NEW YORKERS IN CHICAGO…… help! (Lincoln, Roscoe: crime, to buy, to live in)

[ambivalent_newyorker]

Originally Posted by OyCrumbler

Just to play devil's advocate and as someone who lives in New York and loves Chicago:

1) Have you considered just living in other parts of NYC? Manhattan does not have to be the center of the universe for you. There are plenty of great neighborhoods of NYC which are less expensive than Manhattan with good transit and have milder winters than Chicago (well, all neighborhoods in NYC have milder winters than Chicago or Boston). Your wage can stretch pretty well in some parts of Queens and Brooklyn and working from home means that you only visit Manhattan when you want to and get a really decent price for a place in many neighborhoods (Ditmas Park, Dyker Heights, Astoria, Forest Hills, etc.)

2) If winter is such a crapfest for you, why not consider climactically more forgiving cities like Los Angeles or even abroad such as Sydney or Melbourne. Or if you're more adventurous, try non-Anglophone major cities like Taipei, Osaka, Lisbon, Barcelona, Mexico City, Rio, Sao Paulo, Lima, Bogota, Istanbul, etc.?

1) When's the last time you were in New York? I grew up in Manhattan, and I spent the past 3 years living Brooklyn -- until Brooklyn (and Astoria, and Forest Hills) -- became more expensive than upper Manhattan. I'm living more cheaply in Washington Heights than I could in any of those places.

2) I spent a good chunk of my childhood living in LA before moving back to NYC. I'll pass. I also spent a year living in Cape Town, South Africa, and a year in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, for the record. I don't think it's a novelty that I'm daunted by winters in Chicago -- I think that's what scares off most people from living in Chicago. But given that all of the New York transplants in this thread seem pretty happy with their move, I'm feeling pretty confident at this point that the pros will outweigh the cons. As I said, I've already spent 7 total months in Chicago. I think Chicago wins here.

[marothisu]

Speaking of winter - NOAA officially declared that this winter from December to March was THE single coldest in the recorded meteorological history of Chicago since 1872 by average high temperature. It broke the record set in 1903-04.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Speaking of winter - NOAA officially declared that this winter from December to March was THE single coldest in the recorded meteorological history of Chicago since 1872 by average high temperature. It broke the record set in 1903-04.

I actually feel better now. Thanks!

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

I actually feel better now. Thanks!

Coldest December-March Period in Chicago History

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by ambivalent_newyorker

But given that all of the New York transplants in this thread seem pretty happy with their move, I'm feeling pretty confident at this point that the pros will outweigh the cons.

Of course this doesn't take into account the opinions of all the NY transplants who froze to death this year. Just kidding...sort of.

[marothisu]

For the OP. Here's your map and this is not a complete list (116 entries on this map), but it gives you an idea in one specific area. I can always expand it out more too.

I interfaced with Yelp (their API, using Java) to get a list of businesses around a certain lat/long point while searching for the word "food." Then for each record, I went and said whether they are a chain or not, a local chain (meaning, the only locations in the world are based in Chicago or the Chicago area), how many locations they have (1 for a one of a kind eatery), and a website. I then made a heat map based on the number of locations column. In this case, I put the search point on the eastern border of Lincoln Park and Lakeview. Places from both of these neighborhoods mainly in the eastern and central sections show up on the map.

The lighter the color, the lesser the locations. The lightest color means it's not a chain and there's only 1 location. The darker the color means it's a chain, and the darkest is the big ones.

In this area and out of 116 places, 93 were not chains (80%) while 23 were chains (20%). However, 18 of those 23 chains were local chains usually with only 2 locations. 5 of those locations are bigger chains (2 Chipotle, Noodles & Company, Vapiano, and Native Foods Cafe). So basically, 5 of the 116 are national/international chains and two of those are chains that are not all over the place (Vapiano and Native Foods).

The other 18, anybody outside of Chicago would have no clue there's more than 1 location and again, most of them only have 2 locations. A lot of people in Chicago haven't even heard of those places for that matter. Here's the break down of the 23:

* 2 locations: 14
* 3 locations: 1
* 4 locations: 2
* 5 locations: 1

There's more businesses and I can update with more, but you get the idea. If you click on each point, you can get its information (i.e. name, address, type of food, number of locations, website).

https://mapsengine.google.com/map/ed...k.kiPs7tLLZkgg

[sfcambridge]

[berniekosar19]

Originally Posted by marothisu

For the OP. Here's your map and this is not a complete list (116 entries on this map), but it gives you an idea in one specific area. I can always expand it out more too.

I interfaced with Yelp (their API, using Java) to get a list of businesses around a certain lat/long point while searching for the word "food." Then for each record, I went and said whether they are a chain or not, a local chain (meaning, the only locations in the world are based in Chicago or the Chicago area), how many locations they have (1 for a one of a kind eatery), and a website. I then made a heat map based on the number of locations column. In this case, I put the search point on the eastern border of Lincoln Park and Lakeview. Places from both of these neighborhoods mainly in the eastern and central sections show up on the map.

The lighter the color, the lesser the locations. The lightest color means it's not a chain and there's only 1 location. The darker the color means it's a chain, and the darkest is the big ones.

In this area and out of 116 places, 93 were not chains (80%) while 23 were chains (20%). However, 18 of those 23 chains were local chains usually with only 2 locations. 5 of those locations are bigger chains (2 Chipotle, Noodles & Company, Vapiano, and Native Foods Cafe). So basically, 5 of the 116 are national/international chains and two of those are chains that are not all over the place (Vapiano and Native Foods).

The other 18, anybody outside of Chicago would have no clue there's more than 1 location and again, most of them only have 2 locations. A lot of people in Chicago haven't even heard of those places for that matter. Here's the break down of the 23:

* 2 locations: 14
* 3 locations: 1
* 4 locations: 2
* 5 locations: 1

There's more businesses and I can update with more, but you get the idea. If you click on each point, you can get its information (i.e. name, address, type of food, number of locations, website).

https://mapsengine.google.com/map/ed...k.kiPs7tLLZkgg

That is a LOT of work, my man. Phew!

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by berniekosar19

That is a LOT of work, my man. Phew!

Not when your day job normally entails math and computer science/programming. Took about 30 minutes total I'll have more sometime later.

[thefallensrvnge]

I'd also suggest Chicago IL Restaurants for finding some local restaurants. The list is by no means complete, but it provides search options for neighborhood, general price, etc.