Comparing NYC Neighborhoods and Chicago Neighborhoods (Addison, Lincoln: living in, shop, homeless)

[Libertine]

OK so I saw somebody do a comparison of neighborhoods in NYC with neighborhoods in SF and I thought it might be interesting to make the comparison between NYC and Chicago. This is a rough sketch of what I was thinking...

NYC........Chicago
Downtown and Midtown..............Loop and Streeterville/New East/Mag Mile
SoHo............River North
TriBeCa .............South Loop
DUMBO.............West Loop
NoHo...................River West
NoLIta.............Printer's Row
East Village..............Wicker Park
Lower East Side..............East Village
Williamsburg.................Ukrainian Village
Long Island City....................Pilsen
West Village..................Bucktown
Chelsea..................Lakeview (east of Racine south of Addison)
Greenwich Village...............Lincoln Park (north of Fullerton)
Park Slope.....................Lincoln Park (south of Fullerton)
Upper West Side/Columbia..........Hyde Park/U. of Chicago
Upper East Side.............Gold Coast
Brooklyn Heights...............Old Town
Chinatown...............Chinatown
Morningside Heights...............Logan Square
East Harlem................Humboldt Park
Harlem..................Bronzeville
Bed-Stuy.............Uptown
Astoria...............UIC (?-this one is iffy)

So let me know what you think, I'm also missing out on some Chicago neighborhoods that could be thrown in there like East Garfield Park, Edgewater, Ravenswood, Andersonville, Lincoln Square, Roger's Park, Kenwood, United Center, etc. I just don't know what their NYC equivalent would be.

[j33]

Perhaps it is because I've known the lay of the land in Uptown since about 1988 and I only ventured into Bed-Stuy within the past few years, but I'd rather hang out in Uptown over Bed-Stuy any day

I don't think the Ukrainian Village = Williamsburg quit fits, I think that that East Village or West-Town (in chicago) is probably a better equivalent. Ukrainian Village is a bit too quiet and not as hipster enough to make the comparison work in my opinion (but then again, that is the general approach one must take in comparing most chicago neighborhoods to new york neighborhoods, but I do think that my comparison is a bit closer)

[vitalove]

Thanks this breakdown helps me out a lot.

[chitown2pa]

Great topic. I guess I am about 1.5 years late on this thread, but I have been thinking about these comparisons a lot lately. I have concluded that...

The Loop/New East Side is probably closest to Lower Manhattan. It's more businessy, less touristy, and contains the financial center of the city, including stark, ominus skyscrapers. Also worth noting is this: the Loop contains the Sears Tower, and Lower Manhattan used to contain the Twin Towers. Finally, LaSalle Street is known as the "Wall Street of Chicago" and runs into the Chicago Board of Trade, which is the NYSE of Commodity trading.

Streeterville/Mag Mile = Midtown Manhattan. Michigan Ave can be compared to Fifth Avenue (the shopping mecca of the city). Also, I have always compared the Hancock and the Empire State Building in my mind. To me, they are a much better comparison than, say, the ESB and the Sears Tower. Finally, the buildings in Streeterville are not as stark, but feel more spacious and glamourous than those of the Loop.

Let's finish there for now. Any thoughts?

[Lookout Kid]

I've heard several New Yorkers compare today's Uptown to the Lower East Side of the early-to-mid 90s...

[chitown2pa]

Lookout: Just how big is Uptown, anyway? I drove up there yesterday, and it seemed to me to be a small section of Lincoln Park. Is this accurate?

[jdiddy]

Originally Posted by chitown2pa

Lookout: Just how big is Uptown, anyway? I drove up there yesterday, and it seemed to me to be a small section of Lincoln Park. Is this accurate?

A small section of Lincoln Park? Where were you?

[chitown2pa]

Originally Posted by jdiddy

A small section of Lincoln Park? Where were you?

Actually, I have gone back to the North Side since I last wrote that post. I think what I meant to say was Old Town, not Uptown. I'm not really sure where Uptown is. Old Town, however, looked to be just one street. Is there more to it than that main strip?

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by chitown2pa

Actually, I have gone back to the North Side since I last wrote that post. I think what I meant to say was Old Town, not Uptown. I'm not really sure where Uptown is. Old Town, however, looked to be just one street. Is there more to it than that main strip?

According to:

Wiki
Old Town, Chicago - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Old Town Merchant and Residence Association
Old Town Merchant & Residents Assocation - Chicago, Illinois

The City of Chicago
http://www.cityofchicago.org/webport...oods_11x17.pdf

[Lookout Kid]

Old Town and Uptown are very different places. Uptown is about three more miles north on the lakefront, and is a very "mixed bag" kind of neighborhood. The main commercial drags are seedy and full of homeless people, and some of the residential streets are packed with poverty. But go a few blocks and there are famous authors (Studs Terkel), former governors ("Big Jim" Thompson, and news anchors (Pam Zeckman of CBS) living in stately mansions.