Boston Vs. Chicago - Describe the city personality (crime, schools)

[5Lakes]

[quote=Mr. Joshua;11524059]

I don't get an international vibe from Chicago at all. I get a -this is the destination of all midwesterners who want to be in a big city- kind of vibe. I would say that that defines Chicago more than students define Boston.

This is very true of certain areas, which happen to be the areas that one would probably visit as a tourist. Lincoln Park and Lakeview in particular are full of Big Ten college bars that cater to recent grads from these schools. If you venture out from these neighborhoods you will find a more international vibe. Chicago in particular has large hispanic, Polish, and Indian populations.

Your general notion that Chicago is the preferred urban hub for midwesterns is correct though. It makes sense that people in the midwest who want a big city vibe would move there since it is not overlly expensive and is close to where they are from. I meet transplants from other parts of the U.S. in Chicago, but the vast majority are indeed from the surrounding states.

[Truthfully19]

See thats what makes chicago unique..its a city that has a bit of everything..barbecue neighborhood baseball to idealistic artist to urban hiphoppers to rockers to whatever nationality you can think of while still maintaining its identity as a city

[Truthfully19]

I seriously doubt a city with a neighborhood by the name of boyz town is too conformist lol

[Gtownoe]

Originally Posted by Truthfully19

See thats what makes chicago unique..its a city that has a bit of everything..barbecue neighborhood baseball to idealistic artist to urban hiphoppers to rockers to whatever nationality you can think of while still maintaining its identity as a city

I agree.

In a time where "American-ness" has somehow gained a negative connotation, Chicago has held on to its roots. I love that about the city.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by coldwine

Chicago happens to have an astounding amount of universities, but they're located in the Loop-- the change they make to the neighborhoods is minimal. In fact, the University of Chicago arguably has the least effect on any neighborhood of any major university I've seen. Short of grabbing property, it's almost like it isn't there.

I don't know how you can possibly say this, especially since you actually went to school there. If it weren't for UofC, Hyde Park and Kenwood would almost certainly be an urban wasteland like the rest of the area around them.

[coldwine]

[quote=Mr. Joshua;11524059]

Agreed. The scholarly aspect of Boston is palpable.

Eh, I meant more the frat boys throwing up on the immigrant-manicured front lawns.

I don't get an international vibe from Chicago at all. I get a -this is the destination of all midwesterners who want to be in a big city- kind of vibe. I would say that that defines Chicago more than students define Boston.

It's identical, then, to the -this is the destination of all rural New Englanders who want to be in a big city- kind of vibe that abounds in NYC. It's jam-packed with students and kids from the small towns and holes in the wall of NE.

Other than that, students and universities are most strongly associated with Boston. Many go but few stay.

Chicago certainly has a very large and very powerful international sector. As an international tax attorney who worked out of the Chicago office of a major firm, I was perhaps exposed to an element and a sector most people rarely see? I'm not sure what else people really have in mind when they declare Chicago American and a northeastern city (which is, by the by, overwhelmingly rural) "more international". I can think of so many bars and neighborhoods where English isn't the first language and the official signs are posted in kanji, Polish, German, Italian, French or Spanish. I guess because it's not NYC it doesn't count?

[Mr. Joshua]

[quote=5Lakes;11525769]

Originally Posted by Mr. Joshua

This is very true of certain areas, which happen to be the areas that one would probably visit as a tourist. Lincoln Park and Lakeview in particular are full of Big Ten college bars that cater to recent grads from these schools. If you venture out from these neighborhoods you will find a more international vibe. Chicago in particular has large hispanic, Polish, and Indian populations.

Your general notion that Chicago is the preferred urban hub for midwesterns is correct though. It makes sense that people in the midwest who want a big city vibe would move there since it is not overlly expensive and is close to where they are from. I meet transplants from other parts of the U.S. in Chicago, but the vast majority are indeed from the surrounding states.

We have friends on W. Grace in Wrigleyville and my in-laws live above Saks on Michigan Ave., so you are correct that I move around in the more vanilla areas when I'm there.
My comment addressed someone else's comment of Chicago being much more worldly and international than Boston. Maybe it is, it's just that I don't see that when I'm there. And I'm there a couple of times a year. In fact I was married at the 4th Presbyterian.

[lakal]

Why were my posts deleted? What did I say that was controversial?

I'm really serious.

[coldwine]

Originally Posted by Drover

I don't know how you can possibly say this, especially since you actually went to school there. If it weren't for UofC, Hyde Park and Kenwood would almost certainly be an urban wasteland like the rest of the area around them.

UC is an amazing institution. In many of its programs, it is the best university in the nation, and for others, the world.

But Hyde Park is a sleepy little section of the city, immediately beyond which you do find urban wasteland. UC itself has cleaned up the immediate vicinity only with patrolling police and some people that bought homes there.

Other than that? Well, have you ever been to Ann Arbor, or Boston, or any actual college town? It's downright perverse in how little UC actually provides the neighborhoods with. A major university like those found in Boston, to keep in line with this thread, have a community and environment that goes along with the institution. Students, professors, professionals, businesses and communities that grow around them. To say that UC doesn't have that is a gross understatement.

[skipcromer]

Originally Posted by 5Lakes

Huh? Depaul, Loyola, the University of Chicago, and UIC are all in neighborhoods, and the presence of college students in those neighborhoods is certainly noticeable.

I live four blocks north of Loyola. I honestly really dont notice it. Are there college kids here, absolutely. However the neighborhood definitely doesnt revolve around around the university or its students.. I think thats the point coldwine was tryin to make.