Does Royko's Chicago still exist anywhere? (Winnetka, Lakewood: transplants, to live, statistics)

[jonnynonos]

Huh? The OP asked if there was a list of about six old school things like penny pitching and reporters drinking until they fall off their stool.

What the hell does that have to do with being considered cool or not.

[Irishtom29]

I used to go into the old Billy Goat when I worked on the Tribune delivery trucks in the 1960s, the driver I worked with, a guy named Walsh, took me in and I was served beer though I was but a teenager at the time. It was a great job, out at night in the city; in those days the Trib was a morning paper you see and the first edition went out early in the evening. We did the West Side, from Lake St. to North Ave and out to Austin Blvd. We hit a few stops south of Lake too. Walsh would slow down at a corner store or newsstand and I'd jump off with papers, run them in and then jump back on the still moving truck, we hustled. We handled the racing forms too.

I ran into Royko a few times and was disappointed with his dour demeanor, I was expecting a lively, witty guy. I think he disliked the Irish too.

[MassVt]

For those who are interested, pick up a copy of Royko's "Like I was Saying" for a good dose of his best columns; if you want his best writing (book, column, or otherwise), pick up his expose on Richard Daley I, which is quite a yarn about the Chicago in the 60s, especially about the police department, and the workings of the Machine, and how oranized crime intersected both of them...

[Tex?Il?]

Originally Posted by JacksonPanther

Yep, this is the real answer. Those old ethnic enclaves are dead and gone. Mostly replaced by new ethnics who happen to not be white, so of course theyre not considered cool.

As for who posts on this board, I wonder how many posters are actually from Chicago - I mean born and raised. In all my years working in various Chicago high tech companies, I can count the number of White people actually from Chicago on one hand. They were always from down state, small town Iowa, or the suburbs.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

??? Irishtom referred to Mexicans, Arabs, and Poles. Poles are as "white" as Swedes, Arabs are still considered Caucasian, and Mexicans have varying degrees of Spanish blood. And I think many are still fascinated by current ethnic groups. But yeah, I know what you mean, its nostalgia for a time and place people didn't live through.

As far as your second paragraph - I think Chicago depends a lot on the rest of the midwest for its best and brightest.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by JacksonPanther

As for who posts on this board, I wonder how many posters are actually from Chicago - I mean born and raised. In all my years working in various Chicago high tech companies, I can count the number of White people actually from Chicago on one hand. They were always from down state, small town Iowa, or the suburbs.

This is where most non-ethnic-identifying middle class white people come from in Chicagoland. It's rare to run in to a white guy under 40 who grew up in Portage Park or Clearing in a professional setting. In the last ten years, I can count on one hand.

Sitting closest to me now in this office there is a guy from Hoffman Estates, a woman from Colorado,two guys from Detroit suburbs, and ONE who grew up on the South Side of the city. And a guy from Nigeria.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

This is where most non-ethnic-identifying middle class white people come from in Chicagoland. It's rare to run in to a white guy under 40 who grew up in Portage Park or Clearing in a professional setting. In the last ten years, I can count on one hand.

Sitting closest to me now in this office there is a guy from Hoffman Estates, a woman from Colorado,two guys from Detroit suburbs, and ONE who grew up on the South Side of the city. And a guy from Nigeria.

My office is similar, we have three chicagoans, three chicago suburbanites, one from Iowa, three from Michigan, one from Indiana, one from india, one from russia, one from nigeria, one from oklahoma, one from mass, one from new hampshire, two from Florida (one tampa and one miami) and one from san diego.

[chet everett]

Depends what sort of office you are in. When I worked at a major bank that has since been merged into BofA there were an army of Irish guys and gals from Beverely and Morgan Park. At the CBOT I would gues 90% of the traders and higher ups have ties to Catholic high schools from Loyola Academy to Brother Rice and evveerything in between. Lots of them crew up in the city. I did some consulting work for a major insurance brokeridge HQ'd in a Chicago, another bastion Chicago's Irish politics / financial heritage...

[Kamms]

Originally Posted by eating while walking

Let me preface this by saying I am not from Chicago and have never read any of Mike Royko's writing until a few weeks ago. Right now I am working my way through "Boss", which is a tell-all covering the shenanigans of Daley's Machine, as well as a few collections of his columns. Coming to it fresh as an adult, I am loving the way he writes about the old neighborhoods and communities. It just seems so different from what I see around me in my daily routine.

This is kind of a nebulous and maybe ridiculous question, but is there any place in the city which still has that Royko-esque neighborhood feel? Stuff I am looking for, but not limited to:

Penny pitching
Streetcars
Hot dog carts
Guys like "Slats Grobnik"
Taverns on every corner
Bars and dives filled with gruff newspapermen
Still-functioning factories, and everyone who works there lives within 1 - 2 blocks
White ethnic neighborhoods with youth gangs jumping each other as soon as they cross neighborhood lines

You get the idea.

Long gone. Now on the north side lakefront areas you have tons of midwestern folks from Iowa, Wisconsin etc trying to be ''cool'' urban hipsters but with zero personality and no sense of ethnic-talk...b-o-r-i-n-g.

[jonnynonos]

I have no idea about the statistics but I can certainly count more native Chicago caucasians under 40 I know on more than "one hand."

Ever heard of the Northwest side?

[Kamms]

When I moved to Chicago I was expecting some funny, kinda wise-cracking people akin to New Yorkers. All kinds of ethnic people from ''neighborhoods''; didn't find that but plenty of people like Chads, Trixies or people from Fargo central-casting with no sense of ethnicity etc.