Why the Westside is less famous than the Southside and Northside? (Chicago: live in, move)

[Irishtom29]

Originally Posted by North Side Brandon

Oak Park didn't want working class West Siders migrating to their town.

Yeah, Oak Park was pretty Waspy and not too keen on West Siders, most of whom at one time were impertinent Irish, bomb throwing Bohemian anarchists and entirely too swarthy Italians, Greeks and Jews.

[picardlx]

People don't know about the west side, but the east side isn't even conceived of. After all, Gary and Hammond starts at about Cottage Groove and 103rd.

[williepotatoes]

Nobody really considers themselves a northsider. People who live on the n'side are just too provincial or candyazz, they prefer to be known by their neighborhood. And the west side has fallen so far and so hard that no one wants to be associated with it. Only on the south side will you still find people who go out of there way to let you know where they crib.

[North Side Brandon]

Originally Posted by williepotatoes

Nobody really considers themselves a northsider. People who live on the n'side are just too provincial or candyazz, they prefer to be known by their neighborhood. And the west side has fallen so far and so hard that no one wants to be associated with it. Only on the south side will you still find people who go out of there way to let you know where they crib.

Exactly when realtors sell the Near West Side they sell it as the West Loop. When they sell Wicker Park, Ukrainian Village, East Village, West Town, Noble Square and even the old Grand & Western they sell it as the Near Northwest Side even though those are clearly West Side Neighborhoods being south of tracks South of North Avenue and West of the River. Nobody wants to be associated with Austin, East Garfield Park, West Garfield, West Humboldt Park or North Lawndale.

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by SouthsideTillIDie

When you go out of town or speak to outoftowners, they all seem well aware at least of the existence of the Southside of Chicago and Northside of Chicago. Whenever I go to other cities and tell people am from the "Southside of Chicago" it rings bells because it is the most well known "Southside" in America. But Westside doesn't get that same "fame", "notoriety", or whatever you wanna call it. Why? Because the Westside is the smallest side? Or it's the side without a baseball team? Or other reasons?

well, first off, we're not LA. We're Chicago. There is no Westside (not even a northside or a southside). We've got North Side, South Side, and West Side.

What do the North Side, Downtown, and the South Side have that the West Side doesn't: what is arguably the most defining thing that makes Chicago Chicago: its lakefront.

[Manigault]

Well, among the famous folks from the city, all I can think of is Curtis Mayfield and Arthur Goldberg from the west side. There are legions from the south and north sides.

[urza216]

Kanye West lived on the west side of Chicago..

[noid_1985]

I think part of the reason why the southside is more well known at least from a black perspective is because during the Great Migration (1910-30) the southside was thought to be some sort of "black utopia" for most blacks coming from the south. Coming from a racist south, blacks kept that same mentality and created classism among themselves that looked down on black westsiders because they were thought to be poorer. Having lived on both sides I can say that blacks still have that mentality, that the westside is where the poor less educated blacks live and the southside is where the snobby blacks live. Interesting considering that outsiders see them as both to be some type of ghetto.


Urza, Kanye is from the southside....he went to Calumet High for a little while

[williepotatoes]

Originally Posted by noid_1985

I think part of the reason why the southside is more well known at least from a black perspective is because during the Great Migration (1910-30) the southside was thought to be some sort of "black utopia" for most blacks coming from the south. Coming from a racist south, blacks kept that same mentality and created classism among themselves that looked down on black westsiders because they were thought to be poorer. Having lived on both sides I can say that blacks still have that mentality, that the westside is where the poor less educated blacks live and the southside is where the blacks is where the snobby blacks live. Interesting considering that outsiders see them as both to be some type of ghetto

True, true, true. As a side note, I played a fair share of playground basketball in the '70s when there was a hardcore rivalry between the south and west sides. It smacked of David vs. Goliath. The westside players even developed their own style of play that was finesse, control and showmanship, while southsiders
emphasized power and size more. Back then most open air basketball courts were honored as de-militarized zones. Gang affiliation and even race could be put aside temporarily for the love of hoops.

More than a few times a carload of Black players (usually westsiders) showed up at my all white playground to play hours of non-stop ball. That was the pretty much the only time that you would ever see a young black person in the neighborhood.

[treemoni]

Originally Posted by noid_1985

I think part of the reason why the southside is more well known at least from a black perspective is because during the Great Migration (1910-30) the southside was thought to be some sort of "black utopia" for most blacks coming from the south. Coming from a racist south, blacks kept that same mentality and created classism among themselves that looked down on black westsiders because they were thought to be poorer. Having lived on both sides I can say that blacks still have that mentality, that the westside is where the poor less educated blacks live and the southside is where the snobby blacks live. Interesting considering that outsiders see them as both to be some type of ghetto.


Urza, Kanye is from the southside....he went to Calumet High for a little while

Bingo. The South Side is where "respectable" blacks live. The West Side is where "country" blacks live.