Late Night Culture in Chicago - Present vs. Past?

[MassVt]

Originally Posted by RogersParkGuy

Half the city is not "ghetto." That's an exaggeration.

But did Daley consciously chase out blue-collar people? Well, kind of, yeah.

Enacting ordinances designed to punish neighborhood bars, while simultaneous using the TIF (tax-increment financing) program to lavish taxpayer dollars on private developers in "up and coming" neighborhoods is pretty much a strategy designed to displace middle and working class people and replace them with upper-middle-class and wealthy people. In any case, that was the effect of Daley's policies, regardless of intent.

This has been the story in Boston, too, and is indeed a nationwide phenomenon. Bring the middle and upper classes back into the city, and chase the working class to the city fringe, or the suburbs.

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the trend reversed itself again in 10-20 years...perpetual motion...

[jonnynonos]

I think i had the wrong impression of Ukrainian Village because soon as I moved here I met a Ukrainian girl who lived there, a girl in her early 20s, so I thought there was still a thriving Ukrainian community over there, but everything I've read, seen, experience since has said the opposite.

According to the Encyclopedia of Chicago even in 1990 there were only 2,500 people of Ukrainian descent left, so today it must be relatively infantisimle.

[nearnorth]

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

Calling it a "rather boring residential area" makes it sound like Naperville.

I stand by that. Obviously nothing as close to downtown as McKinley is going to be like Naperville (thank God), but it's residential, quiet, not very dense, very car-based (not very walkable in terms of business establishments), etc.

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

has a fair amount of gang activity, a fair amount of crime,

The data doesn't support that assertion.

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

looks pretty run down generally IMO,

It looks like a pretty typical, quiet, working/middle class residential area to me, mostly single family homes and 2/3 flats with yards, and is centered around one of the best parks in the city. As I recall this has been pointed out to you by others in multiple past threads here.

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

and is surrounded on the west and south by legitimately bad areas.

You have a strange definition of "surrounded" if it includes only two of four directions. On the north and east sides are Pilsen and Bridgeport, both gentrifying, and McKinley has even less crime than those two. Gang activity exists, but is decreasing in those areas by all indications, not increasing.

[jonnynonos]

What data?

Why would gang activity be 'decreasing' in Bridgeport?

Anyway, I said SOUTH and WEST. If you can read: SOUTH and WEST.

Go to the homicide tracker and look at homicides for New City and Brighton Park if you don't believe me.

I really don't care what you think. I've spent enough time in the neighborhood to have developed my own opinion of it.

[TBideon]

I was under the impression crime was going down in Bridgeport too.

[Wicket]

Originally Posted by thefallensrvnge

Not sure about the 80's or 90's, but in the late Victorian era to the Roaring 20's, I think Chicago (along with many other cities) had a more active nightlife in the form of red light districts. For Chicago, one was called The Levee. According to Wikipedia "There were said to be 500 saloons, 500 whorehouses, 56 pool rooms, 15 gambling halls, and too many peep shows and cocaine parlors and bawdy theaters to count." Not that this kind of entertainment is the only form of nightlife, but it seems like the more suburban America has become, the more the nightlife suffers.

Still, when I was in the North loop on Sunday around 10, I was surprised how many people where still wandering around getting food, shopping, enjoying some coffee, etc... though a lot of it may have been tourists visiting for the summer.

Jesus how old are you?