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Hi everyone, I am interested to hear your opinions about Chicago. Have you ever visited? How was your experience there? If you haven't visited, what are your opinions about Chicago? Would you ever visit?
Do you think Chicago is a fun place to live and visit? Would you be happy if you had to move to Chicago?
Do you prefer Los Angeles over Chicago or vice versa? Any other thoughts about Chicago are appreciated.
I visited for 5 days in 2012. Pics from said trip. I had a great time. People are more conversational, but that has a negative attribute to it as well (people more likely to talk ish to your face....I'm looking at you White Sox fans; snobs in the Loop ).
I could totally live in Chicago. We visited Milwaukee on the same trip, and both my wife and I concurred that Milwaukee was more our style.
I carry both LA and Chicago in high regard, and have about the same opinion on both (wouldn't necessarily prefer one over the other).
I feel like I'm reviving an old thread or something, but I found this interesting.
I live in Chicago right now. My dad is originally from LA and almost half of my family lives there. One of my cousins was in the LA City Council for over a decade and was in the state government after that in a high position. I grew up going to LA just about every summer of my life up until I went to college. It was THE destination for me back then - the sun, women, tons of things to do, beach, etc etc. Love the color in some areas and whenever I think of that type of thing in the US, LA (and Miami) is always the first thing to pop up in my head. I wanted to live there for the longest time, but something weird happened in college where I wanted somewhere more urban.
Now in Chicago I love it too - some of the things in this thread are fun to read about the city. The winters can be brutal, though there are worse areas in the US for that. Still can be bad. You learn to manage though. You don't really necessarily have to shovel. As far as what someone else pointed out, if you live in a multi unit building, then the owners of your building might shovel for you, at least the larger it is. I live in a high rise downtown and nobody that lives in any one of these would ever dream of shoveling. The maintenance staff for your building does it for you. Waiting out on a platform for the train or bus stop can suck but there are smart phone apps which tell you when the next bus/train is coming. If you are eating at a restaurant within a 2 minute walk to a train station, you can see that the train isn't coming for 10 minutes. Instead of wait outside for 8 minutes, you could probably leave 3 minutes before arrival and barely be outside. There's also thousands of cabs, uber, etc in the city.
The crime thing as someone else pointed out is an interesting one. The north and south sides are two completely different cities for sure whether it's in appearance or look. However, the one thing that people assume is that the entire south side is bad. This is not true - there are actually very safe neighborhoods on the south side as well. Hyde Park (where the U of C is), Kenwood (where Obama lives - a number of million dollar mansions there), Mount Greenwood, Beverly, Clearing, West Lawn, Archer Heights, Chinatown, Bridgeport, West Elsdon, Hegewisch, Pullman, etc are all safe neighborhoods on the south side. Mount Greenwood, for example, has had 2 homicides since 1998 (17 years) and the last one was a decade ago. I think what might be more interesting to people is that there are parts of the West side that are just as dangerous. West Garfield Park is a neighborhood that actually has the worst homicide rate in the city and it's not on the south side. North Lawndale and East Garfield Park nearby are also in the top 10 worst for homicide rate. There is something called the Heroin Highway (I-290) on the West Side. There are people, many from the suburbs, who easily drive off it, get score some heroin, and are right back on I-290. There's a lot of rival gangs in the area jockeying for drug money which is why there's a lot of homicides near I-290. The one thing though is that many of these homicides are not "random" people. Every once in awhile yes, but many shootings are gang on gang related.
The city though is a lot safer than it was even 12 or so years ago. 2003 saw over 600 homicides. Last year was barely over 400. The north/northwest sides are very safe as someone else pointed out. The homicide rate is basically that of a Seattle, Austin, etc. There are parts of the city that are gentrifying like many US cities. The Wicker Park/Bucktown area used to be skid row - now it's full of trendy-ish places, expensive apartments/condos/homes that are nice and modern, etc. Logan Square is turning out much the same way as we speak.
And someone previously spoke of density - there are actually denser populated places than downtown. Areas of Lakeview, Lincoln Park, Edgewater, Rogers Park, etc are a little denser on average actually. Less than 5% of the population of the city actually lives downtown. If you get out into some of the other neighborhoods, you'll see there's just as much going on there as downtown since that's where people live.
Anyway, I think to me as someone who used to visit LA a lot, the vibe of Chicago is more similar to LA than it is to NYC. If you get out into the neighborhoods and have a beer/wine or something to eat outside, you'll find a very, very relaxed atmosphere and that's all the people really care about doing. LA right now is interesting to me again. I think in some areas it's more urban than many people think and I know there is work being done to make areas more walkable, more public transit oriented, etc. Not sure if that will work massively, but who knows. I know the DTLA is undergoing a lot of changes. It's still behind Chicago, NYC, San Francisco, etc but I feel that in 10 years it will be a lot better (much like what happened in Chicago starting in the late 90s in some ways).
It's funny too - my uncle is from NYC but has been living in LA since the 70s. He always glossed over Chicago and didn't think much of it as a destination. My aunt, from LA her whole life, had never been but they both came about 4 or 5 years ago. Absolutely loved it and wanted to move here. The reason why they didn't? They were concerned with the winter weather. They've been back a few times sense and really like it. I have some relatives that were in the same boat as them in the LA area that are coming to visit Chicago soon.
Last edited by marothisu; 05-24-2015 at 02:36 PM..
Location: Encino, San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles CA
34 posts, read 54,480 times
Reputation: 40
The nice parts are very nice, however it's unfortunate that a large swathe of the city is so ghetto. I grew up in the 80s and 90s and the south side is scarier in 2014 (last time I was there) then places like Watts or Inglewood were in 1987 and that's saying something. If chicago was just everything North of the Loop it would be my favorite city. I like the suburbs of Chicago more than the burbs of LA because it seems that there is more of a visible middle class. Illinois takes the cake as the only state with more political dysfunction than CA although I like your new governor Rauner.
The nice parts are very nice, however it's unfortunate that a large swathe of the city is so ghetto.
I grew up in the 80s and 90s and the south side is scarier in 2014 (last time I was there) then places like Watts or Inglewood were in 1987 and that's saying something.
There's some truth in here but I don't think I fully agree. It completely depends on where you are. Some areas are worse, some are better. Englewood for example is probably worse today than it used to be. However, some areas that have been bad for awhile are improving. There are actually areas of Woodlawn, Washington Park, etc that are improving. Bronzeville has been seeing a lot of positive action lately. I think the demolition of some of the notorious housing projects were probably better for the north and west-ish/northwest sides than parts of the south side, but some parts of the south side are benefiting from it too.
The south side is really weird. There are some really nice areas down there (and some have a lot more crime than they'd appear to have). Other areas have too much vacancy and not much to do and could really benefit from a reboot.
I was staying with friends in Oak Park, and yes the train ride on the Green Line through the west side was unlike anything you really see in Southern California. Lots of empty/abandoned areas.
I was staying with friends in Oak Park, and yes the train ride on the Green Line through the west side was unlike anything you really see in Southern California. Lots of empty/abandoned areas.
Yeah, it's unfortunate because once upon a time these were pretty alright areas. The original Sears HQ was in North Lawndale for example, and some of the execs there way far back had their mansions in these areas. Some still exist, just like on the south side - and they're dirt cheap (Comiskey's 10,000 sq ft mansion from 1892 in Washington Park not far from U of C was for sale recently for only $400K. Though it needed a gut rehab, but still cheap. If that was on the north side in Gold Coast, Lincoln Park, etc then that house would probably be at least $4M even if it needed a gut rehab). When MLK Jr. came to town, he lived in North Lawndale for a little bit. Guys like Benny Goodman also grew up in that same area.
There are still some interesting pockets in some of these areas. Kind of near Oak Park is the Austin Historic District, which still has nicely maintained lawns, homes, etc. Some really nice houses still kept up really well there. The Garfield Park Conservatory along the Green Line is also really great. There's also a Basilica, one of 3 in the city, in East Garfield Park though that's closer to the Blue Line. Really beautiful though inside - everything inside had been imported from Italy 100+ years ago, again, when the neighborhood was a lot better.
Location: East Central Pennsylvania/ Chicago for 6yrs.
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Enjoyed reading through the WHOLE THREAD . Very civil and complementary, to my favorite Big city Chicago too. But WAS Soooooo TRUE. What someone said about? If this was New Yorkers in the NYC thread. They would show no mercy in downplaying Chicago . They would to LA too? But still to them it is NYC and LA, maybe SF and just the rest... Oh and never say Chicago is a smaller version of NYC... To them ..... you just insulted the Greatest City in the World. .
Even though Chicago has the strictest Democrat party gun control laws in the nation there were 49 murders there last weekend and that is par for the coarsel.
Location: Encino, San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles CA
34 posts, read 54,480 times
Reputation: 40
Quote:
Originally Posted by V8 Vega
Even though Chicago has the strictest Democrat party gun control laws in the nation there were 49 murders there last weekend and that is par for the coarsel.
I feel bad for the folks in rural downstate IL who have no political voice because 70% of IL lives in Cook, Dupage, Lake m, McHenry and Will County (Chicagoland). And yes their gun laws are insane...only 3 states have laws so strict that nobody can get a handgun at all. MD, IL and CT. A state like IL which has such a diverse landscape (Chicago, other smaller industrial cities, Mayberry type towns, 100s of miles of farms) should really at least implement the system they have here in CA and in NY where each county sets its own rules and issues its own CCW licenses. For ex: it's essentially impossible to get a CCW in a liberal county like Alameda (Oakland, Berkeley, Piedmont etc) or San Fran, but in a more conservative county like Orange its a much simpler process, in California's most conservative counties like Kern or Tulare it's essentially "shall issue" which means if you can pass a background check and meet the qualifications the Sheriff has no discretion he will just give you a CCW. Same in NY, good luck getting a gun in Manhattan (legally) but you will have no issue in rural Western NY or northern NY m.
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).
. Very civil and complementary, to my favorite Big city Chicago too. But WAS Soooooo TRUE. What someone said about? If this was New Yorkers in the NYC thread. They would show no mercy in downplaying Chicago 
. They would to LA too? But still to them it is NYC and LA, maybe SF and just the rest... Oh and never say Chicago is a smaller version of NYC... To them ..... you just insulted the Greatest City in the World. 
.
