Moving out of Orange County to Chicago for cultural reasons - Chicagoans, help?

[chet everett]

Of course, the famous Chicago Cafe Culture.

Jean-Paul Sartre wrote most of Being and Nothingness with an Italian Beef in one hand and a hot dog covered in sport peppers in the other, it is the bon vivant's favorite way to beat a wind chill of 21° Chicago, IL Wind Chill Map - WeatherBug.com

[MassVt]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Of course, the famous Chicago Cafe Culture.

Jean-Paul Sartre wrote most of Being and Nothingness with an Italian Beef in one hand and a hot dog covered in sport peppers in the other, it is the bon vivant's favorite way to beat a wind chill of 21° Chicago, IL Wind Chill Map - WeatherBug.com

That's one Italian beef/hot dog, heavy on the irony, and the sarcasm..

I suspect that Chicago Cafe Society would involve people like the Superfans..

[rzzzz]

Vienna... Vienna Beef.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by ThreeSides

Before you make a cross country move, perhaps you should do a self evaluation. The inability to make friends seems like a personal thing to me. I'm not being judgmental. Forgive me if I come off that way.

While this might be true, it's not always the case.

I never had trouble making friends where I grew up in Oregon, or in college in Indiana, but in the 2 1/2 years I lived in Minnesota I had a terrible time making friends.

Chicago, on the other hand, has always been easy for me to make friends in. Also, Chicago has really strong ties to the South, so some of our culture is influenced by Southern culture which might make things easier for the original poster. I know some people feel Chicago is cold and indifferent, but in my experience it's quite welcoming as long as you're open, warm, genuine and don't start off with complaints (no one likes complainers, anywhere).

[rzzzz]

Minnesota and Seattle are probably the most impossible places in the country to make friends.
People are down for socializing with random new acquaintances in Chicago, that is for sure.

[knitgirl]

Originally Posted by emathias

Chicago, on the other hand, has always been easy for me to make friends in. Also, Chicago has really strong ties to the South, so some of our culture is influenced by Southern culture which might make things easier for the original poster. I know some people feel Chicago is cold and indifferent, but in my experience it's quite welcoming as long as you're open, warm, genuine and don't start off with complaints (no one likes complainers, anywhere).

I'm curious, does anyone else agree? I think maybe for the AA community, but as a white northsider, I really don't feel a southern influence.

[Tex?Il?]

Originally Posted by knitgirl

I'm curious, does anyone else agree? I think maybe for the AA community, but as a white northsider, I really don't feel a southern influence.

I figured he probably meant AA community. Which is huge. Chicago may be the city most associated with the Blues, but the Blues really started in the Mississippi "delta" (really a floodplain. The delta is further south where NOLA is) with Robert Johnson, etc. And all the Blues clubs in Chicago do serve southern cuisine. Many older generation Black/AA people over 60 in Chicago grew up in MS/AR/Memphis.

Other than that, Chicago did get a big influx of mostly Kentuckians who moved to Chicago (and other Midwest cities) from depressed coal mining towns and settled in Uptown mostly, however, there's almost nothing left of that community as they either dispersed and assimilated or moved back.

Two pieces of entertainment to get a glimpse of that community is the 60s folk singer John Prine, a Chicagoan of Kentucky background, and the movie "Next of Kin" (late 80s).