Why would people choose Chicago over other major cities? (Lincoln: theatres, restaurant)

[Chicago76]

Originally Posted by SCCP

Actually, your "NYC has tall skyscrapes, so does Chicago" line is not so far off the mark.

NYC has almost triple the population of Chicago, and so it obviously has triple the cultural/recreational/social venues/opportunities (I'll call them "CRSs"). But there are really two additional questions: (1) to what extent do these extra CRSs merely duplicate each other, thereby accounting for larger crowds but not adding any real lifestyle "value," and (2) as an individual, to what extent are small distinctions or super-narrow niches in CRS valuable to me?

Without a doubt, some of NYC's CRS superiority can be written off as mere duplication....

Very well said. Personally, what I liked about Chicago is that I could walk outside my door at any place I lived and have a dozen solid low to mid-tier restaurants, a couple of higher end places, and half a dozen bars I liked within no more than 5 minutes on foot. My dry cleaner, a good book store, record store, a grocery store, and a park were also within a couple of minutes walking. I didn't need to drive to work. Add to that the fact that parking is easier and the city is more affordable, and I could get to a wide variety of places by transit/bike/car within 30 minutes of home that exponentially extended my options when I wanted something different.

There was enough nearby to realistically satisfy 90% of what I regularly wanted/neede. If you enjoy quality theater, there are several well run productions at any moment you can check out. Plenty of live music of all types. Clubs if you're into that. NYC has more of the same wherever you are due to density. But do you really need 30 restaurants within x blocks rather than 12? Every once in a while, it would be nice, but generally speaking you are going to pick from a smaller group. One of the things that I noticed about NYC when I lived there was that I still generally picked from the dozen closest restaurants just like I did in Chicago. Those restaurants just all happened to be a little bit closer. I don't think I'm unique in that respect--it's just standard human psychology/laziness at play. So effectively, all I was doing was cutting 60-90 seconds off my walk by paying almost twice as much to live in NYC.

Chicago is at a nice point on the marginal utility curve. It is dense enough to make most of your day to day living car free, but not so dense as to make things cost-prohibitive the way they often can be in NYC, London, San Francisco, etc.

[grapico]

Originally Posted by Heyooooo

Its 2012. The is COL is only rising, and wages have stagnated.

And really, aside Manhattan, theres not much else. Nobody is traveling from around the world or US to live in Staten Island or the Bronx for an NY experience. Queens and Brooklyn? Chicago offers much much more.

Plenty of people go to NYC and live outside Manhattan, Brooklyn? Hello... Brooklyn alone has as much desirable urban living as Chicago sans dt/highrise style. The burbs in NYC are far more diverse than Chicago also. NYC and Chicago shouldn't be talked about together, NYC is out of Chicago's league. Also it isn't like if they don't live in Manhattan they can't go into Manhattan, Manhattan daytime population is 3.7 million people in 22 square miles.

[aragx6]

^Sure, but have you looked at prices in the nicer parts of Brooklyn recently? They're really no lower than most of Manhattan. I've recently seen UWS apartments cheaper than Williamsburg.

[grapico]

Originally Posted by aragx6

^Sure, but have you looked at prices in the nicer parts of Brooklyn recently? They're really no lower than most of Manhattan. I've recently seen UWS apartments cheaper than Williamsburg.

Yeah definitely, they rent at Gold Coast Prices like 2500-3000 bucks for Brooklyn Heights.
That is just a COL factor, which of course Chicago kills NYC at, but NYC has more.
I was just saying there is much more out of Manhattan. There are plenty of nice areas in Queens and it has ethnic restaurants and grocery stores out the wazoo, any foodies dreamland, neighborhoods like Forest Hills which are diverse with stately homes, etc. There are cool things to do in the Bronx, Yankee Stadium, Cloisters museum, Fordham U. Whenever I go to NYC I am taken back by the sheer scale of the place.
But yes with NYC money is the #1 issue I think.
I love both cities but they offer pretty different environments and outside aesthetic similarities are pretty different, both worth spending lots of time in whether you choose to live in either, or both.

[aragx6]

^Absolutely, agreed.

[edsg25]

To me, Chicago is an iconic city, one with a unique personality and sense of place all its own. Sorry, I don't have a New York yardstick. Or a Los Angeles yardstick with which to compare. Indeed, those are two unique and great cities of their own.

This is the great city of the mid-continent, the only place that has that special quality of major, major city in nation that isn't 100 miles or less from the coast. The is the most American city, the one that is the product of the United States, not the European powers that colonized all three of our coasts.

The flattest of cities, in a glorious way, gives that special mix of the endless blue of the lake, the gold of the beaches, the green of the parks, and the massive and majestic skyline rising beyond. That flatness contributes to the best grid in the world. Chicago's neighborhoods are inviting, walkable, and unique, but they flow seamlessly into each other, a city united by its grid like no others.

To me Chicago has always been the city that combines the critical mass of the larger two with the livability and functionality of those smaller.

There's nothing like Chicago. I adore the place for what it is, not how compares to others.

[MassVt]

Originally Posted by edsg25

To me, Chicago is an iconic city, one with a unique personality and sense of place all its own. Sorry, I don't have a New York yardstick. Or a Los Angeles yardstick with which to compare. Indeed, those are two unique and great cities of their own.

This is the great city of the mid-continent, the only place that has that special quality of major, major city in nation that isn't 100 miles or less from the coast. The is the most American city, the one that is the product of the United States, not the European powers that colonized all three of our coasts.

The flattest of cities, in a glorious way, gives that special mix of the endless blue of the lake, the gold of the beaches, the green of the parks, and the massive and majestic skyline rising beyond. That flatness contributes to the best grid in the world. Chicago's neighborhoods are inviting, walkable, and unique, but they flow seamlessly into each other, a city united by its grid like no others.

To me Chicago has always been the city that combines the critical mass of the larger two with the livability and functionality of those smaller.

There's nothing like Chicago. I adore the place for what it is, not how compares to others.

I agree with most of this, but "all three of our coasts"??? You mean, like New Orleans?

You could also make the case that the West Coast (largely CA) was eventually settled by native Midwesterners after WW2, along with pre-war immigration from Asia, but I digress..

How about a Marvel Comics analogy? LOL

NYC is the Incredible Hulk
Chicago is the Thing

They can go toe-to-toe for a bit, even for a long time, but eventually, NYC wins out ( if we're talking about influence, culture, impact on nation, etc)...

[stephei2000]

Originally Posted by grapico

Plenty of people go to NYC and live outside Manhattan, Brooklyn? Hello... Brooklyn alone has as much desirable urban living as Chicago sans dt/highrise style. The burbs in NYC are far more diverse than Chicago also. NYC and Chicago shouldn't be talked about together, NYC is out of Chicago's league. Also it isn't like if they don't live in Manhattan they can't go into Manhattan, Manhattan daytime population is 3.7 million people in 22 square miles.

So basically the northside of Chicago is just a equal or better Brooklyn or Queens. Got it. No wonder it is too working class looking for me.

[Jandur]

Originally Posted by stephei2000

So basically the northside of Chicago is just a equal or better Brooklyn or Queens. Got it. No wonder it is too working class looking for me.

60611 is one of the most expensive zip codes in the country. Very working class

[aragx6]

Originally Posted by stephei2000

So basically the northside of Chicago is just a equal or better Brooklyn or Queens. Got it. No wonder it is too working class looking for me.

That's not what he was saying at all.