Chicago Pride advice for a noob (Addison, Galena: apartment, dangerous, club)

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by jdiddy

I vote this section for the city-data Hall of Fame.

OMG, why,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjUQMs0kVEI

[emathias]

With the Supreme Court ruling in favor of marriage equality, this year's Pride Parade will likely be the biggest ever (barring heavy rain, etc). We've come close to a million attendees the past couple of years - I figure it will blow past that number this year.

[s0nginmyheart]

Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't the CTA bypass the Addison and Belmont stations last year or years past? This was to alleviate crowding on said streets. If it is the same for this year, you'll have to get off at Fullerton or north at Sheridan.

Originally Posted by emathias

With the Supreme Court ruling in favor of marriage equality, this year's Pride Parade will likely be the biggest ever (barring heavy rain, etc). We've come close to a million attendees the past couple of years - I figure it will blow past that number this year.

Also, that number has been inflated for years. See CWB post. Realistic numbers are between 200~300k.

First, the Pride Parade does not have one million spectators. If you don't believe us, listen to what the CEO of Chicago Special Events Management, the company that oversees major events such as Pride Fest and Market Days, said about the parade:
He said that even the Pride Parade, which had crowd estimates of 850,000 [in 2012] probably had closer to 250,000 people.
“Those are crazy numbers,” he said. “Think of the population and physical space. It would be impossible to have those many people lined up and down the streets.”

Generally, Halsted at Roscoe is the most crowded area to be at, due to the main bars being right there. Everything else kind of fizzles out north and south of that route.

[sidburn]

Originally Posted by bella84

In that case, I'd take a bus instead.

So from maybe the Belmont blue line station east?

[Freefall18]

Taking the 'L' or a Bus for the Pride Parade? Here's a Guide to Get Around - Lakeview - DNAinfo.com Chicago

[Slate Moonstone]

So OP, did you go to the parade? Please report back.

I used to go to the parade every year when I lived in Lakeview, and I have to say it got old really fast. It always seemed mostly like an excuse for people to get sloppy drunk at the Halsted bars - I even had one wasted twink smack me for no reason while he was staggering down the street in front of my building. That was around the time I stopped going...

Also, from reading the local news (and the Crime in Wrigleyville & Boystown blog) it sounds like the Pride events have become much more of a crimefest than in years past. And I read that this year there were a bunch of kids from the ghetto playing with tasers all over Halsted (maybe at night, not during the parade), while someone drove his car into the parade at some point??? Eeesh. I hope everyone was OK and had a safe, enjoyable time.

I made a last-minute stop at the NYC parade today, as I was running some errands near Union Square anyway. It was nice, in general much more well-behaved than I remember the Chicago parade ever being (as it always has been in my experience.) I think the fact that NYC doesn't let you drink on the street is a big factor; Chicago really needs to get that under control.

[mjtinmemphis]

Originally Posted by Slate Moonstone

So OP, did you go to the parade? Please report back.

I used to go to the parade every year when I lived in Lakeview, and I have to say it got old really fast. It always seemed mostly like an excuse for people to get sloppy drunk at the Halsted bars - I even had one wasted twink smack me for no reason while he was staggering down the street in front of my building. That was around the time I stopped going...

Also, from reading the local news (and the Crime in Wrigleyville & Boystown blog) it sounds like the Pride events have become much more of a crimefest than in years past. And I read that this year there were a bunch of kids from the ghetto playing with tasers all over Halsted (maybe at night, not during the parade), while someone drove his car into the parade at some point??? Eeesh. I hope everyone was OK and had a safe, enjoyable time.

I made a last-minute stop at the NYC parade today, as I was running some errands near Union Square anyway. It was nice, in general much more well-behaved than I remember the Chicago parade ever being (as it always has been in my experience.) I think the fact that NYC doesn't let you drink on the street is a big factor; Chicago really needs to get that under control.

I had a couple of bad experiences at the Chicago Pride parade. I think there where just too many people in party mode.

St. Louis has a considerably smaller celebration that seems more conducive to families. I know they did have alcohol at the festival and concerts but people where well behaved.

[s0nginmyheart]

Originally Posted by Slate Moonstone

So OP, did you go to the parade? Please report back.

I used to go to the parade every year when I lived in Lakeview, and I have to say it got old really fast. It always seemed mostly like an excuse for people to get sloppy drunk at the Halsted bars - I even had one wasted twink smack me for no reason while he was staggering down the street in front of my building. That was around the time I stopped going...

Also, from reading the local news (and the Crime in Wrigleyville & Boystown blog) it sounds like the Pride events have become much more of a crimefest than in years past. And I read that this year there were a bunch of kids from the ghetto playing with tasers all over Halsted (maybe at night, not during the parade), while someone drove his car into the parade at some point??? Eeesh. I hope everyone was OK and had a safe, enjoyable time.

In the past years I had marched in the parade with my LGBT non-profit organization, but the last few years I didn't even consider attending as a spectator. This year my fiance and I walked over to Halsted between Grace and Irving, and we left after 10 minutes. We ran errands/shopped on the other side of town instead. This event is just too much of a clusterf*ck sh*tshow. As a frequent reader of CWB, I see there were ~37 arrests, idiots with tazers, stabbings, muggings, fights, and a driver who intentionally ran through the barricades TWICE (SAME DRIVER). How is that #KeepingPrideProud, organizers?

[kgordeeva]

The Chicago Pride Parade doesn't represent what it's supposed to represent anymore and I think many LGBT people would agree. It's honestly just an excuse for people to dress in skimpy outfits and act like idiots. Yesterday I was walking around in my neighborhood after the parade was already over and there were just a bunch of ghetto people running around screaming and peeing on sidewalks. There was even a shooting at a nearby McDonald's.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by s0nginmyheart

...
How is that #KeepingPrideProud, organizers?

I wouldn't blame the organizers. Sometimes things just get bigger than what they originated as, and the Pride march is one of those things. It's like trying to blame the Catholic church for all the drunk idiots at the St. Patrick's Day parade. There's only so much you can do to control crowds.

Originally Posted by kgordeeva

The Chicago Pride Parade doesn't represent what it's supposed to represent anymore and I think many LGBT people would agree. It's honestly just an excuse for people to dress in skimpy outfits and act like idiots. Yesterday I was walking around in my neighborhood after the parade was already over and there were just a bunch of ghetto people running around screaming and peeing on sidewalks. There was even a shooting at a nearby McDonald's.

It wasn't in a McDonald's or even outside of a McDonald's, it was on the next block, just east of Sheridan on Wilson - it was as close to the "Jesus People, USA" commune on that block as it was to the McDonalds on the NW corner of Sheridan and Wilson. This is the most accurate report I've seen, even though it gets the McDonald's attribution wrong, here. The shooting also had nothing to do with Pride as far as I can tell, and is related to Uptown's other recent crime issues.

Why do I know whether it's accurate? Because I was directly across Wilson Street from the shooter, no more than 2 car lengths west of him, close enough that I saw muzzle flashes. I had just unlocked my bike to head home when I heard 2-3 loud noises. I hoped they were firecrackers, although they were loud enough I thought, "Those would have to be M-80s to be that loud." About 3 seconds passed - an eternity when you'd not sure what the noises were - and then the shooter resumed, I saw muzzle flashes just as I was ducking behind a car, and the shots continued long enough that I started to wonder if it was "just a gang shooting," in which case I'd be fine behind the car, or something more sinister in which case I should be plotting how to get further away without drawing attention to myself. Just as I was about to make a run for it to get further away, the shots stopped, I heard the car accelerate away, and I poked my head up soon enough to see the car swerve around the corner onto northbound Sheridan Road.

I wasn't actually scared during it, although I was certainly hyper-aware all of a sudden. There were a couple things that were funny. First, right as the second string of shots started, one of the members of the target's group shouted, "What an *******!" as she was running away. The shooter was definitely an *******, but that also seems like the understatement of the year. Second, my husband saw it too, but afterwards swore the car was red. I remembered it as being a dark gray Japanese import, which is what I reported to 911 when I called them as I got on my bike to ride away from the scene. I was pretty certain it was grayish, but he was pretty sure it was red so I wasn't actually sure it was gray until I saw the article I linked to above. Human psychology is certainly weird and that discordant memory between us certainly confirms the idea of unreliable witness testimony.