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Wrigley Field is a also a good (but more rare) concert venue.
Ah yeah forgot about that. Paul McCartney was great there...although I prefer the more "intimate" settings (by "intimate" I mean under 3000 people). Depends on who's playing though. Soundgarden at UIC Pavilion on the floor (and in the mosh pit) was awesome. Lollapalooza can be great too once you get over some of the people who go there.
Chicago might seem busier in the summer b/c of all the street festivals, it's big on events. In reality, I wouldn't say it is busy as NYC though in summer, b/c NYC is a frenzy in the summer also.
New York is just busy on a day to day, period. You can just be walking across the street to wash some drawers and get more action than you'd see in a neighborhood like River North. Or just going out for lunch and seeing camera crews filming an episode of 30 Rock or something. Not to mention a host of other things that you would rarely ever see in Chicago.
New York is just busy on a day to day, period. You can just be walking across the street to wash some drawers and get more action than you'd see in a neighborhood like River North. Or just going out for lunch and seeing camera crews filming an episode of 30 Rock or something. Not to mention a host of other things that you would rarely ever see in Chicago.
River North is a terrible, terrible comparison. It might be downtown, but it is in no way even close to the most populated area of the city. If you wanted a true sense of Chicago daily life, you come in the non winter months (although even in the winter these areas can be lively sometimes) to areas like Lakeview, Lincoln Park, or some areas around Wicker Park. These have much, much more action on a daily basis than River North. Personally, I don't find River North that bustling compared to some of these other neighborhoods in the slightest bit. Maybe in 10 years after the current building boom is done and 30,000 more people live in RN compared to now, but no.
Lakeview is the 2nd most populated neighborhood of the city. River North is nowhere near that. RN has a buzz, but it's not close to the other areas. In fact, Gold Coast has more of a buzz than River North on a daily basis. Go on a nice Saturday afternoon to the area bounded by Bellevue, State, and Rush and you'll see what I mean.
River North is a terrible, terrible comparison. It might be downtown, but it is in no way even close to the most populated area of the city. If you wanted a true sense of Chicago daily life, you come in the non winter months (although even in the winter these areas can be lively sometimes) to areas like Lakeview, Lincoln Park, or some areas around Wicker Park. These have much, much more action on a daily basis than River North. Personally, I don't find River North that bustling compared to some of these other neighborhoods in the slightest bit. Maybe in 10 years after the current building boom is done and 30,000 more people live in RN compared to now, but no.
Lakeview is the 2nd most populated neighborhood of the city. River North is nowhere near that. RN has a buzz, but it's not close to the other areas. In fact, Gold Coast has more of a buzz than River North on a daily basis. Go on a nice Saturday afternoon to the area bounded by Bellevue, State, and Rush and you'll see what I mean.
Yeah, those neighborhoods are fine, but they are not nearly as active as Manhattan on any given day of the year. If we're going to throw festivals into the equation, which are not something that happens 8 hours a day, 7 days per week, 52 weeks a year, then we should also account for NYC's super active street life and all of the random events (that are free) during the summertime. I mean, you can have a lot of fun in New York by simply being in the streets. A day in Central Park is an adventure unto itself.
Yeah, those neighborhoods are fine, but they are not nearly as active as Manhattan on any given day of the year. If we're going to throw festivals into the equation, which are not something that happens 8 hours a day, 7 days per week, 52 weeks a year, then we should also account for NYC's super active street life and all of the random events (that are free) during the summertime. I mean, you can have a lot of fun in New York by simply being in the streets. A day in Central Park is an adventure unto itself.
I agree with you on this. I was just saying that River North is in no way a great indicator of the overall buzz of Chicago at all even if it has a bunch of tall buildings (although Streeterville has more now probably but that's another story). I have been to some cities around the world with even more buzz than most of NYC, but it still doesn't mean I'd rank them above NYC overall city though.
In no way am I trying to say that Chicago > NYC. NYC is one of the greatest cities on earth. No matter how great Chicago is, I don't think it's better than NYC. It is, however, a fine, smaller alternative to NYC within the US itself IMO.
River North is a terrible, terrible comparison. It might be downtown, but it is in no way even close to the most populated area of the city. If you wanted a true sense of Chicago daily life, you come in the non winter months (although even in the winter these areas can be lively sometimes) to areas like Lakeview, Lincoln Park, or some areas around Wicker Park. These have much, much more action on a daily basis than River North. Personally, I don't find River North that bustling compared to some of these other neighborhoods in the slightest bit. Maybe in 10 years after the current building boom is done and 30,000 more people live in RN compared to now, but no.
Lakeview is the 2nd most populated neighborhood of the city. River North is nowhere near that. RN has a buzz, but it's not close to the other areas. In fact, Gold Coast has more of a buzz than River North on a daily basis. Go on a nice Saturday afternoon to the area bounded by Bellevue, State, and Rush and you'll see what I mean.
Mostly agree but places like Wicker Park are more akin to areas of BK or even a No Libs in Philly.
River North seems very sports barish, like a reunion for the midwestern big ten schools but have caught some games there on evening when staying in the area and it was just fine (even a Flyers Blackhawks stanley cup game two years ago while at ASCO and did get a few roars mostly good willed with my Flyers shirt on).
I like Wicker Park and Lincoln Park but have to be honest they dont have the same tenacity as parts of NYC (even Center City Philly IMHO, though Chicago delivers by having more great places to go out when compared to Philly) but really enjoy them all the same
On events, Chciago seems to do a great job in this regard based on my limited exposure.
Chicago is surely a great nightlife city though no matter how you slice it
Mostly agree but places like Wicker Park are more akin to areas of BK or even a No Libs in Philly.
River North seems very sports barish, like a reunion for the midwestern big ten schools but have caught some games there on evening when staying in the area and it was just fine (even a Flyers Blackhawks stanley cup game two years ago while at ASCO and did get a few roars mostly good willed with my Flyers shirt on).
I like Wicker Park and Lincoln Park but have to be honest they dont have the same tenacity as parts of NYC (even Center City Philly IMHO, though Chicago delivers by having more great places to go out when compared to Philly) but really enjoy them all the same
On events, Chciago seems to do a great job in this regard based on my limited exposure.
Chicago is surely a great nightlife city though no matter how you slice it
Yeah, I'm not trying to say Chicago > NYC. It's not. Plain and simple. Chicago is just a good, smaller alternative to NYC within the US, not better though.
River North is a mixed bag though. Don't know when the last time you were here, but there's actually a number of places there that are very far from sports bar-ish. Very far from it. There's a decent mixture of places though, but yeah....Lincoln Park and part of Lakeview has way more of the sports bar thing going on than RN.
Were you in the 6 corners area (Milwaukee/North/Damen) of Wicker Park in the summer on a weekend night per chance?
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