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You don't have to go back to the 60's for streets too rough for the little ones -- except in the seediest parts of the near north sections where peep shows and porn shops were common the trend for parents in most city neigborhoods was to rely on the various older kids to look after the littler ones and not be too concerned about outsiders as big families that all sort knew each other were the dominate factor in neighborhoods regardless of race / income. Now the influx of people with maybe one or two kids and hordes of creepy types from who knows where means you'd be nuts not to worry about even some maladjusted other kid with freaky looking parents going off on your own...
In the burbs the homes that overlook parks and playgrounds are selling at a premium as mom or dad can "work from home" and watch over the kids and their neighbors without being as obvious a "helicopter".
Towns that have that sort of layout tend to also have more of the "grid interrupting open space" that surrounds neigborhood schools as opposed to the less desirable "educational cluster" where kids have to be bused off to some distant school that likely led to many folks growing up in such suburbs being disconnected from any sense of who might live nearby / be a potential playmate.
A similar level of displacement / detachment is prevalent in parts of Chicago where large numbers of children travel to magnet schools outside their immeadiate neighborhood and / or a significant group or children travel to parochial schools. In contrast the better designed rail-centric suburbs have religous institutions that follow the same grid pattern of homes and local schools. Further signficant number of parishioners are well integrated with the local recreational offerings like Park Districts /youth sports as well as community amenities such as libraries where all the children get to know each other from the time of pre-school story time through high school where research projects often become occaision for kids to socialize....
Are you ok with not knowing what sorts of neighbors you have?
It blows my mind that there are people that live next door to some creep that has hostages locked up in their basement for decades.
Get to know your neighbors. Host a cook-out. Keep on eye for things that don't add up. You could literally save someone's life. Cleveland Hostage's Mom 'Died Of A Broken Heart' | New Hampshire Public Radio. One curious / angry neighbor could have help stop this decades ago. What does that say!
The "I just want to be left alone and I don't give a darn about what goes one next door" attitude is too prevalent among folks that never get connected to their community. Have your fun while you are right out of college but make an effort to settle down and put down root or live with the horror of god knows what
It blows my mind that there are people that live next door to some creep that has hostages locked up in their basement for decades.
Get to know your neighbors. Host a cook-out. Keep on eye for things that don't add up. You could literally save someone's life. Cleveland Hostage's Mom 'Died Of A Broken Heart' | New Hampshire Public Radio. One curious / angry neighbor could have help stop this decades ago. What does that say!
The "I just want to be left alone and I don't give a darn about what goes one next door" attitude is too prevalent among folks that never get connected to their community. Have your fun while you are right out of college but make an effort to settle down and put down root or live with the horror of god knows what
I agree wholeheartedly. It's all part of being a good neighbor.
Too bad you weren't young during the 70's. A lot of good neighborhoods also had reasonable rent. And I'm not talking about neighborhoods so boring they might as well be in the suburbs. And you could walk up to Wrigley Field on game day and get tickets.
I was young in the 70's, and kept getting mugged. Rents were low, and should have been lower considering the quality of urban life at the time. But, yes, you could get Cubs tickets on game day.
+1 Chet's comment about being a good neighbor and the Cleveland hostages.
The good thing about Chicago is you have such a high quality urban lifestyle that appeals to so many. I can find a suburban lifestyle in other places that are warmer and less expensive and more diverse.
I've found people in Hyde Park and other urban neighborhoods to be friendlier than any suburb I've lived in. (Lakeview was a different story) So in my experience in the suburbs people pull into their garage and you don't see them until they pull out of their garage. There is very little opportunity to interact with the community you live in.
I agree 100%, I live in Naperville and I NEVER see my neighbors, everyone hides in their houses. I am seriously considering moving into the city.
I am single and the social scene here in the suburbs is a joke! I never see any single women here, only married women as far as the eye can see.
Even though I work in the suburbs I still might move into the city, just so I can have some sort of a social life.
Living in the suburbs is death to your social life!
I agree 100%, I live in Naperville and I NEVER see my neighbors, everyone hides in their houses. I am seriously considering moving into the city.
I am single and the social scene here in the suburbs is a joke! I never see any single women here, only married women as far as the eye can see.
Even though I work in the suburbs I still might move into the city, just so I can have some sort of a social life.
Living in the suburbs is death to your social life!
This is ridiculous. Naperville is as fun of a place to go out in as nearly any neighborhood in the city. I have friends that make special weekend trips out to Naperville from the city because they have the idea that there is a honey hole of attractive single women out here. There was even a meme getting passed around a while back that was a commentary on how when you ask attractive women in Chicago where they live they say "Chicago" and that nearly always translates to "Naperville."
It's true, the sheer volume of people in Chicago might mean you'll have better odds -- but if you only keep running into women in Naperville who tell you they're "married" you might have to look within to solve the problem.
I can sympathize with your attitude about the suburbs having less opportunities to socialize, and certainly they are skewed toward parents (duh!), but a lot of your struggles might be where in the suburbs you live. If you live in southwest Naperville, or anywhere outside an easy distance to the downtown district for that matter, you social options are going to be severely constrained. Occupying a new-build subdivision in a cornfield or in an apartment along a busy thruway that isn't walkable to anything doesn't appeal to many people -- even suburban parents! There has been a big push from historic suburbs with downtown districts to revitilize their city centers and turn them into something that looks charming and has all the social appeal of city neighbohood. They indeed have to if they want to survive, as modern parents do desire to raise their children in a safe place, but also live in a place that they can feel "social" in. As city neighborhoods continue to gentrify, this will be a necessity if any given suburb wants to "make the cut." And it is definitely possible to achieve such results. One need not look any further than Naperville to see success in such a conversion.
Last edited by holl1ngsworth; 07-23-2014 at 07:33 AM..
I agree 100%, I live in Naperville and I NEVER see my neighbors, everyone hides in their houses. I am seriously considering moving into the city.
I am single and the social scene here in the suburbs is a joke! I never see any single women here, only married women as far as the eye can see.
Even though I work in the suburbs I still might move into the city, just so I can have some sort of a social life.
Living in the suburbs is death to your social life!
My experience was similar (not in Naperville, but a different, probably even more boring, 'burb). It seemed the social scene for young adults consisted of two groups: 1) Townies who grew up there and still hung out with their childhood friends (with no apparent desire to ever expand their social circles beyond that), and 2) Young yuppie families whose social lives revolved around their kids' activities. Not being a part of either of those groups made it nearly impossible to find a social niche for me. I made more friends within weeks in the city than I made in years in the burbs. Best decision I ever made.
My experience was similar (not in Naperville, but a different, probably even more boring, 'burb). It seemed the social scene for young adults consisted of two groups: 1) Townies who grew up there and still hung out with their childhood friends (with no apparent desire to ever expand their social circles beyond that), and 2) Young yuppie families whose social lives revolved around their kids' activities. Not being a part of either of those groups made it nearly impossible to find a social niche for me. I made more friends within weeks in the city than I made in years in the burbs. Best decision I ever made.
The various suburbs vary greatly.
Those like Naperville that attract large numbers of modern well paying employers and turn out large numbers of highly skilled graduates from their schools have a very different mix of young people.
The majority of kids that grow up in Naperville go on to good colleges and then accept good jobs literally around the world. The folks that move to Naperville to work for good employers appreciate the nice mix of local options for afterwork socialization and a fair number find it an excellent place for singles to live.
Of course Naperville is very attractive to families who care about providing a good environment for their children. A huge plus is the excellent rail service to Chicago. Not only does this allow great transit options for work but many many families head into Chicago on the weekends (and even weekday evenings in the summer) to take advantage of the unique cultural / entertainment options. It is truly a synergistic relationship that adds dimensions to the childhood of those who grew up here.
Mod cut.
Last edited by PJSaturn; 07-24-2014 at 11:56 AM..
Reason: Rude, personal barb.
I agree 100%, I live in Naperville and I NEVER see my neighbors, everyone hides in their houses. I am seriously considering moving into the city.
I am single and the social scene here in the suburbs is a joke! I never see any single women here, only married women as far as the eye can see.
Even though I work in the suburbs I still might move into the city, just so I can have some sort of a social life.
Living in the suburbs is death to your social life!
I wouldn't go that far but your social options will be a lot more limited and you will have to exert energy to create opportunities. Even "urban" suburbs like Berwyn, Oak Park, and Evanston have very large percentages of families and married people. If you're looking for groups which have a lot of singles, then you will be spending time in the City. So if that's your case, you should be in the City if you can be.
Naperville I don't know a lot about. I suppose if you work out that way and don't want to torture yourself with a 2 hour commute each way, then you'd live there. So there could be a lot of single people there. I truthfully don't know.
I wouldn't go that far but your social options will be a lot more limited and you will have to exert energy to create opportunities. Even "urban" suburbs like Berwyn, Oak Park, and Evanston have very large percentages of families and married people. If you're looking for groups which have a lot of singles, then you will be spending time in the City. So if that's your case, you should be in the City if you can be.
Naperville I don't know a lot about. I suppose if you work out that way and don't want to torture yourself with a 2 hour commute each way, then you'd live there. So there could be a lot of single people there. I truthfully don't know.
2 hours to Naperville?? Lol. Somebody has never left the city. Even the weekend, non-express Metra will get you out there in < 60mins. If you could get a place to stay the night out there, like Airbnb, I'd recommend checking it out... it's got a different, but no less fun vibe than a typical city neighborhood.
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Are you ok with not knowing what sorts of neighbors you have?
Even the weekend, non-express Metra will get you out there in < 60mins. If you could get a place to stay the night out there, like Airbnb, I'd recommend checking it out... it's got a different, but no less fun vibe than a typical city neighborhood.
