Match a northen suburb to a western suburb (Chicago, Aurora: credit, hotels)

[pvande55]

I would equate Des Plaines with West Chicago. Why? Both are railroad hubs, industrial, and tied to an airport. Addison doesn't even have a Metra station.

[fusillirob1983]

Originally Posted by MillennialUrbanist

This a cool, bump-worthy thread. Allow me to contribute my own ideas, a few of which may overlap with the OP. Northwest suburbs are placed mainly into the north category; southwest suburbs are placed mainly into the west category.

Evanston = Oak Park
Both are pretty much a miniature Chicago, with an L line, a street grid, and many high-rises.

Mundelein = Bolingbrook
Both are bland and car-centric, and evidence of history is virtually nonexistant.

Schaumburg = Naperville
Both have a very strong commercial area, and don't feel historic or gritty, despite being quite old.

Waukegan = Aurora/Elgin
Both have large industrial areas, relatively high crime, a downtown steeped in history, and a Metra station.

Northbrook = Wheaton
Both have gridded streets, a true downtown, and a strong religious community; the religions are different, though .

Arlington Heights = Downers Grove
Both have dense, vibrant downtowns centered around a Metra station, surrounded by sprawling suburban areas.

Vernon Hills = Oak Brook
Both are blatantly suburban with no downtown to speak of, a massive shopping mall, and some high-income residents.

Golf = Hometown
Both are tiny, strictly residential suburbs few people heard of; they usually trigger a question "where's that?"

Round Lake series = Barrington series = Palos series
Both are a cluster of suburbs with the capitalized portion in their names, all being nearly indistinguishable from their neighbors.

Wheeling = Westmont
Both are a lower-income income island of sorts, with modest apartments and car dealerships, surrounded by more affluent neighbors.

Prospect Heights = Glendale Heights
Both are quite safe, but are somewhat less affluent than their neighbors, for no explainable reason.

Disagree on Northbrook/Wheaton. I get the religious aspect, but doesn't Northbrook have a big mall in the middle of it?

-Disagree on Hometown and Golf. While both small and not familiar to many people. Golf has some decent looking houses and a golf course. Hometown is all residential on tighter streets, and almost every residential building in town is a two-unit townhome.

-Palos Park is very different from Palos Heights and Palos Hills. Size wise, they're all within about .5 square miles of one another. But populations are approximately 5k, 12k and 17k. While Palos Heights and Palos Hills have some forest preserves nearby and in town, they are separate from the residential area. Most Palos Park residents live in the woods, with only a small portion of the population living in a suburban-like subidivision.

I can see where you're coming from with some of the rest but would prefer not to point out all differences as I get why you made the comparisons.

[MillennialUrbanist]

Originally Posted by edsg25

Evanston and Oak Park were kind fo a no brainer on this one, being so obviously and so often linked before. But let's imagine you could match suburbs with Chicago neighborhoods and, for the sake of argument, you had to go with one north, one west and one south:

Do you think that Evanston, Oak Park and Hyde Park would fit? (let's face it, if Hyde Park were a municipality, we would be speaking of it in connection with the other two)

Hyde Park actually was a separate municipality at one point, until it was annexed by Chicago in 1889. And it's very similar to Oak Park and Evanston indeed. It has a robust street grid, vibrant commerce, rich history, and is served by both CTA and Metra.

Originally Posted by pvande55

I would equate Des Plaines with West Chicago. Why? Both are railroad hubs, industrial, and tied to an airport. Addison doesn't even have a Metra station.

Also, West Chicago and Des Plaines used to be quite similar, in a sense that Des Plaines used to be a slightly rough, working-class suburb. Although in the last 15 years, they diverged: Des Plaines improved noticeably, while West Chicago continues to be less well-off than its neighbors.

[MSchemist80]

Niles=Lombard

[aga412]

Batavia and Lake Zurich seem similar

[doodlemagic]

Originally Posted by sgresident

Have you actually been to aurora? I don't think waukegan and gurnee are like aurora at all.
also, long grove and wayne? don't think so.
maybe long grove and geneva.

I was thinking the same thing. I get its a stretch to compare some of these so I sorta get it but I'd probably say Waukegan is more like Joliet and even then I think Joliet is nicer.

I think a lot of what makes these areas unique is the location ie Des Plaines being near the airportso I think its tough to make some of those comparisons

[fusillirob1983]

Originally Posted by doodlemagic

I was thinking the same thing. I get its a stretch to compare some of these so I sorta get it but I'd probably say Waukegan is more like Joliet and even then I think Joliet is nicer.

I think a lot of what makes these areas unique is the location ie Des Plaines being near the airportso I think its tough to make some of those comparisons

Joliet is quite large. The newer development (last 20 years or so) around Rt. 59 is pretty different from Waukegan.

[doodlemagic]

Originally Posted by fusillirob1983

Joliet is quite large. The newer development (last 20 years or so) around Rt. 59 is pretty different from Waukegan.

Yeah my business partner lives in Joliet but you'd think he was in Shorewood or Joliet, its a big burb. If I had to match Waukegan with a burb it would be Joliet over Aurora although I think of Joliet and Aurora being quite similar in the sense that parts are really nice but the whole city gets a bad rap for those parts. I'm more familiar with Aurora and the dist 204 part so thats what I think of when I think of Aurora which is nothing like downtown or the part that services East Aurora school district. I also used to listen to Mancow so when I hear Joliet I think Joilet aas in the toilet of Illinois as he used to call it.

[TheTimidBlueBars]

Not bad. If we can throw in the south suburbs too:

Evanston/Oak Park = Homewood
Wilmette/River Forest = Flossmoor
Waukegan/Aurora = Joliet
North Chicago/Maywood = Harvey
Rosemont/Oak Brook = ...maybe Tinley Park or Orland Park?
Skokie/Forest Park = Oak Lawn
Harwood Heights/Berwyn = Blue Island?

[MillennialUrbanist]

Originally Posted by MSchemist80

Niles=Lombard

Hardly! Niles and Lombard are like night and day. Lomabrd is a robust rail-centric suburb, with a distinct historic downtown, a shopping mall (Yorktown Center), and condominiums. Niles doesn't have a downtown or a train station, and is more uniform throughout. I even heard it get lambasted for being "a nursery and a nursing home"; it has many school-age kids and senior citizens, but offers few amenities for working adults, other than being a safe place to live. Its saving grace are Asian supermarkets, like H-Mart and Assi, that attract shoppers from all over.

Originally Posted by doodlemagic

I was thinking the same thing. I get its a stretch to compare some of these so I sorta get it but I'd probably say Waukegan is more like Joliet and even then I think Joliet is nicer.

Come to think of it, you're right. Both Waukegan and Joliet were harbor towns at one point, and still ship a lot of freight by water. I only mentioned Aurora because I know it better. I go there every two months on average, while I haven't been to Joliet in years.