "gradient" that exists when moving from the lakefront in Chicago to the outer neighborhoods then to inner ring suburbs, then to the more rail-centric suburbs, then to the more cars-to-everywhere suburbs and to the fringe burbs. The general benefits of these kinds of development patterns are widely appreciated by urban planners and often serves as a model for how to organize land use for a "hub and spoke" type system. The downside is their are only a few "satellite" centers -- in the region the most obvious examples of these satellites are our relatively sparse "regional malls" and their associated office-centric employment centers. The thing that makes Chicago rather unique is how much power the city itself holds directly -- it shares no management / planning of things like it two major airports with the broader region, owns its exclusive "toll highway" that links it to Indiana, and has an absolute lock on state politics.
The relevance to these development patterns to the current sharp contrast in "coolness" of the suburbs vs the city cannot be overstated -- the economic dichotomy of Chicago being a decent place work, a fun place for entertainment but a miserable place for the majority of upper-income-but-not-politically-connected working men & women is directly related to the sorts of lifestyle choices that go hand-in-hand with a decision to live in the suburbs.
It is easy to misinterpret a "word picture" meant to generically describe people at a certain stage of their life as a attempt to cast people's choices in a negative light. glad you cleared that up.
I know that there have been attempts by many indivuals and entertainment companies to promote a broader mix of nightlife in the burbs and the reasons they have not been succesful are varied but high on the list is the relative ease of access of MOST parts of Chicago as well as the MOSTLY well managed SAFETY of Chicago -- contrary to the overblown fear mongering that drives many to think Chicago is some kind of "war zone" the cooperation of CPD with owners of nightspots / popular music venues make it pleasent enough for anyone that cares to drive in from a suburb to park and walk around with nearly no risk of a criminal encounter.
The nature of trying to run anything for a simple beer joint to first class sports bar to a place with a reputation with quality live music in a suburb with the relatively low population density of the suburbs with Chicago being just a 25 minute drive makes it easy to explain why the "entertainment zones" of Lakeview, Lincoln Park, Bucktown, Lincoln Square thrive -- it is not that different than why there are clusters of car dealers -- similar businesses feed off the success of their neighbors and isolated businesses wither...
Finally the fact that LA is almost certainly among the MOST car centric of major cities probably goes a long way to explain the patterns of socialization / nightlife that it can support -- so long as there's a valet or decent parking nearby a business can thrive most anywhere. Of course the fact that DUI laws shape behavior also explains why even the rowdiest LA sports fans never get as tipsy as folks tht can stumble back from Wrigley Field or other bars to their nearby apartments. I tend to think that there is kind of mindset tht forces folks that "party a little too hard" to be more atuned to the value of eventually "settling down" and the converse of this may very well be that the more health conscious and mellow LA crowd is likely to be able to maintain a less "intensely wasted" social life for many more years which may very well be a wiser and more sustainable trajectory...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tex?Il?
I apologize if I offended anyone with the Stepford Wives comment. That in NO WAY was a comment on the actual women of suburbs in any way, shape, or form. My comment was more alluding to the fact that the Chicago suburbs are simply suburban in a very traditional sense. And one where many people suggest that it is the ideal way once you get to age 30. And yes, there is an emphasis on traditional suburban values, such as getting more house for your money, etc. Thats all I was saying.
but the comment I made was more about how Chicagoland doesn't have a whole lot between very urban and very suburban is something I do stand by. Compared to other metro areas, there just aren't that many areas that are a mix of both worlds.
But some people actually like that about Chicagoland. They prefer urban living be urban living, and suburban living be suburban living. Some people find the hybrid urban-suburban environment of California metro areas for example, to be the worse of both worlds. I really enjoy it, but even after being in California for about a year now, I can understand why people might prefer Chicagoland, even though I'm enjoying it out here.
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Well that is quite different...
